Plant Growth Microcosm With Segmented Environmental Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current equipment for growing plants under controlled conditions lacks versatility in managing environmental parameters separately for the epigeal and hypogeal parts, inducing environmental perturbations during operations like sampling and stress factor application, and lacks continuous analysis capabilities and sensor modularity.
Innovation Solution
A microcosm with two independent chambers for managing and monitoring environmental parameters of the epigeal and hypogeal parts, allowing for separate control of conditions, minimal perturbation sampling, and integration of sensor systems for continuous data acquisition and processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a single chamber is used for growing plants, then the device complexity is reduced, but the ability to manage environmental parameters separately for epigeal and hypogeal parts is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The growth chamber is divided into two independent chambers: an epigeal chamber for the aerial part and a hypogeal chamber for the radical part. Each chamber can be independently sealed, conditioned, and monitored, allowing separate management of environmental parameters (temperature, humidity, gas composition) for each plant zone while maintaining overall system functionality.
2Ease of operation
If sampling operations are performed in a single chamber, then operational simplicity is maintained, but environmental perturbations increase
Solution Approach 1:
The separation into two independently sealable chambers allows selective access during sampling operations. Only the chamber containing the target sample needs to be opened, while the other chamber remains sealed and undisturbed, minimizing environmental perturbations to the plant system being studied.
3Reliability
If environmental conditions are not separately controlled, then the system is simpler to operate, but the ability to mimic natural conditions is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
Different environmental conditions can be applied to different zones (epigeal and hypogeal chambers) according to the specific requirements of each plant part. For example, the hypogeal chamber can maintain higher humidity and different gas composition than the epigeal chamber, accurately replicating the natural gradient that exists between soil and atmosphere.
Data Source
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AI summary
A microcosm for growing plants under biotic and abiotic conditions in order to obtain an environment in which to replicate on a laboratory scale what occurs under natural conditions in a plant or in a plant canopy when given environmental conditions are imposed and organisms intervene capable of interacting or interfering with the plant functions, said microcosm being constituted by an apparatus that comprises in combination two independent chambers, of which one is a hypogeal chamber (1) that forms the part of the apparatus or microcosm that is designed for growing the radical part of the plants and of the rhizosphere, and the other is an epigeal chamber (2) that forms the part of the apparatus or microcosm that is designed for growing the aerial part of the plants and of the phyllosphere, said chambers being assembled vertically on top of one another so as to constitute a single complex and functionally integrated structure.