Plant Growing Chamber With Side-Lit Light Recycling Layout
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current cannabis cultivation methods face limitations in maximizing plant density and yield per square foot due to overhead lighting, heat stress, and inefficient light distribution, leading to suboptimal growth and increased resource costs.
Innovation Solution
A light diffusion and recycling chamber with opposing walls and LED panels that emit light horizontally, creating a recycling loop for even light distribution and maintaining optimal growing conditions, including air ventilation and temperature control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If overhead lighting is used to illuminate plants, then light can be provided to the plants, but heat stress and uneven light distribution occur reducing yield
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from traditional overhead (vertical) lighting to side-mounted horizontal lighting. LED panels are positioned at the sides of the growth chamber, emitting light horizontally across the plant canopy rather than from above. This dimensional change in light delivery allows for more uniform distribution of light intensity across all plant surfaces while reducing the heat burden on the plant apex and improving overall photosynthetic efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces reflective surfaces and light-diffusing materials as intermediaries between the LED light sources and the plants. These intermediaries help distribute light more evenly throughout the growth chamber, reducing hot spots and ensuring uniform illumination. The reflective surfaces also redirect light that would otherwise be lost, improving light use efficiency while maintaining lower operating temperatures.
2Productivity
If plant density is increased to improve yield per square foot, then resource efficiency improves, but light distribution and ventilation become insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
By mounting LED panels vertically at the sides of the growth chamber rather than horizontally from above, the system can illuminate plants more effectively at higher densities. The horizontal light emission pattern ensures that even plants in the middle of dense arrangements receive adequate light from multiple sides, enabling the system to achieve 1200 grams per square foot yield while maintaining uniform light distribution across the entire plant canopy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs multiple LED panels positioned at different locations along the sides of the growth chamber, with each panel optimized to illuminate specific zones. This localized approach ensures that every region of the dense plant arrangement receives appropriate light intensity, allowing high plant density without compromising light distribution to individual plants.
3Use of energy by moving object
If overhead lighting is used, then plants receive light, but light recycling is inefficient and energy is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a light recycling system where reflective surfaces capture light that would otherwise escape or be absorbed by plants, and redirect it back into the growth chamber. This feedback loop ensures that light energy is utilized multiple times rather than being lost after a single pass, significantly improving overall energy efficiency. The system continuously recycles photons, extending their useful life and reducing the total energy input required.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of allowing light energy to be discarded when it misses the plants or is reflected away, the system recovers this stray light through strategically positioned reflective surfaces. The recovered light is redirected back onto the plant canopy, ensuring that nearly all emitted light energy contributes to photosynthesis. This recovery mechanism dramatically reduces energy waste and improves the overall efficiency of the lighting system.
4Reliability
If traditional cultivation methods are used, then plants can grow, but pathogen risk increases due to poor air circulation
Solution Approach 1:
The side-mounted LED configuration changes the spatial arrangement of equipment in the growth chamber, creating improved air circulation pathways. With lighting fixtures positioned at the sides rather than overhead, air can flow more freely through the plant canopy from top to bottom and side to side. This enhanced ventilation reduces humidity pockets and improves gas exchange, thereby reducing the risk of fungal and bacterial pathogens while maintaining plant health.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enables higher light intensities up to 1800 μmol/m2/sec, promoting uniform light distribution and plant health, increasing yields and cannabinoid potency while reducing heat stress and pathogen risk.
Implementation Method 1
A plurality of light emitting diodes may be mounted directly or indirectly on each interior side
Implementation Method 2
One or more of a reflective and diffusive material covering a substantial portion of the interior sides may be provided wherein light emitted from the light emitting diodes from each interior side may have reflective, refractive, and light scattering interactions with the one or more of reflective and diffusive material from the opposing interior side
Implementation Method 3
light emitted from the light emitting diodes from each interior side may have reflective, refractive, and light scattering interactions
Data Source
AI summary
A plant growing apparatus is provided that comprises a transport and positioning system, the transport and positioning system comprising a mobile plant container with a first set of wheels configured to allow selective movement of the mobile plant container to engage with or disengage from the growing chamber; and a track assembly configured to guide movement of the mobile plant container along a pathway from outside the growing chamber to inside the growing chamber.