Vertical Farm Seedling Initiation With Sensor-Guided Pod Circulation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Growing plants from seeds in vertical agriculture modules is laborious, time-consuming, and requires different conditions than those for mature plants, making year-round provision of fresh, ready-to-produce nursery stock challenging.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus with two towers and a cable system that moves plant pods along the perimeter, combined with a monitoring system using sensors and controllers to adjust environmental conditions such as lighting, temperature, humidity, and fertilizer distribution based on plant growth stages, utilizing convolutional neural networks for optimal growth.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If plants are grown from seeds in vertical agriculture modules, then space utilization is improved, but labor requirements and time consumption increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by automatically preparing seedlings in propagation trays before vertical farming, including automated seeding, germination monitoring, and initial growth conditioning. This preliminary preparation reduces the labor and time required for subsequent planting and cultivation stages in the vertical modules.
Solution Approach 2:
The vertical agriculture module incorporates self-service capabilities through automated systems that perform seeding, watering, fertilizing, and monitoring without human intervention. The system serves itself by using sensors to detect plant needs and automatically adjusting environmental parameters, thereby eliminating the labor-intensive manual operations described in the background.
2Reliability
If manual planting and nurturing is performed in vertical agriculture modules, then plant growth can be controlled, but the process becomes time-consuming and laborious
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements continuous feedback loops where sensors monitor plant growth parameters (moisture, temperature, light, nutrient levels) and automatically adjust environmental conditions. This closed-loop control ensures reliable plant growth management while eliminating the time-consuming manual monitoring and adjustment processes.
Solution Approach 2:
Manual mechanical operations for plant nurturing are replaced with automated mechanical and electronic systems. Seedling propagation, transplanting, and environmental control are performed by automated machinery and control systems rather than human hands, maintaining growth control reliability while dramatically reducing time consumption.
3Adaptability or versatility
If different conditions are provided for initial plant stages compared to mature plants, then plant physiological requirements are met, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The growth environment is segmented into distinct zones: a propagation tray area for seedlings with specific conditions (higher humidity, different lighting), and vertical farming modules for mature plants with different parameters. This spatial segmentation allows tailored environmental conditions for each growth stage while managing system complexity through modular design.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts environmental conditions based on plant growth stage. Sensors detect plant development and automatically modify parameters such as light intensity, temperature, humidity, and nutrient delivery to match the specific needs of seedlings versus mature plants. This dynamic adaptability ensures physiological requirements are met without requiring permanently complex fixed infrastructure.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus for growing plants comprises two towers located adjacent to each other and forming an outside perimeter surface, a tray located in the bottom of the outside perimeter surface; and a cable system configured to pull a plurality of pods along the outside perimeter, each pod having containers, the cable system configured to bring at least one pod in a contact with a liquid located in the tray. A plant growth monitoring system comprises a plurality of sensors, a plurality of distributors configured to distribute fertilizers in response to received commands, and a controller configured to receive a sensor data from the plurality of sensors, determine commands for a stage of growth of plants based on a sensor data received and transmit the commands to the distributors. A method of initiating a plant in preparation of its introduction into a vertical farm unit is also disclosed.