Vertical Farming Shelves with Gravity Irrigation and Camera Monitoring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current vertical farming systems lack efficient and scalable shelving and growing systems that incorporate gravity-based irrigation, autonomous camera systems, and automated harvesting, leading to high labor and energy costs, and are not optimized for urban food production.
Innovation Solution
A system featuring improved shelving units with gravity-based irrigation, autonomous camera systems using 3D/multispectral cameras, and automated harvesting methods, including telescoping gimbals, camera vehicles, and drones, along with a modular lighting platform that adjusts lighting based on plant needs, reducing labor and energy consumption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traditional vertical farming systems are used, then plant growth can be achieved, but labor and energy costs are high due to manual irrigation and monitoring
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs autonomous camera vehicles and sensors that self-navigate through the vertical farm to monitor plant health, soil moisture, and environmental conditions. Gravity-based irrigation systems automatically distribute water without manual intervention. This self-monitoring and self-regulating capability eliminates the need for continuous human labor while optimizing plant growth conditions, thereby improving productivity without proportionally increasing energy consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
Manual mechanical operations are replaced with automated systems. Camera vehicles with computer vision replace manual plant inspection. Automated irrigation systems replace manual water distribution. These substitutions reduce labor-intensive mechanical actions while using energy-efficient sensors and processors to monitor and control plant environments, resolving the contradiction between productivity and energy use.
2Reliability
If manual monitoring and harvesting methods are used, then plant growth can be observed, but labor costs are high
Solution Approach 1:
Autonomous camera vehicles navigate through vertical farm shelves independently, capturing images and videos of plants. The system automatically analyzes plant health, detects diseases, and monitors growth stages without human intervention. This self-service monitoring approach maintains high reliability in plant observation while dramatically reducing labor requirements for manual inspection and harvesting activities.
Solution Approach 2:
Camera vehicles and image processing algorithms serve as intermediaries between the plants and human operators. Instead of direct manual monitoring, the system uses automated visual inspection as an intermediary layer that captures plant data, analyzes it through computer vision, and provides actionable insights. This intermediary system maintains monitoring accuracy while eliminating the need for continuous manual labor in plant observation and harvesting.
3Measurement precision
If fixed camera systems are used, then plant monitoring is possible, but coverage is limited and multiple cameras are expensive
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from static fixed cameras to dynamic mobile camera vehicles that can move along rails or autonomous paths. These vehicles dynamically position themselves to capture optimal views of plants at different growth stages and locations. This dynamic approach allows a single camera system to cover multiple areas sequentially, maintaining measurement precision while reducing the total number of cameras needed and simplifying system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system adds the dimension of mobility to camera deployment. Instead of distributing multiple fixed cameras across horizontal and vertical spaces, a single camera vehicle traverses through the third dimension (movement along rails or autonomous navigation) to access different plant locations. This dimensional change allows comprehensive plant monitoring with fewer cameras, reducing system complexity while maintaining or improving measurement precision through multiple-angle imaging capabilities.
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 system significantly reduces labor and energy costs while optimizing plant growth and monitoring, enabling efficient urban food production by autonomously adjusting environmental conditions and harvesting processes.
Implementation Method 1
The disclosed shelving units utilize gravity-based irrigation, along with novel water supply and draining, gravity-based loading and unloading
Implementation Method 2
high definition cameras located on telescoping poles using one or more gimbals to allow the cameras to record each plant, the telescoping system capable of transport between shelves
Implementation Method 3
cameras, such as 3D cameras, that may be mounted on a gyroscopic stabilizer to obtain clean and precise images and video of the growing plants
Implementation Method 4
novel plant-grow trays or pallets, which allow for combined optimal plant growth and irrigation methods
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure is directed to improved vertical farming using autonomous systems and methods for growing edible plants, using improved stacking and shelving units configured to allow for gravity-based irrigation, gravity-based loading and unloading, along with a system for autonomous rotation, incorporating novel plant-growing pallets, while being photographed and recorded by camera systems incorporating three dimensional/multispectral cameras, with the images and data recorded automatically sent to a database for processing and for gauging plant health, pest and/or disease issues, and plant life cycle. The present disclosure is also directed to novel harvesting methods, novel modular lighting, novel light intensity management systems, real time vision analysis that allows for the dynamic adjustment and optimization of the plant growing environment, and a novel rack structure system that allows for simplified building and enlarging of vertical farming rack systems.