HK1177099B - Plant cultivation system - Google Patents

Description

Plant cultivation system

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a plant cultivation system for cultivating plants indoors.

Background

In order to cultivate plants, it is essential to appropriately adjust the cultivation environment in accordance with the type of the plant and/or the cultivation condition, and various cultivation facilities have been proposed as means for this.

For example, the following complete control type plant cultivation is performed: blocking the influence of external environment to artificially create cultivation environment for cultivating plant. Further, in order to grasp the growth state of plants, image data analysis is also performed (see patent document 1).

Fig. 17 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a plant cultivation system 101 in patent document 1. The plant cultivation system 101 includes a cultivation room 103 and a management room 105. In the cultivation room 103, the light shielding portion 147 and the heat insulating portion 149 shield the cultivation environment inside the cultivation room 103 from the external environment. The light source 125 that irradiates light on the plant 111 to be cultivated, the adjusting section 151 that adjusts the cultivation environment in the cultivation chamber 103, and the control section 153 that includes various control devices that control the adjusting section 151 manually set the cultivation environment in the cultivation chamber 103. The observation unit 161 observes the growth state of the plant 111 and transmits the observed state to the management room 105. In the management unit 177 of the management room 105, the receiving unit 179 transmits the observation data received from the observation unit 161 to the database (library) 181 and the calculation unit 183. The database 181 stores the observation data as a database. The calculation unit 183 analyzes the observation data and performs data processing.

In addition, a three-dimensional cultivation facility having a plurality of cultivation shelves is also used in order to effectively utilize the land area for cultivation (see patent document 2).

Fig. 16 is a block diagram showing the structure of a plant cultivation system 210 in patent document 2. The plant cultivation system 201 includes a fixed cultivation rack 207 and a management room 205. The cultivation rack 207 includes a plurality of stages of cultivation shelves 209, an adjustment unit 251, a control unit 253, and an observation unit 261. The cultivation rack 207 has a cultivation shelf 209 in a three-dimensional manner, and can effectively utilize a limited land area.

Further, regarding light irradiated in a cultivation environment created artificially for cultivating plants, it is known that red and blue light is effective. The present inventors have found appropriate emission ratios of red and blue colors based on experiments, and have proposed a light emitter module that uniformly emits various lights (see patent document 3).

Documents of the prior art

Patent document

Patent document 1: japanese patent laid-open publication No. 2003-47340

Patent document 2: japanese patent laid-open No. 2000-209970

Patent document 3: japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2009-125007

Disclosure of Invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

In order to observe the growth state of plants in an artificial cultivation environment, it is required to use a light source suitable for plant growth, and it is also required to obtain the same observation data as in the case of observation under sunlight with respect to plant observation. This is because: the observation data so far are mostly observed under sunlight, and it is necessary to match the irradiation conditions so as to enable comparison.

However, patent documents 1 and 2 neither describe nor suggest a light source for uniformly growing plants nor a light source for achieving both growth and observation of plants. The light source described in patent document 3 is neither described nor suggested as a light source that can achieve both plant growth and observation.

In patent document 1, the observation unit 161 and the management unit 177 are devices for observing and analyzing the effect of a specific cultivation environment on the cultivation of the specific plant 111 for the purpose of a plant cultivation test. There is no description nor suggestion about observation and/or data processing for predicting the harvest time of various plants. Patent document 2 describes that the observation unit 261 observes and transmits observation data to the management unit 277, but does not describe or suggest any processing of the observation data.

As described above, according to the conventional plant cultivation system, it is impossible to achieve both plant cultivation and observation in a plant cultivation system in which the cultivation environment of a plant is completely controlled manually. In addition, a method of flexibly applying observation data in a plant cultivation system that completely artificially controls a cultivation environment of a plant is not known in particular.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a plant cultivation system comprising: a plant cultivation system in which the cultivation environment of a plant is completely controlled manually, which is provided with a light source suitable for both cultivation and observation, and which can predict the harvest time using the observation data of the plant in the plant cultivation system in which the cultivation environment is completely controlled.

Means for solving the problems

An invention according to claim 1 is a plant cultivation system for cultivating plants indoors, including cultivation means that are partitioned spaces for cultivating the plants, and a management device that manages cultivation of the plants, the cultivation means including: a movable shelf for growing the plants, i.e. a growing shelf; and a light blocking device for blocking incidence of sunlight into the partitioned space, wherein the cultivation shelf includes a cultivation shelf for cultivating the plant and a light control device for controlling light irradiated onto the plant, the cultivation shelf includes a light source for irradiating the plant with light by adjusting an irradiation amount of a light emitting module having a plurality of light emitting diodes under control of the light control device, and an observation device for observing the plant under irradiation of the light emitting module to obtain observation data and transmitting the obtained observation data to the management device, the light emitting module includes: 1 st light emitting diode emitting light of 1 st spectrum; m (m is an integer of 2 or more) 2 nd light emitting diodes arranged on the circumference of a 1 st circle centering on the 1 st light emitting diode and emitting light of a 2 nd spectrum; and n (n is an integer of 2 or more) 3 rd light emitting diodes arranged on the circumference of a 2 nd circle centering on the 1 st light emitting diode and emitting light of a 3 rd spectrum, the 1 st spectrum, the 2 nd spectrum, and the 3 rd spectrum are different from each other, the 2 nd light emitting diode is arranged so as to be equal in number on each of n arcs of the 1 st circle divided by a ray passing through the 3 rd light emitting diodes with the 1 st light emitting diode as a starting point, the management device includes a receiving device that acquires the observation data from the observation device, a database that stores the observation data acquired by the receiving device, and a calculation device that predicts a harvest date of the plant by using the observation data acquired by the receiving device and past observation data of the plant of the same kind as the plant stored in the database.

The invention according to claim 2 is the plant cultivation system according to claim 1, wherein the 1 st light emitting diode is a light emitting diode that emits white light or green light, 3 of the 2 nd light emitting diodes are light emitting diodes that emit blue light, 3 of the 3 rd light emitting diodes are light emitting diodes that emit red light, and the 32 nd light emitting diodes and the 3 rd light emitting diodes are positioned so as to form an isosceles triangle, respectively.

The invention according to claim 3 is the plant cultivation system according to claim 2, further comprising a storage device for storing the light emitting diode, the storage device including a heat radiating device for radiating heat to the outside and a sealing device for protecting the light emitting diode from outside air, wherein the 3 rd light emitting diode is a light emitting diode having a light emission peak value corresponding to an absorption peak value of the photosensitizing pigment in the plant, and the light emitting diode is stored in the storage device and thermally connected to the heat radiating device.

The invention according to claim 4 is the plant cultivation system according to claim 3, further comprising: a container within the cultivation rack for holding the plant for hydroponic cultivation; a flow path through which a liquid for cooling the light emitting diode flows; and an inter-liquid heat exchanger that exchanges heat between the water in the container and the liquid in the flow path, wherein the flow path is thermally connected to the heat radiator, and the heat exchange by the inter-liquid heat exchanger cools the light emitting diode while maintaining the temperature of the water in the container.

In the present invention, the following may be provided: the disclosed light control device is provided with: mode selection means for controlling a light emission mode of the plurality of light emitting diodes; and a light quantity control device for controlling the light quantity of each of the plurality of light emitting diodes, wherein the mode selection device and the light quantity control device control the light irradiated by the light source for observation by the observation device.

In the present invention, the following may be provided: the 1 st light emitting diode includes a white light emitting diode having a wavelength of yellow or/and green. Further, it is also possible to: white light emitting diodes, which contain wavelengths of yellow or/and green, are incorporated into the light emitter package with a smaller amount of light than the red light source. Thus, the 1 st light emitting diode is a light emitting diode mainly used for observation, but not only facilitates observation, but also has a great significance in cultivation in that it can maintain a uniform irradiation state while suppressing an increase in cost as much as possible in the case where yellow light and/or green light is necessary for plant cultivation. The irradiation can be appropriately performed according to the growth state of the plant 11, for example, only red light is irradiated during the germination period, red light and blue light is irradiated during the cotyledon development period, and red light, blue light and white light are irradiated during the true leaf development period.

In order to predict the harvest time more specifically using the observation data of the plant, observation and/or data processing for predicting the harvest time of the plant may be performed, and for this purpose: the observation device performs observation for acquiring current data, which is observation data of the plant, and transmitting the current data to the computing device (observation step); the calculation means reads past observation data, i.e., past data, of a plant of the same species as the plant from the database (reading step); the computing device comparing the current data with the past data (comparing step); the computing device predicts a harvest day of the plant based on the result of the comparison (predicting step). With this configuration, since highly reliable observation data can be obtained by using a light source that can achieve both growth and observation in a completely manually controlled environment, it is possible to objectively predict the harvest time even for a person who is not skilled in plant cultivation.

Furthermore, the invention of the present application can also be understood as: a plant growing method in a plant growing system, a program for causing a computer to execute the growing method, and/or a computer-readable storage medium storing the program.

The mode of growing plants in the plant growing system may be hydroponic cultivation, so-called water-gas cultivation in which gas is forcibly supplied to plants in hydroponic cultivation, or soil cultivation. As the medium, peat soil made of peat, or another medium such as asbestos, which is 1 kind of artificial mineral fiber, may be used.

Further, according to the conventional plant cultivation system, it is not possible to easily set an ideal cultivation environment according to the cultivation state of each of a plurality of plants. That is, when it is necessary to change the cultivation environment according to each growth state of a plurality of plants to be cultivated in the cultivation room, when it is necessary to set a plurality of cultivation environments for a plurality of plants 111 in 1 cultivation room 101, a common means is to provide a partition in 1 cultivation room 101. Patent document 1 does not describe a specific method for easily setting a plurality of cultivation environments, and patent document 2 does not describe a method for setting an ideal cultivation environment for each plant because the cultivation environment such as temperature and humidity is uniform in the cultivation shelves 207.

Therefore, the present invention may be configured as follows: the cultivation system comprises a plurality of cultivation units, each cultivation unit is provided with a connecting device for connecting the separated space and the separated spaces of other cultivation units except the cultivation unit, and the cultivation frame is provided with a moving device for moving. By providing such a connection device, it is possible to easily set an ideal cultivation environment in accordance with the cultivation state of each of a plurality of plants in a state where the cultivation environment is completely manually controlled. That is, instead of preparing a large cultivation unit, a plurality of cultivation units may be provided, and different cultivation environments may be set for each cultivation unit, and the cultivation shelves may be moved to different cultivation units according to the growth conditions of the plants. This makes it possible to flexibly change the cultivation environment in accordance with various cultivation conditions of various plants to be cultivated. For example, a plant in a germination period is placed in a cultivation unit that irradiates only red light. Next, the plants that came in the cotyledon development period were transferred to a cultivation unit that was irradiated with red light and blue light. Then, during the true leaf development period, the cultivation unit is moved to the cultivation unit irradiated with red light, blue light, and white light (may be green light). Thus, the plant can be cultivated in the cultivation unit that is irradiated appropriately according to the cultivation state without removing the plant from the cultivation unit.

In addition, according to the conventional plant cultivation system, the installation place of the cultivation facility is determined based on the shape thereof. Therefore, in order to install the cultivation facility, a land having a predetermined area must be prepared.

Therefore, the culture unit according to the present invention may be an attachable/detachable culture unit. Here, as a method of assembling and disassembling, the size of each unit may be changed by using a prefab method, or a method of coupling and separating the cultivation units 3 of a predetermined size to each other may be used. By providing the detachable cultivation unit, the size of the cultivation unit, which is the minimum unit of the cultivation environment, can be changed in accordance with the area and/or shape of various lands. Thus, for example, even in a land having a small area, the number of cultivation shelves can be reduced to make the cultivation units smaller, and thus, the plants can be cultivated in a fully-controlled cultivation environment. Conversely, even in a large-area land, the number of cultivation shelves can be increased to provide cultivation units. That is, a complete control type cultivation facility can be provided in accordance with the size and/or shape of the ground. Therefore, the complete control type cultivation facility can be installed in accordance with the area and/or shape of the land, and the cultivation units can be easily moved in accordance with a change such as an increase in the land where the cultivation units are installed, thereby further promoting effective use of the land.

ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECTS OF INVENTION

According to the invention according to the respective aspects of the present application, the light source in the plant cultivation system, that is, the cultivation unit, which completely manually controls the cultivation environment of the plant, can realize the light emission pattern for cultivation and the light emission pattern for observation in the same light emitting module. The same number of 2 nd light emitting diodes are arranged on each of n arcs of a 1 st circle divided by rays of the 1 st light emitting diode and the 3 rd light emitting diode. In this case, the 3 rd light emitting diodes are arranged at substantially equal intervals on the circumference of the 2 nd circle, whereby the light emitter module in which the 1 st, 2 nd, and 3 rd light emitting diodes are arranged substantially uniformly can be provided, and light can be uniformly emitted from the respective light emitting diodes. Therefore, in a plant cultivation system in which the cultivation environment of a plant is completely controlled manually, cultivation and observation can be performed at the same time while uniform light irradiation is performed.

Further, according to the invention of claim 2 of the present application, it is possible to achieve both cultivation and observation more appropriately by setting the light emission pattern to a light emission pattern in which the red light-emitting diode and the blue light-emitting diode suitable for cultivation are caused to emit light during cultivation and setting the light emission pattern to a light emission pattern with high color reproducibility in which the red light-emitting diode and the white or green light-emitting diode suitable for observation are caused to emit light during observation. In particular, by using the 1 st light-emitting diode as a green light-emitting diode that is highly visible to human eyes, it is easy to obtain an emission spectrum in a natural observation mode under sunlight. Therefore, when the device to which the present invention is applied is installed in an eating house, the plants for cooking are likely to look more attractive to guests coming from the store.

Furthermore, according to the invention of claim 3 of the present application, red light having an emission peak that matches an absorption peak of a photosensitizing dye that is a dye protein in chlorophyll can be irradiated onto a plant with high output. The absorption peak of the photosensitizing pigment was 660 nm. By using the light emitting diode of the present application having the emission peak value of 660nm, it is possible to reduce the energy consumption of the light emitting diode and suppress the heat generation which adversely affects the plants, as compared with the case of using the conventional light emitting diode having the emission peak value of 625nm to 635 nm.

Therefore, in the past, of the 3W class high output red light emitting diodes, the red light emitting diode having an emission peak value of 625nm has been the mainstream. This is because the need to require a wavelength of 660nm is not recognized. In addition, the conventional high-output light emitting diode manufactured by the 3-membered system cannot technically manufacture a light emitting diode having an emission peak of 660 nm.

On the other hand, although a 4-element system (AlGaInP) chip having an emission peak at 660nm has been partially manufactured, only a small output of about 20mW is realized. Thus, for small output, hundreds and thousands of chips are required to achieve uniform irradiation for growing plants. However, since there is a risk of failure in the chips one by one, if the number of chips increases, the risk of failure of the entire apparatus also increases accordingly.

In addition, when a high-output chip is manufactured, the chip receives a large thermal damage due to an increase in the amount of heat generated, and the life of the chip is shortened. Thus, the risk of failure further increases.

Therefore, according to the invention of claim 3 of the present application, the light emitting diode can be housed in a housing device that can protect the light emitting diode from external air and efficiently dissipate heat to the outside, and a chip having a size of 0.5mm square and an output of 3W class, for example, can be used. Since a sufficient output can be obtained with a small number of light emitting diodes, the risk of failure of the light emitting diodes can also be reduced as compared with the case of using light emitting diodes of small output.

Further, according to the invention according to claim 4 of the present application, in the case of hydroponics using the plant cultivation system of the present application, the heat radiator is thermally connected to the liquid flowing through the flow path. Therefore, heat can be efficiently dissipated as compared with the case where the heat dissipating device dissipates heat in the air. Further, the inter-liquid heat exchanger exchanges heat between the liquid in the flow path and the liquid of the water in the container, and therefore, the liquid in the flow path can be cooled more quickly than in the case of air-cooling the liquid in the flow path. Therefore, the cooling of the light emitting diode becomes easier. At the same time, the heat generated by the light emitting diode can be transferred to the maintenance of the water temperature in the container for hydroponic cultivation.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a plant cultivation system 1 according to an embodiment.

Fig. 2 shows a flow of observing the growth state of a plant and determining the harvest time in the plant cultivation system of fig. 1.

Fig. 3 (a) is a diagram showing a conventional light emitter module, and fig. 3 (b) is a diagram showing a light emitter module in the plant cultivation system of fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a diagram showing light emission characteristics of the red light emitting diode according to the embodiment.

Fig. 5 is a six-sided view showing a light source in the plant cultivation system of fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged view of the adjacent light emitter assemblies shown in fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is an overall perspective view of the plant cultivation system in example 1.

Fig. 8 is a side view and a cross-sectional view of the plant growing system of fig. 7.

Fig. 9 is a schematic view of a cultivation shelf in the plant cultivation system of fig. 7.

Fig. 10 is a schematic view showing a cooling apparatus for the light source in the cultivation shelf of fig. 9.

Fig. 11 is a schematic view showing a cooling mechanism of the light source in the cultivation shelf of fig. 9.

Fig. 12 is a schematic view of a container 56 for promoting heat dissipation of the light emitting diode.

Fig. 13 is a schematic view showing a cultivation shelf in the plant cultivation system according to embodiment 2.

Fig. 14 is a six-side view showing another example of a product of another cultivation shelf according to the present invention, in which (a) is a front view, (b) is a plan view, and (c) is a left side view.

Fig. 15 is a six-side view showing an example of a product of a cooling system for a light source according to the present invention, (a) a front view, (b) a bottom view, (c) a rear view, (d) a right side view, and (e) a left side view.

Fig. 16 is a block diagram showing the structure of a conventional plant cultivation system disclosed in patent document 1.

Fig. 17 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a plant cultivation system in conventional patent document 2.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail. In the following, although hydroponic cultivation is taken as an example unless otherwise specifically excluded, the cultivation method is not limited to hydroponic cultivation, and may be soil cultivation or cultivation using other media such as peat soil (peat moss) and asbestos.

First, an outline of a plant cultivation system according to the present invention will be described with reference to fig. 1. Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a plant cultivation system according to the present invention.

The plant cultivation system 1 includes a plurality of cultivation units 3 and a management room 5. The cultivation unit 3 includes a plurality of cultivation shelves 7, a light shielding portion 47 as a light shielding device, a heat insulating portion 49 as a heat insulating device, an adjusting portion 51 as an adjusting device for adjusting the cultivation environment in the cultivation unit 3, a control portion 53 as a control device for controlling the adjustment of the cultivation environment, and a connecting portion 55 as a connecting device for connecting the partitioned spaces of the plurality of cultivation units.

The cultivation units 3 can be assembled and disassembled by changing the size of each unit using, for example, a preform method, or by coupling and separating the cultivation units 3 of a predetermined size to each other. Therefore, the size can be changed in accordance with the number of the cultivation shelves 77. In addition, the cultivating unit 3 can be easily moved as needed.

The cultivation shelves 7 have cultivation shelves 9 in multiple stages, and include a light control unit 57 as a light control device and a moving unit 59 as a moving device. The cultivation shelf 9 includes a plant 11, a container 37 in which the plant 11 is placed, a light source 25 for irradiating light onto the plant 11, an inter-liquid heat exchange unit 44 for exchanging heat between liquids (an example of the "inter-liquid heat exchange device" according to the present invention), a flow path 46 for cooling a liquid flow of the light source, and an observation unit 61 for observing the cultivation state of the plant 11 and transmitting observation data to the management room 5. The light control unit 57 includes a mode selection unit 63 for controlling the light emission mode of the light emitted from the light source 25, and a light amount control unit 65 for controlling the light amount of the light emitted from the light source 25.

The control unit 53 includes: a temperature control unit 67 that controls the room temperature in the cultivation unit 3 and the water temperature in the container 37, a humidity control unit 69 that controls the humidity in the cultivation unit 3, a water amount control unit 71 that controls the amount of water in the container 37, an air amount control unit 73 that controls the amount of air in the water in the container 37, and a fertilizer amount control unit 75 that controls the amount of fertilizer in the water in the container 37.

The management room 5 includes a management unit 77 that manages the cultivation of the plants in the cultivation unit 3. The management unit 77 includes a receiving unit 79 for acquiring observation data from the observation unit 61 of each of the plurality of cultivation units, a database 81 for storing the observation data acquired by the receiving unit 79, and a calculation unit 83 for predicting the harvest date of the observed plant.

The cultivation environment of the plants 11 hydroponically cultivated in the cultivation shelf 9 is completely controlled manually by the light shielding section 47, the heat insulating section 49, the adjusting section 51, the light source 25, the control section 53, and the light control section 57. Further, the plurality of cultivation units 3 are set to different cultivation environments, and the cultivation shelves 7 are moved to different cultivation units via the connection portions, whereby the plants 11 can be easily cultivated in the appropriate different cultivation environments.

In order to appropriately determine the time for moving the plant 11 to a different cultivation environment and/or the time for harvesting, it is necessary to accurately grasp the cultivation condition of the plant 11. Therefore, the following description will be made of a process for observing the growth state of plants in the plant cultivation system 1 to predict the harvest day.

Fig. 2 is a diagram showing a flow of observing the growth state of the plant 11 to predict the harvest time in the plant cultivation system 1 of fig. 1.

In step ST1, the light source 25 irradiates the plant 11 with a light emission pattern for observation under the control of the pattern selection unit 63 of the light control unit 54. Next, in step ST2, the observation unit 61 acquires current observation data (hereinafter referred to as "current data") of the plant 11.

Here, specific light may be absorbed by the protein. The light source 25 according to the present embodiment can realize light irradiation in 7 modes by turning ON/OFF only the red, blue, and white (green) lights, except for the case where no light is irradiated at all. Different photographs can be taken according to the distribution of proteins possessed by each plant 11.

In addition, a pattern based ON the pulse width may be used in addition to the pattern based ON/OFF of the luminescent color. The method of controlling the luminance in accordance with the pulse width is referred to as a PWM (pulse width modulation) control method. In the case of 8-bit control, even if the light intensity of the same color light is constant, 2 can be realized⁸=256 lighting patterns, it is possible to realize the most appropriate light irradiation pattern for each plant.

In step ST3, the observation unit 61 transmits the current data to the reception unit 79 of the management unit 77. The receiving unit 79 that received the current data stores the current data in the database 81 and transmits the current data to the calculating unit 83. Next, at step ST4, the calculation unit 83 reads past observation data (hereinafter referred to as "past data") of the same kind of plant as the plant 11 to be observed from the database 81. The past data includes past observation data from sowing to harvesting related to plants of the same species as the plant 11. In step ST5, the calculation unit 83 compares the current data with the past data. By this comparison, it is determined that the shape, color, and/or size of the plant 11 in the current data approximately coincides with the shape of the day since the seeding in the past data. If the pattern corresponding to the day after the past data is determined from the comparison result, the harvesting day of the plant 11 in the current data is predicted by reverse estimation from the harvesting day in the past data in step ST6, and the flow ends.

Through the above observation and prediction procedures, it can be judged, for example, "polyphenol is highly expressed on the surface of leaves, and thus can be harvested 5 days later". That is, the harvest time of the plant 11 can be predicted by non-destructive examination, and even a producer with low skill can predict the harvest time which has been known as implicit knowledge with high probability.

Here, with reference to fig. 3, the light source 25 that irradiates the light emission pattern for growth and the light emission pattern for observation in the plant cultivation system 1 of fig. 1 will be described. Fig. 3 is a diagram showing a conventional light emitter module and a light emitter module in the plant cultivation system according to the present invention. Fig. 3 (a) is a diagram showing a light emitter module according to the design patent right (registered design No. 1353556) of the present inventor. Fig. 3 (b) is a diagram showing a light emitter module according to the present invention.

In the light emitter module 85 in fig. 3 (a), the red light emitting diode 87 emitting red light is arranged around the blue light emitting diode 89 emitting blue light, and thus, red light and blue light can be uniformly irradiated to the plant 11, but the light emission pattern for observation is not considered.

In the light emitter module 91 in the plant cultivation system 1 according to the present invention shown in fig. 3 (b), a white light emitting diode 93 is newly added as a light emitting diode for observation. In comparison with a configuration in which the white (or green) light emitting diode 93 is attached only to the conventional light emitter module 85, white (or green) light for observation can be irradiated from directly above the plant 11.

The light control unit 57 may set the light emission mode for irradiation with the red light-emitting diode 87 and the blue light-emitting diode 89 during the incubation by the control of the mode selection unit 63 and the light amount control unit 65. In the observation, in order to obtain light (light with high color reproducibility) close to the observation under sunlight, for example, the light emission patterns of the red light-emitting diode 87 and the white (or green) light-emitting diode 93 may be adopted.

Here, for the purpose of growing, it is preferable that the light amount of red light is 3 times the light amount of blue light. In order to obtain light with high color reproducibility, the light amount of red light is preferably 10 to 15% of the light amount of white (or green) light.

The characteristics of the red light emitting diode 87 developed by the applicant are described below with reference to fig. 4. Fig. 4 shows (a) an emission spectrum, (b) directivity, (c) a current-temperature characteristic, (d) an output-current characteristic, (e) a current-voltage characteristic, and (f) a relative output-temperature characteristic of the red light-emitting diode 87 developed by the applicant.

Preferably, the light used for the cultivation has an absorption peak corresponding to a chromoprotein contained in chlorophyll of the plant as much as possible. However, only red light emitting diodes of 625nm to 635nm have been conventionally used as the red light emitting diodes 87.

Therefore, the applicant developed a red light emitting diode 87 having a wavelength corresponding to the absorption peak (660 nm) of a photosensitizing pigment, which is a pigment protein possessed by chlorophyll. As shown in fig. 4 (a), the emission peak of the red light-emitting diode 87 is 660 nm. By using the red light emitting diodes 87, it is possible to cultivate the plant 11 more efficiently by reducing the energy consumption of the red light emitting diodes 87, suppressing heat generation that adversely affects the plant, and the like.

As shown in fig. 4 (b), the red light emitting diode 87 has a wide directivity, and is easily designed to uniformly irradiate the plant 11. As shown in fig. 4 (c), the film can withstand practical use at room temperature. As shown in fig. 4 (d), the linearity of the output with respect to the current is good.

As shown in fig. 4 (e), the voltage regulator can be used at a low voltage. Fig. 4 (e) shows only up to 300mW, but allows a current of about 1000mA to flow and outputs 3W-level light. By using the high-output red light-emitting diode 87 in this way, a sufficient output can be obtained from a small number of light-emitting diodes as compared with the case of using a small-output light-emitting diode, and therefore, the risk of failure of the light-emitting diode can also be reduced.

As shown in fig. 4 (f), the output is substantially constant at a temperature near room temperature, and stable light emission can be achieved.

Further, it is said that yellow light and/or green light is required for growing the plant 11. Therefore, consider the case where yellow and/or green light emitting diodes are incorporated into a light emitter assembly. In consideration of cost performance, it is decided to reduce the number of light emitting diodes of other colors in accordance with the increased amount of the kind of light. As a result, the light does not reach the entire plant 11, and uniform irradiation to the plant 11 becomes difficult.

On the other hand, according to recent studies, the following suggestions are given: the presence of yellow and/or green light as a signal is important and the amount of light is not a problem. Therefore, by incorporating white light emitting diodes 93 containing yellow and/or green wavelengths into the light emitter assembly in a smaller amount than the red light source, a uniform and efficient light source can be achieved. That is, the white light emitting diode 93 which is a main object of observation is also significant in terms of cultivation. For example, only red light may be irradiated during the germination period, red light and blue light may be irradiated during the cotyledon development period, and red light, blue light and white light may be irradiated during the true leaf development period.

As described above, the light emitter module 91 of the present embodiment is a light source as follows: by using only 3 types of light emitting diodes of red, blue, and white set to appropriate light amounts, uniform irradiation can be performed in any light emission mode, in addition to both cultivation and observation.

Further, similarly to the conventional light emitter module 85, the following configuration is adopted: a light emitting diode (blue light emitting diode 89) forming an isosceles triangle is arranged around the light emitting diode (white (or green) light emitting diode 93), and a light emitting diode (red light emitting diode 87) forming another isosceles triangle is arranged around the light emitting diode. Since the distances between the light emitting diode elements of the same color are set and the light emitting diode elements of different colors are also arranged symmetrically, uniform light irradiation can be realized.

In order to achieve uniform light irradiation from the light emitter module 91, it is preferable to improve the symmetry of the arrangement of the light emitting diodes. As described above, the arrangement forming the isosceles triangle is an example of an arrangement in which the symmetry is improved. In addition, in the light emitter module 91, it is conceivable that: the red light-emitting diodes 87 are arranged on the circumference of a circle (referred to as a "red circle" in the present embodiment as an example of a "1 st circle") centered on the white light-emitting diodes 93, and the blue light-emitting diodes 89 are also arranged on the circumference of a circle (referred to as a "blue circle" in the present embodiment as an example of a "2 nd circle") centered on the white light-emitting diodes 93. Further, as the arrangement where the blue light-emitting diodes 89 are appropriately dispersed, for example, 1 each may be arranged on an arc of a blue circle divided by a ray passing through the red light-emitting diode 87 with the white (or green) light-emitting diode 83 as a starting point. The red light emitting diode 87 may be similarly disposed. It is preferable that the position where the white (or green) light emitting diode 93 is disposed is included in an isosceles triangle formed by each of the red light emitting diode 87 and the blue light emitting diode 89. The light emitter module 91 shown in fig. 3 (b) is an example of the arrangement of the light emitting diodes described above.

Next, the structure of the light source 25 will be described with reference to fig. 5. Fig. 5 is a six-sided view of the light source 25 in the plant cultivation system 1 of fig. 1, in which (a) shows a front view, (b) shows a rear view, (c) shows a top view, (d) shows a bottom view, (e) shows a left view, and (f) shows a right view. As shown in fig. 5 (a), the light source 25 has a plurality of light emitter modules 91.

Further, the arrangement of the light emitter modules 91 in the light source 25 will be described with reference to fig. 6. FIG. 6 is an adjacent light emitter module 91 of FIG. 5₁And 91₂Enlarged view of (a).

As shown in FIG. 6, a light assembly 91₁And 91₂Are arranged in a mutually inverted configuration. In this way, by alternately inverting the light source 25 and arranging the plurality of light emitter modules 91, the symmetry of light irradiation to the plant can be further improved.

Example 1

Hereinafter, a specific configuration of the plant cultivation system 1 will be described. First, the overall appearance of the plant cultivation system 1 according to example 1 will be described with reference to fig. 7 and 8.

Fig. 7 is an overall perspective view of the plant cultivation system 1. Fig. 8 (a) is a side view of the plant cultivation system 1 viewed from side I in fig. 7. Fig. 8 (b) is a sectional view of the plant cultivation system 1 as viewed from the line II-II in fig. 8 (a).

The plant cultivation system 1 includes a plurality of cultivation units 3 which are partitioned spaces for cultivating plants, and a management room 5 for managing cultivation of plants. The plant cultivation system 1 is generally provided indoors. This is to reduce the influence of sunlight and/or solar energy on the cultivation environment from the outside.

The cultivation units 3 are partitioned by walls 4 that block incident light from the outside and heat conduction. Inside the cultivation unit 3, a plurality of movable cultivation shelves 7 for hydroponic cultivation are provided. The cultivation shelves 7 are provided with cultivation shelves 9 in a plurality of levels. A light source 25 is provided for each cultivation shelf 9, and plants 11 are hydroponically cultivated in the cultivation shelves 9. Water is supplied from the water supply port 31 to the cultivation shelf 9. In order to adjust the cultivation environment such as room temperature and humidity in the cultivation unit 3, an air conditioner 15, a ventilation fan 17, a circulator (circulator) 29 that generates a beam-like airflow, and a humidity controller 33 are provided. A temperature gradient is liable to occur in the cultivating unit 3 only by the air blowing from the air conditioner 15. However, the air flow is generated by the circulator 29 to generate convection in the cultivation unit 3, and it is easy to keep the room temperature and humidity in 1 cultivation unit constant. In fig. 8 (b), the circulator 29 on the side close to the management room 5 is not shown for the sake of simplicity. Further, an illumination 19 is provided for use during work in the cultivation unit 3. The control panel 35 is provided to control various adjusting devices for adjusting the cultivation environment in the cultivation unit 3, and can completely control the cultivation environment in the cultivation unit 3. Although not shown in the present embodiment, the observation unit 61 can be realized by using an imaging device such as a camera. The imaging device such as a camera may be provided in any one of each cultivation shelf, and each cultivation unit as long as the plant can be observed.

The cultivation shelf 7 has casters 13 and a handle 27, and the grower can easily move the cultivation shelf 7. The door 23 provided in the wall 4 is an example of the connection portion 55, and the cultivating unit 3 communicates with another cultivating unit 3 through the door 23. The door 23 is sized to allow the cultivation shelves 7 to pass through. The door 23 may be directly connected to the door 23 of another cultivating unit 3.

In the management room 5, a computer 21 for managing the growth status of the plants 11 in the growth unit 3 is provided. In the present embodiment, the management unit 77, the receiving unit 27, the database 81, and the calculation unit 83 are all realized by the computer 21. The management unit 5 communicates with the cultivation unit 3 via the door 23.

Next, the cultivation rack 7 will be further described with reference to fig. 9. Fig. 9 is a schematic view showing an example of a cultivation shelf in the plant cultivation system according to the present invention.

The cultivation rack 7 includes a plurality of cultivation shelves 9, and plants 11 are hydroponically cultivated in the containers 37 on each of the cultivation shelves 9. A light source 25 is provided for each cultivation shelf, and power is supplied thereto from an AC adapter 39. The light quantity and/or the light emission pattern of the light emitted from these light sources 25 are controlled by the LED controller 41. The cultivation rack 7 is connected to a glass door 43 through a connector 45, so that the inside of the cultivation rack 7 can be observed, and the containers 37 can be prevented from falling down when the cultivation rack 7 moves.

Here, a cultivation method called hydroponics will be described. The air amount control unit 73 forcibly mixes air with the liquid fertilizer used as the fertilizer to promote the growth of the plants. In order to forcibly mix air into the liquid fertilizer, a part of the pipe for introducing the liquid fertilizer into the container 37, which is exposed to the air, is provided with fine holes through which air having a diameter of about 1mm passes, and a blade (propeller) for forcibly mixing the air and the liquid fertilizer is provided at a position closer to the container 37 than the fine holes in the pipe.

Next, the functions of the cultivation shelf 7 will be further described with reference to fig. 10, 11, and 12. Fig. 10 is a schematic view showing a cooling apparatus of the light source 25 in the cultivation shelf 7. Fig. 11 is a schematic diagram showing a cooling mechanism of the light source 25 in the cultivation shelf 7. Fig. 12 (a) is a front view of the housing fixture 56 for promoting heat dissipation of the light emitting diode, fig. 12 (b) is a sectional view taken along the line III-III, and fig. 12 (c) is a rear view.

As shown in fig. 10, the cultivation shelf 7 includes a flow path 46 through which water flows (an example of the "flow path" according to the present invention), a reserve tank 48 that supplies water to the flow path 46, and a pump 50 that moves the water in the flow path 46. Flow path 46 divided into flow paths 46 in contact with light source 25₁And a flow path 46 passing through the part of the water in the container 37₂. Flow path 46₁And a flow path 46₂Connected so that water in the flow path 46 can move. Further, the container 37 and the flow path 46₁And a flow path 46₂A reserve tank 48 and a pump 50 are provided for each of the cultivation shelves 9 shown by the broken lines in fig. 10. Flow path 46₂Also serves as the liquid heat exchanging portion 44.

Here, as shown in fig. 11, a container 56 (an example of the "container" according to the present invention) for containing the light emitting diode in the light source 25 and the flow path 46 covered with the copper pipe₁The heat sink is thermally connected to the heat sink main body 54 (aluminum block) via an aluminum frame 52, and the flow path 46₁The water flowing inside of (1) cools the storage container 56.

Referring to fig. 12 (a), the storage device 56 includes a case 58 and an electrode 60₁And 60₂And a chip 62 of light emitting diodes. As shown in fig. 12 (b), the chip 62 is thermally connected to a heat dissipation portion 64 (an example of the "heat dissipation device" according to the present embodiment). Further, as shown in fig. 12 (c), the heat dissipation portion 64 releases the heat of the chip 62 to the outside.

The heat dissipation part 64 is thermally connected to the aluminum frame 52, and therefore, the heat of the chip 62 flows through the flow path 46₁The water inside is cooled more efficiently than when the heat radiating portion 64 radiates heat to the air.

The housing 58 is made of a material having high heat dissipation properties, such as ceramic and/or PPA resin. The inside of the case 58 is sealed by a sealing portion (an example of a "sealing device" according to the present invention) having high transparency and excellent heat resistance, and the chip 62 is protected from the outside air. As the sealing portion, for example, silicone resin or the like is used. The heat dissipation portion 64 is made of, for example, aluminum.

Flow path 46 heated by light source 25₁The inner water flow path 46₂Move (flow). Flow path 46₂The water in the tank is cooled by heat exchange with the water in the tank 37 through the copper pipe. Flow path 46₂By water cooling, cooling can be performed quickly as compared with the case by air cooling. The cooled water in the flow path 46 can cool the light source 25 again. By supplying water from the reserve tank 48 to the flow path 46, the light source 25 can be sufficiently cooled continuously by running tap water without using cold water. Therefore, the facility cost for cooling water can be reduced. The water in the flow path 46 may be replaced when the water temperature becomes high after circulating for a certain period of time.

On the other hand, the water in the container 37 flows through the flow path 46₂The water therein gets hot, thereby easily maintaining the temperature of the water in the tank 37 at an appropriate temperature.

Water and liquid manure may be supplied to the container 37 of the cultivation shelf 9 by a large tank not shown in fig. 10 connected to the water supply port 31 and a pump not shown in fig. 10. The tank and the pump may be disposed under the cultivation shelf 7 or may be provided elsewhere. Since the cooled water can be supplied into the tank 37 by vaporizing the water in the tank, the control of lowering the temperature of the water in the tank 37 can be performed. That is, even if a water temperature control device which is costly is not provided, the water temperature control device passes through the large tank, the pump, and the flow path 46₂This enables the water temperature in the tank 37 to be controlled to rise and fall.

In addition, the connection flow path 46₁And a flow path 46₂Or may be connected by all the cultivation shelves 9. At this time, the number of the reserve tanks 48 and the pumps 50 for supplying water to the flow paths 46 is only 1 in the cultivation shelves 7.

The water in the flow path 46 may be discharged after passing through the flow path 46 once without circulating, or a liquid other than water may be used.

The pump 50 may be a pump having a power source for driving the pump 50.

Furthermore, the light source 25 and the flow path 46₁The aluminum frame 52, the heat dissipation member body 54, and the heat dissipation portion 64 may be connected by a material having good thermal conductivity, and a material having high thermal conductivity other than aluminum may be used.

Example 2

Next, a cultivation shelf 93 having a different form from that of embodiment 1 will be described with reference to fig. 13. Fig. 13 is a schematic view of a cultivation shelf 93 in the plant cultivation system 1 according to embodiment 2. Fig. 13 (a) and (b) are a front view and a perspective view of the cultivation shelf 93, respectively.

The cultivation shelves 93 are cultivation shelves in which the cultivation shelves 7 are miniaturized. The cultivation rack 93 includes: a light source 94 for miniaturizing the light source 25, a reflection plate 95 for covering the inner surface of the cultivation shelf 93 and reflecting light, a reflection plate 96 for covering the side surface of the light source 94 not covered by the reflection plate 95 and reflecting light, and a cultivation shelf having a culture medium for cultivating the plant 11.

The reflection plates 95 and 96 reflect light from the light source 94 irradiated on the inner surface of the cultivation shelf 93 toward the plant 11, so that uniform and efficient light irradiation toward the plant 11 is easily realized.

The number of the cultivation shelves 97 may be one when the cultivation shelves 93 are preferably small and/or when plants having a high plant height are grown. However, in order to efficiently grow plants in a limited space, it is preferable to form a plurality of layers as shown in fig. 13. Here, the dimensions of the cultivation shelves 93 and 97 can be flexibly set according to the purpose of growing seedlings and/or the installation space. As an example of the dimensions of the cultivation shelf 97, when the width is set to about 275mm × the depth is set to about 330mm, the cultivation shelf 93 can be set on a table, but other dimensions may be used.

The culture medium (not shown in fig. 13) of the culture shelf 97 may be a sponge, a cell tray (cell tray) having a plurality of holes into which the plants 11 enter, asbestos, or the like, and is not limited to a specific type. The pot seedlings may be placed on the cultivation shelf 97.

The cultivation shelf 97 itself is made of a water-impermeable material such as vinyl chloride, and the bottom surface can be irrigated by providing a culture medium thereon. This facilitates water supply to the plant 11. The cultivation shelf 97 can be drawn out from the cultivation rack 3 together with the culture medium and the plant 11. Therefore, water and/or liquid manure can be easily supplied, and the growth state of the plant 11 can be easily visually confirmed.

In the above embodiment, the plant cultivation system 1 is installed indoors, but may be installed outdoors as long as the light shielding portion 47 and the heat insulating portion 49 block incident light and heat conduction to the cultivation unit 3.

The culture unit 3 may be used alone. The cultivation system 1 can be easily expanded and reduced on the premise that the cultivation unit 3 according to the present invention can be used alone.

When the cultivation unit 3 is installed indoors and the influence of incident light on the plant 11 is negligible, the wall 4 may be made of glass so that the cultivation can be observed from the outside. For example, a case is assumed where the plant cultivation system 1 is installed in a station area. By forming one surface of the wall 4 with glass, pedestrians can observe the growth of the plant 11, and the appearance can be improved as a station close to nature. In such a case, in order to reduce the influence of the outside air temperature of the cultivation unit 3 on the cultivation environment inside the cultivation unit 3, it is preferable that the glass is heat insulating glass. Since it is assumed that the room temperature in the cultivation unit 3 near the glass easily changes after all, it is preferable to promote convection in the cultivation unit 3 by using the circulator 29 in order to control the temperature and humidity in the cultivation unit 3.

The cultivating unit 3 and another cultivating unit 3 are connected to each other through a door 23 serving as a connecting unit 55. However, when it is not necessary to set different cultivation environments for each cultivation unit and only the purpose of enlarging the cultivation unit 3 may be satisfied, a part or the whole of the wall 4 may be detachable as the connection part 55.

Also, instead of the white light emitting diode 93, a green light emitting diode may be used. By using the green light emitting diode, the emission spectrum in a natural observation mode under sunlight can be easily obtained. Therefore, as in a case where a plant for cooking is most attractively displayed to a guest in a restaurant, for example, light emission optimal for observation can be realized. Further, white light can be obtained by appropriately adjusting the balance of red, blue, and green as needed.

Further, although the light control unit 57 is provided in each cultivation shelf 7, 1 unit may be provided in the cultivation unit 3, or each cultivation shelf 9 may be provided. Similarly, the adjusting unit 51, the control unit 53, and the observation unit 61 may be provided in 1 unit for cultivation unit 3, in each cultivation shelf 7, or in each cultivation shelf 9.

The management unit 5 is provided adjacent to the planting unit 3, but may be provided separately from the planting unit 3 as long as the observation data from the observation unit 61 can be received by the receiving unit 79 of the management unit 77.

The cultivation shelf 7 of embodiment 1 may be a cultivation shelf provided with reflecting plates corresponding to the reflecting plates 95 and 96.

The cultivation shelf according to the present invention may be the cultivation shelf shown in fig. 14. Fig. 14 is a six-side view showing another example of the cultivation shelf 307 according to the present invention, wherein (a) is a front view, (b) is a plan view, and (c) is a left side view. As shown in fig. 14 (c), the cultivation shelf 307 includes a reserve tank 348 and a pump 350 connected thereto. Here, the pump 350 may be a pump having a power supply for driving the pump 350.

The cooling system for the light source according to the present invention may be a cooling system as shown in fig. 15. Fig. 15 shows six side views of an example of a product of a cooling system 326 for a light source according to the present invention, where (a) is a front view, (b) is a bottom view, (c) is a rear view, (d) is a right side view, and (e) is a left side view. As shown in fig. 15 (a), the cooling system 326 includes a flow path 346 and a metal frame 352. In addition, the flow path 346 is provided to cool the 2-column light source. The flow path 346 may be a flow path for cooling 3 or more rows of light sources. Further, each of the storage devices in the light source may be a storage device that stores a plurality of chips.

Description of the reference numerals

1 plant cultivation system 3 cultivation unit 7 cultivation shelf 9 cultivation shelf 25 light source 44 liquid member heat exchanging part 46 flow path 47 light control part 56 storage appliance 57 light control part 59 moving part 63 mode control part 64 heat dissipation part 65 light control part 77 management part 79 receiving part 81 database 83 computer 87 red light emitting diode 89 blue light emitting diode 91 light emitting component 93 white light emitting diode

Claims (4)

1. A plant cultivation system for cultivating plants indoors, wherein,

comprises a cultivation unit which is a partitioned space for cultivating the plant and a management device for managing the cultivation of the plant,

the cultivation unit includes: a movable shelf for growing the plants, i.e. a growing shelf; and a light blocking device blocking incidence of sunlight to the partitioned space,

the cultivation frame is provided with: a cultivation shelf for cultivating the plant; and a light control device for controlling light to be irradiated to the plant,

the cultivation shelf comprises: a light source for irradiating the plant with light by adjusting an irradiation amount of a light emitting element having a plurality of light emitting diodes under the control of the light control device; and an observation device for observing the plant under the irradiation of the light emitter module, acquiring observation data, and transmitting the acquired observation data to the management device,

the light emitter assembly has: 1 st light emitting diode emitting light of 1 st spectrum; m 2 nd light emitting diodes arranged on the circumference of a 1 st circle centering on the 1 st light emitting diode and emitting light of a 2 nd spectrum, wherein m is an integer of 2 or more; and n 3 rd light emitting diodes arranged on the circumference of a 2 nd circle centering on the 1 st light emitting diode and emitting light of a 3 rd spectrum, n being an integer of 2 or more,

the 1 st, 2 nd and 3 rd spectra being different from each other,

the 2 nd light emitting diode is configured to be equal in number on each of n arcs of the 1 st circle divided by a ray passing through the 3 rd light emitting diodes with the 1 st light emitting diode as a starting point,

the management device is provided with: a receiving device that acquires the observation data from the observation device; a database for storing the observation data acquired by the receiving device; and a calculation device for comparing the observation data acquired by the reception device with past observation data of a plant of the same species as the plant stored in the database to predict a harvest date of the plant.

2. The plant cultivation system as claimed in claim 1,

the 1 st light emitting diode is a light emitting diode emitting white or green light,

the 2 nd light emitting diode, there are 3, is a light emitting diode emitting blue light,

the 3 rd light emitting diode, 3 in number, is a light emitting diode emitting red light,

the 32 nd and 3 rd light emitting diodes are positioned to form an isosceles triangle, respectively.

3. The plant cultivation system as claimed in claim 2,

further comprises a storage device for storing the light emitting diode,

the storage device is provided with: a heat sink for dissipating heat to the outside; and a sealing device for protecting the light emitting diode from external air,

the 3 rd light emitting diode is a light emitting diode with a light emitting peak value consistent with an absorption peak value of the phytochrome in the plant,

the light emitting diode is housed in the housing unit and thermally connected to the heat sink.

4. The plant cultivation system according to claim 3, further comprising:

a container within the cultivation rack for holding the plant for hydroponic cultivation;

a flow path through which a liquid for cooling the light emitting diode flows; and

a liquid-to-liquid heat exchanger for exchanging heat of water in the container with heat of liquid in the flow path,

the flow path is thermally coupled to the heat sink,

the heat exchange by the inter-liquid heat exchange device cools the light emitting diode while maintaining the temperature of the water in the container.