WO2020096445A1

WO2020096445A1 - Vertical growing system

Info

Publication number: WO2020096445A1
Application number: PCT/MY2019/050083
Authority: WO
Inventors: Chee Soon SIAH
Original assignee: Export Pallet Pooling Sdn. Bhd.
Priority date: 2018-11-09
Filing date: 2019-11-08
Publication date: 2020-05-14
Also published as: MY201432A

Abstract

The present invention relates to a vertical growing system (100) for cultivation of agricultural products, comprising at least one load carrying unit (10) for growing agricultural products, a lighting system integrated with the at least one load carrying unit (10) for providing light to the loaded agricultural products, a rotary chain (20) for transporting the at least one unit, wherein the at least one load carrying unit (10) travels along the rotary chain (20) to be accessed when it is required. The at least one load carrying unit (10) comprises multiple levels for loading agricultural products, with the lighting system integrated at each level.

Description

VERTICAL GROWING SYSTEM

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to vertical growing systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to vertical growing systems with customizable multileveled loading units for cultivating agricultural products, with each level integrated with a lighting system in a controlled environment.

Background of the Invention

The demand in vertical farming has increased due to the change in perception in food in society. Consumers nowadays demand healthier and locally-sourced produce, which is harder to come by in cities as farming space nearby is limited due to them having being converted for housing and industrial usage. Therefore, more and more farmers are turning to vertical farming to keep up with the demand for these products.

Vertical farming is typically conducted indoors. The stacking of crop trays or shelves utilizes the air space that is normally wasted in conventional open field farming. Thus, vertical farming is much more productive and space efficient when compared to conventional open field farming.

Due to their higher space efficiency and productivity, vertical farms can be operationally viable on smaller plots of land closer to the consumers, who will then be able to enjoy freshly harvested, lower carbon footprint, chemical-free produce all year round.

Conventionally, most vertical farmers use static racks and shelves for vertical farming, with the vertical systems expanding upwards. However, the expansion of the vertical system is limited to the height of the roof as well as the strength of the system. Once the vertical farming shelves exceeds 6 feet, working access to the higher levels is affected and additional means are required to access the higher shelves. These means can include ladders, temporary shelf fixtures, walkways, forklifts or personnel lifting platforms. Ultimately, production will slow down due to accessibility issues as staff would take longer to access and work on higher levels i.e. eventually more staff will be required.

Further, the expansion in normal vertical farming operation will lead to an increase in racks and shelves used to increase production. This will cause a considerable increase in manpower requirement to operate the vertical farm. As the scale of operation increases, this could result in an upsurge of operational costs.

Other than that, produce grown with such method are limited by the availability of sunlight, as the upper levels of the vertical farming system will reduce the sunlight available for the lower levels.

There exist several prior arts with the above issues.

US 2012279122 A1 discloses a rotating plant cultivator with a close-looped conveyor system for transporting a plurality of cradles. The cradles are supplied with growth- sustaining liquid and LED lights to control and nurture the produce. However, due to the plant cultivator being designed to fit in a box, the cradles are not customizable to include multiple levels. Cradles are therefore required to be harvested row by row, which is time-consuming and potentially increases the required manpower.

US 2017055471 A1 discloses a rotatable rack system for growing plants. The rotatable rack system comprises of a frame with a plurality of mobile tray arranged around the frame, with each mobile tray chain linked to each other. The prior art transports the mobile trays to an elevated height to provide uniform sunlight to the loaded plants. However, the cultivation of plants using the rotatable rack system would be limited to the availability of the sunlight, thus limiting the growth of the produce. Further, each individual rack has to be accessed and worked on separately, which decreases productivity.

CN 250284508 U discloses a hydroponic device with interactive function, based on the design principles of the Ferris Wheel. The prior art features a rotating shaft driven by a driving mechanism to rotate a plurality of attached cultivation tanks. Due to the Ferris Wheel design of the prior art, the prior art has a comparatively large footprint with a smaller cultivation area. The prior art is therefore not ideal for dense, urban areas.

Therefore, there exists a demand for a vertical growing system with a reduced footprint for accommodating many multilevel load carrying units that will allow multiple concurrent access to different positions and/or levels on the grow unit,, with a lighting system integrated in each level of the load carrying unit to increase the production of agricultural products. Summary of Invention

An object of the present invention is to provide a vertical growing system with a rotating feature for accommodating multilevel growing shelves for the cultivation of agricultural products.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a vertical growing system with integrated lighting for supplying agricultural crops with a constant light source.

Further, an object of the present invention is to provide an irrigation solution for providing a consistent water source to agricultural crops.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a vertical growing system with increased cost benefit and output in the cultivation of agricultural crops. In an embodiment of the present invention, the vertical growing system of the present invention comprises at least one load carrying unit for growing plants. The at least one load carrying unit comprises a plurality of customizable shelves for growing plants. The at least one load carrying unit is attached to a rotary chain, wherein the rotary chain is for transporting the at least one loading unit. The vertical growing system further comprises a lighting system for providing light to the growing plants. When required, the at least one load carrying unit can be moved by the rotary chain to the desired level to be worked on. The at least one load carrying unit comprises of multiple levels, with each level integrated with the lighting system. The load carrying unit of the vertical growing system comprises multiple levels for growing plants. Each level of the load carrying unit is integrated with the lighting system to provide lighting to the growing plants. With multiple levels, a bigger amount of plants could be grown and harvested from the vertical growing system at a time, which cuts down on operational time, especially during harvest.

The vertical growing system further comprises of an irrigation system for providing water to the growing plants. The irrigation system provides water to the top most shelf of an elevated loading unit, through which the water will flow through to the lower shelves until it exits to the top shelf of the subsequent lower positioned load carrying unit until it reaches the lowest unit, wherein the water will be discharged into a storage tank to be reused . In another embodiment of the present invention, the load carrying units of the vertical growing system is customizable to accommodate different crops or livestock and aquaculture.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings.

Brief Description of Drawings

Fig. 1 shows the front view of an embodiment of the vertical growing system.

Fig. 2 shows the front view of a second embodiment of the vertical growing system.

Fig. 3 shows the perspective view of the load carrying unit of an embodiment of the vertical growing system.

Fig. 4 shows the side view of a vertical growing system setup in a customized multistoried controlled-environment building.

Detailed Description of Embodiments

It should be noted that the following detailed description is directed to a vertical growing system (100) with an integrated lighting system and is not limited to any particular size or shape of the vertical growing system (100) but in fact a multitude of sizes and shapes within the general scope of the following description.

It is illustrated in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 a vertical growing system (100) of an embodiment of the present invention which is for the cultivation of plants. The vertical growing system (100) comprises at least one load carrying unit (10) for growing plants with an integrated lighting system for providing a light source to the growing plants. The vertical growing system (100) further comprises a rotary chain (20) for transporting the at least one load carrying units (10).

Fig. 3 illustrates the load carrying unit (10) of an embodiment of the present invention. The load carrying unit (10) comprises multiple levels, with each level capable of growing a number of plants. The lighting system is integrated with each level of the load carrying unit (10), preferably on the underside of each level. With that arrangement, each level of the load carrying unit (10) provides a light source to the subsequent level of the load carrying unit (10). The load carrying unit (10) further comprises attaching members (40) to attach the load carrying unit (10) to the rotary chain (20).

The LEDs on the bottom most level of each load carrying unit will then provide lighting to the top most level of the next load carrying unit, thereby providing continuous lighting to all levels.

The concept of a multilevel load carrying unit (10) is for reducing the operational time, especially during harvest as the crop can be easily rotated to your location. Further, the multilevel load carrying unit (10) provides more usable growing areas for growing crops or livestock, which improves cost and land usage efficiency.

In operation, multiple load carrying units are attached to the rotary chain (20). Each load carrying unit (10) comprises of multiple levels, with each level integrated with a lighting system. The lighting system is preferably arranged at the underside of each level, thus each level provides a light source to each subsequent, lower level. The rotary chain (20) forms a close-loop around the vertical growing system (100), allowing the arranged load carrying units to travel continuously around the vertical growing system (100). The underside of the lowest level of each load carrying unit (10) will therefore provide lighting to the highest level of the subsequent load carrying unit (10), thereby providing continuous lighting to all load carrying units. When a specific load carrying unit (10) is required to be worked on, the rotary chain (20) transports the required load carrying unit (10) to the desired working level.

The ability to transport the load carrying unit (10), when required, to a staff is to reduce or eliminate the accessibility difficulties associated with higher positioned load carrying units. This feature, dubbed Crop-to-man (CTM), significantly reduces walking or climbing required by the staff to access a specific load carrying unit (10). The vertical growing system (100) is capable of further expansions upwards, as long as it is commercially viable.

The shelf levels in each load carrying unit (10) is customizable according to the amount and size of the desired produce. For example, crops such as romaine lettuce and spinach could require a shelf height of 45 cm, whilst other crops such as tomatoes and peppers could require a shelf height of 65 cm.

The minimum number of the load carrying unit (10) in practice is 3. Fig. 4 shows an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the vertical growing system (100) setup in a multistoried building, where groups of the vertical growing system (100) occupy their designated levels. The setup is expandable and is only limited to the vision of the owner as well as by financial and structural constraints.

In another embodiment of the present invention, each level of the load carrying unit (10) of the vertical growing system (100) is customized to feature at least one coop or cage for the cultivation of poultry.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, each level of the load carrying unit (10) is customized to feature water tanks for the cultivation of aquaculture products, such as fishes or shell fish such as abalone.

Preferably, the vertical growing system (100) comprises a minimum of 3 load carrying units (10).

Preferably, the vertical growing system (100) further comprises an integrated irrigation system. In operation, the irrigation system provides water at an elevated end of the vertical growing system (100) to the top shelf of an elevated load carrying unit. The water will then flow through subsequent lower shelves until it exits the load carrying unit when it will then flow to the next lower positioned load carrying unit, and then on to the next lower positioned load carrying unit, and so on, thereby providing water to all lower attached load carrying units without engaging the rotary chain (20).

Preferably, the shelf depth of the vertical growing system is scalable depending on the product requirement, cost constraint as well as technical and operational limitation. For example, the shelf depth of a standard vertical growing system could be 1.8 m (6 feet) whilst the width of the shelf is 6 m (20 feet).

Preferably, the integrated lighting system comprises an array of lighting members. The lighting members are preferably LEDs.

Preferably, the shelf levels of the load carrying unit (10) can be customizable. For example, the shelf levels of the load carrying unit (10) can be adjustable in increments of 2.5 cm. Preferably, the vertical growing system (100) further comprises a motor for driving the rotary chain (20).

Preferably, the vertical growing system (100) is capable of manual operation.

Preferably, the vertical growing system (100) features a fluid dispensing system for dispensing water and nutrient to each multilevel load carrying unit (10).

Preferably, the at least one load carrying unit (10) is removable.

Preferably, the vertical growing system (100) further comprises a working platform at an elevated level from the ground of the vertical growing system (100) for providing additional multiple access points to the shelves of the load carrying unit (10). An example of the elevated level is shown in Fig. 4.

While the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described and illustrated, it should now be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the following claims are intended to embrace such changes, modifications, and areas of application that are within the scope of this invention.

Claims

1. A vertical growing system (100) for cultivation of agricultural crops, comprising : at least one load carrying unit (10) for growing agricultural crops;

a rotary chain (20) for transporting the at least one load carrying unit (10); a lighting system for providing light to the agricultural crops; and

wherein, the at least one load carrying unit (10) comprises a plurality of shelves;

wherein, when required, the at least one load carrying unit (10) is transported along the rotary chain (20) to be accessed at a desired level from the ground.

2. The vertical growing system (100) as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the vertical growing system (100) further comprises an irrigation system for providing water to the at least one load carrying unit (10).

3. The vertical growing system (100) as claimed in Claim 2, wherein the provided water flows through the shelves of the at least one load carrying unit (10) to the shelves of a subsequent load carrying unit (10).

4. The vertical growing system (100) as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the lighting system comprises of an array of lighting members integrated at each level of the at least one load carrying unit (10).

5. The vertical growing system (100) as claimed in Claim 1, wherein each level of the load carrying unit provides lighting to a subsequent level of the load carrying unit.

6. The vertical growing system (100) as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the vertical growing system (100) further comprises a working platform at an elevated level from the ground.

7. The vertical growing system (100) as claimed in Claim 4, wherein the lighting members are LEDs.

8. The vertical growing system (100) as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the vertical growing system (100) further comprises a motor to drive the rotary chain (20).

9. The vertical growing system (100) as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the vertical growing system (100) can be operated manually.

10. The vertical growing system (100) as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the at least one load carrying unit (10) further comprises attaching members (40) for attaching the load carrying unit (10) to the rotary chain (20).

11. The vertical growing system (100) as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the at least one load carrying unit (10) is customizable to accommodate crops.

12. The vertical growing system (100) as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the at least one load carrying unit (10) is customizable to accommodate livestock.

13. The vertical growing system (100) as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the at least one load carrying unit (10) is customizable to accommodate fishes and shellfish.

14. A vertical growing system (100) for cultivation of agriculture or aquaculture products, comprising :

at least one load carrying unit (10) for growing agriculture or aquaculture products; and

a rotary chain (20) for transporting the at least one load carrying unit (10); wherein, the at least one load carrying unit (10) comprises multiple levels; wherein, when required, the at least one load carrying unit (10) is transported along the rotary chain (20) to be accessed at an elevated level from the ground.

15. The vertical growing system (100) as claimed in Claim 14, wherein the at least one load carrying unit (10) is customizable to accommodate crops.

16. The vertical growing system (100) as claimed in Claim 14, wherein the at least one load carrying unit (10) is customizable to accommodate livestock.

17. The vertical growing system (100) as claimed in Claim 14, wherein the at least one load carrying unit (10) is customizable to accommodate fishes.