CA3062495A1 - Plant growing controller - Google Patents

Abstract

-1-ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Disclosed herein is a plant growing controller. This plant growing controller contains lighting, ventilation, odor control technology, and the ability to record and report environmental conditions using sensors for inputs. The controller has elements of expandability so that the grower isn't confined to one set of inputs and output controls. This expandability, such as with additional lighting or peripheral devices, will allow different growers with different skill levels and objectives to use the system successfully. CA 3062495 2019-11-25

Description

TITLE
Plant Growing Controller FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to horticultural lighting, air handling, odor control, and system to provide an automatically-controlled plant-growth environment.
The invention is particularly useful for indoor plant growing applications.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Growing plants indoors allows for superior control over growing environment variables, such as light, water, fertilizers, temperature, and humidity. Growing plants indoors can be complicated to setup, especially if the user has no prior expertise in the setup and configuration of such systems. In addition, growing plants indoors may produce odors which are undesirable.
Current grow kits and systems are comprised of multiple electrical and mechanical components which must be connected properly to successfully install and setup an indoor growing environment. Therefore, a need exists in the industry for simplification of these offerings, especially for the layman and the hobbyist growers. There are also self-contained grow systems on the market that restrict the methods of growing plants, such as only offering hydroponic technique, and lack adaptability as the grower modifies or expands their growing space. An example is U.S. patent application US20180184602A1 where the prior art indicates restrictive growing conditions and specific components to grow plants. Other examples of prior art are US Patents 10,034,342, 8,579,465, and 9,137,874 which are restricted to systems and methods for producing light to enhance plant growth.
Therefore, there is also a need to have a controller system to be able to be utilized in a variety of indoor growing spaces for growing plants by various means such as soil, soilless, hydroponic, and aeroponic methods. Hence, to fulfil this need the controller system needs to not only focus on the application of the light or functions inside a defined grow space but also improvements are needed such that the controller integrates more functionality in addition to being easily reconfigurable and expandable to adapt to different environments and growing techniques.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

-2-A plant growing controller is disclosed. Features of the controller may include, inter alia, a plurality of lighting elements, odor removal technology, environmental sensors, control inputs and outputs, and a user interface to control a plurality of settings for the automatic or manual adjustment of the light, exhaust fan, and other functions to optimize growing conditions. Further aspects and embodiments are described below.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is the front, top, and side view of the present invention; and FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The illustrative embodiments provided herein are not meant to be limiting.
Other embodiments may be utilized, and changes may be made, without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matter presented here. It will be understood that aspects of the present disclosure may be arranged, substituted, combined, and designed in a wide variety of different configurations.
Generally, the various embodiments of the present invention are applied to a light emitting diode (LED) based lighting system that has an integrated extraction fan and odor control, environmental sensors, peripheral device controlling ability, and a controller user interface. However, in some embodiments, an internal light source may utilize plasma, induction, high-pressure sodium, ceramic metal halide, LED, florescent, laser, fiber optic, and/or the like technology, and/or any combination thereof.
The various embodiments of the LED system may contain an array of LEDs and an array of associated lenses. The LED design may include chip on board (COB) LED, individual diodes or a combination of COB and singular diodes. A channel of LEDs may include linear or non-linear arrangements.
In various embodiments, the emission spectra may be varied through the growth stages of the plant. The emission spectra may be controlled so that it is alternating, graduated, concurrent, continuous, or the like. The light emission intensity may be controlled with a variable intensity control. A variable intensity control may include a manual control, an analog control, a digital computer control, or the like. This function allows for the optimal lighting conditions for the growth of various plant types at various stages of growth.

-3-In various embodiments the controller may be configured with odor removal technologies using an integrated extraction fan. The odor removal technologies can be an activated carbon filter, UV light, TiO2 with a UV light source, or any combination thereof. This function allows for the removal of strong odors prior to exhausting the air from the indoor growing space.
In various embodiments the controller may also be configured to control peripheral devices which may include, inter alia, fans, chillers, heaters, air conditioners, and pumps. This functionality allows for the expandability of the system to match the grower's ability and desired growing conditions.
In various embodiments the controller may be configured to automatically adjust the grow light, extraction fan rate, or other peripheral devices. The term "automatic" refers to a process not requiring human action beyond an initial action to start the automatic process.
In various embodiments the controller may also be configured to have a closed loop air-cooled lighting arrangement such that the lighting has a separate air-cooling capability so that air external to the growing environment is used to cool the lights.
In various embodiments the controller may control the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide to support plant growth. The controller could be configured to monitor the carbon dioxide concentrations and have the ability to increase the levels to a set point by injecting supplemental carbon dioxide into the growing space. This function allows for the enhancement of plant growth by controlling the optimal carbon dioxide concentration based on the needs of the plants.
As opposed to physical buttons, an exemplary embodiment may use capacitive touch sensors located behind the front face. The only visible interaction points may be pad prints on the plastic face that sit just in front of the capacitive sensors.
In various embodiments the controller may be managed by a software-based user interface using cloud server functionality, mobile or tablet application, web interface, desktop computer application, or other similar user interface control function through a wired or wireless connection. The software-based interface could also have the ability to view, modify, and record operation and inputs to the system such as environmental information, external sensors, web camera data streams, and the like. This function allows for the improvement of usability and user experience.

-4-Turning to FIG. 1, the invention is exemplified, which may include a user interface and display panel 004 for the operation and display of key controller, peripheral, and environmental information. The controller may include a region 003 for a plurality external sensors and data connections using a plurality of connection types such as ethernet, USB, BNC, serial, and the like. In this exemplified embodiment the invention may have a series of cooling fans 001 to cool the lighting. The growing space exhaust and odor control system may be exhausted through an exhaust port on the controller 002 in order to be ducted outside of the growing space.
FIG 2 is the bottom view which also shows the rear and side of the invention.
The bottom of the invention may have a light source or plurality of sources 006 mounted on or into the controller. This exemplified version of the invention shows the air intake region 007 on the bottom of the controller. Within this region the invention may have a singular filter or a series of filtering and odor removing devices to reduce the odor emitted from the growing space. The rear panel of the invention 005 may be comprised of power input for the invention's power supply. The rear panel may also contain a power switch or switches and a series of power output receptacles in order to power and control peripheral devices 005.
Numerous embodiments and modifications of the invention will come to the mind or be apparent to one skilled in the art that take the benefit of the material presented in the preceding descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is understood that the invention is not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed, and that modifications and embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.

Claims (8)

-1-What is claimed is:

1. A plant growing controller, comprising:
a plurality of lighting elements arranged on the surface;
an odor control system;
environmental sensors to monitor growing conditions;
power outputs to control peripheral devices;
a controller interface to program the controller;
the controller comprising a plurality of settings corresponding to a plurality of plant growing conditions.

2. A plant growing controller of claim 1, wherein the internal light source utilizes one or more of the following sources: plasma, induction, high-pressure sodium, ceramic metal halide, LED, florescent, laser, or fiber optic.

3. A plant growing controller of claim 1, wherein the light emission spectra and intensity can be varied through the growth stages of the plant.

4. A plant growing controller of claim 1, wherein the odor removal technologies uses an integrated extraction fan and one or more technologies of odor removal.

5. A plant growing controller of claim 1, wherein the controller can monitor and report environmental growing conditions by reading inputs from a variety of sensors. The data input from the sensors can then be used to adjust environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, light, carbon dioxide concentration, as well as soil and nutrient condition.

6. A plant growing controller of claim 1, wherein the controller can control peripheral devices such as fans, chillers, heaters, air conditioners, and pumps.

7. A plant growing controller of claim 1, wherein the controller can be controlled either locally or remotely using a software interface.

8. A plant growing controller of claim 1, wherein the control interface has growing conditions settings both pre-set and user programmable.