JP2011030477A - Hydroponic apparatus for household use and dietary education - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a hydroponic apparatus for household use, which is formed to apply light of a light sourcedisposed in a ceiling part even to plants in a cultivation tank arranged on the lower part, in spite of being a cultivation apparatus equipped with cultivation tanks in multi-stages. <P>SOLUTION: The hydroponic apparatus includes a case frame having an opening closing door, a side wall, a bottom wall closing a bottom part, and a ceiling wall closing a ceiling part and having a hollow inner space, and a cultivation tank arranged in the space in the case frame and a water storage tank arranged on the lowest part of the space, and a light source set on the ceiling part in the case frame to beam light for plant raising. The cultivation tank has drainage means of keeping supplied water at a fixed water level and making surplus supplied water fall into the lower cultivation tank or the water storage tank. The water storage tank is provided with pumping means of drawing up stored water as supplied water to the upper cultivation tank. The light source installed on the ceiling part is formed so as to change the attachment position according to the arrangement of the cultivation tank. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a hydroponic cultivation apparatus for cultivating plants indoors.

Conventionally, hydroponics that grow plants with water containing nutrients without using soil is known. Moreover, a household hydroponic cultivation apparatus (Patent Document 1) is known as an apparatus intended to perform the hydroponic cultivation at home.
Such a household hydroponic cultivation apparatus cannot be formed in a large size because it is placed in a room of a general household. Moreover, it is desirable that many plants can be cultivated quantitatively while being compact so that it can be installed in a small space. And in order to increase mass productivity, it is necessary to increase the cultivation area as much as possible, and in order to efficiently cultivate plants in a small space, a plurality of cultivation tanks are necessarily provided in multiple stages along the vertical direction. become. However, when the cultivation tanks are provided in multiple stages, if the light from the light source installed near the ceiling is not efficiently irradiated to the plants in the lower stage, the plants in the cultivation tank below cannot be normally developed. There's a problem.

Utility Model Registration No. 3111953

As mentioned above, household cultivation devices need to be compact, but if they are configured in multiple stages to increase the amount of plant cultivation, it will be difficult for light to reach the cultivation tank below and An impact will occur.
This invention was invented in view of the said subject, Comprising: Although it is a cultivation apparatus which provided the several cultivation tank in multiple steps along the up-down direction, it can irradiate also the whole plant in a cultivation apparatus It is an object of the present invention to provide a household hydroponic cultivation apparatus configured as described above. It is another object of the present invention to provide a household hydroponic cultivation apparatus having various technical configurations effective for growing plants.

In order to solve the above problems, the invention according to claim 1 of the present application has the following configuration.
An open / close door provided on one side, a side wall covering a side other than the side provided with the door, a bottom wall that closes the bottom, a housing having a hollow internal space with a ceiling wall that closes the ceiling;
A cultivation tank disposed in the space in the housing and a water storage tank disposed in the lowermost part of the space,
Having a light source that emits light for plant growth arranged along the side wall in the housing;
The cultivation tank is provided with a drainage means for keeping the supplied supply water at a certain water level and lowering excess supply water to the lower cultivation tank or water storage tank,
The water storage tank is provided with pumping means for pumping the stored water as supply water to the upper cultivation tank,
The said light source is comprised so that an attachment position can be changed according to arrangement | positioning of the said cultivation tank, The hydroponic cultivation apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned.

The invention according to claim 2 of the present application has the following configuration.
The hydroponic cultivation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the casing is provided with support means for holding the cultivation tank at an arbitrary position in the internal space.

The invention according to claim 3 of the present application has the following configuration.
While configuring the support means by a rod-shaped body arranged in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the cultivation tank,
The hydroponic cultivation apparatus according to claim 2, wherein supported portions supported by the supporting means are provided at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the cultivation tank.

The invention according to claim 4 of the present application has the following configuration.
The said cultivation tank has a suspension means which suspends the cultivation pot formed as a water-permeable container body holding the root part of a plant, The said suspension means was formed with the rod-shaped body which can be attached or detached. Item 4. The hydroponic cultivation apparatus according to any one of Items 1 to 3.

The invention according to claim 5 has the following configuration.
The hydroponic cultivation according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the cultivation tank has a shape that is bent so that the shape seen from the vertical direction is slightly meandering along the longitudinal direction. apparatus.

The hydroponic cultivation apparatus according to the present invention is provided with a plurality of cultivation tanks along the vertical direction for growing plants in order to obtain the maximum yield while having a small installation area. However, the several light source which supplies light to each cultivation tank is attached so that a position can be changed along the wall of a side surface. Thereby, the hydroponic cultivation apparatus which concerns on this invention has the effect that it can make it difficult to produce the blind spot with respect to a light source as much as possible with respect to each cultivation tank arrange | positioned in multiple stages.
Moreover, the cultivation tank arrange | positioned in a hydroponic cultivation apparatus is provided in the housing | casing so that a movement in the front-back direction is possible. Therefore, by adjusting the position of the cultivation tank to be arranged, the position can be finely adjusted so that a blind spot with respect to the light source is not easily generated. Furthermore, each cultivation tank can adjust the attachment position of the cultivation pot holding the plant to grow to an optimal position. Thereby, for example, even when the growth progresses and the leaves become large and the overlap between the leaves occurs, the position of the cultivation pot can be adjusted or replaced, and the overlap of the leaves can be eliminated or the light source The plant can be efficiently cultivated by preventing contact and the like.

1 is an external perspective view of a hydroponic cultivation apparatus according to the present invention. It is sectional drawing which looked at the hydroponic cultivation apparatus which concerns on this invention from the side surface side. It is the perspective view which looked at the inside of the hydroponic cultivation apparatus concerning the present invention from the back side. It is explanatory drawing of the cultivation tank used for this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the water tank used for this invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the hydroponic cultivation apparatus according to the present embodiment, and 1 represents the hydroponic cultivation apparatus.
The hydroponic cultivation apparatus 1 in the present embodiment has a cubic housing 2 formed of a stainless steel plate, a steel plate or the like as an example, and the outer dimensions are a lateral width of 430 mm, a depth (front and rear width) of 350 mm, and a high height. Is approximately 800 mm. The inside of the housing 2 is formed as a space for plant cultivation and accommodates each means used for plant cultivation.
Two doors 3 that open and close from the center to the left and right are provided on the front surface of the housing 2 so that the inside of the housing 2 can be exposed and closed by opening and closing the door 3. It can be done. The door 3 is provided with a plurality of circular windows for both daylighting and monitoring over almost the entire surface. Although the circular window is normally closed by a transparent plate attached to the back of the door 3 (not shown), the transparent plate is configured to be removable, depending on the external environment and the situation of the plant to be grown. The transparent plate can be removed and used as a simple hole.

Side walls 4 are respectively provided on the left and right side surfaces of the housing 2. The side wall 4 in the present embodiment is detachably attached to the housing 2, and the side surface of the housing 2 is closed by the attachment of the side wall 4.
A ventilation plate 5 provided with a breathable net or a large number of small holes is detachably provided on the housing 2 above the side wall 4. The ventilation plate 5 is provided to ventilate the inside of the housing 2 and is provided with a net or a large number of small holes to prevent insects from entering.
In this embodiment, the side wall 4 is formed as an opaque body. However, the side wall 4 may be formed of a material that transmits light, such as a transparent resin.

Further, a bottom wall 6 is provided at the bottom of the housing 2, a rear wall 7 is provided on the back surface of the housing 2, and a ceiling wall 8 is provided on the top surface. These partition walls are also formed of a stainless steel plate, a steel plate, or the like as an example.
A vent 9 for taking in outside air or discharging internal air is provided in the front portion (door 3 side) of the inner surface of the ceiling wall 8, and the inflow of air is forcibly adjacent to the vent 9. Or the electric fan 10 which exhausts is mounted | worn.
The hydroponic cultivation apparatus 1 has a space surrounded by the walls described above, and cultivates plants in the space.

Moreover, the leg 11 for mounting the hydroponic cultivation apparatus 1 in a proper posture with respect to the floor surface is provided at the four corners at the bottom of the housing 2. The leg 11 can adjust the amount of protrusion from the bottom of the housing 2, and by adjusting the amount of protrusion of the leg 11, the posture of the hydroponic cultivation apparatus 1 with respect to the floor surface is properly maintained. It has become.
Moreover, when arrange | positioning so that the back surface of the hydroponic cultivation apparatus 1 may contact | connect with an indoor wall surface, it adjusts so that the two legs 11 in a back side may be shortened about 2 mm with respect to a front leg, It is desirable that the hydroponic cultivation apparatus 1 is slightly inclined to the back side. By doing in this way, it can be made hard to fall forward at the time of an earthquake.
The above-described leg 11 has been described on the assumption that the protrusion amount can be adjusted. However, two legs on the back side are formed in advance as legs that are shorter than the leg on the front side by about 2 mm. There is no problem even if the hydroponics apparatus 1 is tilted to the back side by attaching.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a plurality of support rods 12 provided substantially horizontally in the front-rear direction are provided at equal intervals in the vertical direction on both the left and right sides in the housing 2. The support rods 12 provided on both the left and right sides in the housing 2 are provided so as to be equal to the height of the rods provided on the opposite side walls, and support both ends of the cultivation tank 13 to be described next. This is a supporting means for suspending the cultivation tank 13 almost horizontally.
The side wall 4 is configured to be detachable as described above. Further, the side wall 4 is adapted to be fitted to a rectangular frame 14 that forms a part of the skeleton of the housing 2. The plurality of support rods 12 are also inserted into holes 37 formed in the rectangular frame 14 so that both ends are supported and fixed.
In the illustrated example, five support rods 12 are provided on one side wall side, but the number of attachments is not limited to the number. In addition, it is possible to provide a large number of holes for attachment at narrow intervals along the vertical direction so that the attachment position of the support rod 12 can be selectively changed.

As described above, a plurality of pairs of left and right support rods 12 having the same height are arranged in the vicinity of the left and right side walls in the housing 2. A cultivation tank 13 is attached to one set of rods 12.
As shown in FIG. 4, the cultivation tank 13 is formed as an elongated water tank having an opening at the upper end, and has a shape that is bent so that the shape seen from the vertical direction is slightly meandering along the longitudinal direction. . At both ends in the longitudinal direction of the cultivation tank 13, mounted portions (supported portions) 15 formed in a hook-like shape by downward bent pieces are provided. The mounted portions 15 at both ends of the cultivation tank 13 are placed (supported) on a pair of support rods 12 attached to the left and right sides of the rectangular frame 14 so as not to fall off. In this way, the cultivation tank 13 is suspended from the support bar 12 by the engagement between the mounted portions 15 at both ends and the support bar 12.

The width of the mounted portion 15 is formed to the same length (about 10 cm) as the width of both ends of the cultivation tank 13, and the length is the effective length of the support bar 12 on which the mounted portion 15 can be placed. It is formed to be approximately 1/2 or less. That is, the cultivation tank 13 supported by the support rod 12 is provided on the support rod 12 so as to be movable in the front-rear direction by a distance equivalent to the horizontal width of the cultivation tank 13.
The movably formed in this way is to adjust the position of each cultivation tank 13 so that the light of the light source is efficiently irradiated to the plurality of cultivation tanks 13 arranged in multiple stages along the vertical direction. This is to make it possible. In addition, as described above, the cultivation tank 13 has a shape that is bent so as to meander, so that the light of the light source provided on the upper side is also used in the downward direction by using the shape of the valley portion formed by the bending. It can be made to reach.

The cultivation tank 13 is a container body having an opening at the top, and is a water tank that accumulates a predetermined volume of water. A plurality of small holes 18 and 19 are provided in the longitudinal direction in the vicinity of the upper ends of the front and rear side walls 16 and 17 that form part of the open end. The small holes 18 and 19 are provided so as to have a substantially opposing positional relationship in the front and rear side walls 16 and 17. And in the pair of small holes 18 and 19 which make the said pair, the thin stick | rod 20 formed somewhat longer than the width | variety of the front-back direction of the cultivation tank 13 is provided so that insertion / extraction is possible.
In addition, the plurality of bars 20 are arranged in parallel at an interval of about 3 to 5 cm over the longitudinal direction of the upper opening of the cultivation tank 13, and the distance between the bars 20 by pulling out the inserted bars 20. Can be adjusted to 6 to 10 cm. It should be noted that the arrangement interval of the rods 20 can be configured to be finely set by narrowing the arrangement interval of the small holes 18 and 19 and increasing the number of the holes.

  The rod 20 serves as a suspension means for supporting a cultivation pot (pot) 21 for containing and holding plants in the cultivation tank 13. The depth of the cultivation tank 13 is approximately 8 to 10 cm, and the total height of the cultivation pot 21 is formed to be slightly shorter than the depth of the cultivation tank 13. The cultivation pot 21 is a container body having an opening in the upper part, and has a structure in which a large number of holes are provided in a side wall constituting the container body. The size of the upper opening can be selected depending on the type of plant to be cultivated, and according to the size of the cultivation pot 21, the interval and number of bars 20 that suspend the cultivation pot 21 are determined. It can be adjusted.

A pair of suspended portions 30 protruding in a flange shape are provided on a pair of opposing upper edges of the cultivation pot 21 having a rectangular opening. Since the suspended portion 30 is only placed on the rod 20, it is possible to adjust the position of moving the rod 20 to the front side of the cultivation tank 13 or moving it to the back side. Yes. Such adjustment is performed, for example, when the degree of light hitting the plant is optimized.
In the hydroponic cultivation apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, the cultivation tank 13 containing a plurality of the cultivation pots 21 described above is provided at two locations near the upper stage and the middle stage. And the water storage tank 22 which served as the cultivation tank formed slightly wider than the cultivation tank 13 is provided in the lowest step part.

As shown in FIG. 5, the water storage tank 22 is an upper open water tank having a cubic shape, and similarly to the cultivation tank 13, hook-like attached portions 23 formed as downward bent pieces are provided at both ends in the longitudinal direction. It is what has been. The mounted portion 23 is placed on the support rod 12 attached to the rectangular frame 14 and is suspended so as not to drop off.
A plurality of small holes 26 and 27 are provided in the longitudinal direction in the vicinity of the upper end portions of the front and rear side walls 24 and 25 that form the opening of the water storage tank 22 in the longitudinal direction. The small holes 26 and 27 are provided so as to be substantially opposed to the front and rear side walls 24 and 25, and the pair of small holes 26 and 27 are respectively provided in the front and rear directions of the water tank 22. A thin rod 28 formed slightly longer than the width is provided so as to be removable.
That is, in the upper opening of the water tank 22, a plurality of bars are arranged in parallel at intervals of about 3 to 5 cm along the longitudinal direction. Moreover, the space | interval of the stick | rod 28 can be changed like 6-10 cm by pulling out the stick | rod 28 inserted. Further, as an example, by increasing the number of small holes 26 and 27 and shortening the distance between adjacent holes, a considerable degree of freedom can be given to the adjustment of the distance between the bars 28.
Further, the cultivation pot 21 can be attached to the water storage tank 22 by using the rod 28. And like the said cultivation tank 13, the attachment position of the cultivation pot, the attachment number, and the magnitude | size can be arbitrarily set now.

Further, the side wall 16 or 17 of the cultivation tank 13 is provided with a drainage means having an opening on the inner surface. The drainage means is formed by an L-shaped pipe 29 in the present embodiment, and drains the water in the cultivation tank 13 that has reached a certain water level through the pipe 29. . Note that a hose or the like may be connected to the discharge port portion at the end of the tube 29 to guide water to a predetermined position below, but in this embodiment, a chain that hangs down to the discharge port portion at the end of the tube 29 May be configured so that the water descends to a predetermined position along the chain.
The water discharged through the pipe 29 is guided to the other cultivation tank 13 or the water storage tank 22 located immediately below.

  A small region 32 partitioned by a water-permeable filter 31 is formed at one of the longitudinal ends of the water storage tank 22. And the electric pump 33 for water pumping is arrange | positioned in the said division | segmentation area | region 32 so that the water in the said division | segmentation area | region 32 may be pumped to the cultivation tank 13 located in the uppermost part via the pumping pipe 34 or a hose. It has become. That is, the water sucked up by the electric pump 33 is supplied to the uppermost cultivation tank 13, and when the water level in the cultivation tank 13 reaches a certain level or higher, excess water is removed from the next cultivation tank 13 through the pipe 29 constituting the drainage means. When the next-stage cultivation tank 13 reaches a certain water level or higher, surplus water returns to the next-stage water storage tank 22 via a pipe 29. Thus, the water supplied to the cultivation tank 13 is circulated by the pump 33 at all times or every elapse of a fixed time. In addition, nutrients such as liquid fertilizer for growing plants are added to the circulating water.

A power supply rail 35 for power supply is attached from the bottom wall 6 to the ceiling wall 8 immediately inside the rear wall 7 in the housing. A light bulb 36 as a light source can be attached to an arbitrary position on the power supply rail 35. In the present embodiment, a plurality of light bulbs up to about 150 W in total can be attached. As the light source, an incandescent bulb, a halogen bulb, an LED, or the like can be used. Moreover, you may use several LED from which a wavelength differs so that the light of an optimal frequency can be irradiated according to the plant to grow or a growth process. Moreover, you may make it irradiate the light from which a wavelength differs according to the growth condition of a plant.
The socket for the light source attached to the power supply rail 35 can be tilted with respect to the power supply rail 35 in any direction. Thereby, the irradiation direction of light can be freely set. In addition, a plurality of power supply rails 35 are arranged in the left-right direction, and the number of light sources can be increased accordingly.
It should be noted that a power rail provided with a light source may be provided along the left and right side walls 4 so that light is emitted from the side walls 4 toward the center of the housing.

The hydroponic cultivation apparatus having the above configuration can grow plants regardless of day or night with a light source provided on the ceiling, and nutrients necessary for plant growth are added to circulating water and supplied to each cultivation tank It is like that. Although the cultivation tank is provided in a multistage manner in the housing, the cultivation tank is only suspended by the left and right bars, and can be moved in the front-rear direction. At the same time, the upper and middle cultivation tanks are not simple cubes, but have a shape that is bent so as to meander, so that they are grown in the lower cultivation tank via a valley portion caused by meandering. It can be adjusted so that the plant is exposed to light. Moreover, since the position of a cultivation pot can be changed suitably also in a cultivation tank, according to arrangement | positioning of cultivation tank itself and the growth condition of a plant, it can be made to irradiate light to a plant appropriately.
Moreover, a light source can also be provided for every cultivation tank, and an attachment position can be adjusted suitably according to the position of a cultivation tank or the position of the cultivation pot in a cultivation tank.
As described above, the hydroponic cultivation apparatus according to the present invention is a cultivation apparatus that can be installed in a narrow space, but supplies appropriate light to each cultivation tank that is arranged in multiple stages inside, so that a smooth plant It is possible to train.

  The present invention can be used for a hydroponic cultivation apparatus that enables hydroponic cultivation indoors.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Hydroponic cultivation apparatus 2 Housing | casing 3 Door 4 Side wall 5 Ventilation plate 6 Bottom wall 7 Rear wall 8 Ceiling wall 9 Vent 10 Electric fan 11 Leg 12 Support rod 13 Cultivation tank 14 Rectangular frame 15 Attached part 16, 17 Side wall 18 , 19 Small hole 20 Bar 21 Cultivation pot 22 Water storage tank 23 Mounted portion 24, 25 Side wall 26, 27 Small hole 28 Thin rod 29 Pipe (drainage means)
30 Suspended part 31 Filter 32 area
33 Electric pump
34 Pumping pipe or hose 35 Power rail for power supply 36 Light bulb 37 Hole

Claims (5)

An open / close door provided on one side, a side wall covering a side other than the side provided with the door, a bottom wall that closes the bottom, a housing having a hollow internal space with a ceiling wall that closes the ceiling;
A cultivation tank disposed in the space in the housing and a water storage tank disposed in the lowermost part of the space,
Having a light source that emits light for plant growth arranged along the side wall in the housing;
The cultivation tank is provided with a drainage means for keeping the supplied supply water at a certain water level and lowering excess supply water to the lower cultivation tank or water storage tank,
The water storage tank is provided with pumping means for pumping the stored water as supply water to the upper cultivation tank,
The said light source is comprised so that an attachment position can be changed according to arrangement | positioning of the said cultivation tank, The hydroponic cultivation apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned.   The hydroponic cultivation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the casing is provided with support means for holding the cultivation tank at an arbitrary position in the internal space. While configuring the support means by a rod-shaped body arranged in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the cultivation tank,
The hydroponic cultivation apparatus according to claim 2, wherein supported portions supported by the supporting means are provided at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the cultivation tank.   The said cultivation tank has a suspension means which suspends the cultivation pot formed as a water-permeable container body holding the root part of a plant, The said suspension means was formed with the rod-shaped body which can be attached or detached. Item 4. The hydroponic cultivation apparatus according to any one of Items 1 to 3.   The hydroponics according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the cultivation tank has a shape that is bent so that the shape seen from the vertical direction is slightly meandering along the longitudinal direction. apparatus.

Images