JP2015029450A - Light source device for plant cultivation - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily expand an irradiation range of light for a growth level of a plant to be cultivated, and efficiently irradiate the plant to be cultivated with light without increasing power consumption.SOLUTION: A light source device 20 for plant cultivation creates an optical axis 1c by a light beam 1b radiated from a light source 1 and a lens 2, the lens 2 transforms the light beam 1b into substantially parallel light, a mirror 3 deflects the light beam 1b in the state of substantially parallel light, and is made movable in an optical axis direction by a movable mechanism 6 via a mirror holding member 5 to vary an irradiation region of the light beam 1b.

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for cultivating a plant with an artificial light source.

  In recent years, research for cultivating plants using artificial light sources such as fluorescent lamps, LEDs (light emitting diodes), and semiconductor lasers (laser diodes) has been promoted and put into practical use as an artificial light type plant factory. The cost for establishing such a plant factory is mostly the light source for lighting, and the running cost is also high. Therefore, to operate the plant factory at low cost, The design of the configuration is very important.

  As a light source for illumination in such a plant factory, a scanning mechanism for detecting the chloroplast of a plant as disclosed in Patent Document 1 with an imaging means and scanning light emitted from a semiconductor laser two-dimensionally A device for irradiating a plant to be cultivated in is considered.

  FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram in which a part of the device disclosed in Patent Document 1 is simplified. As shown in the figure, an optical fiber 102 is attached to the semiconductor laser 101, and light from the semiconductor laser 101 is scanned two-dimensionally by a scanning mechanism 103 constituted by a galvanometer mirror or the like. In addition, the imaging unit 104, which is a monochrome two-dimensional CCD, detects an area where the chloroplast of the plant 109 exists, and determines the scanning range of the scanning mechanism 103 based on the detection result. When the irradiation range is determined, the scanning mechanism 103 is driven, and the irradiation position of the light from the semiconductor laser 101 is repeatedly scanned two-dimensionally.

JP 2012-5453 A

  In Patent Document 1, when the plant 109 becomes large, the scanning range is expanded by the scanning mechanism 103. However, since the scanning mechanism 103 is configured by a galvanometer mirror or the like, the incidence and reflection of light on the galvanometer mirror is performed. Since the angle is limited, the scanning range is limited. Further, if the incident angle and the reflection angle of the light are increased, the driving swing angle of the galvano mirror is increased, which leads to an increase in power consumption. However, there is no disclosure on how to solve it.

  In Patent Document 1, chloroplasts are detected by the image pickup unit 104. However, a method for solving the problem that the power consumption must be turned on to operate the image pickup unit 104 and power consumption increases. Is not disclosed.

  Therefore, one embodiment of the present invention easily expands the light irradiation range according to the degree of growth of the plant to be cultivated, and efficiently irradiates light to the plant to be cultivated without increasing power consumption. A light source device for plant cultivation is provided.

  An illumination device for plant cultivation according to an embodiment of the present invention is a light source device for plant cultivation that includes a light source, a lens, a mirror, a mirror holding member, and a movable mechanism, and a light beam emitted from the light source. And the lens forms an optical axis, the lens makes the light beam substantially parallel light, the mirror deflects the light beam that has become substantially parallel light, and the movable mechanism through the mirror holding member. Moving in the direction of the optical axis, the irradiation area of the light beam is varied.

  An illumination device for plant cultivation according to another embodiment of the present invention is a light source device for plant cultivation equipped with a light source, a lens, a mirror, a lens holding member, and a movable mechanism, and the light emitted from the light source. An optical axis is formed by the beam and the lens, the mirror deflects the light beam from the lens, and the lens moves the light beam by moving a movable mechanism in the optical axis direction via the lens holding member. The irradiation area of the light beam is varied as divergent light, parallel light, or convergent light.

  In one embodiment, the mirror has a substantially spherical portion.

  In one embodiment, the mirror has an aspheric surface.

  A light source device for plant cultivation according to another embodiment of the present invention is a light source device for plant cultivation equipped with a light source, a lens, and at least two mirrors, and the light beam emitted from the light source and the lens The lens makes the light beam substantially parallel light, the first mirror has a scanning mechanism for two-dimensionally scanning the light beam from the light source, and the second mirror has the first mirror. A substantially spherical portion that reflects the light beam from the mirror is provided, and the irradiation region of the light beam is varied by operating the scanning mechanism.

  In one embodiment, the angular velocity of the first mirror is controlled so that the scanning speed at the position of the plant to be cultivated is constant in the light beam reflected by the substantially spherical portion by the second mirror. The control means to perform is provided.

  In one embodiment, when the first mirror is scanned at an equiangular speed, the substantially spherical portion provided in the second mirror is aspheric so that the scanning speed is constant at the position of the plant to be cultivated. It is.

  In one embodiment, the light source is constituted by a plurality of light sources having the same or different wavelengths, and an optical axis formed with the lens is arranged so as to be substantially coaxial with each of the plurality of light sources.

  In one embodiment, a storage unit that stores in advance a degree of growth of a plant to be cultivated in advance, an irradiation region is determined by the degree of growth read from the storage unit based on the passage of time, and the irradiation region of the light beam Control means for controlling the range is provided.

  In a certain embodiment, the monitoring means which monitors the irradiation light quantity of the said light beam, the memory | storage means which memorize | stored the growth degree by the time passage of the plant used as cultivation object beforehand, and the growth degree read from the said memory means based on time passage And a control means for determining the irradiation light amount and controlling the irradiation light amount of the light beam.

  In one embodiment, a storage unit that stores in advance a degree of growth of a plant to be cultivated in advance, a moving speed of the movable mechanism is determined based on the degree of growth read from the storage unit based on the passage of time, and the light Control means for controlling the scanning state of the beam is provided.

  In one embodiment, a storage unit that stores a degree of growth of a plant to be cultivated in advance over time, a scanning speed of the scanning mechanism is determined based on the degree of growth read out from the storage unit based on the passage of time, and the light Control means for controlling the scanning state of the beam is provided.

  According to one embodiment of the present invention, light can be easily irradiated according to the degree of growth of a plant to be cultivated, and light can be efficiently irradiated to a plant to be cultivated without increasing power consumption. It becomes possible.

The block diagram of the light source unit of the light source device for plant cultivation in Embodiment 1 The figure which shows the other structural example of the light source unit of the light source device for plant cultivation in Embodiment 1. FIG. The block diagram of the light source unit of the light source device for plant cultivation in Embodiment 2 The figure which shows the other structural example of the light source unit of the light source device for plant cultivation in Embodiment 2. FIG. The block diagram of the light source unit of the light source device for plant cultivation in Embodiment 3 The figure which shows the other structural example of the light source unit of the light source device for plant cultivation in Embodiment 1, 2, 3 The block diagram of the light source device for plant cultivation in Embodiment 1,2,3 The figure which shows the structure of the light source device for the conventional plant cultivation

  Below, the light source device for plant cultivation of embodiment is demonstrated, referring drawings suitably. However, more detailed explanation than necessary may be omitted. For example, detailed descriptions of already well-known matters and repeated descriptions for substantially the same configuration may be omitted. This is to avoid the following description from becoming unnecessarily redundant and to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

  The applicant provides the accompanying drawings and the following description in order for those skilled in the art to fully understand the present disclosure, and is not intended to limit the subject matter described in the claims. Absent.

(Embodiment 1)
First, the light source device for plant cultivation in this Embodiment is demonstrated.

<1. Configuration of light source unit>
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a light source unit of a light source device for plant cultivation in the present embodiment. The light source unit 15 includes a light source 1 that is a light emitting means such as a semiconductor laser, a lens 2 that makes the light beam 1b emitted from the light source 1 substantially parallel light, and a light beam that has become substantially parallel light by the lens 2 of the plant 9. A mirror 3 that deflects in the direction is provided. Here, the light emitting point 1a of the light source 1 and the center of gravity of the lens 2 form the optical axis 1c of the light beam 1b. The light source unit 15 includes a mirror holding member 5 having a rack 5a meshing with the screw 6b, a mirror 3 held by the mirror holding member 5, a rotating mechanism 6a such as a stepping motor, and a movable mechanism 6 including a screw 6b. The monitor means 10 which monitors the light quantity of the light beam radiated | emitted from is provided. By providing a plurality of light source units 15, a light source device for plant cultivation described later is configured.

  The wavelength of light emitted from the light source 1 is preferably in a wavelength band called red from 630 nm (nanometers) to 680 nm or in a wavelength band called blue from 380 nm to 500 nm.

  The mirror 3 held by the mirror holding member 5 is moved by the movable mechanism 6 in the direction of the optical axis 1c, so that the light beam 1b from the light source 1 is irradiated while moving to the plant 9 to be cultivated. This movement enlarges the irradiation area. Therefore, the moving range of the mirror 3, that is, the irradiation region can be varied depending on the degree of growth of the plant 9. Since the light beam 1b is substantially parallel light by the lens 2, even if the mirror 3 is movable, it can be irradiated and reflected to the mirror 3 with a certain size. For example, if the mirror 3 reflects about 97% and transmits the remaining about 3%, the light amount (power) can be monitored by the monitor means 10, and the optimal light amount can be obtained depending on the degree of growth of the plant 9. Can be controlled.

<2. Configuration of light source device for plant cultivation>
FIG. 7 is an overall configuration diagram of the plant cultivation light source device according to the first embodiment. The plant cultivation light source device 20 includes a plurality of light source units 15 (three in the example of FIG. 7), a preprocessing circuit 16, a control circuit 17 that is a control means, a drive circuit 18, a system controller 28, and a central processing circuit 26. And a nonvolatile memory 27 which is a storage means. The plurality of light source units 15 are provided because the amount of light necessary for a plant per unit area cannot be achieved with only one light source unit 15.

  The preprocessing circuit 16 generates the amount of light from the monitor unit 10 of the light source unit 15 as an electrical signal and inputs it to the control circuit 17. The control circuit 17 controls the magnitude of the light amount of the light source 1, the operation range and the operation speed of the movable mechanism 6 via the drive circuit 18. The drive circuit 18 is connected to the light source 1 and the movable mechanism 6. The drive circuit 18 realizes a series of controls such as control of the light amount of the light beam 1 b emitted from the light source 1 and control of the movable mechanism 6 by digital control.

  The light quantity signal generated by the preprocessing circuit 16 is subjected to digital signal processing by the system controller 28. The preprocessing circuit 16, the control circuit 17, and the system controller 28 are connected to the central processing circuit 26 and operate according to instructions from the central processing circuit 26. A program that prescribes a series of operations including a control operation of irradiating a light beam from a light source and operating a movable mechanism to optimally irradiate the plant to be cultivated with a nonvolatile memory 27 or the like as firmware. It is stored in the semiconductor device. Such firmware is read from the non-volatile memory 27 by the central processing circuit 26 according to the required operation mode.

  Plants cultivated in plant factories can basically manage temperature, humidity, culture solution concentration, etc., and the irradiation time and light intensity can be controlled by artificial lighting, so there is very little variation in growth. It has become. Therefore, if the degree of growth of the plant to be cultivated over time is converted into data, and the data is stored in advance in the non-volatile memory 27 which is a storage means, the data is read over time without increasing power consumption. The irradiation area is determined in accordance with the plant 9 that grows, and the irradiation area is optimized by controlling the light quantity of the light beam 1b of the light source 1, the operating range and the operating speed of the movable mechanism 6 by the control circuit 17 as a control means. can do. Note that the degree of growth of the plant to be cultivated over time is, for example, the size of leaves, the spread of leaves, the thickness of stems, and the like.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the degree of growth of a plant to be cultivated over time is stored in advance, and the amount of light, the operating range of the movable mechanism, and the operating speed are read from the storage unit based on the time elapsed. To control. Thereby, irradiation conditions can be varied according to the degree of growth of the plant to be cultivated, and it has an excellent effect that optimum cultivation is possible while suppressing power consumption.

  Moreover, FIG. 2 is a block diagram different from FIG. 1 of the light source unit of the light source device for plant cultivation. The light source unit 25 of the light source device for plant cultivation uses a mirror 23 having a substantially spherical surface portion 23a instead of the mirror 3 of FIG. Compared with the mirror 3 in FIG. 1, the light beam 1 b emitted from the light source 1 can be reflected at an angle wider than the reflection on the plane of the mirror 3, and the effect that the irradiation area to the plant 9 can be enlarged is obtained. can get.

  Further, as described above, the light source 1 is a semiconductor laser or the like and has a light intensity distribution such as a Gaussian distribution, and therefore the density varies depending on the radiation angle portion of the light beam. Therefore, the non-uniformity of the light intensity of the irradiation area reflected by the substantially spherical portion 23a is low so that the light intensity is low around the area and the light intensity is high at the center of the area. If the shape is designed to be a spherical surface, the effect of irradiating with a constant light intensity can be obtained without causing unevenness of the light intensity.

(Embodiment 2)
Next, the light source device for plant cultivation in Embodiment 2 will be described.

  The plant cultivation light source device according to the present embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the irradiation region of the light beam 1b emitted from the light source 1 is variable by moving the lens 32 by the movable mechanism 36. Hereinafter, the description will focus on the differences from the first embodiment, and description of the same matters will be omitted.

  FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of the light source unit 35 of the light source device for plant cultivation in the present embodiment. In FIG. 3, the same components as those in FIG.

  In the present embodiment, the lens holding member 37 has a rack 37a, engages with the screw 36b of the movable mechanism 36, and moves in the direction of the optical axis 1c by rotating the rotation means 36a such as a stepping motor. . By moving the lens 32 held by the lens holding member 37 in the direction of the optical axis 1c, the light beam 1b emitted from the light source 1 can be made variable as diverging light, parallel light, and convergent light. When the plant 9 to be cultivated is in the small 9b state, the irradiation region may be small, so that the irradiation region is widened as convergent light, and when it grows and becomes large like 9a, the irradiation region is expanded. Thus, the irradiation region can be varied optimally in accordance with the degree of growth of the plant to be cultivated.

  Also in this embodiment, without previously storing the degree of growth and increasing the power consumption, the irradiation area is determined according to the plant 9 to be read and grown with the passage of time, and the control circuit 17 that is a control means determines the irradiation area. The point of optimizing the irradiation area by controlling the light amount of the light beam 1b, the operation range of the movable mechanism 36, and the operation speed is the same as in the first embodiment.

  As described above, also according to the present embodiment, the degree of growth of the plant to be cultivated over time is stored in advance, and the amount of light, the operating range of the movable mechanism, and the operating speed are read out from the storage unit based on the time elapsed. Control. Thereby, irradiation conditions can be varied according to the degree of growth of the plant to be cultivated, and it has an excellent effect that optimum cultivation is possible while suppressing power consumption.

  Moreover, FIG. 4 is a block diagram different from FIG. 3 of the light source unit of the light source device for plant cultivation. Also in the present embodiment, the light source unit 45 of the light source device for plant cultivation uses a mirror 43 having a substantially spherical surface portion 43a instead of the mirror 33 in FIG. Compared with the mirror 33 in FIG. 3, the light beam 1 b emitted from the light source 1 can be reflected at an angle wider than the reflection on the plane of the mirror 33, and the effect that the irradiation area to the plant 9 can be enlarged is obtained. It is done.

  Furthermore, since the light source 1 is a semiconductor laser or the like and has a light intensity distribution such as a Gaussian distribution, the density varies depending on the radiation angle portion of the light beam. Therefore, since the unevenness of the light intensity is also low in the irradiation area reflected by the substantially spherical portion 43a, the light intensity is low around the area and the light intensity is high at the center of the area. Therefore, the aspherical surface has a uniform light intensity distribution. If the shape is designed in such a manner, an effect that irradiation can be performed with a constant light intensity without causing unevenness in light intensity can be obtained.

(Embodiment 3)
Then, the light source device for plant cultivation by Embodiment 3 is demonstrated.

  The light source unit 55 of the light source device for plant cultivation in the present embodiment is configured such that the first mirror 53 is scanned by the scanning mechanism 8 and is reflected by the substantially spherical surface portion 4 a of the second mirror 4. 1 is different from the first embodiment in that the irradiation area of the light beam 1b emitted from 1 is made larger and variable than the scanning area of the mirror 3 alone. Hereinafter, the description will focus on the points different from the first embodiment, and description of the same matters will be omitted.

  FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of the light source unit 55 of the light source device for plant cultivation in the present embodiment. 5, the same components as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

  In the present embodiment, the first mirror 53 has a scanning mechanism 8 such as a galvano mirror, a polygon mirror, or a MEMS (micro electro mechanical system) mirror. By irradiating the mirror 53 two-dimensionally by the scanning mechanism 8, the irradiation of the light beam 1 b emitted from the light source 1 and converted into substantially parallel light by the lens 2 is scanned two-dimensionally. Further, the light beam 1b scanned two-dimensionally is irradiated and reflected on the second mirror 4 having the substantially spherical surface portion 4a, so that the irradiation region to the plant 9 can be further expanded.

  In the present embodiment, by controlling the angular speed of the scanning mechanism 8 of the first mirror 53 by the control circuit 17 that is a control means so that the scanning speed at the position of the plant 9 to be cultivated is constant, It is possible to prevent the light beam irradiation speed from being different depending on the irradiation place and perform stable scanning. Further, when the scanning mechanism 8 of the first mirror 53 is scanned at an equiangular speed, the substantially spherical surface portion 4a of the second mirror 4 is aspherical so that the scanning speed at the position of the plant 9 to be cultivated is constant. If it is made to have, it can prevent that the light beam irradiation speed changes with irradiation places, and can perform stable scanning.

  Also in this embodiment, without previously storing the degree of growth and increasing the power consumption, the irradiation area is determined according to the plant 9 to be read and grown with the passage of time, and the control circuit 17 that is a control means determines the irradiation area. Similar to the first embodiment, the irradiation area is optimized by controlling the light amount of the light beam 1b, the scanning angle of the scanning mechanism 8, and the scanning speed.

  As described above, also according to the present embodiment, the degree of growth of the plant to be cultivated over time is stored in the nonvolatile memory 27 that is a storage unit, and is read from the storage unit based on the passage of time. Controls the scanning range and scanning speed of the scanning mechanism. Thereby, irradiation conditions can be varied according to the degree of growth of the plant to be cultivated, and it has an excellent effect that optimum cultivation is possible while suppressing power consumption.

  In Embodiments 1, 2, and 3, by providing a plurality of light sources 21 and 31 in addition to the light source 1 as shown in FIG. 6, it is possible to realize more optimal irradiation conditions for the plant to be cultivated. . In this case, in the arrangement of the optical components from the light source 1 to the lens 2, the optical axes of the light source 1, the light source 21, and the light source 31 are arranged so as to be substantially coaxial. In order to reduce the size of the optical system, the lens 12, the lens 22, the lens 62, the optical element 63, and the optical element 64 may be arranged. The light source 1, the light source 21, and the light source 31 may have the same wavelength. For example, the light source 1 and the light source 21 may be in a red wavelength band and the light source 31 may be in a blue wavelength band, which is suitable for a plant to be cultivated. You just have to choose one. As a result, it is possible to irradiate a plurality of wavelengths suitable for plant cultivation and growth, and the same wavelength has an excellent effect that the amount of light can be increased for irradiation.

  As described above, the embodiments have been described as examples of the technology in the present invention. For this purpose, the accompanying drawings and detailed description are provided.

  Accordingly, among the components described in the accompanying drawings and the detailed description, not only the components essential for solving the problem, but also the components not essential for solving the problem in order to illustrate the above technique. May also be included. Therefore, it should not be immediately recognized that these non-essential components are essential as those non-essential components are described in the accompanying drawings and detailed description.

  Moreover, since the above-mentioned embodiment is for demonstrating the technique in this invention, a various change, replacement, addition, abbreviation, etc. can be performed in a claim or its equivalent range.

  The light source device for plant cultivation according to the present invention is useful for the purpose of realizing a plant cultivation system that optimizes irradiation conditions for plants to be cultivated and suppresses power consumption.

1, 21, 31 Light source 2, 12, 22, 32, 62 Lens 3, 23, 33, 43, 53 Mirror 4 Second mirror 5 Mirror holding member 6, 36 Movable mechanism 8, 103 Scanning mechanism 9, 109 Plant 10 Monitor means 15, 25, 35, 45, 55 Light source unit 16 Preprocessing circuit 17 Control circuit 18 Drive circuit 20 Plant cultivation light source device 26 Central processing circuit 27 Non-volatile memory 28 System controller 101 Semiconductor laser 102 Optical fiber 104 Imaging unit

Claims (12)

A light source device for plant cultivation equipped with a light source, a lens, a mirror, a mirror holding member, and a movable mechanism,
An optical axis is formed by the light beam emitted from the light source and the lens,
The lens makes the light beam substantially parallel light,
The mirror deflects the light beam that has become substantially parallel light, and is movable in the optical axis direction by the movable mechanism via the mirror holding member,
A light source device for plant cultivation, wherein an irradiation area of the light beam is variable. A light source device for plant cultivation equipped with a light source, a lens, a mirror, a lens holding member, and a movable mechanism,
An optical axis is formed by the light beam emitted from the light source and the lens,
The mirror deflects the light beam from the lens;
The lens has a movable mechanism that moves in the optical axis direction via the lens holding member so that the light beam is diverged light, parallel light, or convergent light.
A light source device for plant cultivation, wherein an irradiation area of the light beam is variable. The light source device for plant cultivation according to claim 1, wherein the mirror has a substantially spherical portion. The light source device for plant cultivation according to claim 1, wherein the mirror has an aspherical portion. A light source device for plant cultivation equipped with a light source, a lens, and at least two mirrors,
An optical axis is formed by the light beam emitted from the light source and the lens,
The lens makes the light beam substantially parallel light,
The first mirror includes a scanning mechanism that two-dimensionally scans the light beam from the light source,
The second mirror includes a substantially spherical portion that reflects the light beam from the first mirror,
A light source device for plant cultivation characterized in that an irradiation area of the light beam is made variable by operating the scanning mechanism. In the light beam reflected by the substantially spherical portion by the second mirror,
6. The plant cultivation light source device according to claim 5, further comprising a control unit that controls an angular velocity of the first mirror so that a scanning velocity at a position of a plant to be cultivated is constant. When the first mirror is scanned at an equiangular speed, the substantially spherical portion of the second mirror is aspheric so that the scanning speed is constant at the position of the plant to be cultivated. The light source device for plant cultivation according to claim 5. 8. The light source according to claim 1, wherein the light source includes a plurality of light sources having the same or different wavelengths, and an optical axis formed with the lens is arranged so as to be substantially coaxial with each of the plurality of light sources. The light source apparatus for plant cultivation as described. Storage means for storing the degree of growth over time of the plant to be cultivated in advance;
Determine the irradiation area with the degree of growth read from the storage means based on the passage of time,
The light source device for plant cultivation according to any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising control means for controlling an irradiation area range of the light beam. Monitoring means for monitoring the irradiation light quantity of the light beam;
Storage means for storing the degree of growth over time of the plant to be cultivated in advance;
Determine the amount of irradiation light with the degree of growth read from the storage means based on the passage of time,
The light source device for plant cultivation according to any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising a control unit that controls an irradiation light amount of the light beam. Storage means for storing the degree of growth over time of the plant to be cultivated in advance;
Determine the movable speed of the movable mechanism by the degree of growth read from the storage means based on the passage of time,
The plant cultivation light source device according to claim 1, further comprising a control unit that controls a scanning state of the light beam. Storage means for storing the degree of growth over time of the plant to be cultivated in advance;
Determining the scanning speed of the scanning mechanism by the degree of growth read from the storage means based on the passage of time;
The light source device for plant cultivation according to claim 5, further comprising control means for controlling a scanning state of the light beam.