JP2015077099A - Plant cultivation apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a plant cultivation apparatus capable of efficiently cooling a heat generation source and culture solution.SOLUTION: A plant cultivation apparatus comprises: a casing 1; an illumination device 2 attached to an upper part of the casing 1; a culture solution tank 3 which stores culture solution; a cultivation tank 4 which is provided inside the casing 1 and in which plants are planted; a pump 6 which supplies culture solution from the culture solution tank 3 to the cultivation tank 4; a drain pipe 40 which discharges culture solution from the cultivation tank 4 to the culture solution tank 3; and a cooling device 7 which cools culture solution circulating through a pipeline which is connected to a downstream side of the pump 6 and the illumination device 2.

Description

  The present invention relates to a plant cultivating apparatus for cultivating a plant by irradiating a plant with an artificial light source.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the growing interest in safe and secure food, plant factories that cultivate plants such as crops indoors without using pesticides have attracted attention. In plant factories, artificial light sources are used to illuminate plants and fertilizer is administered as needed, and the temperature and humidity in the cultivation room are controlled to artificially realize the optimal environment for plant growth. Therefore, it becomes possible to grow a plant of stable quality without being affected by pests and not affected by the weather.

  As such a plant cultivation apparatus, for example, in Patent Document 1, a culture solution tank is connected to a cultivation unit via a culture solution supply path and a culture solution recovery path, and the culture solution is supplied by a pump, and the culture solution tank is refilled with water. A plant hydroponic cultivation device is described in which a vessel is provided and water is supplied by a pump. Further, Patent Document 2 describes a plant growing apparatus using a Peltier element as a temperature generating means for heating or cooling the inside of a cabinet.

JP 2007-306895 A JP 2003-079254 A

  In patent document 1 mentioned above, when the temperature of the growth environment of a plant is high, the point which sends air in a cultivation unit with an air pump and performs temperature adjustment is described, but LED as described in patent document 2 is described. Is used as a lighting device, the temperature inside the device rises due to the heat generated from the LED, so it is necessary to provide means for cooling the inside of the device. Also in Patent Document 2, a Peltier element is used as a cooling means. However, since the Peltier element is attached to the side wall of the cabinet, the LED as a heat source cannot be sufficiently cooled. In addition, when hydroponics is performed in the cabinet, the culture solution is cooled through the side wall, so that it is difficult to cool the culture solution uniformly and it is unavoidable to affect the growth of the plant body. Absent. In hydroponics, when the temperature of the culture solution rises, the roots of the plant body are weakened, and oxygen in the culture solution is reduced, which may prevent the plant body from growing sufficiently.

  Then, an object of this invention is to provide the plant body cultivation apparatus which can cool a heat-generation source and a culture solution efficiently.

  The plant cultivating apparatus according to the present invention is provided with a cadaver, a lighting unit attached to the upper part of the cadaver, a culture solution tank for storing a culture solution, and a plant cultivated while being provided inside the cadaver. Cultivation tank, supply means for supplying the culture liquid from the culture liquid tank to the culture tank, discharge means for discharging the culture liquid from the culture tank to the culture liquid tank, and culture flowing through the pipeline of the supply means A cooling means for cooling the liquid and the illumination unit. Furthermore, the said culture solution tank is attached to the lower part of the said housing, and the said culture vessel is arrange | positioned at the upper surface of the said culture solution tank. Furthermore, the said illumination part is equipped with several LED which irradiates the said plant body. Further, the cooling means includes a heat sink, a Peltier element provided on the heat sink, an illumination heat pipe attached to the illumination unit and connected to the heat sink, and provided in the duct and on the heat sink. And a connected liquid heat pipe.

  The present invention has the above-described configuration to efficiently cool the culture solution in the lighting section and the cultivation tank as a heat source, and maintain the temperature of the culture solution and the temperature inside the enclosure in a stable state. be able to.

It is a schematic block diagram regarding embodiment which concerns on this invention. It is a schematic block diagram regarding a cooling device.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram relating to an embodiment of the present invention. In the plant cultivation apparatus, a plate-shaped lighting device 2 is attached to the upper part of the casing 1, and a culture solution tank 3 for storing a culture solution is attached to the lower part of the casing 1. A cultivation tank 4 is arranged on the upper surface of the culture solution tank 3 inside the rod body 1, and a support plate 5 that supports an edible or ornamental plant body P is attached to the upper surface of the cultivation tank 4. ing. The plant body P is planted with a medium such as a sponge attached to an opening formed in the support plate 5, and a root portion extends into the cultivation tank 4 to absorb nutrients from the culture solution. It is supposed to grow.

  The illumination device 2 is detachably assembled to the housing 1, and the culture tank 3 is also detachably assembled to the housing 1. Therefore, the device configuration can be changed as appropriate according to the installation space and production volume. For example, it arranges so that a plurality of cultivation tanks 4 may be stacked, each may be provided with lighting device 2, and culture medium tank 3 may be provided as a separate body so that the culture medium is supplied to each of the plurality of cultivation tanks 4. it can.

  The housing 1 may be configured to connect a carbon dioxide supply device and a humidifier as necessary, and adjust the carbon dioxide concentration and humidity of the internal air according to the type of plant and the degree of growth. it can.

  A plurality of LEDs 20 are arranged on the lower surface of the illuminating device 2 that is an illuminating unit, and irradiates the plant body P below with a predetermined amount of light. As the LED 20, it is preferable to use an LED that can adjust the light amount and can emit light of a plurality of colors (for example, 256 colors). Optimum irradiation conditions can be set by adjusting the wavelength and amount of light emitted by the LED 20 according to the type of the plant body P.

  The upper surface of the cultivation tank 4 is open and covered with a support plate 5. And the supply port 5a is opening in the edge part of the support plate 5, The culture solution comes to be supplied to one edge part of the cultivation tank 4 by supplying culture solution from the supply port 5a. ing. At the other end of the cultivation tank 4, a drainage pipe 40 is erected through the bottom so that the culture solution is discharged from the upper end opening of the drainage pipe 40 to the culture solution tank 3 below. It has become. Since the culture solution in the cultivation tank 4 is supplied from one end and discharged at the other end, the culture solution always flows from one end to the other end. In this example, the drainage pipe 40 is used as the discharging means, but other discharging means may be used. For example, a discharge pump can be attached to a pipe line connecting the cultivation tank 4 and the culture solution tank 3, and the culture solution can be discharged from the cultivation tank 4 to the culture solution tank 3 by the discharge pump.

  A drainage pipe 40 is inserted into the other end of the culture solution tank 3 so that the culture solution discharged from the cultivation tank 4 flows. Moreover, the supply pump 6 is attached to the upper surface at one end, and the liquid suction pipe 60 is connected to the supply pump 6 downward. By driving the supply pump 6, the culture solution in the culture solution tank 3 is sucked through the suction pipe 60. Thus, by externally supplying the supply pump 6 to the culture solution tank 3, heat generated from the supply pump 6 can be suppressed from being conducted to the culture solution, and an increase in the temperature of the culture solution can be suppressed. .

  A connecting pipe 61 is connected upward to the supply pump 6, and the connecting pipe 61 extends above the cultivation tank 4 and is connected to a cooling pipe 62. The cooling pipe 62 is arranged in the vertical direction, and an air mixer 63 disposed opposite to the supply port 5a is attached to the lower end. By driving the supply pump 6, the culture solution sucked through the liquid suction pipe 60 passes through the connection pipe 61 and the cooling pipe 62, passes through the air mixer 63, and enters the cultivation tank 4 from the supply port 5 a. To be supplied. When the culture solution passes through the air mixer 63, the air is mixed and supplied in the form of microbubbles. In this example, the supply pump 6 and the conduits for connecting the culture solution tank 3 and the cultivation tank 4 (the liquid absorption pipe 60, the connecting pipe 61, and the cooling pipe 62) are provided. Any other supply means may be used and is not particularly limited.

  Since it is configured as described above, by driving the pump 6, the culture solution circulates in the culture solution tank 3 and the cultivation tank 4 and circulates without staying in the cultivation tank 4. A culture solution having a stable concentration can be supplied at all times. A replenishing device (not shown) is connected to the culture solution tank 3, and the culture solution is replenished from the reinforcing device based on a detection signal from a detection sensor (not shown) for measuring the concentration of the culture solution. The concentration is maintained within a predetermined range.

  The illumination device 2 is configured by attaching a substrate 21 on which a plurality of LEDs 20 are mounted to a support frame body 22, and a cooling device 7 is provided inside the support frame body 22 as a cooling means. The cooling device 7 includes a Peltier element 70 and a heat sink 71 connected to the Peltier element 70, and an illumination heat pipe 72 disposed in the support frame body 22 is connected to the heat sink 71. The illumination heat pipe 72 is provided so as to circulate in the support frame 22 from one end to the other end, and is attached in contact with the substrate 21. The cooling technology using a heat pipe attaches a heat pipe to a heat generating component and transports the heat of the heat generating component to a heat sink for heat dissipation using the heat pipe as a route. The heat conducted through is transported to the heat sink 71 and dissipated.

  The heat pipe is formed in a cavity whose inside is sealed, and a predetermined amount of working fluid such as water or alternative chlorofluorocarbon is accommodated in the cavity. The inside of the cavity is in a vacuum state, and the working fluid is likely to evaporate. The working fluid in the cavity evaporates in the heat generation source, and the vapor moves to transfer heat.

  The heat recovered by the illumination heat pipe 72 is transported to the heat sink 71 and cooled by the Peltier element 70. Therefore, the amount of heat dissipated from the lighting device 2 into the housing 1 can be suppressed, and an increase in temperature due to heat radiation of the LED 20 in the housing 1 can be suppressed, and the temperature in the housing 1 can be kept stable. it can.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram relating to the cooling device 7. The Peltier element 70 is attached to a heat sink 71, and a part of the illumination heat pipe 72 is built in and connected to the heat sink 71. In addition, a plurality of liquid heat pipes 73 are bundled and built in the cooling pipe 62, and the liquid heat pipe 73 comes into contact with a culture solution whose lower end passes through the cooling pipe 62. It is arranged like this. In addition, the liquid heat pipe 73 is connected so that the upper end thereof is built in the heat sink 71, and the heat recovered from the culture solution that contacts the lower end of the liquid heat pipe 73 is the liquid heat pipe. 73 is transported to a heat sink 71 and cooled by a Peltier element.

  Therefore, when the culture fluid flowing from the supply pump 6 to the connecting pipe 61 passes through the cooling pipe 62, heat is collected by the liquid heat pipe 73 and cooled. Since a plurality of liquid heat pipes 73 are built in the cooling pipe 62, the culture liquid flowing in the narrow space in the cooling pipe 62 can directly contact the liquid heat pipe 73 and efficiently cool it. it can. Then, the cooled culture solution passes through the air mixer 63 and is supplied into the cultivation tank 4. Therefore, the culture solution circulating in the cultivation tank 4 is gradually cooled by the cooled culture solution, and the increase in the temperature of the culture solution is suppressed. Since the culture solution is cooled at the position immediately before the air mixer 63 on the downstream side of the pump 6, the cooled culture solution is supplied to the cultivation tank 4 as it is, and the cooling effect can be enhanced. In addition, since the culture fluid flowing through the conduit is cooled, the culture fluid temperature and the cooling action of the fluid heat pipe 72 can be adjusted to quickly optimize the culture fluid temperature.

  The volume in the cultivation tank 4 is smaller than the volume in the culture solution tank 3, and is set so that the temperature is quickly lowered by the cooled culture solution even when the temperature of the culture solution rises. . Since the culture solution tank 3 is installed below the cultivation tank 4, it is not easily affected by the heat of the lighting device as a heat source, and the temperature of the culture solution does not rise so much. Therefore, the culture solution fed from the culture solution tank 3 can be sufficiently cooled by the cooling action by the liquid heat pipe 73 in the cooling pipe 62. And the temperature of the culture solution in the culture solution tank 3 comes to fall by discharging | emitting the cooled culture solution from the cultivation tank 4, and the culture solution between the cultivation tank 4 and the culture solution tank 3 becomes low. By circulating, the temperature of the culture solution can be kept stable. Moreover, since the cultivation tank 4 is arrange | positioned on the upper surface of the culture solution tank 3, the pipe line at the time of discharge | emission and supply of a culture solution becomes short, and it suppresses that the temperature of a culture solution rises in a pipeline.

  In the state where the circulation of the culture solution is stopped by stopping the supply pump 6, the temperature of the culture solution in the cultivation tank 4 is increased by irradiation of the LED 20, but the temperature of the culture solution in the culture solution tank 3 is increased. Is suppressed. Therefore, by starting the operation of the supply pump 6, the cooled culture solution is quickly supplied into the cultivation tank 4, and the temperature of the culture solution in the cultivation tank 4 is lowered to a predetermined temperature range in a short time. It becomes possible to return, and the influence by the temperature rise of the culture solution with respect to a plant body can be suppressed to the minimum.

  As described above, a single cooling device can efficiently cool the culture solution in the lighting device and the cultivation tank as a heat source, and maintain the temperature of the culture solution and the temperature in the enclosure in a stable state. it can. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the influence of heat on the plant body and enhance the growth of the plant body.

  The plant cultivating apparatus according to the present invention is suitable for cultivating edible plants such as salad vegetables, wasabi, lettuce, bean sprouts, kaiedaiko, strawberry and herbs, and ornamental plants such as chrysanthemums and pansies.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Rod, 2 ... Illuminating device, 3 ... Culture solution tank, 4 ... Cultivation tank, 5 ... Support plate, 6 ... Supply pump, 7 ... Cooling device, 40 ... Drainage pipe, 60 ... Liquid absorption pipe, 61 ... Connection pipe, 62 ... Cooling pipe, 63 ... Air mixer

Claims (4)

  From the housing, the lighting section attached to the upper portion of the housing, the culture solution tank for storing the culture solution, the cultivation vessel provided inside the enclosure and planted with the plant, and the culture solution tank Supply means for supplying the culture solution to the cultivation tank, discharge means for discharging the culture solution from the cultivation tank to the culture solution tank, culture solution flowing through the conduit of the supply means, and cooling means for cooling the illumination unit And a plant cultivation apparatus.   The plant culture apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the culture solution tank is attached to a lower portion of the rod body, and the cultivation tank is disposed on an upper surface of the culture solution tank.   The plant cultivating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the illumination unit includes a plurality of LEDs that irradiate the plant body.   The cooling means includes a heat sink, a Peltier element provided on the heat sink, an illumination heat pipe attached to the illumination unit and connected to the heat sink, and provided in the conduit and connected to the heat sink. The plant cultivation apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a heat pipe for liquid.

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