JP3101378B2 - Plant factory lighting system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a lighting system used in a plant factory.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a technique for growing plants by hydroponics instead of soil has been developed. In particular, a completely controlled plant factory that utilizes photosynthesis using artificial light sources instead of sunlight has attracted attention. Among such plant factories, a plant cultivation plate is arranged in a growth room or a nursery room, and an illuminating device for irradiating light on an upper surface side of the plant cultivation plate is installed, while facing a lower surface of the plant cultivation plate. A device provided with a liquid fertilizer supply device for ejecting liquid fertilizer is known from, for example, JP-A-49-91833 and JP-A-61-282525. In this case, the seedling of the plant is held in an opening provided in the plant cultivation plate, liquid fertilizer is sprayed from the back side toward the root, and light is irradiated from the front side toward the leaves. Will be grown by.

As an irradiating device in the plant factory, as shown in FIG. 1, a lamp is suspended together with a reflecting plate by a cord extending from a ceiling as an artificial source, and the lamp is arranged vertically. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a ceiling wall constituting the plant factory, which is a FR mainly composed of, for example, an unsaturated polyester resin that blocks sunlight.
A P-shaped panel body 2 is formed around which a flange 3 is formed, and the flange 3 is connected to each other by bolts and nuts (not shown). Of course, the side wall (not shown) of this plant factory is also constituted by the same thing. Reference numeral 4 denotes a bottom wall, which also includes a panel body 5, a flange 6, and a step panel 7 serving as a work passage. These are all made of FRP like the panel body described above, and are connected by bolts and nuts. The panel 5 also serves as a liquid fertilizer receiving surface, and the liquid fertilizer flowing there is collected in a liquid tank (not shown) and is reused.

[0004] In the figure, reference numeral 8 denotes a plant cultivation plate, which is juxtaposed in a V-shape and juxtaposed, and seedlings are set in an opening (not shown) formed in the plate. In this figure, a pulley 9 is provided at the lower end of the plant cultivation plate 8 and is used for movement on a track 10. Then, the liquid fertilizer is supplied in a spray form from the spray tube 11 to the roots of the planted seedlings, while the leaves are irradiated with artificial light.

According to the prior art, as shown in FIG. 1, a lamp 12 as an artificial light source is hung from a ceiling and arranged vertically, and a reflector 13 is covered therewith. Such a conventional lighting device is a point light source, and the distance of the plant cultivation plate 8 placed at a position inclined with respect to this light source varies significantly depending on the location.
As shown in the figure, a large difference occurs in the illuminance distribution on the same plant cultivation plate 8.

FIG. 2 shows an artificial light source (lamp 12) with six light sources.
1 shows the surface of a plant cultivation plate 8 arranged at an angle of 0 degrees, and shows the illuminance distribution on an inclined surface corresponding to the plant cultivation plate 8 viewed from the direction A in FIG. In the figure,
The curve shows the illuminance distribution, and the curve a closest to the light source is 1
The ratio of the illuminance is shown as 4 in the order of 12, 1
0, 8, 5, 2, 1, 0.8, 0.5 and 0.2.
As described above, with the conventional lighting device, it was found that the illuminance was extremely unbalanced on the surface corresponding to the plant cultivation plate 8, and 18,000 lux, which was the optimal illuminance for growth, was uniformly applied. Even if the width of the plant cultivation plate 8 is appropriately selected, the illuminance range corresponding to the surface is 10,000 to 20,000 lux, and plants far from the light source grow slowly, and There is a disadvantage that the growth rate of the plant varies, which means that the plant grows fast.

[0007]

In view of the above facts, the present invention has a long luminous tube disposed in the horizontal direction and a parabolic shape which covers the upper part of the luminous tube, on the upper surface of the inclined plant cultivation plate. It is an object of the present invention to efficiently and uniformly obtain an optimum illuminance distribution for a plant growing on the plant cultivation plate by using the reflecting plate.

[0008]

The present invention employs the following configuration to achieve the above object. That is, the plant cultivation board is arranged in an inclined manner in the growing room or the nursery room,
In a plant factory in which a device for irradiating light on the upper side surface of the plant cultivation plate is installed, the light irradiation device is a long luminous tube arranged in parallel with the surface of the plant cultivation plate and horizontally. And a reflector that covers the upper part of the arc tube. The surface of the reflector has a parabolic cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the arc tube, and a line connecting the end portions of the reflector and a reflector. Assuming that the shortest distance from the deepest part of the plate is L, the emission center of the arc tube is ±± with respect to a line connecting the ends of the reflector.
The present invention relates to a lighting system for a plant factory, which is installed in a range of L / 2.

Examples of the arc tube preferably used in the present invention include, but are not limited to, a fluorescent lamp, a high-pressure sodium lamp, a metal halide lamp and the like.

The reflecting plate forms a so-called parabolic surface in which the reflected light is reflected in one direction when the arc tube is centered, and specific examples of the reflecting plate include:
For example, an aluminum plate (preferably high-purity aluminum), a stainless steel plate, a mirror and the like can be mentioned, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0011]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. FIG. 3 is a side view showing an example of the illumination system of the present invention. The plant factory main body is constituted by a large number of panels being fixed to each other by bolts and nuts on the peripheral flange portion as already described with reference to FIG. 1, and the inside is isolated from sunlight. .

In this factory, the plant cultivation plate 8 is connected to the bottom walls 4 and 6.
A long arc tube 14 is attached to the plant cultivation board 8 in a longitudinal direction of the cultivation board 8 every 1000 to 2000 mm. The arc tube 14 is a long high-pressure sodium lamp arranged in a horizontal direction in parallel with the plant cultivation plate 8, and the upper portion of the arc tube is covered with a parabolic reflector 15. Further, the center of the arc tube 14 was set at a center position on a line connecting the end portions of the reflection plate 15.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged side view showing only the arc tube 14 and the reflection plate 15, and FIG. 5 is a front view in FIG. In the figure, the part shown by the dotted line is the arc tube 14.
The luminous body 14a which forms the center of the luminous element 14a is shown. 4 and 5 show the relationship between the arc tube 14 and the reflection plate 15 when the emission center of the arc tube 14 is set on a line connecting the ends of the reflection plate 15. In the drawing, reference numeral 16 denotes a holding frame, 17 denotes a socket holder, and 18 denotes a flat reflector that covers the longitudinal direction of the arc tube. As can be seen from these figures, a parabolic reflector 15 covers the upper surface of the long arc tube 14 as a center.

FIG. 6 shows the surface of the plant cultivation plate 8 arranged at an angle of 60 degrees with respect to the artificial light source (arc tube 14) of the present invention, similarly to FIG. It shows an illuminance distribution on an inclined surface corresponding to the plant cultivation plate 8 seen. In the figure, the curve shows the illuminance distribution, and the curve a closest to the light source shows the ratio of the illuminance with the curve a as 14, and sequentially shows 12, 10, 8, 5, 2, 1,.
0.8, 0.5 and 0.2. As described above, in the lighting device of the present invention, it was found that the illuminance was distributed in a very well-balanced manner on the surface corresponding to the plant cultivation plate 8, and 18,000 lux, which was the optimal illuminance for growing, was uniformly distributed. This eliminates the drawback that the growth degree of the plant is varied by appropriately selecting the width of the plant cultivation plate 8 and the interval between the artificial light sources.

[0015]

According to the present invention, it is possible to uniformly irradiate artificial light to all growing plants on a plant cultivation plate by using the above-described light irradiation device. Plants can have almost the same growth rate,
Production efficiency can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall view of a conventional lighting system.

FIG. 2 shows an illuminance distribution on the surface of a plant cultivation plate 8 arranged at an angle of 60 degrees with respect to an artificial light source (lamp 12).

FIG. 3 is an overall view of a lighting system according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing the relationship between the arc tube 14 and the reflector 15 of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a front view in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 shows an illuminance distribution on the surface of a plant cultivation plate arranged at an angle of 60 degrees with respect to the artificial light source (arc tube 14) of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Ceiling wall 2 FRP panel body 3 Flange 4 Bottom wall 5 Panel body 6 Flange 7 Tread panel 8 Plant growing board 9 Pulley 10 Track 11 spray tube 12 ‥‥ lamp 13 ‥‥ reflector 14 ‥‥ long luminous tube 14 a 発 光 luminous body forming the center of luminous tube 15 ‥‥ parabolic reflector 16 ‥‥ holding frame 18 ‥‥ Flat reflector

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. In a plant factory in which a plant cultivation board is inclinedly arranged in a growth room or a nursery room, and a device for irradiating an upper surface of the plant cultivation plate with light is installed, the light irradiation device comprises: It consists of a long arc tube arranged in parallel with the surface of the cultivation plate and in the horizontal direction, and a reflector that covers the upper portion of the arc tube, and the surface of the reflector is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the arc tube. Is a parabolic section, and the shortest distance between the line connecting the ends of the reflector and the deepest part of the reflector is L,
A lighting system for a plant factory, wherein a light-emitting center of the arc tube is installed within a range of ± L / 2 around a line connecting end portions of a reflector.