JP3169410U - Vegetable factory - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a vegetable factory that realizes stable vegetable productivity at low cost. A solar light capturing unit 1 that captures sunlight L1 as main light, a condensing unit 6 that condenses sunlight collected by the solar light capturing unit, and the sun that is condensed by the condensing unit. The photon sensor 7 for detecting the photon amount of light, the illumination unit 9 provided in the vicinity of the vegetable cultivation tray 11 and provided with an artificial light source for irradiating the secondary light L2, and the sunlight collected by the condensing unit The optical fiber 8 that leads to the illumination unit and irradiates the vegetable cultivation tray, and the control that causes the artificial light source of the illumination unit to emit light and irradiate the vegetable cultivation tray when the photon amount detected by the photon sensor is equal to or less than a preset reference value. A part. [Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a vegetable factory that uses artificial light together with sunlight as a light source for plant growth.

  In conventional methods such as outdoor cultivation and greenhouse cultivation, the method of growing vegetables and other agricultural products using only sunlight is the season (spring, summer, autumn, winter) and weather (sunny, rainy, cloudy) Such changes in the yield and harvest time of agricultural products due to environmental changes are inevitable.

Therefore, in recent years, a plant growing method using artificial light (for example, LED light) that activates photosynthesis and obtains a wavelength of 400 nm to 700 nm necessary for promoting the growth of plants as a light source has attracted attention (for example, Patent Documents). 1).
With such a plant growing method, it is possible to ensure stable productivity that is not affected by environmental changes.

JP-A-9-98665

  However, in such a completely artificial light type plant growing method using only artificial light, there is a problem in that it is disadvantageous in terms of cost because the power consumption of the light source is large. In addition, since the amount of light per LED is small, if the drive current is increased in order to obtain the necessary amount of light as a fully artificial light type, the light emission efficiency decreases due to the deterioration of the LED due to the heat generation, which affects the productivity. Such a problem may also occur.

  The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the plant growing method using artificial light, and is stable at low cost by using sunlight as main light and using artificial light as auxiliary light as necessary. The purpose is to provide a vegetable factory that can produce vegetables.

  That is, the present invention is a solar light capturing unit that captures sunlight as main light, a condensing unit that collects sunlight collected by the solar light capturing unit, and a light condensing unit that collects the sunlight. A photon sensor that detects the photon amount of sunlight, an illumination unit that is provided in the vicinity of the vegetable cultivation tray and that is arranged with an artificial light source that emits sub-light, and the sunlight that is collected by the light collecting unit. If the optical fiber that is guided to the section and irradiates the vegetable cultivation tray and the photon amount detected by the photon sensor is equal to or less than the preset reference value, the artificial light source of the illumination unit is caused to emit light and irradiate the vegetable cultivation tray And a control unit.

According to the present invention, as in rainy weather or cloudy weather, only when the amount of light photon collected from sunlight is less than a predetermined reference value, the amount of insufficient light is artificial light (for example, Therefore, the illumination cost can be greatly reduced and high-quality vegetables can be provided at a low cost as compared with the conventional complete artificial light type growing method.
In addition, by constantly adjusting the amount of sunlight collected to a certain level, it is possible to produce vegetables with a stable growing period.

It is a schematic diagram which shows the structure of the vegetable factory by Example 1. It is a schematic block diagram of a sunlight taking-in part. It is a figure for demonstrating adjustment of the condensing amount by a condensing part. It is a figure which shows the structure of a control part. It is a schematic diagram which shows the structure of the vegetable factory by Example 2. It is a figure which shows the diurnal motion of the sun for every season.

Hereinafter, a vegetable factory according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
The present invention is a vegetable factory that uses sunlight (main light) as a light source for plant growth and uses emitted light of LEDs as artificial light (secondary light) as necessary.
Here, the main light means main light used for plant growth, and the sub-light means light for supplementing the shortage of main light and maintaining normal growth of the plant.

First, the structure of the vegetable factory by a present Example is demonstrated using FIG. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a vegetable factory according to the first embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 1, the vegetable factory by a present Example removes the ultraviolet rays and far-infrared rays which are harmful to plant growth from the sunlight taking-in part 1 which takes in sunlight L1 from the outdoors, and the taken-in sunlight L1. The filter 2, the condensing part 6 which condenses the sunlight L1 from which harmful light was removed, the photon sensor 7 which detects the photon quantity of the condensed sunlight L1, and a plurality of artificial light sources 10 (LEDs 10) A plurality of illuminating units 9 arranged and the sunlight L1 collected by the condensing unit 6 are dispersed, and the optical fiber 8 that guides each illuminating unit 9 to irradiate the vegetable cultivation tray 11 and the light emission of the LED 10 are controlled. And a control unit 20 that performs.

  In the present embodiment, the vegetable cultivation trays 11 are provided in multiple upper and lower stages, and the lighting units 9 are arranged close to each vegetable cultivation tray 11 to enable multi-stage cultivation of vegetables.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the sunlight capturing unit 1.
As shown in FIG. 2, the solar light capturing unit 1 according to the present embodiment detects the sunlight L1 from the outside and reflects and reflects the solar light L <b> 1 to the light collecting unit 6, and detects the direction and altitude of the sun. The light collecting sensor (light sensor) 14 that moves the mirror 13 based on the detection signal of the sunlight tracking sensor 14 and always collects the sunlight L1 with a constant light quantity throughout the year. This leads to 6.

  In the present embodiment, a cold mirror that transmits infrared rays and reflects visible rays is used as the mirror 13, and the infrared rays are removed when sunlight is taken in.

Here, the movement of the sun in one year will be described with reference to FIG. Fig. 6 is a diagram showing the diurnal movement of the sun for each season. In Fig. 6, the symbol θ indicates the south-middle altitude of the sun. Become. The south and middle altitudes of spring and autumn are approximately halfway between the summer solstice and the winter solstice.
The sign α indicates the direction of sunrise and sunset, sunrise is true east and sunset is true west in the spring and autumn minutes, sunrise and sunset are north in the summer solstice, and south in the winter solstice.
In this way, the position of the sun changes throughout the year, and the amount of sunlight irradiated also changes accordingly.

  Returning to FIG. 2, the mirror 13 is installed on the rotary table 15. The rotary table 15 is rotatable by a worm gear 17 that engages with a side surface thereof and rotates by driving of the first motor 18, and drives the first motor 18 based on a detection signal of the sunlight tracking sensor 14. By controlling this, the position of the mirror 13 on the turntable 15 can be tracked by the movement of the sun from sunrise to sunset (corresponding to α in FIG. 6).

  Further, the mirror 13 is connected to the shaft portion of the second motor 16 installed together with the mirror 13 on the rotary table 15, and controls the driving of the second motor 16 based on the detection signal of the sunlight tracking sensor 14. By doing so, the inclination of the mirror surface can be tracked to the south-central altitude of the sun (corresponding to θ in FIG. 6).

  The position control of the mirror 13 from the sunrise to the sunset and the mirror tilt control by the south-south altitude of the sun are controlled by a motor drive control unit (not shown) based on the detection signal of the solar light tracking sensor 14. To do.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the adjustment of the amount of light collected by the light collecting unit 6.
As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the condensing unit 6 of this embodiment is connected to the moving lens 4 and a set of lens blocks including the fixed lens 3 and the moving lens 4 arranged in the optical axis direction. And an actuator 5 for moving the moving lens in the optical axis direction.
The actuator 5 is provided with a stroke motor 5a serving as a drive source, and the movable lens 4 can be moved in the optical axis direction (vertical direction in the figure) by driving the stroke motor 5a.

  FIG. 3 (a) shows light collection in summer when the amount of light from the sun is large and the amount of light for plant growth is excessive. In this case, by moving the moving lens 4 downward so as to move away from the fixed lens 3, the light amount D1 excluding the extra light Lt in the light amount D incident on the fixed lens 3 is used as the light amount d for plant growth. Is transmitted to the optical fiber 8.

  FIG.3 (b) has shown the condensing at the time of winter when the light quantity of the sun is small and the light quantity for plant growth is insufficient. In this case, by moving the moving lens 4 upward so as to approach the fixed lens 3, all of the light amount D incident on the fixed lens 3 is transmitted to the optical fiber 8 as the light amount d for plant growth.

  If the amount of light necessary for plant growth cannot be obtained even if the amount of collected light is adjusted by the movement of the moving lens 4, the light emission L <b> 2 of the LED 10 described later is added to the sunlight L <b> 1 as sub-light. become.

  Thus, by adjusting the distance between the fixed lens 3 and the moving lens 4 in accordance with the amount of sun light and appropriately adjusting the amount of light d transmitted to the optical fiber 8, a constant amount of light is always used for plant growth. can do.

  Note that the movement control of the moving lens 4 in accordance with the amount of sunlight is possible by controlling the driving of the actuator 5 (that is, the stroke motor 5a) based on the detection output of the photon sensor 7 (FIG. 1).

As shown in FIG. 1, the illuminating unit 9 is a rectangular plate-like member provided with a plurality of LEDs 10 as an artificial light source, and is in close proximity to each vegetable cultivation tray 11 so as to allow proximity irradiation to the vegetables 12. It is arranged. The light emission control of the LED 10 is performed by the control unit 20 described later.
In addition, an optical fiber 8 through which sunlight L1 collected by the light collecting unit 6 is transmitted is introduced from the upper surface of the illumination unit 9, and the LED 10 emits light together with the sunlight L1 from the optical fiber 8 in the illumination unit 9. Light L2 can be irradiated to the vegetable cultivation tray 11.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the control unit 20.
As illustrated in FIG. 4, the control unit 20 includes a storage unit 21 (for example, a RAM) that stores in advance a photon amount (reference value) necessary for plant growth, and sunlight detected by the photon sensor 7. A comparison unit 22 that compares the photon amount of L1 with the reference value stored in the storage unit 21, a drive unit 23 that causes the LED 10 to emit light when the detected amount of the photon sensor 7 is equal to or less than the reference value, and a power supply for driving the LED 10 24.

Moreover, the reference value of the photon amount set for each type of vegetable to be grown is stored in the storage unit 21 so that a suitable amount of light can be supplied by selecting the reference value according to the vegetable to be grown. It has become.
For example, as a reference value in the case of lettuce cultivation, for example, 130 μmol / m ² · s is set.

In this configuration, when the sunlight (photoquantity) necessary for plant growth is insufficient, such as when it is raining or cloudy, in addition to the sunlight L1 from the optical fiber 8, the emitted light L2 of the LED 10 is automatically vegetable. The cultivation tray 11 is irradiated.
However, since the emitted light of the LED 10 is for compensating for the shortage of sunlight, the light emission time is short and the power consumption is small. Accordingly, there is little decrease in light emission efficiency due to heat generation of the element.

  In this case, it is also possible to adjust the light emission number (that is, the irradiation amount) of the LED 10 according to the shortage amount of sunlight as a configuration capable of controlling the light emission of the LED 10 for each of a plurality of groups.

As described above, according to Example 1, only in the case of rainy or cloudy weather, or when sunlight is insufficient, such as at dawn or evening, and the photon amount of the collected sunlight is less than a predetermined reference value, Since the shortage of light is configured to compensate for the light emitted from the LED 10, it is possible to significantly reduce lighting costs and provide high-quality vegetables at a low cost compared to the conventional complete artificial light growth method. .
In addition, by constantly adjusting the amount of sunlight collected to a certain level, it is possible to produce vegetables with a stable growing period.

  By the way, the lighting power cost accounts for about 80% of the running cost of vegetable cultivation, but the running cost is reduced by about 50% by using sunlight as the main light and artificial light as the secondary light as in the present invention. Is possible.

Next, the structure of the vegetable factory by Example 2 of this invention is demonstrated using FIG. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a vegetable factory according to the second embodiment.
The vegetable factory of the present embodiment is different from the embodiment 1 (FIG. 1) in that a cylindrical lens 19 is provided on the upper surface of the illumination section 9 as a light diffusing means for diffusing sunlight L1 transmitted from the optical fiber 8. That is.
The cylindrical lens 19 is a kamaboko type lens in which one surface of the lens is a cylindrical surface. The cylindrical lens 19 has a characteristic that it has a curvature in one direction but has no curvature in a direction orthogonal to the cylindrical lens. Therefore, it can diffuse a single direction of incident light and is suitable for line illumination. It is a good lens.

  In this way, the number of the optical fibers 8 used for dispersing the sunlight transmitted from the optical fiber 8 in the illuminating unit 9 to disperse the sunlight from the light collecting unit 6 to each illuminating unit 9 is described in the first embodiment. There is an advantage that it can be reduced compared to (FIG. 1).

  As described above, in the embodiment of the present invention, the LED, which is an optical semiconductor, is used as the artificial light source. However, a fluorescent lamp can be used instead.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Sunlight capture part 3 Fixed lens 4 Moving lens 6 Condensing part 7 Photon sensor 8 Optical fiber 9 Illumination part 10 LED (artificial light source)
11 Vegetable cultivation tray 12 Vegetable 13 Cold mirror (mirror)
14 Sunlight tracking sensor (light sensor)
19 Cylindrical lens (light diffusion means)
20 Control part L1 Sunlight L2 Artificial light

Claims (7)

A solar light capturing section that captures sunlight as the main light;
A condensing unit for collecting sunlight collected by the sunlight capturing unit;
A photon sensor that detects the photon amount of sunlight collected by the light collecting unit;
An illumination unit that is provided in the vicinity of the vegetable cultivation tray and in which an artificial light source that irradiates secondary light is disposed,
An optical fiber that guides the sunlight collected by the light collecting unit to the lighting unit and irradiates the vegetable cultivation tray,
When the photon amount detected by the photon sensor is equal to or less than a preset reference value, a controller that emits an artificial light source of the illumination unit and irradiates the vegetable cultivation tray;
Vegetable factory characterized by comprising.   The sunlight capture unit includes a movable mirror that reflects sunlight and guides it to the light collecting unit, and an optical sensor that detects the position of the sun, and moves the mirror based on a detection signal of the optical sensor, The vegetable factory according to claim 1, wherein the sunlight is guided to the light collecting unit with a constant light amount.   The said condensing part is provided with the fixed lens and moving lens which are located in a line with an optical axis direction, and adjusts the amount of condensing by moving this moving lens to an optical axis direction. Vegetable factory.   The vegetable factory according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the illumination unit is provided with light diffusing means for diffusing sunlight from the optical fiber.   The vegetable factory according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the reference value of the photon amount is individually set according to the type of vegetable to be grown.   The vegetable factory according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein an optical semiconductor is used as the artificial light source.   The vegetable factory according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the lighting unit and the vegetable cultivation tray are provided in pairs in upper and lower stages.

Images