JPS62282526A - Light control unit of plant growing factory - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention 3. Detailed Description of the Invention Purpose of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) This invention relates to a light control device that enables the combined use of sunlight and artificial light in a plant growing factory.

(Conventional technology) In recent years, artificial growth of plants in greenhouses etc. has been further advanced, and temperature,
Research is underway all over the world to commercialize plant factories that artificially control not only humidity, but also all conditions that affect plant growth, such as the components and concentrations of hydroponic solutions, the components and concentrations of atmospheric gases, and the illuminance of light. It's becoming popular. Agricultural products are not controlled by the climate,
In addition to being able to provide a stable supply, there has recently been a strong demand for pesticide-free crops, and the characteristics of plant factories as a supply base are being reconsidered.

Despite this situation, one of the reasons why plant factories have not yet been put into practical use is that the raw 11M value of crops produced by plant factories is high.

Traditionally, plant factories are used to facilitate environmental control.

Most plants use artificial light to grow plants in sealed factories, but if such a method is adopted in a country like Japan where electricity costs are high, running costs will naturally rise. However, it accounts for a large part of the reason for the high production costs of the above crops.

On the other hand, however, if only sunlight is used, it becomes a kind of greenhouse, and the indoor temperature becomes extremely high for about six months before and after summer, requiring a large-capacity cooling system. Therefore, in this case, the running cost of the air conditioner becomes abnormally high. In the end, neither plant factories using only artificial light nor plant factories using only sunlight became practical.

In some cases, filters that block the heat rays of sunlight are used to control the temperature of agricultural greenhouses.

(Special Publication No. 51-13691) Since the filter was placed indoors, it was impossible to avoid an increase in the indoor temperature, and it was also impossible to avoid the dimming of visible light by the filter, so it could not be said to be sufficient. . There is also a light shielding plate with artificial lighting that adjusts the light by opening and closing it (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-20591
No. 3), this is a plant environment testing device and cannot be used in large-scale plant breeding factories.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) This invention uses artificial light and sunlight in combination to create so-called hybrid lighting, which is controlled by the temperature and illuminance inside and outside the factory building, thereby reducing the above-mentioned power consumption. The aim is to minimize consumption and create a plant breeding factory with low running costs.

Structure of the Invention (Means for Solving Problems) The plant factory of the present invention comprises a factory roof and surrounding walls having walls with good heat insulation properties made of a light-transmitting material such as glass or transparent plastic, and an artificial Equipped with a light source and a cooling device with a smaller capacity than conventional models.

At least one light-shielding film is provided on the outside of the light-transmissive roof and the surrounding wall so that it can be opened and closed, and the opening and closing of the light-shielding film is controlled by the outputs of temperature and illuminance detection sensors inside and outside the factory building. Features.

(Function) The above-mentioned plant growing factory basically uses sunlight to grow plants as long as the cooling capacity allows, that is, as long as the room temperature does not exceed a certain upper limit, such as the temperature that inhibits plant growth. Cultivate. When the sunlight is strong and the cooling capacity is insufficient and the room temperature exceeds the upper limit, especially during the summer months, a shading device is used to reduce the intensity of the incident light and prevent the room temperature from rising.

If the illuminance is insufficient as a result of shading, supplement the illuminance with an artificial light source.

Even if this light shielding device is of a type that reflects incident light, if it is placed indoors, it will not be possible to avoid raising the room temperature, so it must be installed outdoors.

Since the indoor temperature is determined by the outside temperature and the amount of incident light, these temperatures and illuminance are each measured, and the degree of light shielding is controlled based on the measured values. However, if the illuminance is insufficient due to shading, the insufficient illuminance is supplemented by an artificial light source.

(Embodiment) The figure shows an embodiment of a plant growing factory according to the present invention, in which the north side has a wall 1 made of a suitable material such as a heat insulating panel, and the roof 2 and possibly the south wall 3 are also made of transparent plastic. It is composed of a light-transmissive material such as a plate.

In order to avoid the need for a small heating and cooling capacity, this light-transmitting material should be highly insulating.As shown in Figure 2, an air layer may be provided inside to increase the insulating property.4 is an artificial material. A lamp is a light source, and 5 is a plant growth tank, which is equipped with a fertilizer and water supply system as is well known, but any method such as rock wool type, hydroponic type, spray type, etc. can be used, and CO2 fertilization is also possible. The optimal control system using CO□ concentration detection previously proposed by the present inventor (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 59-154925)
You can also use

A feature of the plant growing factory of the present invention is that light-shielding films 6, 6'' are provided on the outer surface of the transparent wall together with the above-mentioned lamp, and the light-transmitting surface is shaded as necessary. 7, 7' are winding devices thereof.

Since the light shielding film is for controlling the amount of incident light as described above, it may be controlled by changing the opening/closing degree of a film with a light shielding rate of 95 to 100%, or a film with a light shielding rate of 50 to 100%. A plurality of combinations of other light shielding ratios such as 70% light shielding ratios may be used. For those with a light shielding ratio of 95 to 100%, it is desirable that the inner and outer surfaces are finished in silver so as to reflect light.

This plant growing factory is equipped with room temperature, outside temperature, indoor and outdoor illuminance detection devices 11!8, which open and close the light-shielding film and control the illuminance.In other words, when the sunlight is strong and the room temperature rises beyond the cooling capacity. If necessary, close the light-shielding film or replace it with a film with a higher light-shielding rate. At the same time, the measured values of outside temperature and outside illuminance at that time are stored in memory, and when the room temperature drops below the upper limit value and the outside environment falls below the above memory value, the membrane is opened one after another or the light shielding rate is I'm going to replace it with one with a lower value. At night, when necessary, it is illuminated with artificial light, and in this case, a light-shielding film with high reflectance is closed to prevent light from dispersing to the outside. Also.

When the outside temperature is below a certain value, for example, below the temperature that inhibits plant growth, the light-shielding film is closed to maintain heat, and heating is performed if necessary. These controls are performed by measuring the above quantities at regular time intervals and based on the measured values. When controlling to increase the shading rate,
Measure the external conditions at that time, compare the previous value, always replace it with a lower (safe) value, and use that value for control. This eliminates the danger of opening and closing the membrane unstably due to slight changes in the external environment, and at the same time realizes safe control.

Specifically, this control is performed as follows.

θin: Indoor temperature θout: j'! Outside temperature θr*ax: Temperature θwi above which plants will wither.
n: Lower critical temperature, below which plant growth is inhibited.

θ1: Upper limit temperature, above which plant growth is inhibited.

02: Set between θwin and 01. Used as an index for temperature control.

θc1: Outdoor temperature when the room temperature rises to θ1n=01 (a constant value determined empirically may be used to simplify control) l in: Indoor illuminance 1 out: Outdoor illuminance 1o: Illuminance that separates night and day1 : Film S□ with light shielding rate a%. . : When θin≧01 and 1 out≧16 when the film has a light shielding rate of 100%, S, closed, s
Compare zoo open ■, 1, θc1 with the memory value and update to the lower one (Since the room temperature exceeds the appropriate temperature, block a% of light.

When starting operation of the breeding factory, 1° is a temporary value) Measure the illuminance 1c2 and temperature θc2 at this time (measured in the same way at each step below) If θin≧02 and lout≧let, S, open, s
1°. closed (the sunlight becomes even stronger and the room temperature rises again.

100% light shielding because sl light shielding is not enough) θout (θ, 2, oi port ≧ 02 and i o < l
If out < I C2, S, close, S work. . Open (100% θout as sunlight and outdoor temperature have dropped)
<θ0 θin≦θ□ and 1 a < l ou
If t < l c x, S, open, s1. . Open (Furthermore, the external environment has become gentle and the room temperature has dropped, so we fully utilize sunlight.) l out < l n and θout (If θmin, S, open, s4°. Closed (It is night and the outside temperature is low, so keep warm) In addition, artificial light is controlled as follows.

1in≦1□, l out> l o and θin<θ1
If the lamp is on (during the daytime, but the room is dark due to light blocking, cloudy weather, rainy weather, etc.), the lamp is on (at night) if l out≦1o and θin<θ, and in addition, as mentioned above, when the light is on, the lamp is turned on outside. The light-shielding film is closed to reflect the diffused light. In addition, whenever there is a command to "use night lighting", this example shows an example using two films, a complete light-shielding film and a light-shielding film with a light-shielding rate of a%, but only one light shielding film is used. Even if the number is increased, or if the number is further increased, it can be easily controlled in the same way.

Furthermore, a blind type light shielding film may be used. In this case, the shading rate is controlled by the opening/closing angle of the blind.

It goes without saying that many design changes can be made within the scope of the present invention, such as adding heating equipment if winter heating is required depending on the area where the factory is located.

Effects of the Invention With the above configuration, this invention makes maximum use of sunlight in a large-scale plant cultivation factory, automatically controls the room temperature, and significantly reduces running costs for cooling and lighting. It is possible to reduce the manufacturing cost of one crop by 40% compared to the conventional method using only artificial light.
This will pave the way for the realization of plant breeding factories.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the structure of an embodiment of a plant growing factory of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an example of the transparent wall thereof. The numbers in the diagram are 1: north wall, 2: roof, 3: transparent wall, 4
5 is a lamp, 5 is a plant growth tank, 6 is a light-shielding film, 7 is a winding device thereof, and 8 is a temperature/illuminance sensor. Patent applicant New Technology Development Corporation Applicant agent Patent attorney Fumio Sato Figure 2 Procedure amendment band (voluntary) August 22, 1985 Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office Black 1) Akio Tono 1, Indication of the case 1986 Patent Application No. 123655 2, Name of the invention: Light control device for a plant growing factory 3, Person making the amendment, case and division Patent applicant address: 2-5-2 Nagatacho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Name
New Technology Development Corporation Chairman Shogo Kurachi 4, Agent address 1-18-14 Nishi-Shinbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 5 Number of inventions to be increased by the amendment None 6 Details of the invention in the specification subject to the amendment aJ /”=”゛,
. and power of attorney i-7, contents of amendment/) Page 9 of the specification, lines 9 to 12 “At this time...
...s too closed" is corrected as follows. ``If θin≧02 and lout≧1.Sa open, SL.Measure the illuminance 1c2 and temperature θ2 at this time (hereinafter similarly measured at each step)., 2) Line 16 of the same `` θout<θo2, θin≧θ2”
is corrected to “θout<θc2, O1 port≦θ2”. 3) Delete "Use" on page 10, line 9. ll) Line 11 r l out > l eJ rlo
Correct to ut≧laJ. , 5) Insert the following sentence before ``In the case of (nighttime)'' in line 15 of the same.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A plant growing factory having a light-transmitting roof and a surrounding wall is equipped with an artificial light source and an air-conditioning device, and at least one light-shielding film is provided on the outside of the light-transmitting roof and surrounding wall so that it can be opened and closed. A light control device for a plant growing factory, characterized in that the opening and closing of the light-shielding film is controlled by the output of a sensor that detects temperature and illuminance inside and outside the building.