KR20150076610A - System for Controlling Urban Plant Factory - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system for integrally controlling an urban plant factory, and more specifically, to a system for integrally controlling an urban plant factory, which detects conditions within an urban plant factory to automatically or manually set the growth environment of an urban factory to be optimized automatically. A system for controlling an urban plant factory comprises: a control node (11) which can communicate via wired or wireless communications with a management device (M); an operation module (13) which is connected to a control node (11) via wireless local area communication and which sets the growth environment within an urban plant factory; and a sensor module (12) which measures, and sends to a control node (11), light and other conditions, wherein the control node (11) operates the operation module (13) based on the growth database within predetermined data, and the sensors in the sensor module (12) measure light conditions through optical diodes.

Description

System for Controlling Urban Plant Factory "

The present invention relates to an integrated control system for a municipal plant, and more particularly, it relates to an integrated control system for a municipal plant, and more particularly, To an integrated control system of an urban plant.

A plant plant is a facility that allows artificial control of the cultivation environment such as light, temperature, humidity, or carbon dioxide inside the facility so that plants can be continuously produced regardless of the season. Plant factories are capable of producing agricultural products in the suburbs or in the city, and they are suitable for indoor farming, so they can be produced all year round and can be supplied in a stable manner. However, all the facilities must be made artificially, Price competitiveness can be lowered.

Plant plants require various growth conditions depending on the type of plant and environmental conditions must be formed through artificial facilities. And as plants grow, these conditions must be properly controlled. However, it is difficult to artificially control the conditions depending on the kind of plants or the degree of growth of such plants, which requires experience and skill and is difficult to be suitably applied according to various environmental conditions.

Prior art relating to control of plant factories is disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 2012-0061687, " Plant Plant Control System Using LabVIEW ". The prior art includes a computer for driving a labview for control of a plant plant and performing a remote connection process using the Internet to enable a user to control the plant plant through the Internet; A power supply and connection unit connecting the computer and the plant factory equipment; A plant plant facility including an artificial light source, a fan, a water supply hose, a mist nozzle, a solenoid valve, a relay, and configured to grow plants; A sensor unit for detecting a change in the state of the plant factory equipment and transmitting the detected change to the computer; And a camera for photographing the state of the plant factory equipment by an image and transmitting the computer, wherein the designated operation is performed by a LabVIEW program created by measuring and analyzing analog or digital signal values of a sensor or equipment, And all the data discloses a plant factory control device that enables a user to obtain information about plant factories via the Internet in cooperation with a mobile device such as a smart phone.

Another prior art related to the control of plant factories is Patent Office No. 2013-0065828, 'Plant Plant Operation System Using Smartphone'. In the prior art, there is disclosed a plant plant in which a nutrient solution plate for supplying light by LED illumination is fixed to a support frame to provide a multi-layer structure, and a plant is grown by supplying nutrient solution with a nutrient solution plate by a circulation pump , An image of the plant being cultivated on the nutrient solution plate is taken and transmitted from the integrated operating means for controlling the nutrient solution supply to the nutrient solution plate, , The administrator receiving the control signal inputs and transmits the appropriate control signal so that appropriate measures can be taken for each plant cultivating device so that the manager can operate the plant factory stably even if the plant does not reside in the plant factory Started plant plant operation system using The.

A known plant plant control system discloses a technique for judging a growth environment based on an image inside a plant plant. However, it is an exceptional situation that can be judged practically by the image, and it is difficult to make a practical judgment as to whether the growth environment of the plant is in a proper state. On the other hand, the growth environment of the plant should be set according to the set conditions and it should be possible to detect whether the internal environment of the plant is suitable for the specified conditions. The internal environmental control of the plant should be determined according to the detection result. The prior art does not disclose such techniques.

The present invention has been made to solve the problems of the prior art and has the following purpose.

An object of the present invention is to provide an urban plant facility in which an environment within a plant plant is set according to predetermined condition data, environmental factors are detected by sensors, and environmental conditions inside the plant plant are automatically controlled according to the detection result And to provide an integrated control system.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the integrated control system of the municipal plant is a control node capable of wired or wireless communication with the management device; An operating module connected to the control node in a short-range wireless manner and setting an ecological environment inside the plant factory; And a sensor module for detecting optical environment and environmental conditions of the plant plant and transmitting to the control node, wherein the control node activates an operating module based on a predetermined growth database, Measure the environment.

According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the sensor module comprises an environment detection sensor for detecting a growth environment inside a plant factory and a growth detection sensor for detecting a growth state, and the control node transmits a growth detection signal And controls the operation of the operation module.

According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the growth detection sensors are installed in a control plant group installed at different positions in a plant plant.

The control system according to the present invention has an advantage that the production cost can be reduced by allowing the environment inside the plant factory to be automatically controlled. In addition, the plant control system according to the present invention has an advantage that the production environment can be determined in advance and the environment can be controlled thereby to enable the production of crops having uniform quality. In addition, the control system according to the present invention has the advantage that it is possible to acquire information on suitable conditions for plant growth due to the scale of the data.

1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a control system according to the present invention.
Figure 2a illustrates an embodiment of a control node that may be applied to a control system according to the present invention.
2B shows an embodiment of a relay capable of controlling a total of four relays for a contactless relay (SSR) and an A / B contact which can be applied to a control node according to the present invention, respectively.
Figure 3 shows an embodiment of the operating structure of the system according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited thereto. In the following description, components having the same reference numerals in different drawings have similar functions, so that they will not be described repeatedly unless necessary for an understanding of the invention, and the known components will be briefly described or omitted. However, It should not be understood as being excluded from the embodiment of Fig.

1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a control system according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, an integrated control system 10 of an urban plant plant includes a control node 11 that is capable of wired or wireless communication with a management device M; An operation module (13) connected with the control node (11) by short-range wireless communication and setting an ecological environment inside the plant factory; And a sensor module (12) for detecting optical environment and environmental conditions of the plant plant and transmitting them to the control node (11), the control node (11) activating the operation module (13) based on a predetermined growth database And the sensor measures the optical environment of the plant by the photodiode.

The control system according to the present invention is for controlling the operation of the municipal plant and is not limited to the type of crop or plant growing in the plant. Urban plant factories mean any structure in which an ecological environment is artificially formed for the production of crops or plants.

Control of plant factories means, for example, remote control, and may in particular include control of ecological environmental conditions such as lighting, humidity, temperature or concentration of carbon dioxide, and includes control of the devices involved. Control of a plant plant also includes, for example, detecting an exceptional situation occurring within a plant plant or a sudden change in the ecological environment. Thus, the control system refers to the detection of the ecological environment within the plant plant and hence the control of the operation of the associated apparatus, or the occurrence of and the transmission of an exceptional situation. And the operation of such a control system may be based on the control node 11.

The manager of the plant factory can communicate wirelessly with the control node 11 via the management unit M. [ The management unit M may be any electronic device capable of communicating with the control node 11 and may be, for example, a personal computer, notebook, mobile device or terminal. The management unit M is capable of short range communication such as Bluetooth or Zigbee communication with the control node 11 and the control node 11 is a communication chip C1 capable of data communication with the management unit M. [ Lt; / RTI > On the other hand, the management unit M may have a remote communication means for remote wired or wireless communication with another control server or other electronic device. For example, the management unit M may be an integrated control server installed near the control node 11 and may be an electronic device capable of wired and wireless communication with a smartphone or a central control center. The manager can access the management unit M or directly access the management unit M, for example, through a communication means such as a central control center or a smart phone. In such a structure, the management unit M may substantially include the control node 11. [

The management unit M and the control node 11 can be formed as independent structures or integrated structures, and the present invention is not limited thereto.

The control node 11 may be capable of short range wireless communication with the operating module 13 to control the operating module 13 and the short range wireless communication may be, for example, Bluetooth communication or ZigBee communication. The operating module 13 may be, for example, a power source, an LED module, a humidity controller, a ventilator or a temperature controller. Connecting the control node 11 and the operation module 13 by short distance wireless communication improves the management efficiency of the plant factory. The plant factories have a complicated internal environment due to various artificial facilities for growing crops and crops, and generally the control node 11 is preferably installed outside the plant plant since it contains electronic equipment. When the control node 11 is installed outside the plant plant, the operation module 13 may be installed on the perimeter wall or the ceiling of the plant P. [ If the control node 11 and the operation module 13 are connected by a wire, it is difficult to install and maintain the control node 11. [ According to the present invention, in order to solve such a problem, the control node 11 and the operation module 13 are connected by a short distance communication such as Bluetooth or Zigbee communication, and exchange data through the communication chips C1 and C2 Lt; / RTI >

The growth environment of the plant P can be detected by the sensor module 12 and transmitted to the control node 11. [ Such as the illuminance, the photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD), the humidity, the temperature, the level of change in carbon dioxide, or the air circulation direction, can be detected by the sensor 12 and transmitted to the control node 11. The sensor module 12 and the control node 11 may be connected by short-range wireless communication as described above. Various environmental factors related to the growth environment can be detected by the sensor module 12. [ For example, a measurement sensor such as a photodiode or a silicon photodiode may be applied to measure the photon density (PPFD).

The control node 11 may operate the operation module 13 to adjust the growth environment of the plant P based on the information transmitted from the sensor module 12. [ The operation of the plant P can be enabled by detecting the environment of the plant P by the sensor module 12 and controlling the operation of the operation module 13 accordingly.

An embodiment of a control node 11 that can be applied to the system according to the invention is described below.

Figure 2a illustrates an embodiment of a control node that may be applied to a control system according to the present invention.

2A, the control node 11 includes a central processing unit 21 including a microcontroller and a local communication unit 22a for local communication with an operation module or sensor and a serial communication unit (22b). As described above, the short-range communication unit 22a may be configured to be capable of, for example, 2.4 GHz IEEE 802.15.4 Zigbee communication, and the serial communication unit 22b may be configured to allow external devices such as RS-232 or RS- It is possible to have a serial interface capable of supporting. The control node 11 may include an output switch 23a, a relay 23b, and a control switch 23c for power supply control. The output switch 23a may include, for example, a four-channel solid state relay capable of a non-contact connection to an external AC power source of 120 V or 220 V, and the relay 23b may include an AC For example, a circuit capable of 4-channel relay control for conversion to DC. The control node 11 may also include a switch 23c for controlling each hardware. The central processing unit 21 controls the operation of the output switch 23a, the relay 23b and the switch 23c in accordance with a general-purpose input / output (GPIO) ) Method. Similarly, control for the LED control element 24 and the printing control element 25 can be performed by the GPIO pin. However, the control for the short-range communication unit 22a and the serial communication unit 22b may be performed by a Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter.

2 (b) shows an embodiment of a relay capable of controlling all four relays with respect to an A / B contact, and Fig. 2 (b) The contactless relays can be designed to be controllable with no-contact relays for each of the external AC 220 V supplies and to enable N phaser and L phaser controls respectively for four AC 220 V power sources.

An output switch 23a or a relay 23b having various structures can be applied to the control node 11 according to the present invention so as to be capable of program control or software control by the central processing unit 21, It is not limited to the embodiment shown.

The control node 11 may include an LED control element 24 and a printing control element 25 that are controlled by the central processing unit 21. [ The operation or output of the LED control element 24 or the printing control element 25 can be controlled through the output switch 23a or the relay 23b. However, the output level or output structure of each LED illumination can be controlled by the LED control element 24. For example, the illuminance of the LED illumination can be adjusted through the LED control element 24 under the control of the central processing unit 21. [ On the other hand, such as the operating speed or operating time of the fan can be controlled by the parameter control element 25. [ The central processing unit 21 can set operating conditions of the LED control element 24 and the printing control element 25 based on the information transmitted from the sensor module. The command to the central processing unit 21 can be transmitted to the LED control element 24 and the printing control element 25 via the GPIO pin as described above.

The control node 11 according to the present invention may include a control database 26. [ The control database 26 may store basic data for controlling the environment of the plant according to the plant type and the growth state. The central processing unit 21 compares the environmental information of the plant plant detected by the sensor module transmitted from the sensor module with the data in the control database 26 to determine the operation of the LED control element 24 or the printing control element 25 Conditions can be set. Alternatively, these conditions can be entered by the administrator. The input may be made via a management unit as described, for example, in Fig. The input conditions can be stored in the control database 26 and the central processing unit 21 can compare the measured values transmitted from the sensor module with the input conditions. The operating conditions of the LED control element 24 and the printing control element 25 can be set under appropriate conditions.

The control node 11 may include various elements for detecting the environmental factors of the plant plant and for controlling the ecological environment of the plant plant and is not limited to the embodiments shown in accordance with the present invention.

The control node 11 may be in the form of a chip or a printed circuit board.

The structure in which the ecological environment of the plant plant is controlled by the control node 11 is described below.

Figure 3 shows an embodiment of the operating structure of the system according to the invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the control node 11 can identify the facility detection unit 31a to detect the respective facilities for control of the growth environment of the plant P. Information on the plant P can be confirmed from the plant plant information unit 31b. The facility detection unit 31a can store status and real-time information on each piece of information for adjusting the environment of the plant P, such as, for example, a fan, a sprinkler or an LED unit. The facility detection unit 31a can transmit a detection signal to each of the devices as needed to confirm whether or not the devices are operating normally. The plant plant information unit 31b may store information related to the operation of the plant P such as the size of the plant P, the type of plant currently being cultivated, or the resources necessary for setting the environment. If one of the operation facilities is replaced, the relevant information of the plant factory information unit 31b may be updated.

The control node 11 can confirm the plant operating status and information associated with the plant P and obtain the detection value for the plant P detected from the sensor module. The sensor module for environmental detection of the plant P may include an environmental detection sensor 32a and a growth detection sensor 32b. The environmental detection sensor 32a corresponds to a sensor for measuring the density, humidity, temperature or the amount of carbon dioxide required for growth of a crop. And the growth detection sensor 32b corresponds to a sensor for measuring a growth condition of an actual plant. The environmental detection sensor 32a detects the entire plant plant P environment by a sensor capable of measuring each factor. On the other hand, the growth detection sensor 32b is for detecting the influence of applied environmental factors on plants. The growth detection sensor 32b can be installed in a predetermined control plant and can measure, for example, the size, the color of stems or leaves, or the amount of carbon dioxide emissions. And may further include a video device. Control plants can be installed at different locations in the plant P and growth information for each control plant can be detected and sent to the control node 11. [ The control node 11 searches the control database 26 and the verification database 26a based on the information transmitted from the sensor module. The information delivered by the environmental detection sensor 32a may be compared to the data stored in the control database 26 and the information delivered from the growth detection sensor 32b may be compared to the data stored in the control database 26a. As described above, the control database 26 has general information related to plant growth. For example, a particular plant may contain information such as roughness, temperature, or humidity required depending on the number of days of growth. On the other hand, the verification database 26a can store concrete information about the crops being cultivated in the actual plant plant P. [ For example, the state of a plant a week ago, the form depending on the number of days of growth, or information about a specific part of the plant. The values detected from the environment detection sensor 32a and the growth detection sensor 32b may be transmitted to the control node 11 at the same or different intervals and the control node 11 may transmit such information With the information stored in the control database 26 and the verification database 26a, respectively. Information related to plant growth can be stored in the verification database 26a. And the information transmitted from the future growth detection sensor 32b can be compared with the information stored in the verification database 26a. The entire information relating to the plant growth can then be stored in the information database 27. The user can search the information stored in the information database 27 through the management unit M to check the growth state of the plant and confirm whether the plant growth is abnormal or the environmental factor is adjusted.

The environmental detection sensor 32a or the growth detection sensor 32b may be set to detect various factors depending on the plant being cultivated. The growth detection sensor 32b may include an image unit or the control node 11 may embed an image contrast program. On the other hand, the control database 26 or the control database 26a may store various types of information, and the present invention is not limited to the embodiments shown.

The control system according to the present invention has an advantage that the production cost can be reduced by allowing the environment inside the plant factory to be automatically controlled. In addition, the plant control system according to the present invention has an advantage that the production environment can be determined in advance and the environment can be controlled thereby to enable the production of crops having uniform quality. In addition, the control system according to the present invention has the advantage that it is possible to acquire information on suitable conditions for plant growth due to the scale of the data.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . The invention is not limited by these variations and modifications, but is limited only by the claims appended hereto.

11: control node 12: sensor module
13: operation module 21: central processing unit
22a: Local communication unit 22b: Serial communication unit
23a: output switch 23b: relay
23c: switch 24: LED control element
25: Printing control element 31a: Facility detection unit
31b: plant plant information unit 32a: environmental detection sensor
32b: growth detection sensor 26: control database
26a: Database

Claims (3)

A control node (11) capable of wired or wireless communication with the management device (M);
An operation module (13) connected with the control node (11) wirelessly and setting an ecological environment inside the plant factory; And
And a sensor module (12) for detecting optical environment and environmental conditions of the plant and transmitting the detected environmental and environmental conditions to the control node (11)
Characterized in that the control node (11) actuates the operating module (13) on the basis of a predetermined growth database and the sensor measures the optical environment of the plant by means of photodiodes. The control module according to claim 1, wherein the sensor module (12) comprises an environment detection sensor (32a) for detecting a growth environment inside a plant factory and a growth detection sensor (32b) And the operation of the operation module (13) is controlled by comparing the information transmitted from the growth detection sensor (32b) with the reference database at regular intervals. The integrated control system of an urban plant as claimed in claim 2, wherein the growth detection sensor (32b) is installed in a control plant group installed at different positions of the plant (P).

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