WO2009025514A2

WO2009025514A2 - Nutrient culture pot assembly

Info

Publication number: WO2009025514A2
Application number: PCT/KR2008/004893
Authority: WO
Inventors: Han Seong Lim
Original assignee: Han Seong Lim
Priority date: 2007-08-21
Filing date: 2008-08-21
Publication date: 2009-02-26
Also published as: WO2009025514A3

Abstract

Provided is a nutrient culture ('nutriculture') pot assembly comprising: a plurality of nutrient culture pots formed in a stacked manner, each nutrient culture pot including a main body having an open upper end and a protrusion with a hollow cavity at a center, wherein the protrusion defines the height of a nutrient solution to be stored, and support blades that are arranged along an outer circumference of the main body at predetermined intervals and contact an upper portion of a main body of an underlying nutrient culture pot; and a connecting member that is disposed between the plurality of nutrient culture pots and forms a passage for supplying a nutrient solution to each of the plurality of nutrient culture pots.

Description

Description NUTRIENT CULTURE POT ASSEMBLY

Technical Field

[1] The present invention relates to a nutrient culture ( " nutriculture " ) pot assembly, and more particularly, to a stack-type nutrient culture pot unit having a plurality of pots that provide a uniform supply of nutrients to each pot as well as increased planting area. Background Art

[2] Nutriculture refers to a technique for cultivating crops using an aqueous solution

(hereinafter referred to as a " nutrient solution " ) in which essential ingredients for crop growth are dissolved in appropriate concentrations according to their absorption ratios.

[3] The nutriculture is a scientific farming technique that can artificially control the type of nutrient solutions and conditions of root culture media in a precise way. Thus, according to the nutriculture, growth of crops can be optimized by uniformly maintaining growth environments.

[4] Nutriculture is largely classified into aeroponic culture, water culture and solid medium culture according to the type of medium used. In the solid medium culture, which is currently the most popular technique, crops are supported in solid media

(hereinafter referred to as "culture soil") other than natural soil, such as sand, perlite, rock wool, gravel, chaff, husk charcoal, etc., and nutrient solutions are supplied to the crops.

[5] A conventional solid medium culture system disclosed in Korean Patent Application

No. 1992-13535 includes a plurality of nutriculture pots that are provided on nutriculture beds installed at ridges in a greenhouse and nutrient irrigation facilities for each nutriculture pot. Thus, the conventional solid medium culture system has a drawback in that it requires excessive installation expenditures.

[6] Another conventional nutriculture device (home nutriculture device) is disclosed in Korean Patent Application No. 2000-20483, wherein an external vessel formed of styrofoam having grid-type weep holes has an internal vessel containing natural soil instead of culture soil.

[7] Another drawback of the above conventional nutriculture devices is that it is impossible to freely adjust the height of a nutriculture pot according to characteristics of crops due to space limitations within a plant house and to uniformly control the amount of sunshine through a ceiling of a house.

[8] To overcome these drawbacks, Korean Patent No. 00499610 proposes a stack-type nutriculture pot system in which a nutrient solution is supplied from an upper portion of the stack-type nutriculture pot system to a lower portion thereof so that nutrients in the solution are filtered through a solid medium stored in the upper portion of the nutriculture pot system. The stack-type nutriculture pot system has a drawback in that nutrients for growing plants cannot be sufficiently supplied to culture soil in the lower portion thereof. Disclosure of Invention Technical Problem

[9] To solve the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a nutrient culture ( " nutriculture " ) pot assembly constructed so that nutrients supplied to a pot in the stack can be supplied to each pot without being completely filtered out by the culture soil filled into a nutriculture pot located at an upper portion thereof.

[10] It is another object of the present invention to provide a nutriculture pot assembly that provides efficient supply/recovery of nutrient solution to/from a pot in the stack in which plants are grown.

[11] It is still another object of the present invention to provide a nutriculture pot assembly that provides increased planting area. Technical Solution

[12] According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a nutrient culture pot assembly comprising: a plurality of nutrient culture pots formed in a stacked manner, each nutrient culture pot including a main body having an open upper end and a protrusion with a hollow cavity at a center, wherein the protrusion defines the height of a nutrient solution to be stored, and support blades that are arranged along an outer circumference of the main body at predetermined intervals and contact an upper portion of a main body of an underlying nutrient culture pot; and a connecting member that is disposed between the plurality of nutrient culture pots and forms a passage for supplying a nutrient solution to each of the plurality of nutrient culture pots.

[13] In the present invention, the connecting member may include a solution supply conduit and a cover, the solution supply conduit engaged with a hollow cavity of a protrusion formed on a bottom surface of an overlying nutrient culture pot and having a bottom end superposed on the protrusion, and the cover attached to the bottom end of the solution supply conduit in a radial direction.

[14] The nutrient culture pot assembly may further comprise a pillar penetrating the hollow cavity of the protrusion in each of the stacked nutrient culture pots and the connecting member disposed between the nutrient culture pots.

[15] Preferably, the protrusion has an end combined with the bottom end of the connecting member and has a nutrient solution inlet with a plurality of grooves along an outer circumference of the end of the protrusion.

[16] According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a nutrient culture pot assembly comprising: a plurality of nutrient culture pots formed in a stacked manner, each nutrient culture pot including a tapered main body having an open upper end and a protrusion with a hollow cavity at a center, wherein the protrusion defines the height of a nutrient solution to be stored, and support blades that are arranged along an outer circumference of the main body at predetermined intervals and supported on an upper portion of a main body of an underlying nutrient culture pot; a connecting member that is disposed between the plurality of nutrient culture pots and includes a solution supply conduit with an upper end engaged with a hollow cavity of a protrusion in an overlying nutrient culture pot and a cover attached to a lower end of the solution supply conduit in a radial direction; and a packing member that engages the bottom end of the solution supply conduit with the protrusion formed at a location corresponding to the solution supply conduit and includes first longitudinal grooves forming a solution inlet passage along an outer circumference thereof and second grooves forming a solution outlet passage along an inner circumference thereof.

[17] The nutriculture pot assembly having the above-mentioned construction allows a uniform supply of the nutrient solution that is not filtered through culture soil in each nutriculture pot, thereby preventing nonuniform growth of plants in the culture soil due to nonuniformity in supplying a nutrient solution. With upper and lower nutriculture pots combined with each other by a plurality of support blades provided on outer circumferences thereof, the nutriculture pot assembly has planting areas formed along edges of openings in the nutriculture pots, thereby, reducing the number of steps for reaping plants. Brief Description of the Drawings

[18] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a nutrient culture ( " nutriculture " ) pot system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[19] FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the nutriculture pot assembly shown in

FIG. 1;

[20] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the nutriculture pot assembly of FIG. 2;

[21] FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a nutriculture pot assembly according to another embodiment of the present invention;

[22] FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the nutriculture pot assembly of FIG. 4; and

[23] FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a nutriculture pot in which a packing member, a connecting member, and a protrusion are engaged with each other. Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention [24] Hereinafter, nutrient culture ( " nutriculture") pot assemblies according to embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings. The present invention is not restricted to the following embodiments, and many variations are possible within the spirit and scope of the present invention. The embodiments of the present invention are provided in order to more completely explain the present invention to anyone skilled in the art.

[25] In a nutriculture pot assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of nutriculture pots are vertically stacked in a culture medium or a stack of nutriculture pots are suspended and move by a moving unit.

[26] FIG. 1 a perspective view of a nutriculture pot system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention including a moving unit 30 and a nutriculture pot assembly 10 installed on the moving unit 30.

[27] Referring to FIG. 1, the moving unit for transporting the nutriculture pot assembly 10 is constructed from a chain conveyor system. The chain conveyor system includes a power transmission unit having two chain wheels 31 and 31' disposed at either end thereof, that is, a driving chain wheel and a driven chain wheel, a hoist chain 33 wound around teeth 31a on the chain wheels 31 and 31', and a motor 32 supplying power to the driving chain wheel 31.

[28] Although the chain conveyors are used herein for moving the nutriculture pot assembly 10, a transmission rope or transmission belt may also be used. While the motor 32 has been described to transmit power only to the driving chain wheel 31, if the chain conveyors are considerably long, the motor 32 may transmit power simultaneously to both the driving chain wheel 31 and the driven chain wheel 31 ' in order to facilitate driving.

[29] The chain wheels 31, 31' are connected to each other by a transverse support 37 on which the motor 32 is mounted. Two C-shaped pipes 34 extending substantially parallel to the transverse support 37, details of which will be described later, are installed to guide movement of the hoist chain 33. The C-shaped pipes 34 are also connected to each other by a plurality of longitudinal support 35 arranged at predetermined intervals. The chain wheels 31 and 31' and the longitudinal support 35 are fixed on a bottom support 38 disposed under the chain conveyor system by a plurality of vertical supports 36 arranged at predetermined intervals. As described below, the bottom support 38 includes a conveyor distance adjuster.

[30] The nutriculture pot system 100 further includes a spray nozzle 39 supplying a nutrient solution and a nutrient solution recovery groove (not shown) recovering a nutrient solution discharged from the nutriculture pot assembly 10, which are disposed above the nutriculture pot assembly 10. The nutrient solution recovery groove recovers a nutrient solution supplied to and discharged down from a nutriculture pot after use for environmental protection and recycling.

[31] Referring to FIGS. 1 through 3, the nutriculture pot assembly 10 that is suspended and moved by the moving unit 30 includes a plurality of nutriculture pots 20 and 20' that are formed in a stacked manner and connected through a pillar 11 having a top end supported by the hoist chain 33, and a connecting member 40 fitted inside the pillar 11 and providing a passage for supplying a nutrient solution to individual nutriculture pots 20 and 20' The nutriculture pot 20 includes a main body 21 having an opened top end and a soil container at a bottom for holding culture soil, a protrusion 22 with a hollow cavity 22a, which projects upward from the bottom surface of the main body and defines the amount of a nutrient solution to be stored, and a plurality of support blades 23 that are formed along an outer circumference of the main body 21 at regular angular intervals and support the main body 21 with respect to the underlying nutriculture pot 20'

[32] As described above, the protrusion 22 extends upward from the center of the main body 21 and limits the height of nutrient solution to be stored. The protrusion 22 has a nutrient solution inlet 22c along an outer circumference of the top end of the protrusion 22. The nutrient solution inlet 22c has a plurality of longitudinal grooves spaced apart around the outer circumference of the protrusion 22.

[33] In this case, the plurality of grooves for receiving a nutrient solution may have a larger cross-section area than that of the hollow cavity 22a into which the pillar 11 is inserted so that a nutrient solution can flow down through the protrusion 22. If the plurality of nutriculture pots 20 and 20' are stacked without inserting the pillar 11, an inlet port of the hollow cavity 22a may have a smaller cross-section area than the grooves.

[34] In order to facilitate engagement with a top end of the connecting member 22b, the protrusion 22 further includes a connecting member fixing portion 22b formed at a bottom of the hollow cavity 22a. The connecting member fixing portion 22b may be formed integrally with the hollow cavity 22a. To achieve this, the hollow cavity 22a has a stepped structure. Although not able to be seen in FIGS. 1 through 3, the protrusion 22 further includes a nutrient solution reservoir for storing a nutrient solution. The nutrient solution reservoir may be a separate vessel having an open upper end. In this case, the hollow cavity 22a and the connecting member fixing portion 22b may be incorporated into the vessel.

[35] The connecting member 40 includes a solution supply conduit 41 having an upper end engaged with the connecting member fixing portion 22b of an overlying nutriculture pot 20, and a cover 42 attached to a lower end of the solution supply conduit 41. The cover 42 may have a plurality slits.

[36] The support blades 23 that are formed around the outer circumference of the main body 21 have insert recesses 23a into which an upper rim of a main body 21 'of an underlying nutriculture pot 20' is inserted. The main body 21' also has fitting recesses 23b at locations on the upper rim of the main body 21 'corresponding to the insert recesses 23a.

[37] FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate a nutriculture pot assembly according to another embodiment of the present invention. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout this description and the drawings.

[38] Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, the protrusion 22 is connected to the solution supply conduit 41 of the connecting member 40 by the packing member 50. The packing member 50 includes first longitudinal grooves 51 forming a solution inlet passage along an outer circumference thereof and second grooves 52 forming a solution outlet passage along an inner circumference thereof. A lower portion of the packing member 50 extends outward such that a nutrient solution fed from the first groove 51 can flow into the nutriculture pot. The individual nutriculture pots 21 and 21' the connecting members 40, and the packing members 50 are sequentially stacked and connected to each other through the pillar 11.

[39] In the embodiments described above, the main body (21 or 21') has a plurality of through holes 21a on a portion of the outer circumference that is located above the protrusion 22 in order to provide improved air permeability.

[40] Undefined reference number 60 denotes a nutrient solution container for storing a nutrient solution supplied from the spray nozzle 39.

[41] The operation of the nutriculture pot assembly having the above-mentioned construction will now be described in more detail.

[42] After the nutriculture pot assemblies 10, each having a plurality (3, 4, 5, or 6 in the present embodiment) of nutriculture pots 20 and 20' containing culture soil 200 are suspended and fixed on the conveyor chain 33 at predetermined intervals, conveyors are driven to move the nutriculture pot assemblies 10.

[43] Simultaneously, a nutrient solution is injected from the spray nozzle 39 and then supplied to the stack-type nutriculture pot assembly 10 passing under a bottom end of the spray nozzle 39.

[44] In this way, the nutrient solution jetted from the spray nozzle 39 is stored in the nutrient solution container 60 located on top of the nutriculture pot 20 or 20'. After being filled into the nutrient solution container 60, the nutrient solution is supplied to the underlying nutriculture pot 20'via the connecting member 40. That is, the nutrient solution supplied to the nutrient solution container 60 is then fed into the nutriculture pot 21 via the solution supply conduit 41 and the nutrient solution inlet 22c along an outer circumference of the protrusion 22.

[45] When the nutrient solution is supplied to the nutriculture pot 21 above the height of the protrusion 22, it is discharged into the underlying nutriculture pot 21 'via the hollow cavity 22a of the protrusion 22, the connecting member 40 disposed thereunder, and the protrusion 22 of the nutriculture pot 21' so as to moisten the culture soil.

[46] When the solution supply conduit 41 is connected to the protrusion 22 by the packing member 50 as illustrated in FIGS. 4 through 6, a nutrient solution is fed from the solution supply conduit 41 into the nutriculture pot 20 via the first groove 51. Further, after being supplied above the height of the protrusion 22, the nutrient solution is discharged down to the underlying nutriculture pot 21 'through the second groove 52 of the packing member 50.

[47] Thus, the nutrient solution fed through the spray nozzle 39 can be uniformly supplied to individual nutriculture pots 20 and 20' and stored so that the culture soil is consistently moist.

[48] According to the present invention, the support blades 23 formed along the outer circumference of the tapered main body 21 are supported on the upper rim of the main body 21' in the underlying nutriculture pot 20' upon stacking the nutriculture pots 20 and 20' culture soil is exposed along the upper rim of the main body 21' Thus, planting area is increased. Further, it is easy to harvest plants grown in the nutriculture pot assembly, such as root vegetables or medicinal herbs.

[49] 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 present invention as defined by the following claims. It is therefore desired that the present embodiments be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, reference being made to the appended claims rather than the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the invention. Industrial Applicability

[50] A nutriculture pot assembly according to the present invention including a stack of nutriculture pots allows plants to be cultivated in multiple columns. Thus, the nutriculture pot assembly can be widely used in growing facilities such as green houses.

[51]

[52]

Claims

[1] A nutrient culture pot assembly comprising: a plurality of nutrient culture pots formed in a stacked manner, each nutrient culture pot including a main body having an open upper end and a protrusion with a hollow cavity at a center, wherein the protrusion defines the height of a nutrient solution to be stored, and support blades that are arranged along an outer circumference of the main body at predetermined intervals and contact an upper portion of a main body of an underlying nutrient culture pot; and a connecting member that is disposed between the plurality of nutrient culture pots and forms a passage for supplying a nutrient solution to each of the plurality of nutrient culture pots.

[2] The assembly of claim 1, wherein the connecting member includes a solution supply conduit and a cover, the solution supply conduit engaged with a hollow cavity of a protrusion formed on a bottom surface of an overlying nutrient culture pot and having a bottom end superposed on the protrusion, and the cover attached to the bottom end of the solution supply conduit in a radial direction.

[3] The assembly of claim 1, further comprising a pillar penetrating the hollow cavity of the protrusion in each of the stacked nutrient culture pots and the connecting member disposed between the nutrient culture pots.

[4] The assembly of claim 1, wherein the protrusion has an end combined with the bottom end of the connecting member and has a nutrient solution inlet with a plurality of longitudinal grooves along an outer circumference of the end of the protrusion.

[5] The assembly of claim 1, wherein the main body has a plurality of through holes around a perimeter of the main body that is located above the protrusion in order to provide improved air permeability.

[6] A nutrient culture pot assembly comprising: a plurality of nutrient culture pots formed in a stacked manner, each nutrient culture pot including a tapered main body having an open upper end and a protrusion with a hollow cavity at a center, wherein the protrusion defines the height of a nutrient solution to be stored, and support blades that are arranged along an outer circumference of the main body at predetermined intervals and supported on an upper portion of a main body of an underlying nutrient culture pot; a connecting member that is disposed between the plurality of nutrient culture pots and includes a solution supply conduit with an upper end engaged with a hollow cavity of a protrusion in an overlying nutrient culture pot and a cover attached to a lower end of the solution supply conduit in a radial direction; and a packing member that engages the bottom end of the solution supply conduit with the protrusion formed at a location corresponding to the solution supply conduit and includes first longitudinal grooves forming a solution inlet passage along an outer circumference thereof and second grooves forming a solution outlet passage along an inner circumference thereof.