CLIMATE CELL FOR PLANT CULTIVATION, HAVING AN OPTIMIZED CLIMATE SYSTEM

Abstract

In order to climatically optimise and keep as flexible as possible a sealed climate cell for plant cultivation in a plurality of layers which are arranged one over the other and which each have at least one plant cultivation container and a lighting platform arranged thereabove, it is proposed that a first climate system of the climate cell has at least one air bag, which runs in the height direction, is arranged within the climate cell, and is designed to supply air to the individual layers in the first cultivation region.

Claims

1. A sealed climate cell for plant cultivation in a plurality of layers which are arranged one above the other, each layer having at least one plant cultivation container and a lighting platform arranged thereabove, a climate in a first cultivation region within the climate cell being controlled by means of a ventilation unit of a first climate system, wherein the first climate system has at least one air bag which runs in the height direction, is arranged within the climate cell, and is designed to supply air to the individual layers in the first cultivation region.

2. The sealed climate cell according to claim 1, wherein the ventilation unit is attached to a floor of the climate cell.

3. The sealed climate cell according to claim 1, wherein the at least one air bag is provided with openings.

4. The sealed climate cell according to claim 3, wherein more openings and/or larger openings are arranged in a portion of the at least one air bag that is further away from the ventilation unit than in a portion arranged closer to the ventilation unit.

5. The sealed climate cell according to claim 1, wherein the at least one air bag is arranged in front of a first wall with a plurality of apertures in the direction of flow.

6. The sealed climate cell according to claim 5, wherein the at least one air bag is arranged between the first wall with the plurality of apertures and a closed wall.

7. The sealed climate cell according to claim 5, wherein the first wall is arranged perpendicular to the layers and on an air supply side, a second wall with a plurality of apertures being arranged perpendicular to the layers on an air discharge side opposite the air supply side, in such a way that the individual layers extend completely between the first wall and the second wall.

8. The sealed climate cell according to claim 1, wherein a flow direction of the air through the climate cell is oriented in a laminar manner, specifically horizontally for climate cells with a rectangular base and radially for climate cells with a round base.

9. The sealed climate cell according to claim 7, wherein there is a negative pressure on the air discharge side.

10. The sealed climate cell according to claim 1, wherein the at least one air bag is formed such that a first volume flow of air above the plant cultivation container of each layer is less than a second volume flow of air above the illumination platform of each layer.

11. The sealed climate cell according to claim 1, wherein on an air supply side a plurality of air bags are arranged side by side substantially along an entire depth of each layer.

12. The sealed climate cell according to claim 1, wherein at least one second cultivation region is arranged within the climate cell behind and/or above the first cultivation region, the climate and/or lighting in both cultivation regions being controllable separately from one another.

13. The sealed climate cell according to claim 1, wherein the climate cell has an automated transport system for displacing and/or inserting and/or removing the plant cultivation containers and the lighting platforms.

14. The sealed climate cell according to claim 1, wherein the plant cultivation containers and/or the lighting platforms are provided with a machine-readable code.

15. The sealed climate cell according to claim 1, wherein a supporting structure is arranged in the interior of the sealed climate cell, on which the plant cultivation containers and the lighting platforms of the individual layers are displaceably arranged.

16. A plant cultivation system comprising a plurality of sealed climate cells according to claim 1, wherein the sealed climate cells are arranged parallel to each other.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0030] The invention is explained below by way of example using preferred embodiments.

[0031] The figures show schematically:

[0032] FIG. 1: a climatically sealed climate cell with a plurality of layers arranged one above the other,

[0033] FIG. 2: a plant cultivation system with a plurality of sealed climate cells arranged parallel to each other, with each climate cell having a plurality of cultivation regions,

[0034] FIG. 3a: a cross-section through a cultivation region of a sealed climate cell,

[0035] FIGS. 3b, c: two perspective views of a cultivation region of a sealed climate cell and

[0036] FIG. 4: a supporting structure of a sealed climate cell.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

[0037] FIG. 1 shows a climatically sealed climate cell 100 for cultivating plants indoors. Within the climatically sealed climate cell 100, a plurality of layers 10 are arranged one above the other. Each layer 10 in turn has a plant cultivation container 11 and a lighting platform 12 arranged thereabove.

[0038] A ventilation unit 15 of a first climate system 13a is arranged on the floor 17 of the climate cell 100. The air supply side 22 runs in the height direction respectively vertically within the climate cell 100 between a closed outer wall 21 and a first wall 19 with apertures 20. Between the closed wall 21 and the first wall 19 with the apertures 20, air bags 16 that are perforated respectively provided with holes also run in the height direction.

[0039] There is a negative pressure on the air discharge side 23 opposite the air supply side 22. The air thus flows from the ventilation unit 15 up through the air bag 16 and out of the openings respectively perforation of the air bag 16 at the level of each individual layer 10 in a laminar manner respectively horizontally over the plant cultivation containers 11 and the lighting platforms 12 to the air discharge side 23. On the air discharge side 23, the air flows through the apertures 20 of the second wall 24 and from there down and back to the ventilation unit 15.

[0040] The perforation in the air bags 16 is designed in such a way that a targeted and predetermined flow speed can be achieved at the height of the individual layers 10. For each layer 10, there are two air flows: a first air flow 28a with a lower flow speed directly above the plants respectively the plant cultivation containers 11, and a second air flow 28b with a higher flow speed directly above the lighting platforms 12 for removing the heat emitted by the lighting platforms 12. Furthermore, the perforation of the air bags 16 is designed in such a way that uniform air flows 28 respectively flow speeds are achieved for each layer 10. For this purpose, the air bags 16 have fewer respectively smaller openings in the lower region than in the upper portion of the air bags 16.

[0041] FIG. 2 shows a plant cultivation system 200 with three sealed climate cells 100 arranged next to respectively parallel to each other. Each of the individual climate cells 100 has four cultivation regions 14a, 14b, 14c arranged one behind the other.

[0042] A separate climate system 13a, 13b, 13c is provided for each cultivation region 14a, 14b, 14c. Each of the climate systems 13a, 13b, 13c has a separate ventilation unit 15 and separate air bags 16.

[0043] In this way, different growth phases of the plants can be taken into account in each climate cell 100. Within each climate cell, a supporting structure 26 is arranged, which extends from the inlet opening 29 to the outlet opening 30 of the particular climate cell 100 and thus over all three cultivation regions 14a, 14b, 14c. The supporting structure 26 is also shown in FIG. 4. The supporting structure 26 is used to place respectively hold the plant cultivation containers 11 and lighting platforms 12 on the individual layers 10. For this purpose, the supporting structure 26 has rails 27 or rollers at the height of the individual layers 10, along which the plant cultivation containers 11 and the lighting platforms 12 can be moved. Since a single supporting structure 26 extends over all the cultivation regions 14a, 14b, 14c, the plant cultivation containers 11 and also the lighting platforms 12 can be moved in a simple manner by means of the transport systems 25 along a layer 10 from the first cultivation region 14a to the second cultivation region 14b and further to the third cultivation region 14c.

[0044] A supporting structure 26 is thus arranged above all the cultivation regions 14a, 14b, 14c in each climate cell 100. Furthermore, two transport systems 25 are provided for each climate cell 100, with one transport system 25 being arranged in the region of the inlet opening 29 and the other transport system 25 being arranged in the region of the outlet opening 30 of the particular climate cell 100. The transport systems 25 are thus used for inserting, removing and moving respectively displacing the plant cultivation containers 11 and the lighting platforms 12. As shown in FIG. 2, separate transport systems 25 are provided for the individual climate cells 100 of the plant cultivation system 200. Alternatively, common transport systems 25 could also be provided for the individual climate cells 100 of the plant cultivation system 200 in the region of the inlet openings 29 and in the region of the outlet openings 30. In this case, the transport systems 25 would move respectively transport plant cultivation containers 11 and lighting platforms 12 not only in the vertical direction, but also in the horizontal direction.

[0045] FIGS. 3a to 3c show a cultivation region 14a, 14b, 14c of a climate cell 100 from FIGS. 1 and 2. Here, a cross-section through a first cultivation region 14a is shown in FIG. 3a. FIGS. 3b and c each show a perspective view of the first cultivation region 14a.

[0046] From the various views of the first cultivation region 14a, the arrangement of the individual elements of the first climate system 13a is once again clearly evident. The first climate system 13a has a ventilation unit 15 arranged on the floor 17 of the climate cell 100. Along the air supply side 22, a plurality of perforated air bags 16 are arranged parallel to and spaced apart from each other from bottom to top. The air supply side 22 is formed here by the space between a closed wall 21 and a first wall 19 with a plurality of apertures 20. On the opposite air discharge side 23, a closed wall 21 is also provided on the outside, and a second wall 24 with a plurality of apertures 20 is provided towards the inside, through which the air flow 28 is drawn in and transported downwards to the ventilation unit 15.

[0047] FIG. 4 shows a supporting structure 26, as is inserted into the individual climate cells 100 of the plant cultivation system 200 shown in FIG. 2. The two outer side regions of the supporting structure 26 form the inlet opening 29 and outlet opening 30 of the climate cell 100. Furthermore, a transport system 25 is arranged in each of these regions for inserting the plant cultivation containers 21 and the lighting platforms 12 and for removing the plant cultivation containers 11 and the lighting platforms 12.

[0048] The supporting structure 26 has rails 27 spaced apart from one another in the height direction for supporting respectively receiving the plant cultivation containers 11 and the lighting platforms 12. The supporting structure 26 shown by way of example in FIG. 4 has nine layers 10 arranged one above the other. On each layer 10, a plurality of plant cultivation containers 11 and lighting platforms 12 are arranged one above the other.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0049] 100 Sealed climate cell [0050] 200 Plant cultivation system [0051] 10 Layer [0052] 11 Plant cultivation container [0053] 12 Lighting platform [0054] 13a First climate system [0055] 13b, 13c Further climate systems [0056] 14a First cultivation region [0057] 14b Second cultivation region [0058] 14c Third cultivation region [0059] 15 Ventilation unit [0060] 16 Air bag [0061] 17 Climate cell floor [0062] 18 Flow direction [0063] 19 First wall [0064] 20 Apertures [0065] 21 Closed wall [0066] 22 Air supply side [0067] 23 Air discharge side [0068] 24 Second wall [0069] 25 Transport system [0070] 26 Supporting structure [0071] 27 Rail [0072] 28 Air flow [0073] 28a First air flow [0074] 28b Second air flow [0075] 29 Inlet opening [0076] 30 Outlet opening