Apparatus for controlling conditions in a plant cultivation facility

Abstract

An apparatus for controlling conditions in a plant cultivation facility includes a lighting system arranged in connection with plants present in an environmentally sealable and closable cultivation facility; a hydronic cooling arrangement for lowering or impeding the rise of temperature in the cultivation facility, the cooling arrangement comprising a cooling manifold present in connection with plants in the cultivation facility and a heat recovery arrangement for utilizing excess heat generated in the cultivation facility. The heat recovery arrangement includes a heat storing system. The heat recovery arrangement includes one or more condenser dryers/coolers for collecting water and/or heat absorbed in the indoor air of a cultivation facility and a heat pump assembly for transferring the heat, accumulated in the heat storing system by way of the cooling arrangement's circulation water and/or the condenser dryer's/cooler's circulation water, into an independent secondary circuit.

Claims

1. An apparatus for controlling conditions in an indoor plant cultivation facility, said apparatus comprising: a lighting system comprising: an array of two or more electrical lighting fixtures; and one or more electrical components providing a lighting function, wherein the one or more electrical components are included in each of said electrical lighting fixtures; a hydronic cooling arrangement for lowering or impeding the rise of temperature in the indoor plant cultivation facility, said hydronic cooling arrangement comprising: a first pump; and a cooling manifold providing a first circulation loop, and configured to be propped in the indoor plant cultivation facility, the electrical lighting fixtures are fastenable to the cooling manifold, arranged side by side and/or on top of each other among plants in one or more sections of the indoor plant cultivation facility, wherein the cooling manifold is configured to cool the electrical lighting fixtures included in the lighting system with cooling water circulated in the first circulation loop by the first pump; and a heat recovery arrangement for utilizing excess heat in the indoor plant cultivation facility, said heat recovery arrangement comprising, one or more condenser dryers/coolers for collecting water and/or heat absorbed in an indoor air of the indoor plant cultivation facility, a second circulation loop connecting the one or more condenser dryers/coolers to a heat storing system for circulating circulation water, a heat storing system for storing the excess heat reclaimed by the heat recovery arrangement, which is accumulated in the cooling water circulated in the first circulation loop of the hydronic cooling arrangement and/or the circulation water circulated in the second circulation loop, a secondary circuit for circulating circulation water, which is independent with respect to the first circulation loop and/or the second circulation loop; and a heat pump assembly coupled to the heat storing system and the secondary circuit for transferring the heat from the heat storing system; into the secondary circuit.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the condenser dryer/cooler comprises a heat exchanger for heating outlet air of the condenser dryer/cooler, with circulation water being circulated from the secondary circuit into the heat exchanger by the heat pump assembly and/or from the return side of the first circulation loop of the hydronic cooling arrangement.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the heat pump assembly comprises one or more water-to-water heat pumps.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the cooling arrangement's cooling manifold comprises a heat conductive cooling conduit or profile, manufactured from a plastic, metallic and/or magnetic material, configured to extend among plants in the indoor plant cultivation facility substantially continuously with a constant cross-section, for cooling at least light-producing components of lighting fixtures because of heat generated thereby while producing the light, whereby the cooling manifold has a supply side and a return side connected to the heat storing system of the heat recovery arrangement.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each lighting fixture of the lighting system comprises a coupler, the cooling manifold further comprises at least one of a shaft, tube and profile for coupling to the coupler, at what in radial direction is an arbitrarily selected location when viewed in the cooling manifold's longitudinal direction and in its cross-section.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more condenser dryers/coolers, are supplied via the second circulation loop by a second pump with the circulation water being conducted from the heat storing system of the heat recovery arrangement, the one or more condenser dryers/coolers further comprise a collection space containing condensation water and cooling water, the former having condensed therein from the indoor cultivation facility's indoor air, and a connecting pipe coupled to the heat storing system for conveying the circulation water and heat, accumulated in the collection space, into the heat storing system.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cooling manifold includes a conduit profile, comprising in a single cross-section at least two flow passages, one passage being an inlet flow for supplying the cooling water into the conduit profile and the other passage being a return flow for the cooling water leaving the conduit profile.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the cooling manifold's conduit profile includes a carbon dioxide pressure dispensing chamber, a mist irrigation dispensing chamber and/or a surface groove for wirings of lighting fixtures, wherein the surface groove has a single- or multi-compartment interior.

Description

(1) The following description shall contain a detailed review of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

(2) FIG. 1 shows a process flowchart depicting the general operating principle for an apparatus of the invention,

(3) FIGS. 2a and 2b show a few exemplary practices for an apparatus of the invention in various plant cultivation purposes,

(4) FIG. 3 shows one preferred embodiment for an apparatus of the invention in multi-level cultivation,

(5) FIG. 4 shows two utilization options for a lighting system of the invention, especially in connection with a cooling arrangement used in multi-level cultivation,

(6) FIGS. 5a-5d further show a few preferred cooling conduit profile options employable in an apparatus of the invention, and

(7) FIGS. 6a and 6b further show by way of example two liquid circulation process options capable of being utilized in an apparatus of the invention.

(8) The invention relates to an apparatus for controlling conditions in a plant cultivation facility, said apparatus comprising at least: a lighting system 1 arranged in connection with plants present in an environmentally sealable and closable cultivation facility K and consisting of several electrical lighting fixtures 1a operating most preferably with external power supply and comprising one or more electrical components 1a providing a lighting function; a hydronic cooling arrangement 2 for lowering or impeding the rise of temperature in the cultivation facility, said cooling arrangement comprising a cooling manifold 2 present in connection with plants in the cultivation facility K and by means of which the lighting fixtures included in the lighting system are adapted to be cooled with cooling water conducted in the manifold by pump P1; and a heat recovery arrangement for utilizing excess heat, such as that transferred into the cooling arrangement's circulation water, said heat recovery arrangement including a heat storing system 3b such as a water tank, a heat storage unit and/or the like for storing the heat reclaimed by the heat recovery arrangement 3. The heat recovery arrangement 3 includes one or more condenser dryers/coolers 3a for collecting water and/or heat absorbed in the indoor air of a cultivation facility and a heat pump assembly 3c for transferring the heat, accumulated in the heat storing system 3b byway of the cooling arrangement's circulation water 2:2p and/or the condenser dryer/cooler assembly's circulation water 3:3d, into a secondary circuit tp independent with respect to its one or more water circulation loops 2p, 3d.

(9) What is conductively recovered from the thermal energy of especially LED lamps is typically about 45-50%, the rest consisting of radiation applied as luminous energy to the cultivation facility and plants. Moreover, the light falling on structures, i.e. bypassing the plants, transforms into airborne thermal energy. The plants, on the other hand, absorb 95% of the luminous energy falling thereon, evaporating it as moisture into the air of a cultivation facility, the remaining 5% being retained in a plant as chemical energy.

(10) Condenser dryers or air cooling equipment are commonly implemented by using solutions, wherein the condensing surface comprises e.g. a solid heat transfer surface (typically an aluminum sheet) and/or a liquid heat transfer surface such as e.g. for example a water spray, whereby humidity condenses on the aluminum sheet surface cooler than the dew point of a greenhouse or into the water sprayed in the system. The condenser dryer/cooler collects moisture and thermal energy from the air, the latter having absorbed therein as so-called latent heat. What is recovered from the radiation energy of LED lamps in condensation drying is typically about 45-50% since all the radiation energy accumulates in the cultivation facility either as a rise of air temperature or as humidity. Condensation drying enables a recovery of both forms of energy.

(11) In reference to the exemplary process flowchart for an apparatus of the invention shown in FIG. 1 as a preferred embodiment, its heat pump assembly 3c comprises one or more water-to-water heat pump or the like included in a pump-operated P3 secondary circuit tp.

(12) FIGS. 6a and 6b illustrate by way of example two process options which are alternative to complementary to what is shown in FIG. 1, and in which is utilized preheating of the outlet air of a condenser dryer/cooler 3a. In the process of FIG. 6a, the outlet air is preheated with a heat exchanger LV e.g. by using circulation water tp1 of the secondary circuit tp of the water-to-water heat pump 3c conducted therein and being at a higher temperature. This makes it possible to provide a highly cost-effective system, by virtue of which it is possible that the performance of a condenser dryer/cooler be radically enhanced by lowering its process temperature. In the process of FIG. 6b, on the other hand, the outlet air is preheated with a heat exchanger LV by means of circulation water 2p conducted therein from a return side of the cooling arrangement 2. In practice, this embodiment requires that the lighting system's 1 leds be operated at a temperature hotter than in the foregoing alternatives, but it simplifies decisively the flow connections of a water-to-water heat pump 3c. In FIGS. 6a and 6b, the reference symbol SE represents electrical energy and the reference symbol LE refers to thermal energy.

(13) In reference to the aforesaid process flowcharts, the electrical components 1a1, such as LEDs or the like, of the lighting devices 1a included in the lighting system are adapted to be cooled with circulation water conducted by pump P1 from a supply side 2s of the cooling pipework 2, whereby the circulation water of the cooling arrangement 2 and the condenser dryer's/cooler's heat transfer circuits 2p, 3d, coupled to the heat storing system 3b, is adapted to be cooled by feeding it into the heat pump assembly 3c.

(14) The invention enables an essentially comprehensive control over the temperature and humidity of the indoor air in cultivation facility for plants, in addition to which it is also possible to utilize the invention e.g. by holding the water circulation lower than the air temperature and thereby collecting both airborne thermal energy and moisture in addition to a direct cooling of the lighting fixtures.

(15) The apparatus according to the invention lends itself particularly well to being used especially in multi-level cultivation with cultivation conveyor systems on top of each other as depicted for example in FIG. 3. Thus, the plants are potted for example in trays at a first end of the conveyor system, migrating therefrom by the action of pressure medium operated or electrically powered actuators to a second end of the conveyor system with the plants growing to a harvesting age while proceeding in the cultivation conveyor system from first end to second end. At the second end, the plants are collected and cut/packed for sale. There is also a variation of the system, wherein the plants travel to a second end, proceed automatically onto a higher or lower level, and return therealong to a “working end”. In particular, the multi-level conveyor system enables a process type and fully automated vegetable production.

(16) Particularly in reference to the aforesaid multi-level cultivation, FIG. 4 shows two optional cultivation conveyor systems for multi-level cultivation in overhead views, of which the one on the left shows a lighting system for an apparatus of the invention as it is utilized in connection with a cooling manifold of cooling fluid, i.e. in practice most preferably water, arranged transversely relative to a longitudinal direction Ks of the cultivation facility K, and respectively the right-hand portion of FIG. 4 shows the same in connection with a cooling manifold extending in a longitudinal direction Ks of the cultivation facility K.

(17) The cooling manifold 2 of an apparatus, utilized specifically in this context, consists of a heat conductive cooling conduit or profile, manufactured from a plastic, metallic and/or magnetic material, extending among the plants in the cultivation facility K substantially continuously with a constant cross-section, for cooling at least the light-producing components lal of lighting fixtures because of heat generated thereby while producing the light, whereby the cooling manifold has its supply side and return side connected, as shown in a preferred embodiment of FIG. 1, with the heat storing system 3; 3b of a heat recovery arrangement. In this context, the cooling manifold extending in a substantially continuous manner with a constant cross-section refers to the fact that its cross-section remains constant among successive plants, i.e. the cooling manifold is not extended individually and separately to each lighting fixture.

(18) The foregoing type of cooling manifold 2 is particularly beneficial in enabling the cultivation facility K to be equipped, as shown in FIG. 4, with a unilateral maintenance zone H with a possibility of disposing therein the cooling system's manifolds as well as other operating, regulating and electrical engineering features related to the management of a cultivation facility. Such an implementation liberates the outer sides/ends of a cultivation conveyor system as cooling water returns from the end of each cooling conduit back to its inlet end by way of a second flow passage 2a″. In the right-hand example of FIG. 4, the cooling water is supplied by way of a supply conduit 2a extended to a middle part of the cultivation facility K.

(19) Further, the heat pump assembly 3c, such as one or more water-to-water heat pump or the like, included as a preferred embodiment in the heat recovery arrangement 3 of the apparatus, is adapted to pass heat, stored in the circulation water delivered thereto from the heat storing system 3b by pump action P3, to a secondary circuit tp which is separate with respect to the cooling and condensation water circulation. At this point, it is further possible to implement the heat storing system by having it provided with sections of warm circulation water and cold circulation water which are partly or fully insulated relative to each other.

(20) In a further preferred embodiment for an apparatus of the invention, the lighting fixture 1a of a lighting system included therein comprises a coupling system included integrally in or being separate with respect to its frame for coupling the lighting fixture, e.g. in reference to FIGS. 2a, 2b, 3 and 5a-5d, to a specially designed or standard dimensional shaft, tube and/or profile used in the cooling manifold 2, at what in radial direction is an arbitrarily selected location when viewed in its longitudinal direction and in its cross-section.

(21) In particular reference to the preferred embodiments shown in FIGS. 2a, 2b and 3, the apparatus comprises a cooling manifold 2, solidly propped in the plant cultivation facility K and present among the plants in one or more sections side by side and/or on top of each other, to which the lighting system's lighting fixtures 1a are fastened permanently or removably mechanically and/or magnetically.

(22) In particular reference to the preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 2a, the apparatus according to the invention has e.g. several lighting fixtures 1a disposed on the outer surface of a cooling conduit or profile at what in radial direction is an arbitrarily selectable location when viewed in its cross-section for pointing the lighting fixture/lighting fixtures, as necessary, downwards, sideways and/or upwards. The placement of a lighting fixture on a thermal radiation surface B, i.e. on a cooling rib system, of the cooling conduit profile of FIG. 2a is undesirable, because in this case the mounting frame must be provided with a profile consistent with the cooling rib system. Hence, the mutual heat conduction between the cooling conduit profile and the mounting frame easily remains unsatisfactory.

(23) FIG. 2a depicts how the invention is utilized when employing bilateral lighting positioned in the middle of plants, and FIG. 2b shows respectively its utilization in lighting for e.g. salads, herbs and flowers or in seedling lighting when using conventional overhead lighting. In addition, the embodiment shown in FIG. 2a has been implemented so as to enable hybrid functionality by using a cooling conduit profile provided with the cooling rib system B. Thereby is facilitated the carrying out of cooling for lighting fixtures by means of a cooling conduit profile, as necessary, in a so-called passive manner, i.e. by making use of natural convection, or, in addition to that, also internally of the cooling conduit profile in a so-called active manner, i.e. by making use of forced convection, with the use of an appropriate cooling fluid circulation. In addition, the hybrid structure enables also the collection of other process heat out of the cultivation facility by cooling the ambient air by means of the cooling conduit profile's ribbing B.

(24) In a further preferred embodiment of the invention, in reference to FIG. 1, the condenser dryer/cooler 3a, suppliable by pump P2 with circulation water conducted from the heat storing system 3; 3b of a heat recovery arrangement included in the apparatus, is connected from its collection space, which contains condensation water and cooling water, the former having been condensated thereby from the cultivation facility's indoor air, with a connecting pipe 3d to the heat storing system 3b for conveying the circulation water and heat, accumulated in the collection space, into the heat storing system 3b.

(25) In reference to what is depicted in FIGS. 5a-5d as a preferred embodiment for the apparatus of the invention, its cooling manifold 2 consists of a conduit profile 2′, comprising in a single cross-section at least two flow passages 2a″, one passage being where occurs an inlet flow proceeding from a cooling water supply side 2s and the other with a return flow proceeding to a return side 2p. In this context, especially for the condenser dryer/cooler 3a, the cooling manifold 2 has its conduit profile 2′ provided with a single- or multi-compartment vacuum space A for absorbing therein the water condensated on the conduit profile's surface.

(26) Especially in the implementations of FIGS. 5b and 5c, the upper flow passage 2a″ is at a cooler temperature. Because the free convection is most intensive from a top surface of the conduit, this arrangement makes it possible to minimize heat transfer taking place directly from the cooling conduit to ambient air. Especially in the implementation of FIG. 5c, both the lighting fixture frame and the conduit's lower flow passage have been optimized in such a way that this particular implementation minimizes heat transfer to air and maximizes heat transfer to cooling water circulation. In the implementation of FIG. 5a, the premise is, on the other hand, that the cooling conduit is over its entire length at a highly consistent temperature whereby it is not possible for the cultivation facility to develop undesired major temperature discrepancies or excessive condensation.

(27) In this context, referring to FIG. 5d as a further preferred embodiment, the cooling manifold's conduit profile 2; 2′ comprises, in reference to a so-called infrastructural profile depicted in FIG. 5d, a single- or multi-compartment vacuum space A for absorbing therein the water condensated on the conduit profile's surface, a carbon dioxide pressure dispensing chamber B, a mist irrigation dispensing chamber C and/or a single- or multi-compartment interior, a surface groove D or the like for the wirings of lighting fixtures or the like purpose.

(28) In further reference to a preferred conduit profile 2′ depicted in FIG. 5d, it has been provided with a coupling arrangement E1 for securing it to the cultivation facility K and/or with a coupling arrangement E2 for fastening thereto an implement, such as a mist nozzle or the like, intended for the irrigation of plants.

(29) The lighting system utilized in an apparatus of the invention comprises, as a further per se conventional embodiment, adjustment automation for adjusting the operating temperature of the lighting system's lighting fixtures 1a and/or the temperature/humidity of a plant cultivation facility e.g. by controlling the temperature and/or flow rate of a circulation fluid proceeding by way of a cooling arrangement and/or a condenser dryer/cooler. The operating chart depicted in FIG. 1 further shows a three-way valve 3T, which enables the adjustment of circulation water temperature as desired at a particular time by mixing with each other the return flow 2p of a cooling conduit and the circulation water of a heat storing system 3b. The discussed chart further shows a flow fitting AW for the adjustment of water in the cooling water circulation process of the apparatus, such as e.g. in view of increasing moisture in the cultivation facility. In addition, the chart shows with the reference symbols FW a flow fitting for passing accumulated water into the cultivation facility for example as irrigation water.

(30) It is obvious that the invention is not limited to the above-presented or -described embodiments, but it can be subjected within the basic concept of the invention to a multitude of modifications, depending e.g. on the lighting conditions for and special requirements of plants to be cultivated at a particular time, whereby e.g. the employable condenser dryer/cooler may represent the air drying technology best suitable for each particular purpose. In addition to or instead of LED lamps, it is naturally possible to carry out the invention by utilizing most diverse light producing techniques with notable examples thereof including: laser, OLEC, LEC lamps, quantum dots, plasma, halogen and induction lamps.

(31) E.g. plasma lamps are based on an argon or sulphur core, which is incandesced with microwaves and which upon heating glows light similar to the sun.

(32) Further particularly incandescent lamps, induction lamps and halogen lamps are based on the same phenomenon, and all these are even at present used also as plant growing lights.

(33) In LEC (Light Emitting Capacitor) technology, the fluorescent insulating material begins to glow in an electric field, said technology being applied e.g. in the backlighting of display screens. OLED, LEC, LED and quantum dot technologies are all based on the electroluminescence phenomenon. Other relevant notable light sources further include discharge lamps, such as Xenon, HPS, MH, as well as fluorescent tubes.