Not applicable.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to the field of agriculture, horticulture, agronomy and agro-economics of food, energy, photosynthetic energy conversion efficiency as well as the utilization efficiencies of other resources, including, time, space, water, and nutrients. Even more specifically, the invention is related to indoor, environmental controlled farming in three dimensional, 3D, spaces, vertical farming, without the reliance on the sun energy or soil. It is also related to 3D farming systems comprising a plurality of layers each of which is capable of sustaining the growth of plants. More specifically, the plurality of layers is permeable in the sense they can pass through water, nutrients, light, shoot and roots of neighboring layers. Even more specifically, 3D soil-less farming for enhancing volumetric productivity and 3D yield by means of continuous flow agriculture capable of synchronous daily planting and harvesting of material products, MP, including plant-made-products, PMP, and culture made products, CMP, used for food, biofuel, medicine, and high performance industrial materials. The species used for the culture and production of CMP include individual living cells, microorganisms, employing cell methods of production. The species may be naturally bred, wild, or genetically transformed by means of transient, plastid, or nuclear recombinant engineering methods.
2. Description of Related Art
My Co-Pending Patent Applications, My CPPA, entitled:
1. SansSoil (Soil-less) Indoor Farming for Food and Energy Production. (CPPA-1)
2. High Density Three Dimensional Multi-Layer Farming. (CPPA-2)
3. Permeable Three Dimensional Multi-Layer Farming. (CPPA-3)
Hereafter, referred to as My CPPA are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. They presented more detailed background information expounding the limitations and liabilities of conventional soil-based agriculture. They taught inventive teachings of alternative soil-less indoor three dimensional multi-layers farming that are based of the Agriculture Profitability Assurance Law, AgriPAL, and the novel Plant Growth Model, PGM.
Together, AgriPAL and PGM present for the first time, mathematical analytical foundation, based on scientific principles that describe how photosynthesis works, and presents formulas for predicting yield, energy efficiency, and agronomic profitability. They unraveled mysteries that to date eluded and baffled plant scientists and agronomists. They revealed the notion of solar gain, and astonishingly high physiological gains which can be garnered by means of better understanding of resource utilization efficiencies. These gains increase the yields and efficiencies by more than 10 fold and a path to approach and exceed 100 fold.
My CPPA have inspired more transformational inventive contributions that are described in the present application. The background, the formulas and the scientific teachings in CCPA are therefore relied upon heavily in the present application.
Will we Produce Enough Food to Adequately Feed the World?
Advances in health sciences and technologies, in combination with better nutrition, are paving the path to nearly eradicate infant mortality while increasing life spans to beyond the present average of 80 years. Consequently, it is expected that the world population will swell to at least 9 billion by 2050. It has been recognized that such a level of projected population increase will pose a formidable challenges to our planet, stressing its already limited resources: food, energy, land, and water, and fomenting acrimonious competition and conflicts, to obtain and sustain good quality of life and lifestyle.
These challenges have recently been highlighted by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, which published the findings of a High Level Experts Forum, in Rome, Oct. 12-13, 2009, entitled “How to Feed the World 2050”. Also in the Jun. 15, 2011 Issue, CO2-Science, published by the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change, Dr. C. D. Idso, highlighted the challenges in his article entitled “Estimates of Global Food Production in the Year 2050: Will We Produce Enough to Adequately Feed the World?”
Both the FAO and Idso reports reveal an alarming consensus: that a significant per capita reduction is looming, in global food production, arable land, water resources, and farm yields of staple food crops. To avoid the disastrous consequences, they point to the need for a radical paradigm shift in food production technologies, systems and methods. The present food supply-demand gap continues to have devastating consequences in many parts of the world, in the forms of hunger, mal-nutrition, and deaths. According to FAO, there are 1 billion hungry people in 2012. The projected widening of that gap will worsen by 2050 for a 9 billion population. In addition to famine in many parts of the world, geopolitical strife will also cause incalculable adverse effects on the welfare of humanity.
These challenges are further magnified by the following three conflicts:
Conflict #1: Food vs. Less CO2
There are many who are concerned over global warming caused by carbon dioxide emissions. They have embraced the cause of curbing fossil fuel use and are advocating CO2 reduction measures, and urging governments. They have influenced certain governments to act, and laws have been enacted attempting to discourage the use of resources that increase global CO2. However, this position is in direct conflict with the need to sustain life and to feed the world, as a first priority. At present, 1 billion hungry people need urgent attention, growing to be 3-4 billion in 2050. It is puzzling contradiction that the “global warming” community relies of questionable photosynthesis models to predict dire consequences for humanity in 2100, yet they cannot use the same models to understand why plant food efficiency is <0.5% (Table 1). The full and accurate understanding may very well prove that more CO2 is better at absorbing heat and at the same time deals with today's urgent need for food and biofuel. After all, CO2 is the main ingredient for food and life itself (living mass is hydrocarbon matter).
Conflict #2: Food vs. Fuel
Direct consequences of the global warming mitigation are the mandates imposed by the US and EU and other countries to produce CO2 neutral transportation fuel from biomass, biofuel. This presents yet a second conflict with the priority of feeding the world. It is feared by many that biofuel exacerbates the problem by diverting already scarce resources normally dedicated to food production: arable land, water, seeds, fertilizers, herbicides, farming tools. The food and energy price pressures that ensue will make it even harder for many vulnerable segment of the global population to close the nutrition gap. It is feared that their numbers will increase. It is also in conflict with achieving both food and energy security. This food vs. fuel debate continues unabated: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_vs._fuel
Conflict #3: Food vs. Forest Land
As shown in Table 1, (http://arpae.energy.gov/Portals/0/Documents/ConferencesAndEvents/PastWorkshops/A BTF %20Workshop %20-%20Ort %20Presentation.pdf) plant scientists, and agronomists agree that the measured efficiency is ˜0.5%, however, they cannot fully account for all the ˜99.5% losses, i.e., the where these losses originate. The full accounting for these losses is the key to inventing ways to minimize them.
Plants store solar energy in the form molecular bond energies of carbohydrates, sugars, starches, cellulose and proteins. The economics of conventional farming, to profitably produce generally affordable staple foods (sugars, cereal grains, legumes, leafy vegetable, and tubers such as: potato, yams, cassava), relies directly on the zero cost of solar energy, ZCOE. This forces cultivation outdoors, on two dimensional lands, because the solar radiation is delivered in units of Watt per unit area (hectares, acres, or square meters).
The reliance on this ZCOE has therefore, forced conventional agronomy to succumb to accepting ˜0.1 to 0.5% efficiencies (see Table 1). One of the main factors leading to such low efficiency is the need to use the soil to support plant growth, and soil borne nutrients which are not easily controlled. This lack of control makes soil a liability rather than an asset. The main concern breeder's have, when producing a new variety, is the specific environment (geography) and the soil mineral composition. This means instead of having one optimum seed that fits all, they will need to produce an astonishingly large number of cultivars of a particular specie in serve as wide market as possible. Even then, production cost constraints will require compromise. This is a consequence of uncontrolled outdoor soil based agriculture.
Therefore, because of the reliance on ZCOE, the growers, and the food production enterprises, have limited or no control. This in turn has lead to the requirement of enormous resources that are inefficiently used, including: insatiable demand for two dimensional arable land, water, fertilizers, and pesticides. To accommodate the population increase from 1 billion in 1800 to the present, ˜7 billion, required deforestation at a high rate. On a global scale, once again, fearing that deforestation adversely impacts the issue of global warming, governments are enacting laws and mandates to restrict increasing farm land by means deforestation. This is the third conflict with the priority to feed the world, and achieving energy security.
Pennistum purpureum
saccharum officinarum
zea mays
beta vulgaris
lolium perenne
solanum tuberosum
Farming Profitability and Economic Viability, AgriPAL
In my co-pending FSA, the formulation of Agriculture Profitability Assurance Law, AgriPAL, was presented and discussed extensively. It is repeated here as EQ. (2)
AgriPAL enables an enterprise to predict profitability of plant growing systems, to prices, and to identify efficiency bottlenecks.
The economic viability index, EVI, is defined as:
This links for the first time the economic parameters of farming, profit, p, fixed cost, f, variable cost, v, to the physiological parameters of organisms (plants, algae, other phototrophs), energy conversion efficiency, ηE, including a gain factor,
wherein, εsol, is the solar energy consumed per cycle and, εother all other energies consumed.
An enhanced EVI, was derived from a the new Plant Growth Model, PGM, also described in my CPPA, is given by: EVIe≡ηEe≡geηE. This increases the efficiency by yet another gain factor, ge, which can be 10-100, achieved by means of controlling and optimizing physiological growth parameters as well maximizing the temporal and spatial resource utilization efficiencies.
The present invention comprises aspects of AgriPAL that deals with maximizing space utilization efficiencies, which include three dimensional, 3D, soil-less, SansSoil, plant growing structures and subsystems to sustain growth. More specifically, the aspects that reduce the cost of said structures and subsystems which lead to the minimization of the parameter f in Eq. (2). More specifically, the increase of geηE which is a function of the N, the number of vertical layers in 3D farming systems wherein the yield is measured in units of ton/hectare-meter, or ton/m3, or kg/m3. Even more specifically, the present invention teaches means and methods to increase the productivity using the concept of Traveling Seed Amplifier, TSA, to enable continuous flow farming of material products, MP, including PMP, and CMP, and synchronous planting and harvesting and novel means to compress vertical space and time required for MP growth.
Prior Art Agriculture Methods
As is well known, since its invention, agriculture is generally practiced in the form depicted in
In recent years, the adoption of indoor controlled environment agriculture, CEA has increased. An exemplary prior art reference is U.S. Pat. No. 3,931,695 which gives a good description of CEA. In CEA, the growth area is sheltered, making the control of many plant growth parameters possible, thereby achieving higher yields and higher resource utilization efficiencies. The increased use of soil-less hydroponic or aeroponics nutrient delivery practices increased the economic viability for growing many plants.
Applying AgriPAL has shown that this growing method of farming, while growing in acceptance, is economically viable for certain high value added plants. It is not possible to economically (profitably) produce staple crop or biofuel using indoor farming because of the added daily energy consumption for heating or cooling, and the cost of the added infrastructure. The objects of CPPA, related applications and present invention are inventive aspects that make indoor farming viable even for staple foods.
Most recently, Van Gemeret et al. taught 3D farming system in US Publication 2011/0252705, Oct. 20, 2011 which is depicted in
There are numerous other proposals for 3D vertical farming, but none addressed the issues of cost reduction, understanding photosynthesis energy efficiency, vertical space utilization efficiency, and other resource efficiencies, in order to make staple food and biofuel production economically feasible. More specifically, they do not meet the AgriPAL profitability condition, Eq. (2) except for very high priced products, i.e., for
In the case of element 50c, the hydroponic method well known in the art is used comprising, a mechanical structure 54, (container) for growing one or more plants. The container is filled intermittently (or continuously) with nutrients 55 and the plant up takes the nutrient through a porous root supports structure, 52a. This root support structure replaces soil.
The aeroponic method, 50d, also known in the art, comprises a plant support structure 56, through which the roots penetrate to bottom space 57c, where the roots are sprayed directly by means of nozzle 57. This method is known to achieve better yields than the soil based and the hydroponic systems because the roots are in direct contact with the ambient oxygen. Its main disadvantage is the low vertical space utilization efficiency and the spray nozzle clogging. In all the prior art cases, the roots are fed by a plurality of different physically separated components (discrete instead of integral components). Also all of these elements feed the roots indirectly from the bottom.
Another key aspect of the present invention is an integrally formed growing element called SansSoil Growing Element, SGE. It is self-sufficient in the sense that it integrates many essential functions for growth in the smallest space and a lowest cost. One distinguishing feature is the direct delivery of nutrients to the plant root from top down, instead of spaying the root from the bottom up. The integral multifunction constructs of the SGE's enable their connection into strings and 3D network of strings that will save space and resources by sharing resources. The inventive aspects of the SGE are key reason for cost reduction to enable staple economical food farming satisfying AgriPAL condition even when
The construction and functions of the SGE and their interconnection into networks of stings is the main object of the present invention, especially its role in the economic production of TSA and continuous flow agriculture.
The network of strings, forming multi-layer 3D systems, is further distinguished from prior art by the inventive permeability feature of said multi-layers. Layer permeability is defined as the ability to pass through to neighboring layers, light (transparency) and nutrients, received from other neighboring layers. In addition, the shoots and roots of one layer may pass through neighboring layers. This enables the roots of one layer to share the space of the shoots of a neighboring layer below it. The end result is high utilization efficiency of the vertical space by compressing the interlayer spacing needed. The light transparency feature reduces the number of artificial illumination sources as well as the energy consumption.
Liabilities of Soil Based Outdoor Agriculture
In the above, we discussed the high cost of the involuntary dependence on solar energy; enticed by the zero cost to ensure economic viability outdoor farming. One of the consequences is forcing conventional agronomy to succumb to accepting ˜0.5% and as low as 0.1% efficiency, TABLE 1. This afforded little or no control over the energy efficiency, ηE, to make further improvements beyond what has already been achieved in the last 50 years, ˜20 times yield improvements, the fruits of the Green Revolution that started in 1950s.
Going forward, perhaps only fractional gains may be realized, which are offset by higher per capita demand. The low efficiency and lack of control of nutrients, and other elements in outdoor solar-based and soil-based farming have lead to the requirement of enormous resources that are used inefficiently including: insatiable demand for two dimensional arable land, water, fertilizers, and pesticides.
In Section II of my CPPA-1, I presented a number of examples highlighting the challenges associated with growing staple commodity foods indoors, and why that is not possible if one relied of the limited prior art understanding of the efficiency, ηE, concluding that outdoor field soil-based farming is the only presently available viable option for growing staple food to feed the world, and growing biofuel, energy for transportation. The inventive contributions of my CPPA and the present application change all that with new transformational framing paradigms.
The viability of present outdoor option is dependent of the continuous reliance on the zero cost solar energy, and its associated drawbacks or requiring vast resources that are not utilized efficiently. In addition, the outdoor farming constraint, subjects the growers to other consequences; environmental and economic risks, unexpected crop losses due to microscopic pathogens, weeds, droughts, floods, and extreme unseasonable temperature variations.
In order to solve the formidable food and energy problems and challenges facing humanity and eliminating the contradictory conflicts, a transformational departure from conventional agricultures is needed. Conventional agricultures is constrained to be in the outdoor open field environment. This constraint is a consequence of the reliance on zero cost of solar energy, CO2, and water for photosynthetic to produce biomass for food and energy. The path to the solutions of the aforementioned problems is abandoning outdoor soil-based agriculture that requires enormous supplies of arable lands and water resources. Following this new path provides great benefits which include: eliminating the lack of control over nutrients, 1000 times water saving, eliminating adverse environmental conditions, and soil-borne pathogens.
Instead of conventional two dimensional, 2D, outdoor farming, the object of this invention is to teach means and methods to profitably harness the third dimension where unlimited space is available, where soil is avoided, and water can be conserved. The inventive 3D agriculture according to the present invention focuses on utilizing the third dimension efficiency by teaching devices, systems and methods to compress the vertical space needed for food production.
The teachings according to the present invention of 3D farming is the partitioning of the third dimension into a plurality of layers (multi-layers) each of which is capable of being supplied with nutrients, and the light needed to sustain growth. Said plurality of layers are supported by means of a 3D structure that comprises a master system comprising subsystems which are designed to optimally provide water, light, nutrients, CO2, O2, and temperature controls for specific plant organism species.
Said plurality of layers comprise strings of interconnected soil-less (SansSoil) growth elements, SGEs, each of which is integrally made to have a multi-function capability including: germinating the seed, growing the plant, providing the plant with physical structural support, water, nutrient, light, and capability to sense the plant environment.
The strings of SGEs are disposed in the first, second and third spatial coordinates. They are in the form of one dimensional network, two dimensional network or three dimensional network supported by the multilayer structure.
An aspect of the invention is resource utilization efficiency such that staple foods and bio-energy are produced profitably so that the food and energy supplied with no “food or fuel” competition problem. This is accomplished by means of inventive features described herein that enable the plants in each SGE in string networks to share resources including: light, nutrients, and intra-layer space. This is the multi-layer permeability property taught according to the present invention.
Another aspect of the present invention is making each SGE and the string interconnection and space between strings optically transparent, permeable, so as to enable light to pass through plurality of layers to share, conserve and efficiently utilize light. This will minimize the need for many light sources, thereby reducing product cost.
Another aspect of the present invention is the traveling seed amplifier, TSA, concept which enables high through put continuous flow farming of MP, that have wide spectrum of applications including: all foods, biofuel, medicines, and high performance industrial materials. Key features of TSA include the continuous-synchronous or semi-continuous planting and harvesting MPs at high rates, ranging from 1 to 10 times per day, or at compressed time periods much shorter than the specie dependent seed to harvest time, τsth.
Another aspect of the present invention is compressing the vertical space resulting in much higher volumetric productivity, ton/hectare/meter, than prior art vertical concepts discussed above, and illustrated in
Another aspect of the present invention is providing a totally sealed system for growing plants for food and energy comprising inventive sealing features and mechanisms to recycle water and nutrient resources to maximize utilization efficiency and reducing cost. For example, the natural transpiration of water is recaptured and reused. The plant growth environment is maintained at a desired temperature and relative humidity for optimum plant performance. The result is water saving by reutilizing between 100-1000 times water which would have been wasted in conventional outdoor agriculture.
Another aspect of the present invention is harnessing the limitless vertical space in combination with the TSA and continuous flow agriculture to construct high rise edifices, and tower structures extending upward tens of meters or even hundreds of meters in the sky, enabling the production of MP, food and bio-fuels without competition for space resources, since the vertical space is limitless. The TSA towers may be illuminated by the sun, artificial lighting, such as LED, or a combination of both.
Yet another aspect of the present invention is the construction of TSA towers (Hs meter high) in pairs, comprising 2N layers, so that the first tower comprises a planting (input) port at the bottom and the second tower comprises a harvesting port (output) also at the bottom. In operation seed or seedling layers are inserted in the planting while mature plant layers are synchronously harvested from the harvesting port. To accomplish this synchronous continuous flow farming, a transport means is provided to transport the layers from the planting port to the top of the first tower, transferring layers laterally to the top of the second tower, and finally transporting the layers downward for harvesting at the bottom harvesting post of said second tower.
Another key aspect of the present invention is TSA tower pairs featuring vertical compression factors in average interlayer spacing, hav, ranging between 2 and 10, and temporal compression factor,
speeding up the synchronous planting and harvesting periods by 10 to 100 times and even 100-1000 times, where.
Yet another aspect of the present invention is TSA tower systems aseptically sealed by providing load locks to the planning and harvesting ports and automation means to control physiological and environmental and physical parameters for optimum MP growth conditions.
Another aspect of the present invention is the isolation of the sealed 3D growing TSA tower system from the external environment thereby protecting said environment. This is especially beneficial when growing genetically transformed plant species (GMO) for experimental and production purposes.
The following drawings are intended to describe the preferred embodiments and operating principles. They are not intended to be restrictive or limiting as to sizes, scales, shapes or presence or absence of certain necessary components that are not shown for brevity but are, nonetheless, well known to those skilled in the art.
Multi-layer Continuous Flow Farming High Photosynthetic Efficiency
In my CCPA, I described transformational new paradigm for agriculture which can be realized to solve the problems facing humanity and achieve food and plant based energy security. One key feature of the new paradigm is the understanding the profitability conditions of farming. This has been accomplished by the formulation of Agriculture Profitability Assurance Law, AgriPAL, it is repeated here as Eq. (2)
AgriPAL enables an enterprise to predict profitability of plant growing systems, to determine pricing of products, and to identify efficiency bottlenecks.
The economic viability index, EVI, is defined as:
This links for the first time the economic parameters of farming, profit, p, fixed cost, f, variable cost, v, to the physiological parameters of organisms (plants, algae, other phototrophs), energy conversion efficiency, ηE, including a gain factor,
wherein, δsol, is the solar energy consumed per cycle and, εother, all other energies consumed.
An enhanced EVI, was derived from a the new Plant Growth Model, PGM, also described in CPPA-1, is given by: EVIe≡ηEe≡geηE. This increases the efficiency by yet another gain factor, ge, which can be 10-100, achieved by means of controlling and optimizing physiological growth parameters as well maximizing the temporal and spatial resource utilization efficiencies.
The present invention comprises aspects of AgriPAL that deal with maximizing space utilization efficiencies, which include three dimensional, 3D, soil-less, SansSoil, plant growing structures and subsystems to sustain growth. More specifically, the aspects that reduce the cost of said structures and subsystems which lead to the minimization of the parameter f in Eq. (2). Even more specifically, the increase of geηE which is a function of the n, the number of vertical layers in 3D farming systems wherein the productivity and yield are measured in units of ton/hectare-meter-year, or ton/m3-time, or kg/m3-day.
The preferred embodiments, in the present application, deal with growing plants in 3D space that is limitless. More specifically, 3D space including, growing plants in 3D edifices, structures, or towers of heights, ranging from 10 meter to 100 meters, and even more preferably tower heights beyond 100 meter perhaps approaching 500 meter or even 1000 meter. Buildings having heights exceeding 500 m already exist, validating that structure engineering technologies are advanced and can be harnesses for our high rise faming architectures. As is well known, making wind turbine tower as high 150 m is economically feasible.
In certain situations, solar radiation may augment artificial light for photosynthetic growth. In this case, the SansSoil environment 101 may be equipped with filters to filter out unwanted solar wavelengths including ultra-violet, infra-red and certain visible wavelengths.
The hybrid growth method based on the combination of artificial lighting, preferably LED, with selected solar wavelengths, will enable the maximization of gegsolar, viability index and the profit margins established through meeting the AgriPAL condition as described in CPPA-1
The SansSoil environment also comprises structures for handling, planting seed/seedling in the input port, 105, also referred to as the planning port. The mature plant product is harvested at the output port, the harvesting port 104. Said structures are preferably designed to incorporate appropriate sealing structures such as load locks in order to maintain sterile or near sterile conditions. Means to achieve impermeability and sterility of SansSoil edifices are well known to persons skilled in the art. Internally, the SansSoil environment 101 houses a plurality of SansSoil material product, MP, growth layers 103 disposed in a three dimensional space. The SansSoil MP layers are made form structures and materials that are optically transparent. This will enable the layers to share and recycle unabsorbed light, thereby increasing the light energy utilization efficiency.
The present invention is generally related to growing or amplifying martial products, PM, including, PMP, and CMP. The specific use of the word plant, as in plant layers, and plant growth elements, is not meant to limit the scope of the broad inventive features that apply generally to a broad spectrum of growing material products.
The control subsystem 102 is programmed to control all aspects of growth physiology to achieve economic viability by ensuring that
approaches or exceeds 1 in order for AgriPAL condition to be satisfied. Each gain parameter in the portfolio has an optimum range that gives the maximum value. This is adjusted by the subsystem 102 for each species. The upper and lower limits of this range are determined experimentally in optimized environmental parameters.
In some situations, a group comprising more than one interacting parameters, may be adjusted and optimized together. For example, adjusting the carbon dioxide to an optimum value limited by the dark reaction enzyme density requires adjusting the light level until it is limited by the light reaction enzyme density. The steps of optimization are aided by appropriate sensors which communicate with the controller values that require adjustments.
The Integral SansSoil Growth Element
Each layer 103 within the SansSoil environment 101, is so designed to sustain the growth of plants or organisms in integrally made SansSoil growth elements (modules), SGE 1, described further in
Each SGE 1, comprises integrally made structure 1a, 1b which houses the plant 2, the shoot 2s, and the root 2r, and connected to a nutrient sources 3, 3a. The nutrients drip or spray downward on the root in the cup like substructure. One key aspect of the present invention is to combine this method of feeding, with foliar feeding, well known in the art. This is accomplished by means of fogging subsystem (or mist), which preferably supplies micron scale fluid particles (droplets) that are absorbed directly by the plant leaves, by-passing root uptake. Each SGE 1, optionally and integrally comprises a light source 4, and a sensor 5.
It is also possible to have two fogging systems, one for supplying one set (a first set) of nutrients to the root and a second supplying different nutrient set to the leaves. In addition to providing more that one feeding sources, it is contemplated that in certain situations, said sources may be applied sequentially, or in a temporally pulsed manner with adjustable periods and duration.
This inventive feature is unique to indoor farming, according to the present invention, because it affords a new degree of freedom for the subsystem 102 to control the components of gain factor ge, through optimization of the operating range of each component. This is especially advantageous when two sets of nutrients are antagonistic to each other, competing to prevent the optimum pH to establish for maximum beneficial uptake.
The illumination sources 1h, 1j and auxiliary sensors, 1g, or other resource, are disposed in any orientation relative to the three spatial coordinates,
As shown in
In
The advantages of the string interconnections is further highlighted in
The plant age or the growing material product age is defined as the time that has elapsed from an embryonic time, an initial time, corresponding to an initial material mass size. This initial material may be seed, seedling, embryo, initial cell culture or initial microorganism micro-organism culture. The initial age of material product, MP, is the initial time τi, having an initial mass, m, which grows to a final age, final harvesting time, τf, having an amplified final mass, Mf, in a seed to harvest time τsth=τf−τi. The mass gain realized during this period is given by
as derived in
Now we provide in
The SGE in
Conduit 1b is removably attached to at least one source 3. Said attachment is preferably quick connect disconnect type with sealing function to prevent leakage, 1e. The source 3 provides essential resources, ingredients, to optimally sustain plant growth. Said resources comprise at lease water and nutrients, but may also conduct and deliver light by means of total internal reflection mechanisms, well known in the fiber optic art and the back-light sources well know in the liquid crystal display art. The conduit may conduct electrical signals or power from sensors and to local LEDs ingrated directly into the conduit 1b.
Conduit 1b according to
As shown in
The multi-function integral construction of SGE, also highlights the local self-sufficiency of each SGE, that plays a significant role in maximizing 3D space utilization efficiency. It also serves to make its distinction clear, relative to prior art plant growing practices, described above in connection with
Since the plants follow the light direction, we can advantageously exploit this property to orient the plant growth in any desired direction as illustrated in
Yet in other embodiments, it is preferred to make strings that are hanging from top to bottom, 11, 12, with SGE oriented in desired directions determined by the light as shown in
In addition, there are system optimization benefits to interconnect SGE strings in the form of a network, 13,
Integrally made multi-function self-sufficient SGE may be attached to feed structure, or string interconnection sutures, 3, in a plurality of desired configurations, 20a-20e, shown in
Multi-Layer Permeability
To realize the full potential of 3D multi-layer farming, the preferred embodiments comprise means to maximize resource utilization efficiencies. This is accomplished by means of sharing these resources which include: illumination sources; nutrient delivery subsystems, supporting structures, and space. These means for sharing are described in
The definition of permeability, according to the present invention, is the ability of a layer comprising at least one string of SGEs to pass resources from a first group of neighboring permeable layers, to a second group of neighboring permeable layers. The first and or the second groups may comprise resource delivery sources. The total number of vertically disposed layers ranges from 2 to 10, and more preferably from 10 to 100 and even more preferably in excess of 100 layers.
The permeability feature of the present invention enables the sharing of resources, including water, nutrient, illumination, heating and cooling and other sharable resources. The sharing of said resources enables their efficient use, thereby minimizing the ultimate product cost. The 3D yield or 3D productivity is measured in units of weight divided by volume and units of time. Therefore, the permeable means for sharing resources are designed to produce the maximum product weight in the most compact 3D space in the shortest time. These means are described with aid of
Referring to
This means of achieving of light permeability enables multi-layers to share at least one light source for growing plants, thereby realizing the maximum efficiency of the light source. As it may be appreciated, seedlings are small and are separated by wide lateral and vertical spaces. It takes months before the space between them is filled. During this time the light that is not absorbed by one layer, passes through to be absorbed by neighboring layers. The end result is a few light sources are used to illuminate a large number of layers. This immediately results in the reduction of initial capital cost of the light sources. For example, a 100 layer (permeable) system may be served by only one planar light source located on top of the system. By adding reflecting system walls, minimum light is wasted.
By contrast, prior art 3D farming system in
In addition to minimizing the initial fixed cost of light sources, the permeable layers also use the consumable light energy efficiently, lowering the variable cost of production. Any light that is not absorbed by a permeable layer passes through to adjacent layers to be consumed by plants in these layers. In prior art teachings, the light energy that is not absorbed by plants is irretrievably lost as a wasted resource.
Referring to
Traveling Seed Amplifier and Continuous Flow Farming
In the above, and in my CPPA-1, I used AgriPAL and PGM as the guiding principles enabling the realization of the full potential of 3D SansSoil farming paradigm. Emphasis has been placed on the ability to control physiological and physical parameters. It achieved higher gain and therefore higher efficiency, increased space utilization efficiencies, by means of vertical compression, layer permeability and by making ultra-compact layers comprising strings of networks of integrally made SGEs.
We now introduce the concept of layer mobility, to endow the system described in
Making the layers, 103 mobile, enables the realization of the concept of traveling seed amplifier, TSA, to continuous flow agriculture. TSA is analogous to a signal amplifier system in the electronics and communication fields, wherein a weak signal is connected to input port, immediately, synchronously, emerges from the output port as an amplified signal (replica of the input signal) with a large gain, (10-1000). The TSA system, 400, in
Analogous to a typical electronic signal amplifier, it amplifiers an initial material mass, mi, applied, inserted, to an input port, at an initial time, τi, then amplified to a final Mf, extracted, harvested, at an output port, harvesting port, at a time τh. This final amplified mass having gain,
is a replica of the initial mass mi. Even though, each initial mass requires a species dependent time, τsth=τf−τi to achieve the gain, Gsth, the rhythmic, periodic or near synchronous planting of m, and harvesting of its replica Mf, takes place at a harvesting period τh much shorter than τsth. Therefore, this inventive TSA system realizes an apparent growth cycle temporal compression of, τsth/τh=N, where N is the number of growth layers. Conventional farming, with N=1 does not the benefit from temporal and special compression that result in temporal and spatial resource utilization efficiencies according to the instant invention. The TSA system may be designed to achieve gains, Gsth having values in the ranges of 2-10, preferably 10-1000, more preferably 1000-100,000, for cell cultures, and event more preferably 100,000 to 100 million. To achieve a desired gain, the TSA system design may start with initial mass mi(τi), at any temporal position, τi, on the growth trajectory, including τi=0, or kiτi=γkiτsth,where γ may be in the range of 0-0.1, or 0.1-0.2; or even 0.2-0.5
The initial mass, mi, also referred to as seed mass, may be one or more masses selected from the group that includes: {seeds, seedlings, plant cell culture, micro-organism culture, microalgae culture, bacteria culture, fungi culture, stem cuttings, root cuttings, leaf cuttings, eye cuttings}. Said initial mass is planted in one or more SGEs, in one or more growth trays, wherein said SGEs are arranged one dimensional, two dimensional, and some cases 3 dimensional patterns, as in the cell culture trays 450 in
The present invention preferred embodiments, contemplate temporal compression factors, the values of N, ranging from 10 to 1000 preferably from 100 to 10,000 and even more preferably exceeding 10,000, in the case of algae and other culture made products, CMP. The high temporal compression factors have significant implications for growing food and energy. For example, if corn cycle time τsth is 100 days, from seed to maturity, the 3D TSA system according to this invention, enables the planting and near synchronous harvesting of corn once per day or 10 times a day for compression range from 100 to 1000. In addition, since the layers N are disposed vertically, the third dimension, the volumetric productivity, and the 3D yield increase by N. This is saves arable land and enables food and biofuel to be planted and harvested daily, continuously or semi-continuously, without the concern that biofuel competing with food for 2D land and other resources.
The TSA system for continuous growth of material products, MP, in
In normal operation, at least one layer 403c comprising at least one initial mass material, at a first age, τi, is admitted by transport means described below,
The preferred embodiment for layer transport mechanism, further comprises a means for lateral transport of layer 403e, from position 4004b in the first tower 401, to a second position 405b in the second tower 402. A non liming example to implement the lateral transport means, is an electromagnet that latches to layer 403e, so that together they move laterally in a synchronized manner with the layer transport systems described in in
The steps of admitting layer, 403c, shifting all layers, and harvesting layer 403d, are continuously, semi continuously, or intermittently, repeated with a regular compressed time period τh, which determined by the following expression:
where, τsth=τf−τi, the seed to harvest time, also the cycle time, is the difference between a first age, initial tine, τi and a second age, harvesting time, τf. The cycle time ranges from 1-10 days in the case of algae, and other living cells, 20 to 40 days for lettuce, or from 80 to 120 for soybean, wheat and other annual plant, or 100 to 1000 days, in fruit trees.
Hs, is the tower height 408, which ranges from 1-10 m, or 10-100 m or even larger that 100 m; N, is the total number of layers 403, ranging from 10-100, or 100-1000; hh, is the plant height at harvest time, before flowering for vegetable products, or after fruit, seed ripening.
is the vertical space compression which reduces the average interlayer spacing, hav. Compression factors between 2 and 5 are possible even 5 to 10 in systems where plant strings are mobile in two spatial coordinates and the plant spacings in two directions are automatically adjustable according to plant age. The interlayer h3, 408a, varies from the smallest height of the seed/seedling layer at position 404a, to the maximum height, hh, at position 405a. This results in the compressed average height hav.
The ability to adjust the interlayer spacing 408a, in real time, while the layers are transported, to maintain the correct interlayer spacing according to the plant age, is accomplished by the unique transport mechanism depicted in
The compression factor also incorporates the other space saving features discussed above, including: the permeability, the shoot and rood volume overlap, the ultra-compactness of SGE connected in networked of strings in layers 103, 403.
Returning to
The subsystem 406 controls all aspects of plant growth delivered by subsystem 102, as discussed above and illustrated in
In other aspect of the invention, it is contemplated that the towers are rotated at an appropriate speed to track the sun and or to improve the illumination uniformity from the sun or an artificial lighting source.
In other embodiments, to ensure food safety, the towers are equipped with sterility functions, to protect the plants from harmful pathogens and also to consumers from harmful pathogens. It is contemplated that isolation may be achieved by installing load locks in the planting and harvesting ports 404, 405. Each load lock is a chamber comprising sealable doors that enable the sequential transfer of seed layers in (initial mass) in, and harvested products out. The seed layers are admitted through a first door that is in communication with the outside environment. This door is subsequently sealed, and the layers are sterilized in situ. Subsequently, a second door, which is in communication with the main TSA system housing, is opened, and the layer 403c is transferred to its position 404a. The next step is resealing the second door, making it ready for the next repeat cycle. The operation of harvesting load lock chamber is the same except the steps are in reverse. Aspects of the invention contemplate automated transfer of layers and trays from chambers 404, 405, or optionally semiautomatic or manual transfer. In other embodiments, human operators may be involved in the process of planting and harvesting inside the sterilization load lock chambers. In this case, sterilization methods for humans will be adopted as is well known in the sterilization art.
The above operation is referred to as continuous flow farming. As in the case of electronic signal amplifier analogy, the inventive TSA, daily, continuously, admits, plants seeds/seedlings and harvests synchronously products for immediate consumption by consumers or for downstream processing converting them into other forms of the products. By the term continuous we mean a synchronous planting and harvesting operation at a periodic rate, N/τsth=1/τh. This is contrasted with conventional agriculture, wherein cereal seeds are planted in the fall and harvested late summer or after τsth of about 8 to 9 months have elapsed. In the present invention planting and synchronously harvesting [intermittently] once every day or every 5 hours is referred to as continuous or semi-continuous because of the regularity [regular period] of the operations. Furthermore, in continuous flow farming, the daily harvesting, in some cases several times a day, for very tall towers, takes place uninterruptedly, 24 hours a day all year around. Even though, there is a non zero time period between the synchronous planting and harvesting, the operation is 24/7 uninterrupted operation and on a time average basis, we use the term continuous relative to conventional farming wherein the period between planting and harvesting may be a year or longer.
This unprecedented productivity is made possible by the 3D SansSoil controlled environment architecture, and TSA. Depending on the number of layers, the plant species, and the height of the towers, enormous arable land savings is realizable by having 3D hectares in the sky. For examples, sugar beet 2D yield is about 16 ton/hectare/year of sugar, assuming harvest index of 16% (sugar output). Using 100 meter TSA tower, continuous flow farming can produce 173 tons/hectare, of sugar each day continuously or 63,145, t/ha/year. This is because the plant height is only 50 cm, making it naturally suitable for 3D architecture. This example illustrates an astonishing land saving of about 4000 fold. Consequently, this TSA continuous flow farming has the potential to solve the arable land limitation problem, that has posed a dilemma of feeding the world and the resource competition associated with the issue of “food vs. biofuel.
TSA Vertical Compression Embodiment
My CPPA have discussed temporal, spatial and physiological loss mechanisms, contributing to the low plant efficiencies, ˜0.001%, Table 1, and taught inventive means and methods to recover between 10-100 times of those losses. The present TSA embodiment contributes two compression mechanisms:
1. Temporal compression of plant cycle time which is shown examining the planting and synchronous harvesting time expression given by:
which reveals that the intrinsic physiological plant cycle time is effectively compressed by a factor,
We refer to this as the agronomic temporal compression, “pseudo-compression”, which is designed in the TSA tower system. The inventive variable pitch screw layer (tray) transport mechanism described in
Typical annual crops, soy bean, and cereals have intrinsic τsth in the range of 100-120 days, and hh˜1 m, will achieve a planting/harvesting TSA time,
for 100 m tower and CTSA˜0.333. This is a non limiting example to illustrate the power of TSA 3D sansSoil farming architecture. The antisense times varying according to species and growth conditions
Another example related to algae culture for biofuel production, τsth˜10 days, and hh˜0.01 m, will achieve a planting/harvesting time
2. Vertical space compression factor, CTSA=hav/hh, is another vertical space saving method achieved by means of the variable pitch screw mechanism. Recognizing that the plant height in the first of 10-20 days is much smaller than the full height hh at maturity, affords the opportunity to reduce the overall tower height for the desired optimum number of layers, by a factor CTSA=hav/hh, where hav is an average interlayer spacing determined by the physiology of the plant, its temporal growth trajectory, and engineering design considerations which are presented in the next section.
There are at least two possible product scenarios:
i)—Harvesting the product in the vegetative state, point A, where the harvesting height hh is smaller than the maximum height h(∞) at a harvesting time τsth(A).
ii)—Harvesting the product after full maturity and ripening the fruit and the seed, at point B, where the harvesting height hh is the maximum height h(∞) at a harvesting time, τsth(B) These growth trajectories are experimentally determined for each plant and its growth environment.
We use soybean growth trajectory to show the role of the physiology plays in TSA temporal and spatial compressions with the air of
In
The determination of the compression factor is subjected to engineering design considerations related to the structure and cost of the plant growth layers.
As shown in
Yet in another aspect of the invention, the system, 400f, has growth layers 403 which may be disposed in the y-z spatial coordinates, i.e., vertical planes as shown in
TSA Transport Mechanism
The above temporal plant cycle and spatial compression factors are made possible by means of the TSA transport system, a key aspect of the present invention which is described with the aid of
This algorithm is determined by factors that include the physiological trajectory, growth environment, engineering and cost considerations. In a specific preferred embodiment, the TSA transport system comprises one or more screw rods (or auger-like helical rods) 412a, 412b, having a helical thread comprising one or more pitches, p1, p2, p3, p4, p5, p6, . . . . For TSA towers enabled to have large temporal and spatial compression factors, the screw rods are designed to have variable pitches, a plurality of pitches, the number of which is selected from the ranges 1-10; 10-20, 20-100. These will result in temporal compression factors: between 1 and 10, preferably 10 to 100, and even more preferably, 100-1000, and spatial compression factors, ranging from 1 to 10. Compression factors of larger than 10 as also achievable, according to the present invention, by means of the cumulative effects of space saving from root-shoot overlap, from the compactness of the integral construction of SGEs, as discussed above, and the TSA automated variable interlayer spacing adjuster 411 in
The growth layers 403 generally comprise one or more trays (plurality of trays) 403t each comprises one or more SGEs, and a frame or a handle structure 403h that supports the trays. One or more trays are removably attached to their respective handle structures. Even more preferably, in some embodiments, the trays are deposable, one time use. Said one or more SGEs, are in the form of at least one network of strings, and more preferably in the form of one dimensional or two dimensional arrays. Each tray is in communication with fluid delivery and light delivery subsystems (not shown). The handle structure 403h is in direct physical communication with the screw rods 412a, 412b at contact regions 416c, and 417c. When the rods experience synchronous rotation in the directions 416, 417, the contact regions 416c, 4417c of the handle structure are pushed upward or downward, moving with them all layers 403. The interlayer spacings are maintained by the rod pitch associated with each tray vertical location and maintain spacings. The tray and handle thicknesses may not have the same values. These thicknesses are chosen from these ranges: 10-100 micron, 100-1000 microns, 1-10 mm, and 10-100 mm. While the periodic or non periodic spacings between SGEs are chosen from these ranges: 10-100 micron; 100-1000 microns, 1-10 mm, 10-100 mm, and 100-1000 mm
The thread-form of the screw rods are machined in such a way that the depth and the flank shapes of the thread can accommodate and hold the handle structures 403h of the growth layers and have the strength to accommodate the layer's load. The spacing between the screw rods enables the growth layers to be held firmly yet with the ability to be easily removable, during the steps of planting and harvesting. For synchronous rotation, the screw rods 412a and 412b are coupled to a subsystem comprising at least one motor, at leas of one set of chain belt-gear arrangement and supporting structures fixed to the mainframe housing. The rods counter-rotate, 416, 417, cooperating synchronously to lift all the layers 403 upward or downward at the contact regions 416c, 417c. While the angular velocity is kept contestant, the layers move at different linear speeds depending on the local pitch. This results in interlayer spacings 413, 414, 415 having different values at different heights determined by the pitch values. The pitch variation as a function of height is determined by an algorithm which at least reflects the plant growth trajectory that is measured experimentally.
The number of screw rods needed to transport the growth layers varies from 1 to 10. For example in system 400f, the hanging growth layers 403 are transported to the right by means of a single screw rod 412c, that is it rotates, it translates the layers linearly, while at the same time adjusts and maintains the correct interlayer spacings 420a, 420b, according to the age of the plants. This single screw rod arrangement, in addition to its simplicity, and low cost, it has a major additional advantage in that it does not need to support the weight of the hanging layers. It only needs to push to translate the layers after overcoming frictional forces.
In other embodiments, when the plant growing layers are horizontally disposed and move up and down (z direction), at least three screw rods are required to balance weight support against gravity forces. In other instances, 4, 6 or even 8 rods may be required.
In another aspect of the invention, the variable pitch thread-form may be incorporated in the inner surface of a rotating cylindrical housing to enable the upward or downward motion of N layers. Said N growth layers have areas or diameters designed to efficiently occupy the volume of the rotating cylindrical housing. The incorporation of the thread-form may be accomplished by means of machining (or embossing) substantially the entire inner surface. To lower the cost, especially when the diameter exceeds 1 meter, it may also be accomplished by the partial machining (or embossing) of the inner surface. The partial machined (embossed) area covered, may be in the form of a plurality of axially oriented thread-form strips. The number of these strips may be in the range of 2 to 6 or 6-24 if the diameter is very large. The length of the strip is approximately the length of the cylinder, and its width is a fraction of λ×diameter. This fraction may be between ⅛ and 1/32, or may be smaller than 1/32, depending on the number of strips and the design of the layer structure.
Yet another option is to avoid machining or embossing the inner surface, and instead, a plurality of thread-from strips is fastened to the inner surface of the cylindrical housing.
Although the variable pitch screw rod system is the most advantageous solution to the problem, of self-adjusting interlayer spacing as a function of growth, there are other mechanisms persons skilled in the art may conceive based on moving belts and chains. Applicant has discovered that the variable pitch rod mechanism features many more advantages including: high performance, compactness, low noise, low cost, flexibility, and scalability to very high tower heights.
The TSA Proof-of-Concept, POC
The POC, according to the present invention, has been designed and built and evaluated for growing lettuce as a vehicle to validate its operability, and the key inventive functions that make the TSA unique.
In
The transparent trays 403 are uniquely designed in a hexagonal SGE array configuration capable of many functions, including, germination, amplification, mobility, interlayer spacing adjustment, and water and nutrient delivery with virtually no plumbing. The POC transparent hexagonal arrays are visible in the trays of
Levitated Bio-Reactor for Culture Made Products
In another preferred embodiment, the TSA systems along with the TSA transport mechanisms described above,
The culture methods may include prokaryote, eukaryote cells, microorganisms, algae, cyano-bacteria, other bacteria and fungi, and a variety living organisms generally referred to as autotroph, photoautotroph, heterotroph, or mixotroph. These cells represent naturally evolved species or genetically transformed by well known recombinant DNA engineering methods. These methods may include transient (plastids) or nuclear genetic transformation. In these cases, the trays are specifically designed to comprise one dimensional or two dimensional SGE arrays 400 in the form of micro-wells or troughs, 451a, 451b, 451c, 451d, 451e and 451f, as shown in
Each of the plurality of trays 451, in the composite layer, is designed to have a specific structural strength that enables the stacking of a large number of trays, so that they can move as one unit, a composite layer, and to support the total load including that of the culture mass 452. The trays 541 are designed to comprise self-alignment features relative to the neighboring layers and to maintain inter-tray spacing sc.
The trays 451 are so designed as to facilitate the filling, or emptying of the culture and culture media, in a single operation, of all the micro-wells 451a in a composite layer 403x. The single filling operating enables the automatic adjustment of the micro-well levels 454 to achieve an identical full height dc. This single operation filling is accomplished by means of perforations 453 in all the trays. The culture growth element arrays of the trays have periods in two dimensions pcx, and pcx, which may be in the ranges of 10 to 100 microns, 100 to 1000 microns, 1000 to 100,000.
The most preferred design feature of the present TSA-based bioreactor is achieving ultra-high surface to volume ratio of the micro-wells, to enable fastest gas exchange as illustrated by the arrows 456 in
This is maximized by keeping the depths of the micro-wells as shallow as possible, which is satisfied by keeping dc<pcx, pcx or even more preferably dc<<pcx, pcx. Exemplary non-limiting dc values are chosen from the ranges: 10 micron to 100 microns or 100 micron to 5000 microns. The values are optimized based on well known behavior of dissolutions of metabolites in culture media, temperatures, and pressures.
Making TSA bioreactor exemplified by the composite layer 403x constructions as in
Prior art systems bioreactors face scalability problems and their price/performance degrades as higher production is contemplated. The present invention enables a system to be scaled up from few liters to 100,000 liters, retaining the price performance predicted from the operation of a single micro-well or a single tray. The gas exchange remains optimized regardless of the systems size. Typical inter-tray spacings sc may be chosen from the ranges sc=dc to sc=2dc, this will facilitate gas exchanges, as well as the filling and emptying of the culture media
The culture array elements, 451a, 451b, 451c, 451d, 451e and 451f, may be designed to have diverse periodic array geometrical arrangements, configurations and micro-well trough shapes (physical profiles), depending on the benefits that accrues for a specific application growth conditions and growth environment.
One preferred thin walled trough is the concave shape 451c designed from a material and a surface coating 455a that prevents the cell culture and cell culture medium 452a from sticking. This phenomenon is referred to as fouling in prior art bioreactors, especially, algae bioreactors. In these reactors, fouling is considered to be one of major hurdle preventing large scale algae from reaching profitability, as tested by our AgriPAL condition. This non-stick feature according to the present invention enables the filling and emptying of the wells with minimum friction, so that the fluid flows or glides effortlessly and enables the reuse of trays very large number growth cycles ranging from 100 to 1000 or from 1000 to 10,000 and more preferably approaching 100,000 cycles.
Hydrophobic coatings and even more preferably super-hydrophobic coatings, SHC, are contemplated. These coatings are well known in the art. The SHC is characterized by a fluid 452a having very large contact angle in the range of 150° and 180°. This enables the culture medium to form a spherical bead (or cylindrical bead in one dimensional trough) with near zero contact area with the micro-well surface 455a. Such near zero contact area beads, made of culture medium, are inoculated with of growing cell culture.
Since the bead volume is more than a million times larger than a single cell volume, the beads behave as though they are levitated bio-reactors, hereafter; they are referred to by the acronym, LBR. They are levitated, because nearly the entire outer surface of the bead is surrounded by ambient environment exchanging with it metabolite gases with minimum impedance, as the arrow directions 456 show. To further facilitate the gas exchanges 456, with the ambient environment, the LBR 452b in trough 451d, is made to nearly float on the surface 455b that is perforated, mesh-like, porous or otherwise permeable to metabolites. For very small LBR beads having diameters in the range of 100 micron to 1000 micron, large surface to volume ratios are achieved, thereby ensuring optimum gas exchange and highest productivity that exceed 100 mL/L or even exceed 500 mL/L.
LBR comprising diverse shapes and cross sectional areas 452c, 452d,
The geometrical configurations, physical profiles and appearances of components, illustrated in
In the case of artificial illumination, the system generally comprises strings of LED 421, localized near the growing plants in an optimized configuration so as to achieve uniform illumination. These LEDs are driven by means of an electronic subsystem that delivers to the plants light pulses comprising variable frequency, variable pulse widths, shapes, and duty cycles. Applicant has used pulsed illumination to optimize the enzymatic kinetics that experimentally demonstrated improvements in the energy utilization efficiency ranging from 4 to 10, dependent on the plant species. As discussed earlier, and in details in my CPPA-1, artificial illumination, and indoor controlled environment farming, benefit from the ability to increase the photosynthetic efficiency by factors ranging from 10 to 100, AgriPAL, Eq. (2), above, and EVIe≡ηEe≡geηE.
The LED's primary energy is derived from several electric power options shown in