Patent Application
20180263195
Greenhouses, indoor growing facilities, or plant husbandry facilities (as they will be called herein) allow for and encourage plant growth without seasonal interruption. Plant husbandry facilities also give a horticulturalist control over the environment, which increases crop yield per area. And in the growing field of cannabis production, plant husbandry facilities capture odors that neighbors sometimes find undesirable.
Plant husbandry facilities, however, introduce their own challenges. For example, the closed, high humidity, low air circulation environment in a plant husbandry facility gives rise to a higher occurrence of certain plant diseases, molds, and other undesirable pestilence than might be found in nature: Rhizoctonia target spot, Rhizoctonia stem rot, Sclerotinia stem rot, Pythium root rot, bacterial soft rot, Botrytis gray mold, black root rot, anthracnose, black shank, and Granville wilt are common. The environment also may give rise to soil-borne diseases such as Granville wilt and black shankâthe concern with these is that the soil-borne diseases may transfer to future plants. The combination of all of the above diseases may cause as much as 30% crop loss.
A good plant husbandry facility does what it can to overcome disease and mold. Solutions to address these include increased airflow using fans, elevated growing tables, access to light, air and water purification, and soil treatment. All of these help, but some areas of a plant, especially its canopy's underside (
The system described herein seeks to address the above challenges.
A system for promoting airflow beneath a plant canopy in a plant husbandry facility includes fan that creates airflow therethrough and a duct row in fluid communication with the fan, wherein the duct row has holes therein, wherein the holes are oriented to direct airflow from the fan out of the holes and beneath the plant canopy.
As shown in
When set up inside a plant husbandry facility 50, duct runs 120 may be located between adjacent plant rows 80. Although
The duct rows 120 may be located below the plant canopy 90, and situated such that the vent holes 130 are aligned upwards into the canopy 90. The duct rows 120 may also be aligned level with the canopy 90 or in other orientations as long as vent holes 130 are aligned to direct airflow under the canopy 90. For example, with plants that have root issues, the duct rows 120 may also be aligned such that the vent holes 130 better aerate a root system.
In the single duct run 120 in
The vent holes 130 may be cut, punched, heat stamped or formed according to any other manner that allows passage for airflow.
The duct run 120 has a first end 140 and a second end 150. The first end 140 is closer to the fan 110 that provides the circulating air within the system 100, and the second end 150 is at the terminal end of the duct run 120. The second end 150 may be closed, have openings, or may have adjustable openings to allow adjustment of air speed through the vent holes 130.
The duct run 120 may be made from 4 mm thick to thicker polyethylene, which allows for easy installation, repair (duct tape or similar adhesive tape), and inexpensive disposal and replacement at the end of a growing season. The duct run 120 may have an outer diameter of 6-36 inches, depending on the needs of a plant husbandry facility.
Scaffolding 160 and wiring may be used to orient and support the fan 110 and duct runs 120. Other support systems may be used as well depending on space availability and height of the plant canopy 90.
The fan 110 that drives air through the duct run(s) 120 may be a 12 inch 2000 cfm fan 9 (larger fans with more cfm capacity may be used depending on the size of the facility). During installation, the fan 110 size may be reduced through a reducer 115 to 8 inches. For plant husbandry facilities where multiple runs would be advantageous, the fan 110 or reducer 115 may attach to a manifold 117 that splits the fan output into a number of necessary runs, such as four duct runs 120 shown in
Within the fan 110, reducer 115, manifold 117, or duct run 120 (though less desirable if using polyethylene), there may be an air purifier such as that shown by U.S. Pat. No. 8,585,979, which is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. Such a purifier may be suited to large plant husbandry facilities.
Other air purifier sand/or passive air filter (neither shown but well known to those of skill in the art) may also be used. The air purifier may be of the UV light variety where it may be important to block ambient light from escaping the purification area as this light may adversely affect plant growth. One advantage of the UV and/or passive purification system is that it can replace a separate air purification system usually used in plant husbandry facilities. Thus, not only does the system described herein promote airflow under a canopy and reduce plant damage in that way, it also saves a horticulturalist money from having to buy and maintain a separate air purification system.
While the invention has been described with reference to the embodiments above, a person of ordinary skill in the art would understand that various changes or modifications may be made thereto without departing from the scope of the claims.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62470982 | Mar 2017 | US |
