Mechanical Design
System Overview
The system is comprised of a number of key components that make up the mechanical design. These include two removable plants that can accommodate up to 45 heads of lettuce or 3 tomato plants per tray. Grow lights can be found situated above each tray to provide additional lighting during the evening hours and on cloudy days. Water lines can be found running along the side of the structure, with inlet and outlet lines providing water from the reservoir to the trays and back again. The reservoir, water pump, nutrient and pH chemicals dispenser, and electronics package are all packed at the bottom to provide weight and stability to the system.
The overall system has a footprint of 48 in x 18 in, with the trays set at a slope of 1.2 degrees to maintain a 1 in rise over the 48 in run of the trays. The system has a total height of 7.8 ft to accommodate standard ceiling heights of 8 ft.
The system was designed to provide a minimum flow of 2L per min through each tray. This flow is provided by a water pump sized to provide up to 11L per min flow at a 5ft head pressure. This water is pumped up from the reservoir to the two trays where nutrients and water are provided to the plants before being returned. Nutrients and pH regulating chemicals are adding to the reservoir automatically through a dispensing system connected to the reservoir. A full P&ID can be found below.
