PLANT GROWING CONTROLLER

English Abstract

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ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
Disclosed herein is a plant growing controller. This plant growing controller
contains
lighting, ventilation, odor control technology, and the ability to record and
report
environmental conditions using sensors for inputs. The controller has elements
of
expandability so that the grower isn't confined to one set of inputs and
output controls.
This expandability, such as with additional lighting or peripheral devices,
will allow
different growers with different skill levels and objectives to use the system
successfully.
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Claims

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CLAIMS
What is claimed is:
1. A plant growing controller, comprising:
a plurality of lighting elements arranged on the surface;
an odor control system;
environmental sensors to monitor growing conditions;
power outputs to control peripheral devices;
a controller interface to program the controller;
the controller comprising a plurality of settings corresponding to a plurality
of
plant growing conditions.
2. A plant growing controller of claim 1, wherein the internal light source
utilizes one
or more of the following sources: plasma, induction, high-pressure sodium,
ceramic metal halide, LED, florescent, laser, or fiber optic.
3. A plant growing controller of claim 1, wherein the light emission spectra
and
intensity can be varied through the growth stages of the plant.
4. A plant growing controller of claim 1, wherein the odor removal
technologies uses
an integrated extraction fan and one or more technologies of odor removal.
5. A plant growing controller of claim 1, wherein the controller can monitor
and
report environmental growing conditions by reading inputs from a variety of
sensors. The data input from the sensors can then be used to adjust
environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, light, carbon dioxide
concentration, as well as soil and nutrient condition.
6. A plant growing controller of claim 1, wherein the controller can control
peripheral
devices such as fans, chillers, heaters, air conditioners, and pumps.
7. A plant growing controller of claim 1, wherein the controller can be
controlled
either locally or remotely using a software interface.
8. A plant growing controller of claim 1, wherein the control interface has
growing
conditions settings both pre-set and user programmable.
CA 3062495 2019-11-25

Description

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TITLE
Plant Growing Controller
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to horticultural lighting, air
handling, odor
control, and system to provide an automatically-controlled plant-growth
environment.
The invention is particularly useful for indoor plant growing applications.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Growing plants indoors allows for superior control over growing environment
variables,
such as light, water, fertilizers, temperature, and humidity. Growing plants
indoors can
be complicated to setup, especially if the user has no prior expertise in the
setup and
configuration of such systems. In addition, growing plants indoors may produce
odors
which are undesirable.
Current grow kits and systems are comprised of multiple electrical and
mechanical
components which must be connected properly to successfully install and setup
an
indoor growing environment. Therefore, a need exists in the industry for
simplification
of these offerings, especially for the layman and the hobbyist growers. There
are also
self-contained grow systems on the market that restrict the methods of growing
plants,
such as only offering hydroponic technique, and lack adaptability as the
grower modifies
or expands their growing space. An example is U.S. patent application
US20180184602A1 where the prior art indicates restrictive growing conditions
and
specific components to grow plants. Other examples of prior art are US Patents
10,034,342, 8,579,465, and 9,137,874 which are restricted to systems and
methods for
producing light to enhance plant growth.
Therefore, there is also a need to have a controller system to be able to be
utilized in a
variety of indoor growing spaces for growing plants by various means such as
soil,
soilless, hydroponic, and aeroponic methods. Hence, to fulfil this need the
controller
system needs to not only focus on the application of the light or functions
inside a
defined grow space but also improvements are needed such that the controller
integrates more functionality in addition to being easily reconfigurable and
expandable
to adapt to different environments and growing techniques.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
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A plant growing controller is disclosed. Features of the controller may
include, inter alia,
a plurality of lighting elements, odor removal technology, environmental
sensors, control
inputs and outputs, and a user interface to control a plurality of settings
for the
automatic or manual adjustment of the light, exhaust fan, and other functions
to
optimize growing conditions. Further aspects and embodiments are described
below.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is the front, top, and side view of the present invention; and
FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The illustrative embodiments provided herein are not meant to be limiting.
Other
embodiments may be utilized, and changes may be made, without departing from
the
spirit or scope of the subject matter presented here. It will be understood
that aspects of
the present disclosure may be arranged, substituted, combined, and designed in
a wide
variety of different configurations.
Generally, the various embodiments of the present invention are applied to a
light
emitting diode (LED) based lighting system that has an integrated extraction
fan and
odor control, environmental sensors, peripheral device controlling ability,
and a
controller user interface. However, in some embodiments, an internal light
source may
utilize plasma, induction, high-pressure sodium, ceramic metal halide, LED,
florescent,
laser, fiber optic, and/or the like technology, and/or any combination
thereof.
The various embodiments of the LED system may contain an array of LEDs and an
array of associated lenses. The LED design may include chip on board (COB)
LED,
individual diodes or a combination of COB and singular diodes. A channel of
LEDs may
include linear or non-linear arrangements.
In various embodiments, the emission spectra may be varied through the growth
stages
of the plant. The emission spectra may be controlled so that it is
alternating, graduated,
concurrent, continuous, or the like. The light emission intensity may be
controlled with a
variable intensity control. A variable intensity control may include a manual
control, an
analog control, a digital computer control, or the like. This function allows
for the
optimal lighting conditions for the growth of various plant types at various
stages of
growth.
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In various embodiments the controller may be configured with odor removal
technologies using an integrated extraction fan. The odor removal technologies
can be
an activated carbon filter, UV light, TiO2 with a UV light source, or any
combination
thereof. This function allows for the removal of strong odors prior to
exhausting the air
from the indoor growing space.
In various embodiments the controller may also be configured to control
peripheral
devices which may include, inter alia, fans, chillers, heaters, air
conditioners, and
pumps. This functionality allows for the expandability of the system to match
the
grower's ability and desired growing conditions.
In various embodiments the controller may be configured to automatically
adjust the
grow light, extraction fan rate, or other peripheral devices. The term
"automatic" refers
to a process not requiring human action beyond an initial action to start the
automatic
process.
In various embodiments the controller may also be configured to have a closed
loop air-
cooled lighting arrangement such that the lighting has a separate air-cooling
capability
so that air external to the growing environment is used to cool the lights.
In various embodiments the controller may control the atmospheric
concentration of
carbon dioxide to support plant growth. The controller could be configured to
monitor
the carbon dioxide concentrations and have the ability to increase the levels
to a set
point by injecting supplemental carbon dioxide into the growing space. This
function
allows for the enhancement of plant growth by controlling the optimal carbon
dioxide
concentration based on the needs of the plants.
As opposed to physical buttons, an exemplary embodiment may use capacitive
touch
sensors located behind the front face. The only visible interaction points may
be pad
prints on the plastic face that sit just in front of the capacitive sensors.
In various embodiments the controller may be managed by a software-based user
interface using cloud server functionality, mobile or tablet application, web
interface,
desktop computer application, or other similar user interface control function
through a
wired or wireless connection. The software-based interface could also have the
ability to
view, modify, and record operation and inputs to the system such as
environmental
information, external sensors, web camera data streams, and the like. This
function
allows for the improvement of usability and user experience.
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Turning to FIG. 1, the invention is exemplified, which may include a user
interface and
display panel 004 for the operation and display of key controller, peripheral,
and
environmental information. The controller may include a region 003 for a
plurality
external sensors and data connections using a plurality of connection types
such as
ethernet, USB, BNC, serial, and the like. In this exemplified embodiment the
invention
may have a series of cooling fans 001 to cool the lighting. The growing space
exhaust
and odor control system may be exhausted through an exhaust port on the
controller
002 in order to be ducted outside of the growing space.
FIG 2 is the bottom view which also shows the rear and side of the invention.
The
bottom of the invention may have a light source or plurality of sources 006
mounted on
or into the controller. This exemplified version of the invention shows the
air intake
region 007 on the bottom of the controller. Within this region the invention
may have a
singular filter or a series of filtering and odor removing devices to reduce
the odor
emitted from the growing space. The rear panel of the invention 005 may be
comprised
of power input for the invention's power supply. The rear panel may also
contain a
power switch or switches and a series of power output receptacles in order to
power
and control peripheral devices 005.
Numerous embodiments and modifications of the invention will come to the mind
or be
apparent to one skilled in the art that take the benefit of the material
presented in the
preceding descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is
understood that the
invention is not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed, and that
modifications and embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of
the
following claims.
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