CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is the U.S. National Stage Application of International Patent Application No. PCT/IB2018/055670, filed on Jul. 30, 2018, which claims priority to Italian Patent Application No. 102017000092004, filed on Aug. 8, 2017, the contents of each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF APPLICATION

The present invention relates to an automatic and modular system for handling vertical farms, generally of the hydroponic or aeroponic, or aquaponic type.

More precisely, the invention relates to an automatic and modular system for handling the so-called “vertical farms” used for the soilless farming of plants. The present invention is described below with reference to a hydroponic system, which however does not exclude other methods of soilless farming that can be mentioned specifically at the time of differentiation in relation to the construction techniques that can be adopted. The system according to the invention is composed of a plurality of modular storage units with a vertical and quadrangular plan arrangement, each of which comprises a plurality of levels in which trays are arranged slidable on guides, wherein each tray can be individually collected by a movable system control and handling unit that allows the filling and collection of the plants or hydroponic farmed products contained in each tray.

The automatic and modular handling system for vertical farms according to the invention intends to solve the problems encountered using traditional vertical farms, i.e. problems deriving from the difficulties in handling a hydroponic system with crops arranged on various levels with a vertical extension inside each module.

The present invention is advantageously applied in the sector of systems for handling vertical farms used for hydroponic or aeroponic and aquaponic farming.

PRIOR ART

The recent development of so-called vertical farms is known, i.e. vertical farming based on hydroponic technology, whose prerogative is that of allowing the development of the growth of plants in special conditions, some of which are listed below:possibility of not using soil;exploitation of the vertical volume;possibility of indoor farms;up to 80% reduction in the use of water;greater productivity;elimination of the use of fertilizers and pesticides;elimination of the dispersion of substances in the soil with the consequent involvement of the water table;redevelopment of abandoned buildings;locally grown production;continuous farming 365 days a year, regardless of the seasons.

In general, hydroponic farming means the implementation of one of the soilless farming techniques, where soil is replaced by an inert substrate, such as expanded clay, perlite, vermiculite, coconut fibre, rock wool, zeolite, etc.), therefore also comprising the aeroponic and aquaponic techniques.

The plant is irrigated with a nutritious solution composed of water and compounds (mainly inorganic in the case of hydroponic or aeroponic, whereas they are organic or mixed in the case of aquaponic techniques) necessary for providing all the essential elements for normal mineral nutrition. The technique is otherwise known by the term water culture. Hydroponic farming allows controlled production both from a quality and hygiene/sanitary point of view throughout the whole year.

The system of hydroponic vertical farming is based on the fact that the crops are arranged on various floors or levels, with a vertical extension of the crops themselves.

The advantages are clear. Targeted production, in short timescales, allows supplies close to the user, without pesticides or chemical fertilizers, the targeted use of water and the possibility of farming all year round, even in restricted or redeveloped spaces, aside from the defence of the water table protected by the hydroponic farming system.

For these reasons, this type of farm is constantly gaining importance.

Some of these hydroponic farms are performed using sunlight, but in this case the production timescales depend on the weather, whereas in other cases systems are used with lights, generally and recently with latest generation LED technology and centralized irrigation systems distributed throughout the entire farm.

The lighting systems are designed so that the plantations receive the whole photonic spectrum they need for growth and are modulated with timescales and algorithms taken from experience and the growing times for each type of crop.

The irrigation system provides a sorting centre for sorting the nutritious fluids (water and mineral salts) that travels through the whole plantation (hundreds of metres or km of pipes) so that every plant receives its dose of nutrient. All the crops should in theory receive the same nutrition but there is no certainty that the objective is certainly reached for all the plants.

The positioning of the crops takes place with a vertical arrangement and with height limitations in the event that the harvesting has to be performed manually, whereas heights of a few metres can be reached in the event of harvesting by means of self-propelled trucks with the possibility of height adjustment.

The trays containing the products are positioned on shelves similar to those used in the storage warehouses of goods in logistics centres.

In general, hydroponic farming systems, even vertical ones, imply a reduction in water consumption, especially with closed systems that recover the nutritious solution not used by the plants and recycle it, with consequent water savings up to 80-90%, with respect to traditional farming on soil.

Furthermore, such farms lead to an efficient use of fertilizers and improved management of the plant nutrition, and there is also better control over the phytosanitary conditions: no longer being connected to the soil, the incidence of diseases that are spread by the soil and the parasites normally present in the soil are reduced, if not eliminated.

Furthermore, hydroponic farming, also the vertical type, determines the elimination of competition with weeds.

Again, soilless systems can be used efficiently in dry environments and climates, as they imply a reduction in waste and losses of water and nutrients which therefore leads to a lower environmental impact, also connected with an extremely limited use of crop protection products and weed killers.

The problem encountered with the use of traditional hydroponic farms with a vertical extension consists of the difficult handling of the crops arranged on various levels, in particular those of the higher levels, which in order to be reached require the use of ladders or, for the mechanization of the system, in some cases self-propelled means are also used, such as trucks or fork lift trucks.

The use of such equipment has also highlighted the problematic handling of the crops placed at the higher levels, as mechanized systems also do not allow the direct control and handling of the crops.

Furthermore, for farms with a vertical extension performed inside closed environments, the column elements often used are subject to height restrictions determined by the height of the floors inside the buildings in which the farms are created. The lack of modularity of known systems does not permit flexible solutions and it is often necessary to demolish floors inside buildings for the purpose of positioning column elements in determined positions.

The solutions disclosed in documents WO 2017/024353 and US 2015/0282437 are also known in the state of the art. These solutions envisage using column elements provided with different shelves on which the containers used for farming plants are arranged; however, such solutions are not of the modular type as they do not envisage the possibility of adding further mutually connectable column elements by consecutive combination from trays that should reach each shelf of each element in order to vary the positioning thereof both inside the individual elements and between one element and another.

Therefore, the absence of true modularity due to the lack of expandable structures maintaining the mutual connection, limits the possibilities of use of such systems that are manufactured with determined dimensional characteristics that cannot be further modified in the cases in which it is necessary to expand the farms.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention sets out to develop the possibility of mechanizing and automating the hydroponic production also and especially that using structures with a vertical arrangement.

In fact, one of the objects of the invention consists of the introduction of a new system for the movement and handling of specific loading and unloading units of a hydroponic vertical farm with vertical modular elements, which will be able to exploit the same movement unit adapted to serve a plurality of modules, eliminating or drastically reducing the drawbacks highlighted above.

The invention sets out, in particular, to provide a movement and handling system for structures used for hydroponic farms, in particular those with a vertical arrangement, in which a design is not necessary but only an integration of additional standardized components that allow the expansion of the modular system itself.

Furthermore, the movement and handling system for structures used for hydroponic farms, in particular those with a vertical arrangement according to the invention allows the trays of the modules to be exchanged laterally, hence allowing the free arrangement of the various modules, being able to “design” shapes or fill the space available in the desired way.

A very important function for the movement system for handling modular structures used for hydroponic farms, in particular those with a vertical arrangement according to the invention, is the operating independence of each vertical module. In fact, in the case that transfers of shelves are in progress within the system, the elevators provided for collecting and moving the shelves themselves, which can work in parallel to the transfer activities, determine a net increase in the operating efficiency.

This is obtained through a movement and handling system for structures used for hydroponic farms, in particular those with a vertical arrangement according to the invention, whose characteristics are described in the main claim.

The dependent claims of the present solution outline advantageous embodiments of the invention.

The main advantages of the system according to the present invention relate to the possibility to use modular structures used for hydroponic farms that can remain individual or be connected in a modular way to other identical modular structures used for hydroponic farms of the same type, exploiting a modularity concept that allows the gradual growth of the system according to requirements.

Unlike other known systems, the movement and handling system for structures used for hydroponic farms according to the invention allows the occupation of the volume of the sites where they are installed to be improved.

The system according to the invention optionally allows the visual management to take place through electronic searches and with artificial viewing systems.

Furthermore, according to the invention it is envisaged that the arrangement of the modular structures used for hydroponic farms can be designed so as to fill the plan space as best as possible, generating free shapes with respect for the interfacing positions, or generating the almost complete filling of the available space, creating volumes that allow the continuous addition of modules, thus optimizing the occupied surface area.

It is also possible, thanks to the fact that the modules that comprise the system according to the invention are able to exchange the trays at any height, to provide an exchange module that allows trays to be transported inside a multi-level building, still safeguarding the continuity of the system and without requiring the removal of floors between one level of the building and the next.

By using the system according to the invention, it is possible to envisage each module being provided with limited irrigation zones, so as to avoid distribution throughout the whole system that would require very long piping.

In fact, the hydroponic farming system according to the invention envisages creating zones with modules, equipped with different types of lamps of a specific type for the emission of a particular light spectrum, allowing, thanks to the possibility of movement of the trays containing the crops, them to be subjected to different exposure cycles.

According to the invention, it is envisaged that some zones of the module may be excluded from the light radiation system so as to allow the cycle in the dark without switching off the lamps but by moving the trays into the dark zones.

This allows a saving on lighting elements.

The possibility to move the crops in trays also allows them to be spaced out, with steps of defined heights, from the radiation sources, hence being able to vary the absorption conditions.

The modules in some configurations can envisage the presence of conditioning systems for the air environment, therefore the management of parameters such as the moisture and the composition of the air.

The information system of the system according to the invention, based on neural algorithms of properties, allows a machine learning and deep learning system to be activated, i.e. smart management, which is able to gradually feed the system's database providing information on the best expected cycles or to be actuated in the case of different types of crops.

As the position of each individual plant grown is known, all the characteristics from seeding to harvest, how much it has absorbed in terms of nutrients, what light it has absorbed, etc. are known.

Therefore every plant can be controlled with total traceability.

In relation to seeding, the structure used for handling hydroponic farms with one or more individual vertical modules according to the invention can be automated whenever different types of crops are desired.

Such automation piloted by the information system allows the future product to be introduced onto the market to be traced right from the seeding step, since the allocation coordinates are known in the case of using previously implanted pods or seeding and the physical position within the system of trays inserted into the modular system, as they are unique.

This implies a drastic reduction of the hydraulic part of each system, with the possibility of differentiating the type of additives to be introduced into the supply liquid and the possibility of differentiating the quantity and the mix thereof with discrimination, even of each individual plant, considering that the coordinates are known; it will be possible during the growing time to add thereto the information related to how much water the plant with a known ID has received, the quantity of additives, the spraying frequency, etc.

The presence of one or more cameras is also envisaged, allocated in a zone of the module, that memorize the status of the plants in the trays. The information management system considers the status of each plant, compares it with previous images, with those of plants with similar characteristics (type, crop, times) and assesses its state of health.

In this way, it is possible to activate corrective actions for the growth of the plants, as well as being able to historicise different combinations of mix in the food, light exposure, times or the like, allowing variations to the growth process and continuous optimization.

All this translates into a constant source of data and images of each individual plant, and such data can be maintained until the end of the traceability of the product.

Therefore, in addition to the previous identification data of the plant, it is possible to store in the information for traceability or for the purpose of study and optimization also the light exposure times, distances, colours, therefore all the variables connected with the light exposure cycles to which they have been subjected.

The possibility is also envisaged of completely removing a determined tray containing the products for seeding purposes, the introduction of pre-planted pods, and harvesting and they can be conveyed to other destinations also through self-propelled means, such as trucks, or the like.

