Plant cultivation system, and plant cultivation unit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10064347-B2
Application number	US-201414777612-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 14, 2014
Priority date	Mar 26, 2013
Publication date	Sep 4, 2018
Grant date	Sep 4, 2018

Abstract

A plant cultivation system 100 includes a plurality of plant cultivation units 20, and a management apparatus 30 that manages each plant cultivation unit 20. Each plant cultivation unit 20 includes a greenhouse 1 that serves as a space for plant cultivation, an environment control unit 12 that controls an environment in the greenhouse 1, a storage unit 9 that stores setting values that are control targets for the environment control unit 12 for every number of elapsed days since the cultivation initiating day, and an environment setting instructing unit 10 that sets the setting values stored in the storage unit 9 in the environment control unit 12 in accordance with the number of elapsed days since a cultivation initiating day. The management apparatus 30 sends the setting values for every number of elapsed days since the cultivation initiating day to each of the plant cultivation units 20, causes the storage unit 9 of each of the plant cultivation unit 20 to store the setting values, and gives an instruction for initiating plant cultivation.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A plant cultivation system comprising:
a plurality of plant cultivation units; and
a management apparatus that manages plant cultivation in the plurality of plant cultivation units,
wherein each of the plurality of plant cultivation units includes:
a greenhouse that serves as a space for plant cultivation;
an environment controller that controls an environment in the greenhouse;
a storage unit that stores a setting value that is a control target for the environment controller for every number of elapsed days since a cultivation initiating day; and
an environment setting instructing unit that sets the setting value stored in the storage unit in the environment control unit, in accordance with the number of elapsed days since the cultivation initiating day, and

the management apparatus includes
a single unit startup unit that sends the setting values for every number of elapsed days since a cultivation initiating day to each of the plurality of plant cultivation units, causes the storage unit of the corresponding plant cultivation unit to store the setting values, and gives an instruction for initiating plant cultivation;
a single unit usage condition storage unit that stores a usage condition of each plant cultivation unit;
a required number storage unit that stores a required number of the plant cultivation unit which are necessary for cultivation of the plant; and
a single unit securing unit configured to specify a plant cultivation unit which is not used based on the usage condition stored by the single unit usage condition storage unit, and set the usage condition of the plant cultivation unit specified to be in use according to the required number of the plant cultivation unit.

2. The plant cultivation system according to claim 1 , wherein
the management apparatus further includes a default setting unit that sets cultivation initiating days in the plurality of plant cultivation units such that the cultivation initiating days are different from one another, and
for each of the plurality of plant cultivation units, the single unit startup unit specifies the corresponding initiating day and sends the setting values for every number of elapsed days since the cultivation initiating day.

3. The plant cultivation system according to claim 1 , wherein
the management apparatus includes an environment setting value storage unit that stores a plurality of types of setting values for every number of elapsed days since a cultivation initiating day, the plurality of types being set so as to realize different plant cultivation environments, and
the single unit startup unit divides the plurality of plant cultivation units into the same number of groups as the number of types of setting values, and sends the corresponding type of setting values for every number of elapsed days since a cultivation initiating day to each group.

4. The plant cultivation system according to claim 1 , wherein in the plurality of plant cultivation units,
the environment control unit includes a temperature control unit that controls a temperature in the greenhouse, a humidity control unit that controls a humidity in the greenhouse, and a solar radiation amount control unit that controls a solar radiation amount in the greenhouse, and
the storage unit stores a target temperature, a target humidity, and a target solar radiation amount for every number of elapsed days since a cultivation initiating day, as the setting values.

Assignees

• Nec Solution Innovators Ltd

Inventors

• Shimazu Hideo

Classifications

• A01G9/243

  Collecting solar energy (in general F24S) · CPC title

• A01G9/24 Primary

  Devices {or systems} for heating, ventilating, regulating temperature {, illuminating}, or watering, in greenhouses, forcing-frames, or the like · CPC title

• A01G9/246

  Air-conditioning systems · CPC title

• Y02A40/264

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• Y02A40/30

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic