Devices, systems, and methods for providing and using a pump control module in a master controller in an assembly line grow pod

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10905058-B2
Application number	US-201815965163-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 27, 2018
Priority date	Jun 14, 2017
Publication date	Feb 2, 2021
Grant date	Feb 2, 2021

Abstract

Devices, systems, and methods for providing and operating a pump control module and one or more pumps in an assembly line grow pod are provided herein. Some embodiments include the assembly line grow pod having one or more pumps, a master controller with a plurality of bays and being communicatively coupled to the pumps, and a pump control module within one of the bays such that the pump control module is communicatively coupled to the master controller and the pumps. The pump control module is programmed to receive information regarding fluid within the assembly line grow pod, determine one or more control signals necessary to provide or pressurize the fluid, and provide the one or more control signals to the one or more pumps.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An assembly line grow pod comprising:
one or more pumps;
a master controller comprising a plurality of bays, the master controller communicatively coupled to the one or more pumps; and
a pump control module received within a first bay of the plurality of bays of the master controller such that the pump control module is communicatively coupled to the master controller and the one or more pumps,
wherein the pump control module is programmed to receive information regarding a unique fluid requirement for each of a first location and a second location within the assembly line grow pod, determine one or more control signals necessary to provide or pressurize the fluid for delivery of a first amount of fluid to the first location within the assembly line grow pod and the second amount of fluid to a second location within the assembly line grow pod based on the unique fluid requirement for each of the first location and the second location, and provide one or more control signals to the one or more pumps to operate in accordance with the one or more control signals.

2. The assembly line grow pod of claim 1 , wherein the pump control module is removably insertable such that the pump control module is removable from the first bay of the plurality of bays without altering a functionality of the one or more pumps within the assembly line grow pod.

3. The assembly line grow pod of claim 1 , wherein the pump control module is fixed within the first bay of the plurality of bays of the master controller such that the pump control module is not removable from the master controller.

4. The assembly line grow pod of claim 1 , further comprising a second control module that controls one or more components of the assembly line grow pod.

5. The assembly line grow pod of claim 4 , further comprising:
a track; and
a plurality of carts supporting trays, the plurality of carts movable along the track,
wherein the second control module provides one or more control signals to the plurality of carts to cause movement of the plurality of carts along the track.

6. The assembly line grow pod of claim 5 , wherein the pump control module directs the one or more pumps to pump water to the trays when passing a predetermined portion of the track.

7. The assembly line grow pod of claim 4 , further comprising:
one or more lighting devices;
a seeder component;
a harvester component; and
a sanitizer component,
wherein the second control module in the master controller provides one or more control signals to the one or more lighting devices, the seeder component, the harvester component, and the sanitizer component.

8. The assembly line grow pod of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the one or more pumps are fluidly coupled to a fluid source via one or more water lines that are fluidly coupled to the first location and to the second location.

9. The assembly line grow pod of claim 8 , wherein the fluid source is a watering component that supplies one or more of water and nutrients to plants that are grown in the assembly line grow pod.

10. The assembly line grow pod of claim 1 , wherein the one or more pumps are fluidly coupled to a fluid delivery component located at each one of a plurality of watering stations via one or more water lines.

11. The assembly line grow pod of claim 1 , wherein the one or more pumps are fluidly coupled to one or more airflow lines, the one or more airflow lines extending to the first location and to the second location.

12. A master controller in an assembly line grow pod, the master controller comprising:
a plurality of bays, each one of the plurality of bays comprising a bay I/O port that is communicatively coupled to one or more pumps in the assembly line grow pod; and
a pump control module received within a first bay of the plurality of bays of the master controller, the pump control module comprising:
an I/O port communicatively coupled to the bay I/O port,
a processing device, and
a non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium comprising one or more programming instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause the processing device to:
receive an input corresponding to one or more unique fluid requirements for each of a first location and a second location within the assembly line grow pod,
determine an action to be completed based on the input, wherein the action comprises operation of the one or more pumps in the assembly line grow pod to supply a first amount of fluid to the first location within the assembly line grow pod and a second amount of fluid to the second location within the assembly line grow pod in accordance with the one or more unique fluid requirements for each of the first location and the second location, and
transmit an instruction to the one or more pumps, the instruction directing the operation of the one or more pumps to supply the first amount of fluid to the first location and the second amount of fluid to the second location.

13. The master controller of claim 12 , wherein the one or more programming instructions, when executed, further cause the processing device to:
receive a second input;
determine a second action to be completed based on the second input, wherein the second action comprises providing one or more second instructions or signals for operation of one or more components of the assembly line grow pod;
determine a second control module is available or exists within the plurality of bays for completing the second action; and
directing the second control module to complete the second action.

14. The master controller of claim 12 , wherein the one or more programming instructions, when executed, further cause the processing device to:
receive a second input;
determine a second action to be completed based on the second input, wherein the second action comprises providing one or more second instructions or signals for operation of one or more components of the assembly line grow pod;
determine that a second control module is not available within the plurality of bays for completing the second action; and
complete the second action on behalf of the second control module.

15. The master controller of claim 12 , wherein the pump control module comprises a housing supported on a base, the housing comprising the processing device and the non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium.

16. The master controller of claim 12 , wherein the pump control module is removably insertable such that the pump control module is removable from the first bay of the plurality of bays without altering a functionality of the assembly line grow pod or the one or more pumps.

17. The master controller of claim 12 , wherein the pump control module is fixed within the first bay of the plurality of bays of the master controller such that the pump control module is not removable from the master controller.

18. A pump control module comprising:
a processing device, and
a non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium comprising one or more programming instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause the processing device to:
receive an input corresponding to one or more unique fluid requirements for each of a first location and a second location within the assembly line grow pod,
determine an action to be completed based on the input, wherein the action comprises operation of one or more pumps in an assembly line grow pod to supply a first amount of fluid to the first location within the assembly line grow pod and a second amount of fluid to the second location within the

Assignees

• Grow Solutions Tech Llc

Inventors

• Millar Gary Bret
• Hurst Kevin

Classifications

• F04B2205/09

  Flow through the pump · CPC title

• F04B2205/05

  Pressure after the pump outlet · CPC title

• A01G9/249

  Lighting means (with special arrangements for promoting growth A01G7/045) · CPC title

• F04B23/04

  Combinations of two or more pumps · CPC title

• F04B41/06

  Combinations of two or more pumps · CPC title