Devices, systems, and methods for providing and using one or more pressure valves in an assembly line grow pod

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11071266-B2
Application number	US-201815965297-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 27, 2018
Priority date	Jun 14, 2017
Publication date	Jul 27, 2021
Grant date	Jul 27, 2021

Abstract

Devices, systems, and methods for providing and operating a valve control module and pressure valves in an assembly line grow pod are provided herein. Some embodiments include an assembly line grow pod having a plurality of fluid lines fluidly coupled between a fluid source and a fluid destination within the assembly line grow pod, a plurality of pressure valves, each coupled to a fluid line such that fluid pressure in the fluid lines is selectively controlled by the pressure valves, and a master controller communicatively coupled to the pressure valves. The master controller is programmed to receive information relating to fluid delivery within the assembly line grow pod, determine one or more pressure valves to direct the fluid, determine pressure valve parameters for each of the pressure valves that achieve the fluid pressurization, and transmit one or more control signals to the pressure valves for pressurizing the fluid within the assembly line grow pod.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An assembly line grow pod comprising:
a plurality of fluid lines fluidly coupled between a fluid source and a fluid destination within the assembly line grow pod, the fluid destination comprising plant material;
a plurality of pressure valves, at least one pressure valve of the plurality of pressure valves comprising:
a fluid inlet fluidly coupled to the fluid source via one of the plurality of fluid lines,
a fluid outlet fluidly coupled to the fluid destination via another one of the plurality of fluid lines,
a stopper disposed between the fluid inlet and the fluid outlet, the stopper movable between an engaged position to cause fluid flow between the fluid inlet and the fluid outlet is restricted by the stopper and a disengaged position to cause fluid flow is substantially free to move between the fluid inlet and the fluid outlet,
a biasing assembly coupled to the stopper such that the biasing assembly applies a biasing force on the stopper to bias the stopper in the engaged position or in the disengaged position,
an adjusting screw coupled to the biasing assembly and movable to increase or decrease a tension of the biasing assembly, thus increasing or decreasing the biasing force,
an actuator coupled to the adjusting screw such that the actuator moves the adjusting screw to increase or decrease the biasing force, and
a body comprising a processing device and a non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium, the non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium comprising a plurality of instructions that are executable by the processing device; and

a master controller communicatively coupled to the plurality of pressure valves, wherein the master controller is programmed to receive information relating to fluid delivery within the assembly line grow pod, determine one or more pressure valves of the plurality of pressure valves to pressurize the fluid, determine pressure valve parameters for each of the one or more pressure valves that achieve the fluid pressurization, and transmit one or more control signals to the one or more pressure valves for pressurizing the fluid within the assembly line grow pod,
wherein the plurality of instructions cause the processing device to receive the one or more control signals from the master controller and cause the actuator to move the adjusting screw, thus increasing or decreasing the biasing force in accordance with the instruction such that a particular amount of fluid is supplied to the plant material.

2. The assembly line grow pod of claim 1 , further comprising a valve control module disposed within the master controller, the valve control module comprising one or more hardware components for receiving the information, determining the one or more pressure valves, determining the pressure valve parameters, and transmitting the one or more control signals.

3. The assembly line grow pod of claim 2 , wherein the valve control module is removably insertable such that the valve control module is removable from a bay of the master controller without altering a functionality of the plurality of pressure valves within the assembly line grow pod.

4. The assembly line grow pod of claim 2 , wherein the valve control module is fixed within a bay of the master controller such that the valve control module is not removable from the master controller.

5. The assembly line grow pod of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of fluid lines comprise a plurality of water lines.

6. The assembly line grow pod of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of fluid lines comprise a plurality of airflow lines.

7. The assembly line grow pod of claim 1 , wherein the master controller is communicatively coupled to the plurality of pressure valves via a communications network.

8. The assembly line grow pod of claim 1 , wherein the fluid source includes a fluid holding tank containing one or more of water, a mixture of water and nutrients, nutrients, or gasses.

9. The assembly line grow pod of claim 1 , wherein the fluid source includes 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 fluid destination includes a watering nozzle that supplies water to one or more seed trays supported on a cart within the assembly line grow pod.

11. A pressure valve in an assembly line grow pod, the pressure valve comprising:
a fluid inlet fluidly coupled to an assembly line grow pod pump via a first one or more fluid lines disposed between the fluid inlet and the assembly line grow pod pump;
a fluid outlet fluidly coupled to an assembly line grow pod fluid destination via a second one or more fluid lines disposed between the fluid outlet and the fluid destination, the fluid outlet further fluidly coupled to the fluid inlet, and the fluid destination comprising plant material;
a stopper disposed between the fluid inlet and the fluid outlet, the stopper movable between an engaged position to cause fluid flow between the fluid inlet and the fluid outlet is restricted by the stopper and a disengaged position to cause fluid flow is substantially free to move between the fluid inlet and the fluid outlet;
a biasing assembly coupled to the stopper such that the biasing assembly applies a biasing force on the stopper to bias the stopper in the engaged position or in the disengaged position;
an adjusting screw coupled to the biasing assembly and movable to increase or decrease a tension of the biasing assembly, thus increasing or decreasing the biasing force;
an actuator coupled to the adjusting screw such that the actuator is moves the adjusting screw to increase or decrease the biasing force; and
a body comprising:
a processing device communicatively coupled to the actuator and to a master controller of the assembly line grow pod, and
a non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium communicatively coupled to the processing device, the non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium comprising one or more instructions thereon that, when executed, cause the processing device to:
receive an instruction from the master controller, the instruction corresponding to a determined particular amount of fluid to be supplied to the plant material according to a recipe for plant growth, and
cause the actuator move the adjusting screw, thus increasing or decreasing the biasing force in accordance with the instruction such that the particular amount of fluid is supplied to the plant material.

12. The valve of claim 11 , wherein:
the processing device is communicatively coupled to a valve control module of the master controller; and
the one or more instructions that, when executed, cause the processing device to receive the instruction further cause the processing device to receive the instruction from the valve control module of the master controller.

13. The valve of claim 11 , wherein the fluid outlet and the fluid inlet are each fluidly coupled to one or more water lines.

14. The valve of claim 11 , wherein the fluid outlet and the fluid inlet are each fluidly coupled to one or more airflow lines.

15. The valve of claim 11 , wherein the biasing force is adjustable such that a particular pressure of fluid present in the fluid inlet overcomes the biasing force of the biasing assembly.

16. A method of installing a pressure valve in an assembly line grow pod, the method comprising:
providing the assembly line grow pod comprising a fluid source and a fluid destination;
disposing the pressure valve in the assembly line grow pod fluidly coupled between the f

Assignees

• Grow Solutions Tech Llc

Inventors

• Millar Gary Bret
• Hurst Kevin

Classifications

• A01G25/16 Primary

  Control of watering · CPC title

• A01G31/042

  with containers travelling on a belt or the like, or conveyed by chains · CPC title

• Y02P60/21

  Dinitrogen oxide [N2O], e.g. using aquaponics, hydroponics or efficiency measures · CPC title

• A01G27/003

  Control of self-acting watering devices (Hydroponic system controls A01G31/008) · CPC title

• A01G27/001 Primary

  with intermittent watering means · CPC title