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

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11160222-B2
Application number	US-201815965220-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 27, 2018
Priority date	Jun 14, 2017
Publication date	Nov 2, 2021
Grant date	Nov 2, 2021

Abstract

Devices, systems, and methods for providing and operating a pump control module and pumps 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 pumps, each coupled to a fluid line such that fluid is moved within the fluid line by the pump, and a master controller communicatively coupled to the pumps. The master controller is programmed to receive information relating to fluid delivery within the assembly line grow pod, determine one or more pumps to deliver the fluid, determine pump parameters for each of the pumps that achieve the fluid delivery, and transmit one or more control signals to the pumps for delivering 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;
a plurality of pumps, each pump of the plurality of pumps fluidly coupled to a fluid line of the plurality of fluid lines such that fluid is moved within the fluid line by the pump, each pump comprising a processing device and a non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium communicatively coupled to the processing device; and
a master controller communicatively coupled to the plurality of pumps, wherein the master controller is programmed to:
receive information relating to a particular amount of fluid and a particular location of fluid delivery within the assembly line grow pod based on fluid needs of a particular plant,
and
transmit an instruction to at least one of the plurality of pumps for delivering the particular amount of fluid to the particular location within the assembly line grow pod,

wherein the non-transitory, processor readable storage medium of at least one of the plurality of pumps comprises one or more programming instructions thereon that, when executed, causes the processing device to:
receive the instruction from the master controller,
determine one or more pump parameters to achieve delivery of fluid in accordance with the instruction, and
direct operation of the pumping mechanism according to the one or more pump parameters.

2. The assembly line grow pod of claim 1 , further comprising a pump control module disposed within the master controller, the pump control module comprising one or more hardware components for receiving the information and transmitting the instruction.

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

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

5. The assembly line grow pod of claim 1 , wherein:
each pump of the plurality of pumps comprises a pumping mechanism, a fluid outlet port, and a fluid inlet port;
the pumping mechanism pumps fluid from the fluid inlet port to the fluid outlet port; and
the fluid inlet port and the fluid outlet port are each fluidly coupled to the fluid line of the plurality of fluid lines.

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

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

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

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

10. The assembly line grow pod of claim 1 , 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.

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

12. A fluid pump in an assembly line grow pod, the fluid pump comprising:
a fluid inlet port fluidly coupled to an assembly line grow pod fluid source via one or more fluid lines disposed between the fluid inlet port and the assembly line grow pod fluid source;
a fluid outlet port fluidly coupled to an assembly line grow pod fluid destination via one or more fluid lines disposed between the fluid outlet port and the fluid destination, the fluid outlet port further fluidly coupled to the fluid inlet port;
a pumping mechanism fluidly coupled to and between the fluid outlet port and the fluid outlet port such that the pumping mechanism directs fluid movement from the fluid inlet port to the fluid outlet port; and
a housing comprising:
a processing device communicatively coupled to the pumping mechanism 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 relating to a particular amount of fluid and a particular location of fluid delivery within the assembly line grow pod as determined by the master controller based on fluid needs of a particular plant,
determine one or more pump parameters to achieve delivery of fluid in accordance with the instruction, and
direct operation of the pumping according to the one or more pump parameters.

13. The fluid pump of claim 12 , wherein:
the processing device is communicatively coupled to a pump control module of the master controller; and
the one or more instructions from the non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium that, when executed, cause the processing device to receive the instruction further causing the processing device to receive the instruction from the pump control module of the master controller.

14. The fluid pump of claim 12 , wherein the fluid outlet port and the fluid inlet port are each fluidly coupled to one or more water lines.

15. The fluid pump of claim 12 , wherein the fluid outlet port and the fluid inlet port are each fluidly coupled to one or more airflow lines.

16. The fluid pump of claim 12 , wherein the pumping mechanism is a positive displacement pump, a centrifugal pump, or a roto-dynamic pump.

17. The fluid pump of claim 12 , wherein the one or more instructions that, when executed, cause the processing device to direct operation of the pumping mechanism further causing the processing device to transmit a start signal, transmit a stop signal, transmit a signal to change pump speed, transmit a signal to change a pump capacity, or transmit a signal to change a fluid pressure to the pumping mechanism.

Assignees

• Grow Solutions Tech Llc

Inventors

• Millar Gary Bret
• Hurst Kevin

Classifications

• A01G31/042

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

• F04B49/065

  and making use of computers · CPC title

• A01G9/247

  Watering arrangements · CPC title

• F04B41/06

  Combinations of two or more pumps · CPC title

• F04B2205/05

  Pressure after the pump outlet · CPC title