Final Project - Summary
HRW OpenHydroponicGrowbox
Slide:
Video:
Tell a little bit more about it:
The System:
The main system consists essentially of four control units, one relay unit and one power supply unit. In the aluminum cage there is a tank, which can be used as a pure hydroponic system (with a nutrient solution) or you could put several smaller containers in order to test different nutrient solutions. The plate in which the plants sit can be exchanged and the 3d printed "netcups" are scaled up to grow larger plants.
The individual control units are connected via I2C. 1 master and 3 slaves. On each board sits an ATmega 328 P-AU. 2 connections on the I2C-bus are still free, which means the system is still expandable. If I or someone else on the idea comes to connect further sensors, he can simply hang the controller to the bus and reprogram the master.
The really great thing is, one is very flexible and can test various growing systems, as well as nutrient solutions (Just place smaller containers with different sulutions into the main container). The box can easily be converted to an "aeroponic system". This would replace the pump with an ultrasound sensor and reduce the water by about 50%. The roots will then absorb the fog of the nutrient solution. Furthermore, it is also possible to make an "aquaponic system": clean the tank thoroughly and create an environment for fish. Here the pump would have to be replaced by a submersible pump to pump the water from the "aquarium" to the plants. The plants would then take up the nitrogen compounds produced by the fish poo as nutrients
In my case, the project is currently limited to the hydroponic function for smaller plants. My own 3d printed "netcups" are placed in the hole plate and filled with rock wool. Then seeds are planted there. A tube is inserted into the container, which could enriches the water with oxygen, mixes the nutrient solution, keeps the rock wool in water and keeps the roots of the plants in motion. After successful germination, the LED light and the fan are switched on, Nutriens would fill in and the growth can begin.
The Growlamp:
The Growlamp is a 45 Watt lamp with 225 LEDs. Very specific wavelengths within the Red, Blue, & Infrared bandwidths provide the most beneficial light to the plants. The green, orange, & yellow spectra provide very little to no benefit to the development of the plants therefore you wouldn’t use those bandwidths in your design. The “Design” is the configuration of Wavelengths that you employ into your light along those most desirable spectra.
I will improve the system in the future and integrate several functions so that it is a multifunctional growbox. All improvements and renovations I will update here on this site.
I hope you like my system and am happy about contact for ideas or improvements.
A thing has unfortunately not worked as I hoped. The rotry encoder I have until the release not integrated into the system. If I continue to work on the softare and maybe have multiple sensors I will try to integrate it into the system.
Some people I would like to say thank you for a lot of support over the time: