Plant husbandry – Water culture – apparatus or method – Nutrient recirculation system
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-06
2003-01-07
Poon, Peter M. (Department: 3643)
Plant husbandry
Water culture, apparatus or method
Nutrient recirculation system
C047S05900R
Reexamination Certificate
active
06502350
ABSTRACT:
This Invention relates, broadly, to hydroponics. More particularly, the invention relates to an apparatus or installation, and to a method, for the hydroponic cultivation of plants, the apparatus or installation, and the method, being suitable for, but not limited to, the hydroponic cultivation of strawberries.
According to one aspect of the invention there is provided an apparatus or installation for the hydroponic cultivation of plants, the apparatus or installation including:
a plurality of horizontally spaced plant support structures each extending upwardly from a lower extremity thereof to an upper extremity thereof, each of which support structures includes a plurality of rooting compartments containing plant rooting medium, the compartments of each structure being arranged in a series extending over the height of the structure and each rooting compartment having a wall provided with at least one opening for permitting foliage of a plant rooted in the rooting medium in the compartment to protrude from the compartment;
a water feed network in flow connection with and fed by a water supply, and including a plurality of water flow conduits leading from the supply to the rooting compartments for conducting water from the supply to each of the rooting compartments;
a water drainage network including a plurality of water drainage conduits in flow connection with and leading away from the rooting compartments, for conducting water away from the rooting compartments; and
water circulation means for circulating water from the supply in succession through the feed network, then through the rooting compartments of the support structures and then through the drainage network.
In principle the water circulation means can circulate water from a supply such as a mains water supply, optionally through a nutrient dosing tank where nutrients are added to the water and dissolved therein, once through the apparatus or installation, after which the spent water can be discarded to waste. If, on the other hand, as is often the case, it is desired to re-use the spent water and any dissolved nutrients remaining therein, the water supply may, instead, be a reservoir for holding the water which is fed by the feed network, the feed network being in flow connection with, and being fed with water discharged from, the reservoir, and the water drainage network leading from the rooting compartments to the reservoir for conducting water from the rooting compartments to the reservoir, the reservoir, the water feed network, the rooting compartments of the plant support structures and the water drainage network together forming a water circulation circuit, and the water circulation means forming part of the circuit, for circulating water around the circuit.
The aforegoing sets forth what are regarded as the important features of the broad idea of the apparatus or installation aspect of the invention, the features set forth hereunder being optional features which can be included or omitted from this aspect of the invention, as desired. In particular it is to be noted that when a number of features are grouped together hereunder in a particular optional or preferred embodiment of the invention, this is a matter of choice and it is to be explicitly understood that any one of such features may be altered, omitted or substituted by an equivalent, without expanding on the scope of the invention or extending the disclosure thereof. More particularly, it is explicitly noted that any feature set forth hereunder can be imported into the broad idea of the invention set forth above, without the necessity of importing any other feature of the invention set forth below into that broad idea, whether or not such feature forms part of the same preferred or particular embodiment.
When the various parts of this aspect of the invention are relatively small and portable, being releasably connected or readily disconnectable from one another, it can be regarded as an apparatus; and when they are relatively large and more or less permanently connected to one another, this aspect of the invention can be regarded as an installation.
While each plant support structure may in principle be any structure extending between lower and upper extremities thereof, such as a wall, slab or the like, which provides the series of compartments containing the rooting medium, it is preferably in the form of a plant support column, which may be elongated, the series of compartments extending over the length, ie over the height, of the column. Each plant support column may extend substantially vertically and each plant support column may include a sleeve of flexible material containing the rooting medium, the sleeve being divided by a plurality of constrictions, spaced along the length of the column, into the rooting compartments. Each sleeve may be of water-impermeable plastics sheet material, each constriction being formed by a tie extending circumferentially around the sleeve, for example a plastics plant tie or plastics electrical cable tie, under tension and forming an associated constriction in the sleeve. In other words, each sleeve may be of water-impervious plastics material, each constriction in said sleeve being provided by a tie under tension extending around the associated sleeve, each opening in each compartment wall being provided by a slit in the flexible material.
The water feed network may comprise a water feed reticulation system leading from the reservoir to each plant support structure, there conveniently being a water feed manifold, forming part of the feed reticulation system, extending alongside the series of rooting compartments of each plant support structure, a plurality of irrigation connections, such as self-compensating irrigation nozzles which compensate for variations in supply pressure arising e.g. from differences in static head or height, or irrigation tubes such as capillary tubes or dripper tubes, which irrigation connections may thus be of the drip irrigation type, leading from each water feed manifold respectively into the rooting compartments of the plant support structure associated with that water feed manifold, preferably at a high level into each rooting compartment. The water feed reticulation system may be at a high level, at or above the upper extremities of the plant support structures, each water feed manifold being suspended by, and depending downwardly from, the part of the feed reticulation system upstream thereof. In a particular construction, accordingly, the water flow conduits of the water feed network may include a plurality of water feed manifolds, one for each plant support structure, each water feed manifold extending along the series of rooting compartments of the associated plant support structure, a plurality of irrigation connections, one for each rooting compartment, respectively placing the interior of the water feed manifold in flow communication with the interiors of the rooting compartments; and in this construction the part of the water feed network upstream of the water feed manifolds may include a grid of pipes at a level at or above the upper extremities of the plant support structures, each water feed manifold being suspended by, and depending downwardly from one of the pipes of the grid, the part of the water feed network upstream thereof, each irrigation connection including an irrigation nozzle and discharging into the associated rooting compartment at a level above the midpoint, in the vertical direction, of that compartment.
Similarly, the water drainage network may comprise a water drainage reticulation system leading from each plant support structure to the reservoir, there conveniently being a water drainage manifold, forming part of the water drainage reticulation system, associated with each plant support structure and extending along the series of rooting compartments thereof, the manifold being connected to and in flow communication with the interior of each rooting compartment, for draining water, eg under gravity, from that rooting compartment to the drainage reti
Dick James Quinton Cameron
Poon Peter M.
Valenti Andrea M.
Woodcock & Washburn LLP
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