Inside a shipping container vertical hydroponic gardening BC style

VegasWinner

Well-Known Member
Hydroponic LED vertical gardening
Interesting concept in a shipping container with what looks like led strip lights
enjoy or not.
 

charface

Well-Known Member
My buddy used them, he was in a wheelchair and he was able to reach everything.
His wasnt nearly as clean and he didn't have great heating and cooling.
Or bug prevention,
Jesus, why was I even his friend.
Rip
 

VegasWinner

Well-Known Member
I like the concept of vertical rowing and hydroponics aligned with led lighting for a package approach solution, not just piecemeal
 

GrowLightResearch

Well-Known Member
I like the concept of vertical because the side lighting does not require deep penetration into the canopy.

vertical.jpg
image source: https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=191933

It is very economical to use EB Gen 2 and Samsung Series F strips with low power and short distances from leaf to LEDs. I have found that the EB Gen 2, becasue the LEDs are spaced at only 0.196" apart, they have a optimum uniformity at a distance of about 2.5".

It does not take many watts to produce an irradiance of 1500µmols/m²/s at 2.5".

Grow lights have an XY distribution of light (e.g. a PFFD floor map). This is only meaningful if the distance between the canopy and fixture is stated. Example a 48" x 48" uniformity map of 8 Series F strips at a distance of only 4".
Untitled.jpg

But the Z axis (penetration) for LED fixtures is not well understood. When the distance between canopy and fixture is small the penetration is small also.

While the irradiance at a distance of 2.5" from the canopy can easily be1500 µmol/m²/s, the irradiance at 5" (2.5" into the canopy) is only 375 µmol/m²/s.

As the canopy grows higher (or thicker for vertical) the fixture must be further away for the canopy to get decent penetration. If the fixture is at a distance of 12" and the irradiance is 1500 µmols/m²/s, then 2.5" into the canopy the irradiance will be just over 1000 µmols/m²/s and 500 µmols at 9" into the canopy (21" total from fixture).

This for most of the grow the current can be throttled to low levels and the current increased along with increasing the distance as the canopy thickens.

This would work very well in a container especially if the plants can be sandwiched together then easily moved horizontally for maintenance.
 
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VegasWinner

Well-Known Member
Strip lighting lends itself well to these contained grow areas.

With strips you have no real heat issues other than ambient levels, easier to remove or control.

Lower heat means higher micromoles for the plants and improved growth.

Light spectrum can become more focused for healthier more productive plants.

I like your thinking.
 

GrowLightResearch

Well-Known Member
With strips you have no real heat issues
True, the new EB Gen 2 I have tested run at about 45°C at 700mA.

I was thinking if the plant's canopy can be contained within a 4"-6" wide space (e.g. between panes of glass/acrylic/) the light could be easy to regulate to a minimal current with the strips very close to the glass. The panes of glass could be mounted to the grow light fixture.

After writing that last night I also gave some consideration to alternating the light from one side of the plant to the other. This way as the plant reaches for the light it could be easier to contain. Like alternate sides every hour. This could be done by doubling the number of strips or by using a solenoid to rotate the strips 180° when there are many vertical scrogs side by side about 8" apart. The strips would then be centered 4" from two sets of plants but providing light to one side.

This alternating sides would save a lot of power. At 4" from the strip (i.e. at the glass surface) the current can be adjusted way down and still provide 1500 µmol/m²/s at 4" away. At 6" (i.e. halfway between the panes of glass) inverse square will reduce the µmols to 666. With the double side , the minimum irradiance for the entire canopy will never be less than 666 µmol/m²/s.

I have seven of the Gen 2 strips and will be measuring the irradiance at various distances later this week. I'm estimating the current required will be less than 200mA. With the strips having a Vf of 20V, at 200mA the required power would be 4 watts per 22" strip.

A 1000 watt HPS provides about 400 µmol/m²/s at 1000mm above the canopy. At 100mm (≈4") the irradiance would be 40,000 times more or would require 40,000x less power. So, hypothetically, at 4" you would only need 1000/40,000 = 0.025 watts.

Up to 42 100W solar panels could be mounted on top of a 40' cargo container supplying more than enough power for the grow lights.

So if the canopy of each plant is contained within a 30" wide x 90" height x 4" deep area, you could fit 118 plants in a 40' cargo container. Each plant is grown in a 24" long x 6" wide x 12" height pot (2 cu ft) mounted on top a skateboard. The plants would be positioned on each side of the container as shown in the floor plan image below.

The skateboard would allow each plant to be rolled out to the center aisle for maintenance.

Image of floor layout.
floor.jpg
 
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