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Utilising innovative engineering to fine-tune plant growth
This article was written by Barry Anderson, Chief Engineer at IGS. Barry is based at our Engineering Innovation Centre, leading a team responsible for our product’s hardware. Taking a holistic – and, crucially, iterative – approach has seen Barry’s team design a product that can be scaled effectively across the world. Here’s how.
As Chief Engineer, I oversee the technical aspects of our vertical farming technology. Essentially, everything you can physically touch, I'm responsible for. Our Growth Towers need to facilitate optimal conditions for cultivating plants, whether a customer is using it to grow crops from seed-to-harvest, or as part of a hybrid approach and growing starter plants.
The heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system is one of its most essential elements. A few aspects make this stand out in agritech engineering, notably its closed-loop design, how it interacts with the living crop, its modularity, and how it allows growers to scale their operations. These all allow IGS customers to grow pest- and disease-free, healthy, consistent plants across the year.
The importance of closed-loop ventilation
We’ve built our HVAC system with a closed-loop design to ensure all the air within the system is continuously recirculated, removing the need to introduce air from external sources. This helps to keep the Growth Towers at a consistent temperature, meaning our HVAC system only ever has to correct it by, say, 10 degrees Celsius. In an open-loop system, there would be a lot more variation in temperature, and you might end up spending more on energy to maintain that level of consistency and control over a plant’s environment.
We’ve embedded UV air scrubbers into our technology. These work to prevent any pests or diseases from entering the tower, reducing the risk of contamination which could impact yield. In an open-loop system, you’d have to use additional filters to get the same effect. These require a lot of maintenance, leading to higher operational costs (this is compounded when paired with greater energy consumption). By maintaining closed-loop ventilation, we’re able to exercise control over biosecurity, energy consumption, and the way humidity, ventilation, and air all interact with the plants grown.
How closed-loop design works in tandem with a living crop
Working with a living crop brings several unique challenges in agritech engineering, particularly when considering the varying needs they have throughout their growth stages. Our HVAC system is geared towards accommodating these changes. You’ll get some plants that require less light and irrigation at one stage of growth, and others that generate more humidity at another stage. This is where the closed-loop system comes into its own. It allows growers to precisely control variables through the input, thereby facilitating optimal growing conditions for plants.
We also use our design to help maintain C02 levels and allow for effective crop growth. By keeping doors closed and recirculating the air within the towers, we minimise any C02 loss and the need to constantly replenish it. This is particularly important when you consider the weight of C02 – it's heavier than air and tends to settle at the bottom of the tower, which makes it important to keep it at the desired level.
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Where we’ve learnt from other industries
When designing and testing our hardware, we’ve taken inspiration from areas like the construction industry. HVAC technology is obviously a key part of building design, so there are a number of aspects that we can learn from.
We’ve also looked at the automotive industry. This includes using chilled water coils to cool the air, similar to how a car’s radiator works. They use Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations to predict how liquid and gas flows in certain scenarios, such as modelling the airflow around a moving vehicle and improving aerodynamics. We’ve adopted this to help optimise air flow within our towers, helping to ensure uniform air distribution and prevent hot and cold spots, which can impact on a plant’s growth.
Vertical farming is a relatively new industry (particularly compared to the two I’ve mentioned!), but by being open-minded and looking to other sectors, we can tailor the hardware to our needs and build a sustainable product for years to come.
Modularity – engineering a product which can be scaled effectively
IGS technology is built with modularity first and foremost. This allows growers to scale easier, as additional towers can be added with minimal interruption or change to the current setup.
When it comes to the HVAC system and its ability to prevent disease outbreaks, modularity makes for far more resilient growing than an open-plan system. If you have a larger operation, such as a GigaFarm, you’d likely be operating with more than one chiller in line with your HVAC system. If one did happen to go down, it wouldn’t compromise the entire system as the others could keep things running regardless. This ensures continuous operation, minimising any downtime and, ultimately, allowing growers to increase yield and profits.
Modularity also helps when working on a tower-by-tower basis and in environmental control. Different towers can be set to different temperatures and humidity levels, optimising conditions for different plants. This targeted approach means that pathogens don’t spread easily. You could have one tower operating at, say, 20 degrees Celsius, and another completely isolated at 25, helping growers to both optimise yield and safeguard against potential disease outbreaks by growing plants in a more protected, tailored fashion.
Adaptable technology that’s here to stay
Typically, adaptability is at the heart of any successful product. Our vertical farming technology can be used everywhere from the middle of a desert to urban outskirts in temperate climates. This is always going to require an iterative design, particularly when looking at the HVAC system and how it interacts with external temperature.
We’ve engineered our product to give growers operational efficiency, bringing down costs and leading to healthier, more consistent plants. The way in which it interacts with living crops (and the wider operation) is essential to this. Our team build on developments from both inside and outside our industry, as well as the experience we’ve gained from helping customers face unique challenges on a global scale.
Discover how our technology can help you increase yield and grow healthy plants consistently – get in touch with a member of our team today.
