Vertical farming with low-maintenance and durable cable guidance

In aeroponic cultivation, low-maintenance energy chains help with efficient water supply.

Aeroponics - an innovative form of cultivation to produce sufficient food in an urbanised world. The idea: high-rise buildings are being converted into farms and agriculture will be practised vertically in future. These cultivation techniques require special machines to supply nutrients and irrigate the plants. A patented traverse system transports enriched water directly to the plant roots. In an empty warehouse in Minneapolis, around 4000 square metres are to be used in this way to produce as much as in conventional agriculture on over 40 hectares. The traverse system works with low-maintenance plastic-energy chains.

Profile

What was needed: plastic-energy chain
Requirements: A low-maintenance, durable and reliable cable solution was required.
Industry: Agriculture
Success for the customer: The irrigation system in combination with the energy chain saved nozzles and minimised maintenance costs. The system is designed to be durable and low-maintenance.

Problem

Living Greens Farm is a start-up aeroponics farm. In recent years, the company has developed and patented important developments in the way the future of cultivation could look. One of the main patents is a spray mist system that delivers enriched water to the roots of the plant. The start-up is currently expanding its growing operation to include a vacant warehouse in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This facility is the equivalent of 100 acres of growing space in terms of output.
The facility will not only provide healthier, fresh local produce in a large metropolitan area, but will do so year-round with 95% less water. Space requirements and water consumption are two fundamental advantages of aeroponic cultivation over field and hydroponic cultivation. However, there is also the problem with aeroponic systems that they require a high number of nozzles for irrigation (typically 1 nozzle per square foot of growing area), which in turn entails high maintenance costs.

Solution

Living Greens Farm's patented spray mist system and the use of a polymer energy chain have enabled the company to minimise nozzle maintenance. In the start-up's current F&E cultivation area, 6,144 square metres of crop are grown with just 288 nozzles. This could only be achieved by introducing a sophisticated system. The nozzles travel at a distance of around 16 metres in order to precisely irrigate a large cultivation area. The energy chain in the system also enables the process and thus the saving on nozzles. This carries the 2.5 cm thick irrigation hose with it when the nozzles move. The specially developed materials of the polymer energy chain enable maximum service life in a wide variety of application situations.

Overview of polymer energy chains

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