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CN-115553068-B - Photoperiod manipulation

CN115553068BCN 115553068 BCN115553068 BCN 115553068BCN-115553068-B

Abstract

The systems and methods disclosed herein include an apparatus comprising a user interface configured to receive user input, and a photoperiod controller configured to calculate a photoperiod schedule of one or more plants based on the user input, and to generate a control signal to adjust a light output of at least one luminaire to implement the photoperiod schedule.

Inventors

  • Matthew Travis Higginbotham
  • Timothy Knauer

Assignees

  • 魔力生物工程公司

Dates

Publication Date
20260508
Application Date
20210325
Priority Date
20200414

Claims (15)

  1. 1. A lighting device for gardening, comprising: A user interface configured to receive user input, wherein the user input includes at least one crop identifier identifying at least one of a genus, a species, a variety, and a variety of one or more plants, and A photoperiod controller configured to: Calculating a photoperiod schedule for one or more plants based on the user input, wherein the photoperiod schedule comprises a plurality of growth phases and/or time periods for one or more plants, and a photoperiod duration for each of the time periods and/or growth phases; adjusting the photoperiod schedule based on further user inputs including at least one of a climate parameter, a duration of a growth phase, a duration of a photoperiod cycle, and one or more time periods with corresponding irradiance increments; generating a control signal that adjusts the light output of at least one luminaire to implement the photoperiod schedule, and The control signal is transmitted to the at least one luminaire via a communication gateway connected to the photoperiod controller, the communication gateway communicatively coupled to a plurality of luminaires through a network.
  2. 2. The lighting device for horticulture of claim 1 wherein said photoperiod controller is further configured to adjust said photoperiod schedule based on further input from at least one of the sensors.
  3. 3. The lighting device for horticulture of claim 2 wherein said photoperiod controller is further configured to dynamically adjust said photoperiod schedule during implementation of said photoperiod schedule based on said further input.
  4. 4. The lighting device for horticulture of claim 1, wherein said photoperiod schedule further comprises PPFD (photosynthetic photon flux density) values for each of said plurality of time periods.
  5. 5. The lighting device for horticulture of claim 1 wherein said light cycle controller is further configured to: transmitting the user input to a server, and A photoperiod schedule is received from the server, wherein the server calculates the photoperiod schedule.
  6. 6. A lighting method for gardening, comprising: Receiving, via a user interface of the controller, a user input for generating a photoperiod schedule for one or more plants, wherein the user input includes at least one crop identifier identifying at least one of a genus, a species, a variety, and a variety of one or more plants; Calculating the photoperiod schedule based on the user input, wherein the photoperiod schedule comprises a plurality of growth phases and/or time periods for one or more plants, and a photoperiod duration for each of the time periods and/or growth phases; adjusting the photoperiod schedule based on further user inputs including at least one of a climate parameter, a duration of a growth phase, a duration of a photoperiod cycle, and one or more time periods with corresponding irradiance increments; generating a control signal that adjusts the light output of at least one luminaire to implement the photoperiod schedule, and The control signal is transmitted to the at least one luminaire via a communication gateway connected to the photoperiod controller, the communication gateway communicatively coupled to a plurality of luminaires through a network.
  7. 7. The lighting method for gardening as claimed in claim 6, further comprising: The photoperiod schedule is adjusted based on further input from at least one of a user and a sensor.
  8. 8. The lighting method for horticulture of claim 7 wherein adjusting said photoperiod schedule comprises dynamically adjusting said photoperiod schedule during implementation of said photoperiod schedule based on said further input.
  9. 9. The lighting method for horticulture of claim 6 wherein said photoperiod schedule further comprises PPFD (photosynthetic photon flux density) values for each of said plurality of time periods.
  10. 10. The lighting method for gardening as claimed in claim 6, further comprising: Transmitting the control signal to the at least one luminaire, and The light output of the at least one luminaire is adjusted by the at least one luminaire according to the photoperiod schedule.
  11. 11. The lighting method for gardening as claimed in claim 6, wherein: the controller sending the user input to a server; The server calculates the photoperiod schedule and transmits the photoperiod schedule to the controller, and The controller generates the control signal based on the photoperiod schedule.
  12. 12. A lighting system for gardening, comprising: the lighting device for gardening according to claim 1; A plurality of illuminators configured to emit light suitable for photosynthesis in a plant at a plurality of different selectable light output levels, and A communication network via which the control signals are provided to the plurality of luminaires, the luminaires adjusting the light output in response to the control signals.
  13. 13. The lighting system for horticulture of claim 12 wherein said photoperiod controller is further configured to adjust said photoperiod schedule based on further input from at least one of a user and a sensor.
  14. 14. The lighting system for horticulture of claim 12 further comprising a server communicatively coupled to said photoperiod controller via said communication network, wherein: the controller is further configured to send the user input to the server and receive the photoperiod schedule from the server, and The server is configured to calculate the photoperiod schedule based on the user input.
  15. 15. The lighting system for horticulture of claim 14 wherein said server is further configured to adjust said photoperiod schedule based on further input from at least one of a user and a sensor.

Description

Photoperiod manipulation Cross Reference to Related Applications The present application is the international application of U.S. patent application No. 63/009,520, filed 4/14/2020, entitled "photoperiod steering", which is hereby claimed to be prior to this U.S. patent application, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Technical Field The subject matter of the present disclosure relates generally to lighting, and more particularly to lighting systems for horticulture. Background Luminaires and artificial light sources emitting light suitable for photosynthesis in plants are known. They are sometimes referred to as growth lamps because they can, but need not, produce light having a characteristic spectrum as the sun. The growing lamp may be based on various technologies including, but not limited to, incandescent, fluorescent, and LED (light emitting diode) typical embodiments may include a timer that automatically turns the growing lamp on and off every day for a set time to control the number of hours of daily exposure of the plant to the generated light. Photoperiod refers to the period of time when an organism receives light or does not receive light every day. Photoperiod is the response of a plant to the duration of the day (light period) and the duration of the night (dark period). This phenomenon affects different plant responses, such as developmental stage, reproductive (flowering) stage, vegetative growth stage and dormancy stage. This discovery has led to the creation of photoperiod categories for plants by their response to the duration of the day. Photoperiod categories include short day plants, long day neutral plants, medium day long plants and double induction plants. These classes are at most studied and commercially produced. The photoperiod response of a plant depends not only on the time of year (natural day length) but also on its growth phase. For example, long-day plants (i.e., plants that begin to flower when they have a short day after a long day) remain vegetative for long days (16-18 hours long and 6-8 hours dark). This can be annotated as 18/6 or 16/8. When a long-day plant is shifted to the flowering phase of growth, the bright period or dark period is changed to 12 hours, and the bright period is also 12 hours. Thus, the plant has received a "long day" for a particular period of time and is then given a "short day" for the particular period of time. This combination of individual illumination durations over time results in plants beginning to flower and reproduce in the manner of long-day plants. Most plant types are photoperiod dependent. In photoperiod dependent plants, the very specific period of exposure to light timing is a factor that triggers various plants to enter their lifecycle stages. Plant varieties are typically grown to require very specific photoperiod durations in order to produce a rich harvest during specific seasonal growth windows. Some plants do not respond to photoperiod when they are in a very young (juvenile) stage, because at this stage the plants still have the ability to adequately perceive the day length. Such plants flower based only on their age rather than light exposure, and these plants are referred to as day-neutral plants. Importantly, each plant is exposed to sufficient illumination based on its photoperiod class, but not excessive illumination. For example, long-day plants require a longer day than their critical day to prevent multiplication. When the shorter day length is preceded by a long day (short dark period), the short day plant will bloom during the shorter day length (longer dark period). In indoor agricultural environments, the photoperiod of the plant must be recreated due to the lack of natural daytime/nighttime circulation. The photoperiod is thus artificial. Typically, this has been done manually. However, this requires a lot of work by the grower in order to ensure that each plant receives enough sunlight every day based on its photoperiod class and growth phase. Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a more efficient method of applying and manipulating photoperiod in an indoor farming environment to effectively maximize production. Disclosure of Invention All examples, aspects and features mentioned in this document may be combined in any technically possible way. Various embodiments described herein include [ TBD ]. These and other features will be better understood from a reading of the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the drawings described herein. The figures are not intended to be drawn to scale. Each identical or nearly identical component that is illustrated in various figures may be represented by a like numeral. For purposes of clarity, not every component may be labeled in every drawing. Drawings Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an illumination system for photoperiod manipulation, according to various embodiments. Fig. 2 illustrates photoperiod scheduling according to