Proposal for a Compact, Low-cost Vegetable Factory within a Living Space Using Bulb-type Fluorescent Lamps

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Other Title
  • 電球型蛍光灯を用いた居住空間向け小型低コスト野菜工場の提案
  • 電球型蛍光灯を用いた居住空間向け小型低コスト野菜工場の提案正
  • デンキュウガタ ケイコウトウ オ モチイタ キョジュウ クウカン ムケ コガタ テイコスト ヤサイ コウジョウ ノ テイアン セイ

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Abstract

An indoor, compact, low-cost vegetable production device that can be used within a living space is proposed for use by urban people wanting to produce their own vegetables. Based on measurements of living space environments, the limiting factor for such indoor vegetable cultivation is light intensity. Places where human beings can live comfortably do not need special controls for air temperature or CO2 concentration. To reduce costs, the device has only two control functions, hydroponics and artificial lighting. Bulb-type fluorescent lamps, which have the lowest lamp cost per a watt, are used as the light source. The device was designed and built to be produced at a unit cost of approximately 17,000 JPY. The external dimensions are 580 mm high, 590 mm wide, and 330 mm deep, and the device can cultivate up to six heads of leaf lettuce. The results from a series of cultivation tests to grow leafy vegetables show that the device is sufficiently simple that anyone can use it to cultivate vegetables. In the tests, electricity costs, which made up most of the running cost of the device, were approximately 900 JPY for one cultivation batch taking four weeks. Besides helping people easily cultivate their own vegetables, the device teaches the public about the vegetable production technology employed in hydroponic factories. Currently, we are working on developing a device that can be manufactured commercially.

Journal

  • Shokubutsu Kankyo Kogaku

    Shokubutsu Kankyo Kogaku 22 (4), 187-193, 2010

    Japanese Society of Agricultural, Biological and Environmental Engineers and Scientists

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