Overview
Objective: Design and build an autonomous ebb-and-flow style vertical farm capable of growing any small to mid-sized plants.
Design: Our A-frame design is built with pressure treated wood, with four PVC grow troughs arranged on each side. Each grow trough houses five pods in which strawberries are being grown in a clay ball substrate, making 40 plants the farm's total capacity. The troughs are sequentially filled via a gravity-fed plumbing system, with flow being controlled by a series of solenoid valves. An 8 minute fill period is followed by a 10 minute stagnation period, then a 2 minute drain period in which all the troughs' contents are drained and pumped back up to our main reservoir, ready for the cycle to begin again. All electronics are controlled autonomously by an Arduino Uno R3, and our system requires only a single 120V power outlet for continuous and autonomous use.
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