US 12,290,034 B2
System for cultivating plants using cultivation shelves having a common liquid collection basin and suction duct, and operation method thereof
Andrea Alessio, Pordenone (IT); and Daniele Modesto, Pordenone (IT)
Assigned to ZERO SRL, Pordenone (IT)
Appl. No. 17/619,349
Filed by ZERO SRL, Pordenone (IT)
PCT Filed Jun. 19, 2020, PCT No. PCT/IB2020/055798
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Dec. 15, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/255074, PCT Pub. Date Dec. 24, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 102019000009603 (IT), filed on Jun. 20, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0232787 A1, Jul. 28, 2022
Int. Cl. A01G 31/06 (2006.01); A01G 9/02 (2018.01); A01G 27/00 (2006.01); A01G 31/00 (2018.01); A01G 31/02 (2006.01)
CPC A01G 31/06 (2013.01) [A01G 9/023 (2013.01); A01G 27/006 (2013.01); A01G 31/065 (2025.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for cultivating plants comprising:
a plurality of cultivation shelves for cultivating plants,
support frames structured to support said cultivation shelves to form one or more horizontal cultivation planes each of which extends along a first horizontal direction,
the cultivation shelves are coplanar to each other in order to form respective shared cultivation planes, the cultivation shelves forming said cultivating planes are arranged end-to-end-along the first horizontal direction, with the relative, adjacent sides next to each other,
an aeroponic feeding system, which is provided with nebulising devices which are arranged below said cultivation shelves for spraying the liquid towards the cultivation shelves themselves,
said cultivation system comprises a suction system that is arranged at said nebulising devices for sucking-up the nebulised liquid dispersed by the nebulising-devices,
said cultivation system being characterized in that:
said suction system comprises for each cultivation plane:
a liquid collection basin common to the cultivation shelves of said cultivation plane, which is arranged immediately below the cultivation shelves that form said cultivation plane so as to extend along a direction approximately parallel to said first horizontal direction and is structured to collect and contain said dispersed nebulised liquid that falls during spraying performed on the cultivation plane, and
a suction duct that is arranged below the cultivation shelves of said cultivation plane and extends along the cultivation plane, parallel to the first direction,
said suction duct extends inside said liquid collection basin and is designed to suck-up the liquid contained within the liquid collection basin in order to empty said collection basin in a selective way, independently of the other cultivating planes,
said suction duct is arranged adjacent to the bottom wall of said liquid collection basin and extends for the entire length of the of the cultivation plane along said first direction,
wherein on said suction duct suction through-openings are present, spaced from one another along a longitudinal axis of said suction duct.