Den Erfindungsgegenstand bilden ein Verfahren und eine Einrichtung zur hydroponischen Anzucht von Pflanzen in einem mit einem Substrat ausgefüllten Vegetationsbehälter (1) mit der Zuführung der Nährlösung in die Zone der Wurzelernährung, wobei die kennzeichnende Besonderheit des Verfahrens ist, daß man die Zuführung der Nährlösung durch Aerosolberieselung der Oberfläche des Substrats mit einer Berieselungsperiodizität und -dauer in Abhängigkeit von der Temperatur der Umgebungsluft zustandebringt. Die Einrichtung enthält einen Nährlösungs-Sammler (9), eine Pumpe (8) und einen Vegetationsbehälter (1) mit Abflußrohr (10), in dessen oberem Teil ein Nährlösungs-Verteiler (5) in Form eines unten gelochten Rohres angeordnet ist, das sich in einem gewissen Abstand von der Oberfläche des Substrats (2) befindet, wobei die Gesamtfläche der Querschnitte der Löcher am Rohr kleiner als die Querschnittsfläche des Abflußrohres ist.

The device comrpises of an air pump (1) having an ejecting outlet end portion installed in a culture fluid tub (2), a water guiding tube (3) having a cone-shaped inlet opposing to the discharging outlet in the culture fluid tub (2), a lever mechanism (4) for storing culture fluid emitted from the other end portion of the water guiding tube (3) at the location of the end portion thereof and discharging the culture fluid when the amount of the stored culture fluid comes up to the predetermined one, and cultivation pallets (5) by use of water-and-air mixture, which are installed in an inclined state and supplied with the culture fluid discharged from the lever mechanism (4).

A hydroponic plant cultivation device (10) is disclosed, wherein at least one rotating cultivation tower (14) is arranged. The tower is formed by stacking a plurality of cultivation units (16) each of which has a plurality of ports (165a) for receiving and maintaining the lower ends of plants to be cultivated, a nozzle (227) for spraying a nutrient liquid (NL) therein, and a portion (162) which accommodates a constant amount of the liquid and hat a tubular member (168) to allow overflow of any excess liquid to a lower cultivation unit. The nutrient liquid is measured on and adjusted in its concentration and pH, and recycled between the tower and its supply source (123).

A hydroponic grass growing unit comprises an enclosure which accommodates a plurality of horizontal seed bed trays 24 in vertically spaced rows. The floor of the enclosure has a sump 14 containing hydroponic nutrient solution. Solution can be withdrawn from the sump 14 and supplied to a plurality of spray nozzles 23 which produce a spray pattern in a plane parallel to the trays. The spray pattern for each row of trays 24 is provided by a series of nozzles above the row and the nozzles for each row are spaced horizontally and each is angularly directed toward the next adjacent one such that spray patterns from pairs of adjacent nozzles converge to form an interference pattern.

A plant cultivation device is provided, including a cultivation frame body (10), a plurality of hydroponic bases (20), a soil cultivation base (30), a plurality of filter bases (40), a water storage base (50) and a plurality of lights (60), the cultivation frame body having a frame (11), wo sides of a top surface of the frame of the cultivation frame body each having a front rod (12) and an rear rod (13), a plurality of hold bases being disposed between and on the front rods, the plurality of hold bases (121) respectively having three layer hydroponic bases, each of which is hollow and has a plurality of cultivation holes (201), each of the hold bases corresponding to one of the lights, the soil cultivation base, the soil cultivation base having a bell syphon with a drain tube (81) disposed thereinside, the water storage base having a submersible pump (100) and an external inlet tube (70).

A hydroponic cultivation apparatus comprises: at least cultivation containers 30A, 30B for growing the plants 100; a plurality of plant supporting portions 7A,7B to support the plants 100; a plurality of nutrient solution supplying portions 3A,3B to supply nutrient solutions; a plurality of first switching valves 4A,4B; a plurality of nutrient solution discharging portions 5A, 5B to discharge the nutrient solutions; a plurality of second switching valves 6A,6B; a plurality of pH value detecting portions 8A,8B to detect pH values of the nutrient solutions 110; a receptacle portion 20 to store the nutrient solutions discharged from the plurality of nutrient discharging portions 5A,5B; nutrient solution circulating portions 2A,2B to send the nutrient solutions from the receptacle portion 20; and a controlling portion to control opening and closing operations of the first switching valves 4A,4B and the second switching valves 6A,6B based on the pH values detected by the pH value detecting portions 8A,8B.

A system for growing crops includes a plurality of growing troughs with intake regions for receiving a nutrient solution and drains for releasing run-off of the nutrient solution. A nutrient circulation system with circulation subsections provides the nutrient solution to crops in the growing troughs. For each circulation subsection a piping arrangement with pipe outlets distributes the nutrient solution from a reservoir to the intake regions of a first subset of the growing troughs, and collects the nutrient solution from the drains of a non-identical second subset of the growing troughs in a drainage arrangement. The nutrient solution follows a flow path circulating through the reservoirs. The flow paths to the pipe outlets are sequentially split for equivalent flow impedance through each of the flow paths. A conveyor system moves the growing troughs from a planting location to a harvesting location and periodically increases the spacing between adjacent growing troughs.

The present invention provides an energy-saving type sterilization apparatus (1) capable of efficiently sterilizing an object to be sterilized under heating, and the sterilization apparatus (1) is provided with a heat pump (10) composed of a compressor (11), a heat releasing section (12), an electrically drivable expansion valve (13) and a cooling section (9). The heat pump (10) is constituted of refrigeration cycles operating at a supercritical pressure on the high pressure side. A nutrient solution as the object to be sterilized is treated under heating while passing through a heating section (5) disposed so as to be countercurrent flow to a refrigerant passing through the heat releasing section (12) of the heat pump (10).

A method of moving propagating cases into and out of a standard in which a plurality of propagating cases (6) are supported one above the other by supporting members (7) forming part of the standard, whereby the propagating cases are dispaced with respect to the supporting members with the aid of rollers (21) adjustable in a direction of height with respect to the supporting members.

Further a method of growing products in superimposed cases is described in which lights (12) are arranged above the cases and air is withdrawn from the room in which the cases are located to pass along the light source.

A hydroponic grass growing unit comprises an enclosure which accommodates a plurality of horizontal seed bed trays 24 in vertically spaced rows. The floor of the enclosure has a sump 14 containing hydroponic nutrient solution. Solution can be withdrawn from the sump 14 and supplied to a plurality of spray nozzles 23 which produce a spray pattern in a plane parallel to the trays. The spray pattern for each row of trays 24 is provided by a series of nozzles above the row and the nozzles for each row are spaced horizontally and each is angularly directed toward the next adjacent one such that spray patterns from pairs of adjacent nozzles converge to form an interference pattern.