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Advanced LED lighting systems for vertical farming and indoor greenhouse farming

Country of Origin: Italy
Reference Number: TOIT20210104001
Publication Date: 5 January 2021

Summary

A Hi-tech start-up, established in Northern Italy in 2016, has developed in collaboration with research centres and universities an innovative system of LED lamps and software applied to the agricultural sector which helps to increase the quality and quantity of production of crops, reducing mortality, prolonging the seasonality and improving the plant welfare. Organisations and companies operating in the agricultural sector are sought for commercial agreements with technical assistance.

Description

One of the main aspects of greenhouse cultivation is the evaluation of the alterations suffered by the sunlight filtered by the materials composing the greenhouse. Another important aspect is the compensation for the amount of energy and the type of spectrum reduced by the change in climatic conditions, for example when it is cloudy or at times of the day when the sun is setting or rising.

Taking these two aspects in consideration the Italian Hi Tech start up has developed  has developed an patented technology which guarantees the flexibility of the LED luminaires in order to reproduce the ideal spectrum for better crop production. The software is able to automatically adapt the spectrum to different types of cultivars without the need to replace the lamps. The system is also able to optimise the energy consumption and efficiency using a quantum environmental sensor and to detect the radiant energy supplied to the animals , plants in order to obtain the data constituting the ideal photobiological profile.

The system has the possibility to interact with the other technologies already present in the greenhouse, in order to have a wider management and control of the supply of the specific "ingredients" (H2O, CO2, temperature, nutrients) and the different "controls" for the activation of the machines (shaders, fans...).

Organisations working in agriculture sector interested to adapt this new advanced led lighting system to their vertical farms and indoor greenhouse cultivations are sought in order to establish a commercial agreement with technical assistance.

Advantages and Innovations

This advanced led lighting system had been designed and developed in order to allow a high degree of customisation for the final applications

The electronic components, such as LEDs, controls and power supplies are of high quality to guarantee maximum durability and high efficiency ratios. 

The Italian company has developed three types of lamps and they can be realized with a high degree of customization, being able to modify the construction parameters in the following aspects:

-	Optics: with dedicated lenses at different angles ( 30, 45, 60, 85, 90,120, °)

-	Spectrums: with combinations of individual LEDs to obtain specific spectra 

-	Mechanical: with the possibility of adaptations according to the place of installation 

-	The products all undergo a protective treatment on the electronic components with special conformal coatings resistant to different climatic and chemical conditions.

The led lighting system are adapted to different types of vegetable, flower, fruit and medical cannabis crops.

Stage Of Development

Available for demonstration

Stage Of Development Comment

Such an advanced led lighting system has already awakened a strong interest from research centres (universities, genetic improvement research centres...) as they have started to use it obtaining important results, for example:

for beet, a 20% increase in plant cover in just 10 days. 

for microtom the plants showed good development in the very early phenological stages

Requested partner

Organisations working with or manufacturing vertical farming and indoor greenhouse farming (such as nursery, greenhouse and vertical farms manufacturers, farmers, nurserymen, companies that design and produce modular systems for the automation of production processes inside nurseries and greenhouses, genetic research centres, food industries, importers of agricultural equipment, dealers in agricultural equipment) are sought for the adaptation and integration of this advance lightening LED system through commercial agreement with technical assistance.