Production facility layout for automated controlled environment agriculture

US11700804B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• MJNN LLC · US

Inventors

• Gage Goodspeed Coffin · Los Altos Hills, US
• Michael Peter Flynn · Palo Alto, US
• Brice Klein · San Francisco, US
• Alexandre Le Roux · Menlo Park, US
• Nathaniel R. Storey · Laramie, US
• Tamara Hasoon · Redwood City, US
• Merritt Jonathan Jenkins · San Francisco, US
• Maria Malone · San Francisco, US
• Matthew Matera · San Francisco, US
• Kelly Catherine Casie LaBuff · San Francisco, US
• Alan Colbrie Schoen · Los Gatos, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Oct 30, 2019
• Grant date: Jul 18, 2023
• Expiry date: Sep 24, 2040

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y02P60/21
• WIPO field: Other special machines
• WIPO sector: Mechanical engineering

Abstract

Facility layouts and configurations for an automated crop production system for controlled environment agriculture. In particular implementations, the core of the facility comprises a controlled growth environment and a central processing system. The controlled growth environment includes systems for exposing crops housed in modules, such as grow towers, to controlled environmental conditions. The central processing system may include various stations and functionality both for preparing crop-bearing modules to be inserted in the controlled growth environment for harvesting crops from the crop-bearing modules after they have been extracted from the controlled growth environment, and for cleaning or washing crop-hearing modules for re-use. The remaining aspects of the crop production facility—such as seeding stations, propagation facilities, packaging stations and storage facilities—are arranged to achieve one or more desired efficiencies relating to capital expenditures or operating costs associated with an automated crop production facility.