Irrigation system for vertical grow tower crop production facility

US12016278B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• MJNN LLC · US

Inventors

• Brice Klein · San Francisco, US
• Allison Marie Maclellan · San Francisco, US
• Gage Goodspeed Coffin · Los Altos Hills, US
• Casey Bennet Call · San Francisco, US
• Loren Raymond Pilorin · Palo Alto, US
• Andrew Keith James · San Francisco, US
• Alexandre Le Roux · Menlo Park, US
• Michael Peter Flynn · Palo Alto, US
• Alan Colbrie Schoen · Los Gatos, US
• Theodore Howe St. George · Anchorage, US
• Danielle Meredith Fallon · San Francisco, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jun 5, 2020
• Grant date: Jun 25, 2024
• Expiry date: Oct 20, 2041

Classification

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

Abstract

An irrigation system for a vertical farming structure having vertical grow towers and associated conveyance mechanisms for moving the vertical grow towers through a controlled environment, while being exposed to controlled conditions, such as lighting, airflow, humidity and nutritional support. The present disclosure describes a grow tower conveyance system that moves vertically-oriented grow towers to select positions along a grow line. An irrigation line having apertures at the select positions provides aqueous nutrient solution to the grow towers, while a gutter structure captures excess solution. In a closed loop system, the excess solution returns to a recirculation tank.