Patent ID: 6578319
Filing Date: 2003-06-17
Classification: A01G,Y02P

Abstract:
A self-contained hydroponic growing enclosure for the fabrication of animal feed grass from seed and independent of outside climatic conditions, said growing enclosure comprising a seed grain storage means located in a control compartment section of said enclosure and isolated from a growing and harvest compartment section, conveyor means to supply seed from said storage means to a germination tank located in said growing and harvest compartment, said germination tank having bacteria-suppressing means, a racking system in said growing and harvest compartment to support a plurality of trays of germinating seed grain and growing grasses in horizontally spaced-apart growing beds, said racking system having an inlet end where said grass seeds are germinating and an outlet harvest end where said grass seeds have developed to the prerequisite grass size, light wall units on opposed sides of said racking system and dimensioned to provide light over all of said beds, and air handling and conditioning system having directional air outlet means for circulating a continuous conditioned and filtered air flow across all of said trays in said racking system from said inlet end; said air flow distributing carbon dioxide, generated in a section of said inlet end by said germinating seed grain, over said entire growing beds; water supply conduit means associated with said enclosure to connect with a pressurized water supply source, spray means to spray water over said beds, said light wall units each having a light-diffusing wall enclosure provided with light-reflecting means and an independent light housing for housing light sources and associated electrical parts, said light-reflecting means providing substantially uniform light radiation along said racking system and over said beds, water treatment system, reservoir means for supplying pure temperature-adjusted water for irrigation of said beds, said reservoir means also supplying iodine-treated feed water to said germination tank to kill any bacteria growth on said seeds, there being two of said germination tanks, each said germination tank being connected to a respective one of two seed grain hoppers constituting said seed grain storage means, a screw conveyor constituting said conveyor means interconnecting a germination tank to a respective one of said seed grain hoppers to load a predetermined quantity of seeds in said germination tank, said germination tanks being provided with a soak water holding reservoir provided with aerators to supply air to soak water in said reservoir, said iodine-treated feed water being supplied to said reservoir by spray nozzles, said spray nozzles being disposed above a discharge port of said screw conveyor to spray said seeds as they are discharged in said reservoir, said reservoir having a lid and a vent conduit to vent the area above said soak water to atmosphere.