Guangdong nongye kexue (Jul 2023)

Design and Experiment of Precise Light Cultivation Platform for Seedlings Based on PLC Technology

  • Bin LI,
  • Xinyu WEI,
  • Xi CHEN,
  • Junhong ZHAO,
  • Yizhi LUO,
  • Xingxing ZHOU

DOI
https://doi.org/10.16768/j.issn.1004-874X.2023.07.005
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 50, no. 7
pp. 47 – 56

Abstract

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【Objective】Light is the most important factor affecting plant growth, development, metabolism and external phenotype. In the process of plant growth, artificial light sources are often used instead of natural light to fill the seeds and seedlings to improve the quality, yield and efficiency of fruits and vegetables. Artificial light plant is one of the important ways for standardized and efficient seedling cultivation, but its high energy consumption, accounting for 60% to 80% of the total energy consumption of plant factories, seriously hinder the promotion and application of factory seedling technology. Therefore, reducing the energy consumption of light source and improving the utilization rate of light is one of the core goals for plant seedling.【Method】Aiming at the problems of fixed height, high energy consumption and difficult to match the light demand of seed and seedling growth, this study developed a precise light cultivation platform for seedlings based on Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) technology by combining theoretical analysis, model construction and experiment. Taking cucumber seedlings as the object, the performance of the light intensity control system of the precision light cultivation platform for seedlings was verified, and its effect on the growth of cucumber seedlings was explored.【Result】The experimental results showed that the light intensity and light distribution uniformity were improved after the optimization of the lamp bead structure. The developed platform can fill the light of cucumber seedlings by manual, automatic, Human Machine Interface (HMI) and host computer. Through the platform optical radiation energy consumption model and the layer level adjustment control strategy, the LED operating power is effectively reduced, saving about 40.65% of electric energy. The maximum and minimum relative error of the optical platform radiation model are 34.37% and 3.57%, respectively, and the average relative error is 11.45%. Cultivation experiments showed that under the same light intensity treatment, there was no significant difference in seedling phenotype parameters and strong seedling index by comparing the precision light cultivation platform with the traditional high floor fixed platform.【Conclusion】The precision light cultivation platform of seedlings based on PLC technology realizes automatic lifting and intelligent dimming, and saves up to 40.65% power without affecting the growth of seedlings.

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