Mobile walk-in climate chamber boosts vertical farming
June 2016 - Nijssen will present the mobile climate chamber MyGrowthRoom at the Greentech. With MyGrowthRoom cultivators and researchers will be able to efficiently optimise growth recipes and test new LED solutions. Various refrigeration innovations save up to 30 per cent of the energy use for cooling. These energy saving solutions can also be applied to a larger scale production environment.
Cultivation tests play a crucial role for cultivation under LED-lighting. Optimum light schedules and climate recipes improve the product quality and guarantee a good balance between growth cycle and energy bill. Research also shows that, for example, flavour, colour and texture can be influenced with LED-lighting. With MyGrowthRoom multiple cultivation trials can be carried out simultaneously under uniform conditions. The settings of a cultivation trial are easily saved as a recipe. MyGrowthRoom has a growing area of 6 m3, witha flexible layout and can be used with any cultivation system.
Integrated cooling and drying
Two air coolers take care of the integrated cooling, heating and drying of the cultivation room. This reduces the required cooling capacity. A separate air dryer is no longer needed. “With MyGrowthRoom we have definitely made a step forwards in the field of climate technology,” says Edwin Snabel, business unit manager climate technology for Nijssen. “In most city farms emphasis is mostly on monitoring light and temperature. Less attention is paid to the relative humidity in the room. However, it is a crucial factor as well: some crops need high or low humidity to sprout. And during the vegetative state flowering can be forced by drying the air. The integrated regulation allows for better manageable climate conditions in a broad temperature and RH range. With that, MyGrowthRoom is universally employable for tests with a large number of crops in every growth stage.”
Further energy saving by residual heat utilisation
Further energy saving is realised by storing the radiant heat from the LED lighting into a heat storage tank during the day. During the nighttime period this heat is reused to keep the room at the right temperature without extra electric heating.
First walk-in climate chamber with natural refrigerant
With the option for refrigerant propane in a walk-in climate chamber Nijssen has a world first. Due to the low-energy design, MyGrowthRoom only needs a small cooling capacity, requiring a minimum amount of propane. The ozone-friendly refrigerant results in a much smaller footprint and makes MyGrowthRoom a future-proof investment. MyGrowthRoom is also available in a design with a chemical refrigerant.
Advanced control
The operating software of MyGrowthRoom has the same extensive functionality Nijssen also supplies in large-scale research projects: precise control over a large number of settings, easily creating and managing growth recipes and 24/7 online control.
High-tech research facility on a small scale
Nijssen is renowned for realising advanced climate chambers for a large number of universities and seed improvement companies. “The research sector has extensive experience in controlled environment cultivation,” Edwin Snabel explains. “All of the know-how from these high-tech research projects is combined in MyGrowthRoom. With MyGrowthRoom we offerprofessional cultivators the opportunity to do their own product research under the best possible circumstances.”
