Mar 25 2013
Nano Labs Corp. is pleased to announce it has been issued a provisional patent number for the Company's "intelligent illumination system" for greenhouses, that works with commercial light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to reduce energy consumption and improve processes contributing to the growth of plant life in agricultural greenhouses.
Further to the Company's press release of December 18, 2012, with the filing of the patent application complete and the provisional patent number issued, the Company is moving forward with the commercialization of the product.
The new system reduces energy consumption while at the same time providing improved control over artificial light used to stimulate photochemical activities in plants for growth and the production of chlorophyll. By employing a "The Pulse Modulated Chlorophyll Fluorescence Monitoring Stage," the innovative technology provides for the automatic control of light in relation to a whole range of greenhouse and plant conditions, including seasonal adjustments tailored to the type of vegetables and plants being illuminated.
The technology claims better control in relation to light frequency (wavelength), light quality, and pulse width of the light beams emitted by the LEDs, which hold important advantages over other existing artificial illumination sources such as fluorescent lamps, metal halide lamps, and high-pressured sodium lamps. The system offers higher efficiency in terms of energy consumption and quantum efficiency of the light produced and also provides for a longer lifespan, a controllable emission spectrum, safer handling, as well as improved disposal procedures.
The novel system for greenhouses has allowed Nano Labs to determine the effect of pulsed light, as opposed to simple continuous light, in a frequency range from 0.1Hz to 100 kHz, with red and blue LEDs on the chlorophyll fluorescence emission of tomato plants, demonstrating that it is possible through the Company's innovations to control and enhance plant growth at will.
"The Company's proprietary technology represents an answer to problems facing greenhouse growers worldwide." restated Dr. Castano. "Our aim is to help growers increase efficiencies for better crop yields. At the same time, we want to help growers achieve lower energy consumption, with a favourable impact on the environment."
Additional Information on Nano Labs' LED Smart Lighting and Monitoring System for Greenhouses
The provisional patent describes a smart, programmable lighting system which has a digital interface to program plant and crop specific configurations. Compared with the conventional lamps and light bulbs, the use of the light emitting diodes (LEDs) with characteristics of narrow-band wavelength offers low power consumption and optimal light sources for plant cultivation. LEDs are the first light source to provide the capability of true spectral composition control, allowing wavelengths to match to plant photoreceptors to optimize production as well as to influence plant morphology and composition.
The application of artificial light for plant growth with LEDs represents a very useful tool for research and development in terms of analyzing the effect of the amount and quality of the light utilized in greenhouses. In general, the use of LEDs for biological studies has important advantages as compared to other existing artificial illumination sources (fluorescent, metal halogenides, and high pressured sodium). Advantages include: higher efficiency in energy consumption in terms of released light (quantum efficiency), longer lifespan, controllable emission spectrum (since LEDs are available in different wavelengths), safer handling and disposal procedures, and the fact that LEDs are environmentally friendly.
Pulsed light techniques have been applied to different frequencies and cycles for the study of phototropism induced in Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings, showing that continuous lighting can be substituted by pulsed light. The photosynthetic response of tomato plants has been examined when applying both short pulses and continuous lighting to tomato plants and indicated that the photosynthetic rate was reduced to half with pulses of 2 ms of light and 198 ms of darkness periods, with respect to continuous light.
In LED-based illumination systems the emission color can be selected without adding filters. Also, the LED market offers commercial ultraviolet and infrared LEDs that can be added to the existing artificial illumination systems for plant growth, for these wavelengths are also important for plant growth. The illumination based on LEDs makes monitoring of the intensity and quality of the emitted light easier than in the case of other light sources.
Nano Labs' lighting system comprises a fluorescence monitoring system, for measuring and monitoring the fluorescence emitted by an illuminated plant. The fluorescence monitoring system is coupled to the custom crop program for accurate feedback controls.
When light impinges on a plant leaf, part of the energy absorbed is dissipated as heat, another portion is used for the photochemical activity of the plant, and a smaller amount is emitted as fluorescence. Chlorophyll fluorescence (CF) is the red and far-red light emitted by photosynthetic tissue when it is excited by a light source. When plants are exposed to excess light, CF is a protective process by which plant chloroplasts dissipate light energy that exceeds photosynthetic demands. Chlorophyll fluorescence amounts to 1% - 2 % of the total light absorbed. Also, chlorophyll had been regarded as an intrinsic fluorescent probe of the photosynthetic system, and in recent years, the chlorophyll fluorescence has been used for studies related to the physiology of plants, to the extent that most articles involving the photosynthetic performance of plants include some fluorescence data. This technique is so effective to evaluate photosynthesis in investigations where fluorescence emission of land vegetation is analyzed from outer space.