64 TECHNOLOGY JUN / JUL 2018 • farmers-mart. co. uk
64 TECHNOLOGY JUN / JUL 2018 • farmers-mart. co. uk
OLEDS COULD BOOST VERTICAL FARM EFFICIENCY BY 20 PER CENT
The energy efficiency of vertical farms could soon be boosted by as much as 20 per cent, thanks to a new system developed by a student from Brunel University London.
VFARM, by design student Jonny Reader, 21, uses OLEDs – organic light-emitting diodes – and smart automation to significantly reduce the amount of power used in vertical farming. |
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The new system, which has already attracted significant interest from industry, will be unveiled at Made in Brunel in June.
Popular in Asia and gaining momentum elsewhere, vertical farming is the practice of producing crops in stacked layers, allowing for better use of space and resources.
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Already a billion-dollar industry, its popularity is expected to soar over the coming years as costs come down.
Where current vertical farms use traditional LEDs, vFarm uses OLEDs, which produce less heat and have a higher energy efficiency. Importantly, OLED panels are
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also significantly thinner than their LED equivalents, meaning greater yields can be achieved at shorter heights.
Whilst the price of OLEDs is currently prohibitive in most circumstances, Jonny predicts costs will fall heavily as the technology gains traction. vFarm also aims to increase efficiency and yield using automation, using a series of sensors to help control factors such as temperature and humidity.
Whilst currently only in its prototype stage, vFarm has been turning heads within the industry, with commercial outfit Hydrogarden so impressed by Jonny’ s work that they’ ve invited him in to take part in an official Knowledge Transfer Partnership with them.
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www. brunel. ac. uk |
The first wireless flying robotic insect takes off
INSECT-SIZED flying robots could help with time-consuming tasks like surveying crop growth on large farms or sniffing out gas leaks. These robots soar by fluttering tiny wings because they are too small to use propellers, like those seen on their larger drone cousins. Small size is advantageous: These robots are cheap to make and can easily slip into tight places that are inaccessible to big drones.
But current flying robo-insects are still tethered to the ground. The electronics they need to power and control their wings are too heavy for these miniature robots to carry.
Now, engineers at the University of Washington have for the first time cut the cord and added a brain, allowing their RoboFly to take its first independent flaps.
This might be one small flap for a robot, but it’ s one giant leap for robot-kind.
RoboFly is slightly heavier than a toothpick and is powered by a laser beam. It uses a tiny onboard circuit that converts the laser energy into enough electricity to operate its wings.
The engineering challenge is the flapping. Wing flapping is a power-hungry process, and both the power source and the controller that directs the wings are too big and bulky to ride aboard a tiny robot. So Fuller’ s previous robo-insect, the RoboBee, had a leash— it received power and control through wires from the ground.
But a flying robot should be able to operate on its own. Fuller and team decided to use a narrow invisible laser beam to power their robot. They pointed the laser beam at a photovoltaic cell, which is attached above RoboFly and converts the laser light into electricity.
Still, the laser alone does not provide enough voltage to move the wings. That’ s why the team designed a circuit that boosted the seven volts coming out of the photovoltaic cell up to the 240 volts needed for flight.
To give RoboFly control over its own wings, the engineers provided a brain: They added a microcontroller to the same circuit.
Specifically, the controller sends voltage in waves to mimic the fluttering of a real insect’ s wings.
For now, RoboFly can only take off and land. Once its photovoltaic cell is out of the direct line of sight of the laser, the robot runs out of power and lands. But the team hopes to soon be able to steer the laser so that RoboFly can hover and fly around.
While RoboFly is currently powered by a laser beam, future versions could use tiny batteries or harvest energy from radio frequency signals, Gollakota said. That way, their power source can be modified for specific tasks.
Future RoboFlies can also look forward to more advanced brains and sensor systems that help the robots navigate and complete tasks on their own, Fuller said.
www. washington. edu