Hydroponics

i started the hydroponic system a long time ago, consisting of a miniature greenhouse containing a few plants and a ultrasonic mister, wich since has envolved.

This is the first version, a simple timer-controlled ultrasonic mister, which kept the humidity constant trough the  day. The venus flytrap plants had to be fed manualy with flies through the winter, wich worked suprisingly well.

I then wanted to upgrade my tiny greenhouse, so at my local makerspace, i learnt enough arduino to turn waterpumps on and of when the earth is getting dry. I did not have alot of money, so i just strapped a reservoir and pump from a car window washer to the side of the greenhouse. Then i made a wooden frame to contain the electronics.

I attached some red and blue led strips to the inside of the greenhouse, and mounted the electronics. Then this was the result of some days effort;

It migth look like something Al-Qaeda would come up with, but what you are looking at here is actualy the electronics controlling the watering of the plants.

There's an powersupply, woltage dividers, an arduino for recieving and sending analog signals, a relay-board for turning the pumps on and off, and an rasberry pie for connecting the arduino to the internet through wifi. At this stage of the project, the raspberry was not mated with the arduino, nor connected to power or antenna.

Then i saw that the way the industry was growing plants was not in the earth, but actualy suspended in mineral wool in water! This allows the plant to absorbe the nutritions faster, and also ensures a constant supply of minerals and water, making healthy food even healthier!

So, of course, i had to make such a system. i started drawing up a design in fusion 360, resulting in an contraption in wich the pots containing the plants are mounted in tubes. This is the most common way that DIY'ers produce these systems.

There was one problem tho: the root system grows and expands extremly fast when living in optimal conditions as these tubes. Therefore, i wanted to design a way that one could easily disconnect the pipes from the system, for easy trimming of the leaves and roots.

The solutions where quick disconnect fittings for pressured air tools. they are inexpenive, and air and watertigth. The allow me to remove the tubes without emptying ithem first.

This is the bracket holding the rigth side of the tube. Also seen is the serial connector for supplying each tube's arduino with signals and power.

To allow easy extraction, i added a 'hinge' so that dismounting is effortless. it is visible to the left.

The inlet to a tube. the dimension is 1/4 inch pipe thread.

Here i am in the middle of designing the shelf system, containing six tubes, each holding six plants. the system is designed to fit in my window, so that i don't waste energy on artificial ligthning. 

Soon, i can have fresh salad every day, within an arm's reach.