18430 results about "Greenhouse" patented technology

The process of the invention converts carbonaceous feedstock such as coal, hydrocarbon oil, natural gas, petroleum coke, oil shale, carbonaceous-containing waste oil, carbonaceous-containing medical waste, carbonaceous-containing military waste, carbonaceous-containing industrial waste, carbonaceous-containing medical waste, carbonaceous-containing sewage sludge and municipal solid waste, carbonaceous-containing agricultural waste, carbonaceous-containing biomass, biological and biochemical waste, and mixtures thereof into electrical energy without the production of unwanted greenhouse emissions. The process uses a steam / CO2 reformer operating in the exit range of at least 700° to about 1600° C. (1300-2900°0 F.) to convert the carbonaceous feedstock and a greenhouse gas stream into a synthesis gas comprising mostly carbon monoxide and hydrogen that contains poisons and the compounds that poison fuel cells. The syngas is sent to an interface zone to remove these poisons and other fouling compounds that are electrochemically oxidized in an electricity-producing fuel cell into an exit gas comprising carbon dioxide and water.

The present invention invention provides methods, apparatus, and systems for determining greenhouse gas (including carbon dioxide) emissions and energy usage, costs and savings of individuals, families, homes, buildings, businesses, or the like. User inputs specific to an end user are accepted, and one or more of the user inputs are correlated with at least one of historic data and modeled characteristics pertaining to greenhouse gas emissions and energy usage to obtain at least one of greenhouse gas emissions and energy usage corresponding to said one or more of said user inputs. An overall greenhouse gas emissions and energy usage can then be determined for the end user based on the greenhouse emissions and energy usage corresponding to the one or more of the user inputs. A specific impact of a particular user action on the end user's overall greenhouse gas emissions and energy usage may also be calculated.

A light-weight, modular, adjustable vertical hydroponic growing system and method of Native American design for cultivation plants and beneficial soil organisms (BSO's) in symbiotic combination. Forest-like arrays of fully rotatable and demountable grow tubes are suspended within climate-moderating greenhouses, optionally from conveyor tracks. The tubes are filled with light-weight, porous 100% in-organic grow media predominately comprised of expanded volcanic or recycled glass granules. The grow tube arrays are provided with an insulated, overhead-mounted fertigation distribution system delivering metered intermittent flows from insulated mixing and holding tanks. The flows are recycled via an insulated return piping system to maintain cool fertigation temperatures near those of natural ground water. Fertigation supply mains provided with vortex flow induction devices impart rotational momentum to flows for delivery of uniform aerated fertigation to plants and BSO's via a combination of open-tube emitters and gravity flows within grow tubes.

Methods and systems for low emission power generation in hydrocarbon recovery processes are provided. One system includes integrated pressure maintenance and miscible flood systems with low emission power generation. The system may also include integration of a pressure swing reformer (PSR), air-blown auto-thermal reformer (ATR), or oxygen-blown ATR with a gas power turbine system, preferably a combined cycle gas power turbine system. Such systems may be employed to capture and utilize greenhouse gases (GHG) and generate power for use in hydrocarbon recovery operations.

The invention discloses a cucumber picking robot system in a greenhouse environment. The robot system comprises a binocular stereo vision system, a mechanical arm device and a robot mobile platform; the binocular stereo vision system is used for acquiring cucumber images, processing the images in real time and acquiring the position information of the acquired targets; the mechanical arm device is used for capturing and separating the acquired targets according to the position information of the acquired targets; and the robot mobile platform is used for independently moving in the greenhouse environment; wherein, the binocular stereo vision system comprises two black and white cameras, a dual-channel vision real-time processor, a lighting device and an optical filtering device; the mechanical arm device comprises an actuator, a motion control card and a joint actuator; and the robot mobile platform comprises a running mechanism, a motor actuator, a tripod head camera, a processor and a motion controller. The invention also discloses a cucumber picking method in the greenhouse environment. The method of combining machine vision and agricultural machinery is adopted to construct the cucumber picking robot system which is suitable for the greenhouse environment, thus realizing automatic robot navigation and automatic cucumber reaping, and reducing the human labor intensity.

The process and system of the invention converts carbonaceous feedstock such as coal, hydrocarbon oil, natural gas, petroleum coke, oil shale, carbonaceous-containing waste oil, carbonaceous-containing medical waste, carbonaceous-containing military waste, carbonaceous-containing industrial waste, carbonaceous-containing medical waste, carbonaceous-containing sewage sludge and municipal solid waste, carbonaceous-containing agricultural waste, carbonaceous-containing biomass, biological and biochemical waste, and mixtures thereof into electrical energy without the production of unwanted greenhouse emissions. The process and system uses a combination of a gasifier, e.g., a kiln, operating in the exit range of at least 700° to about 1600° C. (1300-2900° F.) to convert the carbonaceous feedstock and a greenhouse gas stream into a synthesis gas comprising mostly carbon monoxide and hydrogen without the need for expensive catalysts and or high pressure operations. One portion of the synthesis gas from the gasifier becomes electrochemically oxidized in an electricity-producing fuel cell into an exit gas comprising carbon dioxide and water. The latter is recycled back to the gasifier after a portion of water is condensed out. The second portion of the synthesis gas from the gasifier is converted into useful hydrocarbon products.

A vertically-integrated greenhouse for growing plants in suspended trays. The design is particularly well-suited for installation in a double-skin façade of a building, or in an interior atrium, lobby, or similar structure. In addition to producing food, plants can reduce building maintenance costs by providing shade, air treatment, and evaporative cooling to building occupants. The vertically-integrated greenhouse involves the use of a dynamic movable array of plant trays as a mechanical shading device. The spacings and arrangements of the trays in the tray suspension system can be adjusted on both a diurnal basis and a seasonal basis to maximize plant light capture and building shading, thereby maximizing crop yield and building energy savings, or for esthetic considerations.

A system for sequestering carbon emissions from a fuel combustor generally includes a combustion gas extraction module for extracting combustion gas from a fuel combustor and a greenhouse facility for receiving the extracted combustion gas and having at least one vegetation supporting soil bed for absorbing carbon dioxide from the received combustion gas. The extraction module includes a particulate removal unit for removing pollutants from the extracted combustion gas and a heat exchanger in downstream fluid communication with the particulate removal unit for cooling the extracted combustion gas.

The invention discloses a remote monitoring and intelligent control system and method of an agricultural greenhouse based on an M2M framework. The system comprises an information acquisition module, an M2M network transmission module, a service monitoring module, an expert decision module, a system display module and a remote control module. The method comprises: firstly, deploying a plurality of environmental parameter sensors in a glasshouse to collect key information; then, in an M2M mode, sending the key information to a centered platform via the Internet or the 3G network; storing, displaying and analyzing data in the centered platform; combining with a crop model and an expert system to output decision information; and issuing a control order via the Internet or the 3G network. The system can avoid the limitation of the local automatic control system of the common greenhouse and realizes the situation that the production in a plurality of greenhouses is supported on one platform, thus the system has good expansibility and supports scale application. The system provides the means for checking systems and issuing orders on the Internet and a mobile terminal, is convenient and can transmit information by the broadband Internet and the 3G communication network.

A plant for producing Fischer-Tropsch liquids and electrical power with greatly reduced emissions of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere is made up of a syngas generator unit, an air separation unit, a Fischer-Tropsch unit, a CO2 removal unit, and a combined cycle electricity generation unit. Each of Fischer-Tropsch liquids, carbon dioxide, and electrical power can be recoverable under proper economic conditions. Electrical power is recoverable by the use of a gas turbine fueled by predominantly hydrogen and a steam turbine powered by steam generated by cooling exhaust gases from the gas turbine. Sequestration of CO2 and fueling the gas turbine with hydrogen reduces the amount of greenhouse gases emitted to the atmosphere.

A system and method are provided for aerobic treatment of waste, such as animal or human waste. The method includes the continual introduction of microalgae. The high amounts of oxygen produced by the microalgae satisfies the biochemical oxygen demand in the treatment process and also allows oxidation of undesirable contaminants. Delivery of the microalgae at a desired rate is achieved by incorporation of a series of electrical and mechanical devices housed within a greenhouse type structure which optimizes growth conditions for the microalgae, and also allows the system to be automated.

The process and system of the invention converts carbonaceous feedstock such as coal, hydrocarbon oil, natural gas, petroleum coke, oil shale, carbonaceous-containing waste oil, carbonaceous-containing medical waste, carbonaceous-containing hazardous waste, carbonaceous-containing medical waste, and mixtures thereof into electrical energy without the production of unwanted greenhouse emissions. The process and system uses a combination of a gasifier, e.g., a kiln, operating in the exit range of at least 700° to about 1600° C. (1300–2900° F.) to convert the carbonaceous feedstock and a greenhouse gas stream into a synthesis gas comprising mostly carbon monoxide and hydrogen without the need for expensive catalysts and or high pressure operations. One portion of the synthesis gas from the gasifier becomes electrochemically oxidized in an electricity-producing fuel cell into an exit gas comprising carbon dioxide and water. The latter is recycled back to the gasifier after a portion of water is condensed out. The second portion of the synthesis gas from the gasifier is converted into useful hydrocarbon products.

A building's Heating Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system is made more energy efficient and the indoor air quality (IAQ) of the building's circulating air is improved by incorporating a greenhouse as an integral part of the HVAC system and by utilizing a novel feed forward control strategy that maintains the proper levels of temperature, humidity and CO2 concentration in the building under varying conditions of day, time, use and occupancy.A portion or all of the exhaust air from the building is discharged into a greenhouse where the heat and humidity are recovered in the winter by heating the greenhouse and the air conditioning is recovered in the summer by cooling the greenhouse. Selected plants are used in the greenhouse to remove CO2 and pollutants from the building's exhaust air while enriching the air with oxygen and beneficial negatively charged ions. The oxygenated, improved quality air from the greenhouse is then used to supply all or a portion of the intake air to the building's HVAC system.

A method for a panel having a magnetic mounting that utilizes a plurality of magnets in a magnet structure that allows high magnetic force when the panel is installed and the magnet structure is aligned while permitting removal using relatively light force applied to misalign the magnet structure to allow removal. In one embodiment, the magnet structure can provide precision positioning of the panel to a position on the order of the width of a single component magnet of the magnet structure. In another embodiment, the magnet structure may be misaligned for removal by a rotation of the magnet structure. In a further embodiment, the misalignment may be achieved by a lateral shift of the magnet structure. The invention may be adapted to a wide variety of panels including but not limited to doors, window coverings, storm coverings, seasonal covering panels, baby gates, white boards, and green house panels.

A high-transparency, low-emissivity window film or coating is designed to maximize so-called greenhouse heating. This effect is achieved through the use of conductive grids and / or gratings whose width and spacing has been selected such that the grid appears as a uniform conductive film to long-wavelength infrared (blackbody) radiation. The conductive grid film reflects the blackbody radiation strongly, and such that the grid appears highly transparent to visible and near-infrared light, and therefore transmits it.

Heat transfer compositions are usable in their own right or are suitable as a replacement for existing refrigeration usages. The compositions possess a reduced Greenhouse Warming Potential, yet have a capacity and energy efficiency (which may be conveniently expressed as the “Coefficient of Performance”) ideally within 20% of the values of those attained using R-134a, and preferably within 10% or less (e.g. about 5%) of these values.

An intelligent greenhouse control system comprises an information collection unit, a processor and an adjusting and controlling unit, wherein the information collection unit collects environmental information inside a greenhouse; the processor processes the information collected by the information collection unit; the adjusting and controlling unit adjusts and controls the environment inside the greenhouse; the information collection unit collects information of environment inside the greenhouse and data information of soil; the adjusting and controlling unit adjusts, controls and supplements the parameters. The data indexes needed by growth of plants are set in the processor in advance, then environmental indexes and soil indexes of the greenhouse are monitored in real time in the growing process, the indexes are compared with the data indexes set in advance, if a certain index deviates, adjustment and control are carried out through corresponding equipment, and therefore the optimal environment for growth of the plants is provided, the whole process is completely and intelligently controlled by the processor, automatic production is achieved without large accidents, the degree of dependence on people is reduced, and efficiency is improved.

Invented is a method of making combustion air for a fossil fuel burner, as a coal burning power plant, oil refinery or gas fired household appliance. Combustion air is made from solar, wind, biomass, hydropower or geothermal. A staged progression using lower cost greenhouses, or flatplates, or solarponds, feed warm air to higher cost concentrator solar collectors. Wind energy, biomass, geothermal energy heat and compress combustion air. Hydropower also heats and compresses combustion air. Solar evaporation from salt or impure water creates water or local rain for the hydropower system. Combustion air thus is made economically hot, compressed and high velocity, and placed into a heavily insulated pipes for long distance transmission to a distant power plant.

Horticultural lighting system comprising a first string (22) of at least one light element (16, 40), a second string (24) of at least one light element (16, 40), both strings being electrically connected in parallel with each other, a power supply unit (12, 50, 60, 70) providing an AC current / voltage to the parallel circuit of the strings, and means for energizing (26, 42) the first string during a first half period of the AC voltage and the second string during a second half period of the AC voltage, so that each string radiates pulsed light, said first string and said second string being arranged such that different areas (32, 34) are irradiated. The lighting system is also to be used in an environment where living organisms are irradiated with light, or a greenhouse for exposing plants to pulsed light. A corresponding method is also claimed.

The invention provides an illumination arrangement (1) for illuminating horticultural growths (100) with for instance LEDs as a light source. These LEDs are placed in a lighting unit (10). The lighting unit may especially have the ability to direct substantially all light from the light source (here the LEDs) to the horticultural growths (in the greenhouse). Additionally, a horticultural growth-recognition system (50) can be implemented in the illumination arrangement, so that the system can adapt for instance its beam (11) to the location of the horticultural growth(s) (in the case of growth or moving of plants, etc).

There is provided a modular LED system comprising a frame (1) having a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) (8) of at least two different colors for generating light within a color spectrum, said LEDs (8) being mounted, preferably clickable, on or adjacent to a, preferably heat conductive, plate equipped with cooling means (3) for cooling the LEDs with cooling medium; a processor for controlling an amount of electrical current supplied to the plurality of LEDs, so that a particular amount of current supplied thereto determines a color of light generated by the plurality of LEDs, —and a flat translucent member (5) having translucent lenses (4) associated with the LEDs for decreasing or increasing the diffusion angle for light emitted from each LED. The LED system is suitable as an illumination system for plants to supplement natural light without substantially interfering with the amount of natural light. The system delivers uniform illumination and reduces energy and maintenance costs. The system may be installed in a commercial greenhouse. Because of its narrow width, the system is useful to supplement natural light because it allows a maximum amount of natural light to reach the plants.

A greenhouse environment forecasting feedback method of a back propagation (BP) neural network based on the improvement of a genetic algorithm comprises the following steps: obtaining a plurality of groups of temperatures of plant leaves to be tested and monitoring data values of other five factors which have influence on the temperatures, normalizing the data into values from -1 to +1, and classifying the normalized data into groups to serve as training and testing data for use; establishing the BP neural network which comprises an input layer, a middle layer and an output layer; using the genetic algorithm to optimize the established BP neural network; training and testing the optimized BP neural network; and forecasting the temperatures of the plant leaves according to the BP neural network which passes the test. Through the greenhouse environment forecasting feedback method of the BP neural network based on the improvement of the genetic algorithm, a model suitable for greenhouse environment parameter forecasting can be established, and target parameters in a greenhouse environment can be forecasted accurately and rapidly through a computer simulation test.

The invention relates to a bacillus amyloliquefaciens growing in a disease-preventing and growth-promoting plant and application thereof, relating to bacillus amyloliquefaciens and the application thereof. The bacillus amyloliquefaciens TF28 growing in the disease-preventing and growth-promoting plant belongs to bacillus, has the storage number of CGMCC No.4038 and the storage data of July 26, 2010. The application of the bacillus amyloliquefaciens TF28 comprises the following steps of: (1) preparing activated bacilli liquid; (2) inoculating the activated bacilli liquid in an NYD culture fluid to obtain a strain fermentation solution; and (3) soaking seeds in a dilution solution 50 times of the strain fermentation solution. The strain TF28 in the invention can be colonized, reproduced and transmitted in plants, can simultaneously generate two antibacterial substances, i.e. antimicrobial proteins and lipopeptide antibiotic and has the multiple efficacy of preventing diseases, stimulating growth, increasing the yield, improving the quality, widening an antibacterial spectrum, and the like. Rice seeds treated by the dilution solution 50 times of the fermentation solution of the strain TF28 reach a room-temperature bakana resistance rate over 84.6 percent.

The invention relates to a greenhouse suspended self-propelled target-oriented sprayer system and an operation method thereof. The greenhouse suspended self-propelled target-oriented sprayer system is characterized by comprising a guide way, a self-propelled mobile platform, a hall sensor, a spraying manipulator device, a binocular vision system and a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller), wherein a plurality of magnetic positioning marks are preinstalled on the guide way; the self-propelled mobile platform is arranged on the guide way through a walking mechanism and provided with the hall sensor; the spraying manipulator device comprises a Z direction cross-shear hanger which is arranged on a rack; a spray rod is horizontally arranged below the hanger through a rotary positioning mechanism; a spray pipe is fixedly arranged on the spray rod; a plurality of spray heads are arranged on the spray pipe at intervals and independently controlled by electromagnetic valves; the hanger has the functions of extension and retraction; the binocular vision system comprises two CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) video cameras; the two CCD video cameras are fixedly installed on both ends of the spray rod respectively and connected with an upper computer in which control software is prearranged; and the PLC is electrically connected with the upper computer, the hall sensor, a frequency converter, a drive controller, the electromagnetic valves and the CCD video cameras respectively.

The invention relates to the technical field of intelligent equipment of the facility agriculture, particularly to an automatic spraying robot for a greenhouse, which comprises a track traveling component, a liquor spraying component fixed on the track traveling component and a control unit connected with the track traveling component and the liquor spraying component respectively, wherein the track traveling component comprises a driving device and track wheels; the track wheels travel on a group of tracks; the control unit is used for automatically controlling the traveling of the track traveling component and the spraying of the liquor spraying component. According to the automatic spraying robot for the greenhouse, provided by the invention, the track wheels are taken as supports, and travel on the tracks, all that is needed is to pave tracks on the ground, and a support frame is not needed to be erected, so that the cost is low, and the automatic spraying robot can be applied in a small-sized greenhouse; besides, the track automatic traveling manner has stronger adaptability to uneven pavements inside a greenhouse, and the robot can travel on a concave-convex ground well, so that the smooth traveling of the robot is guaranteed.

A thermal behavior model of a building may be constructed based on time series data. Based on the constructed thermal behavior model, forecasted zone temperature and energy usage for a next control time period may be predicted. An objective function may be constructed based on at least a dynamically priced grid energy cost, occupant comfort matrix, and one or more of: energy storage system cost and associated operational cost, and energy generation system cost and associated green house emission cost and associated operational cost. Constraints may be constructed based on at least the forecasted zone temperature values and energy usage values for the next control time period. A control profile of the HVAC system and sourcing decision of energy load of the HVAC system may be determined simultaneously based on the objective function and the plurality of constraints.

The invention discloses a breeding method for aseptic seeding and test tube seedling formation of orchids and the adopted broad-spectrum culture medium. In this method, a healthy orchid mother plant is selected, and artificially pollinated when it blooms, and the fruit that develops to maturity after pollination and has not cracked is used as an explant, or the orchid fruit that is basically mature and not cracked is taken from the wild as an explant. Implants undergo reproductive steps such as aseptic sowing, seed germination, strong seedling cultivation, and test-tube seedling transplantation. The specially prepared medium is used for aseptic sowing and seed germination to obtain small plants, and then the small plants are cultivated on the specially prepared strong seedling medium, and the seedlings are hardened under natural light in the greenhouse for 7-14 hours before being released from the bottle. One day, the test-tube seedlings were taken out, the root medium was washed off, and they were planted in a mixed substrate of bark, bluestone and peat, and further cultivated into seedlings. The invention has the characteristics of high seed germination rate, fast seedling growth, good seedling quality, low cost, etc., can obtain a large number of test-tube seedlings in a short period of time, and the transplanting survival rate of the seedlings can be kept above 90%. An effective way can be provided for the production of orchid seedlings.

An apparatus for reducing resources for selecting seed to be produced in commercial quantities or for research is disclosed. Samples of seed which are candidates for selection are collected and given an identifier. Specific tissue or structure from candidate seed is removed. A test or analysis is performed on the candidate seed or the removed tissue or structure. Results of the test or analysis are recorded and correlated to the seed's identifier. The results are evaluated and a decision is made whether to select a candidate seed for commercial production or for research. Time, space, and labor associated with growing plants in an experimental plot or greenhouse and taking tissue samples from growing plants is saved.

This invention relates to an apparatus and a method for a wireless sensor to monitor barrier system integrity, such as used or employed during sequestration of greenhouse gases. This invention includes an apparatus for integrity monitoring of a borehole suitable for sequestration of greenhouse gases. The apparatus includes one or more sensors for placement outside of a casing to monitor a borehole, and a tool for movement within the casing to power and interrogate the one or more sensors. This invention also includes a method for monitoring integrity of a borehole suitable for sequestration of greenhouse gases or other types of well. The method includes the step of disposing one or more sensors outside a casing and the step of powering the one or more sensors with a tool inside the casing. The method also includes the step of interrogating the one or more sensors with the tool to monitor an engineered borehole and / or a natural caprock seal.

The invention discloses a method for cultivating cherries and tomatoes. The method comprises the steps of: cultivation preparation, seedling raising, planting, flower and fruit protection, rich water management and picking. The method has the advantages that: cultivation matrix bags are adopted for cultivating the cherries and the tomatoes without soil, so continuous cropping obstacles do not happen, the conditions of a greenhouse cannot be limited by seasons, and the production can be arranged for annual supply according to the market requirement; and the preparation of nutrient solution is adjusted according to different growth periods, optimal growth effect is achieved, the cherries and the tomatoes are vigorously grown, the yield is increased, the quality is improved, plant diseases and insect pests are reduced, the consumption of pesticide is reduced, and the environmental pollution is reduced.