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"Providing A Multi-Faceted Solution With The Potential To CEA Farmers And The Industry"
Simon Deacon, CEO of Light Science Technologies said: “The opening of the laboratory demonstrates our full commitment to the ‘art’ of plant science
Light Science Technologies Opens Its New In-House Laboratory
Light Science Technologies (LST), has opened its new, state-of-the-art in-house laboratory as it aims to help growers create the most optimal plant recipe.
Simon Deacon, CEO of Light Science Technologies said: “The opening of the laboratory demonstrates our full commitment to the ‘art’ of plant science. It will help accelerate the development of horticulture lighting and environmental technologies over the next few years. And, beyond as we seek out more sustainable, energy-efficient ways of farming."
The purpose-built testing facility at LST’s Derby site will mimic, via a test and replicate process, a grower’s closed indoor environment and test new crops in its controlled environment chambers managing temperature, humidity, and CO2. By running up to 12 concurrent trials in 6 chambers, a team including in-house scientists and top-level industry experts will harness historical and real-time data to help farmers and growers create the right recipe.
Simon continued: “Our testing facility provides a multi-faceted solution with the potential to controlled environment agriculture (CEA) farmers and the industry at large. Not just recipe development for higher density and profit margin crops, but a pathway to industry-leading scientists in different plant species. And, equally importantly, an opportunity to prototype new crops before investment.”
Utilizing its Conviron A2000 reach-in grow chambers along with its integrated, fully updateable and bespoke lighting solutions, LST’s lab offers multiple benefits to growers while helping them achieve the optimal yield, including lowering CAPEX and OPEX costs.
One of LST's scientists outside Conviron growth chambers in lab
By harnessing advanced lighting technology, LST’s lighting systems can identify the right spectral waveforms and PPFD levels required for any species of plant or microbiology and can validate the performance of a grower’s existing set-up or compare new solutions independently, using its own Quantum PAR Photo-Goniometer testing facility. Built inside a 22-meter bespoke light tunnel using its 2021 SSL Spectral Photo Goniometer, it can accurately measure PAR (400nm-700nm) Quantum PAR (250nm-1040nm) and CIE.*
The lab’s capabilities also mean it can measure plant health thanks to the LIcor LI-6800, the only photosynthesis system capable of measuring combined gas exchange and fluorescence from leaves and aquatic samples in just a few seconds with the highest level of accuracy and detail. It also instantly details temperature and humidity.
Other key elements include advanced water and environmental testing, used to help growers identify the macronutrients in their plants and check for all types of food safety, quality and chemical contamination. And, to ensure only plant performance data is collected, GrowFoam, a natural biodegradable growing medium that has no effect on the plant, will be used in the chambers.
One of the most interesting aspects of the lab is the focus on developing an AI capable of monitoring and proactively controlling environmental parameters and plant performance. This is done by leveraging LST’s partnership with a number of universities and its work using an in-house Big Data resource. Using the latest stacked GPGPU technology, data can be brought to life to increase plant performance, taste control and quality.
For more information:
Light Science Tech
Claire Brown, PR Consultant
claire.brown@lightsciencetech.com
www.lightsciencetech.com
Publication date: Wed 17 Mar 2021
VIDEO: Daan Roosegaarde Uses "Light Recipes" To Show How Agriculture Could Be More Sustainable
Dezeen Magazine
Amy Frearson | January 18, 2021
Studio Roosegaarde has unveiled Grow, a 20,000-square-metre light installation designed to highlight the beauty of agriculture while also improving crop growth.
The Rotterdam-based studio, led by designer Daan Roosegaarde, used red, blue, and ultraviolet lights to transform a field into a dynamic artwork.
As well as creating a visual spectacle, the installation serves as a prototype for how certain "light recipes" can be used to increase plant growth and reduce the use of pesticides by up to 50 percent.
Grow is a 20,000-square-metre light installation in a Dutch field
The first ideas for the project came after an early morning visit to the farm. As a self-confessed urbanite, Roosegaarde told Dezeen he had spent very little time exploring the Netherlands' agricultural landscape, so was amazed to experience it first hand.
Despite being a relatively small country, the Netherlands is one of the world's largest producers of vegetables, second only to the United States, and has established itself as a pioneer of highly efficient farming techniques.
"We thought we should highlight the beauty of this agriculture," said Roosegaarde. "These vast fields feed us, but nobody sees it."
Lights turn the crops into a visual spectacle but also helps to improve growth
Shortly after, Roosegaarde became aware of advancements in photobiological lighting technology. Research suggests that certain combinations of light can not only strengthen plant metabolism but also create resistance to both pests and disease.
Although the technology has been used in greenhouses, Roosegaarde saw an opportunity to test its potential at a larger scale.
The "light recipe" combines specific types of red, blue, and ultraviolet light
"A specific ultraviolet light activates the defense system of plants. And what is interesting is that it works on all crops," the designer explained. "So we can reduce the use of pesticides."
Pesticides are known to have a significantly harmful effect on biological diversity, one of the pillars of sustainability. If the farming industry was able to reduce reliance on them, it would be of great benefit to the environment.
These lights can strengthen plant metabolism and create resistance to pests and disease
Studio Roosegaarde created Grow with high-density LEDs positioned at different points around the field.
The devices move up and down, distributing the light evenly across the field. As they move, they create dancing patterns that are hypnotic to watch. "It's very futuristic and also very romantic, in a way," suggested Roosegaarde.
Grow is the latest of several large-scale light installations Roosegaarde has created
The effect is similar to some of the other large-scale installations Roosegaarde has created in the past like Waterlicht, which mimicked the effect of the Northern Lights as a way to highlight a flood plain.
However, the designer sees Grow as a project with a bigger audience. His plan is to take it around the world, with different light recipes formulated to suit different crops.
The designer hopes to promote the role of the farmer as a hero
Roosegaarde's aim is to help to speed up the application of this science, but also to create a more universal appreciation for the important role of farmers, who he describes as heroes.
"I want to design things which make people curious about the future, not sad or mad," added Roosegaarde. "Light is my language. Light is not decoration, it's activation and it's communication."
Grow was commissioned by Rabobank, for the bank's ongoing artist-in-residence programme. The ambition is for the project to tour all 40 countries where the bank operates.
Read more: Design Lighting Netherlands Plants Farms Installations Studio Roosegaarde Technology
Strawberry And Tomato Responses To Light And CO2 Control
Carbon dioxide enrichment has long been known as a tool to boost greenhouse crop yield but the benefits depend on the crop and production environment especially light. In this webinar, Cornell University researchers will discuss
Date: October 25, 2019
Time: 12 p.m. - 1 p.m. EDT
Presented by: Neil Mattson and Jonathan Allred
Register Here
Carbon dioxide enrichment has long been known as a tool to boost greenhouse crop yield but the benefits depend on the crop and production environment especially light. In this webinar, Cornell University researchers will discuss:
The basics of greenhouse CO2 enrichment.
Current research underway to determine the response of tomatoes and strawberries on light and CO2.
Experimental results from two years of studies on day-neutral strawberry cultivar selection and response to HPS and LED supplemental lighting.
Device Recycles Waste Heat Into Light To Boost Solar Systems
Arrays of aligned single-wall carbon nanotubes could channel wasted heat and greatly raise the efficiency of solar energy systems, report researchers
JULY 16TH, 2019
Arrays of aligned single-wall carbon nanotubes could channel wasted heat and greatly raise the efficiency of solar energy systems, report researchers.
The new invention is a hyperbolic thermal emitter that can absorb intense heat that would otherwise spew into the atmosphere, squeeze it into a narrow bandwidth, and emit it as light that can be turned into electricity.
The discovery rests on another that Junichiro Kono’s group at the Brown School of Engineering at Rice University made in 2016 when it found a simple method to make highly aligned, wafer-scale films of closely packed nanotubes.
A scanning electron microscope image shows submicron-scale cavities patterned into films of aligned carbon nanotubes. The cavities trap thermal photons and narrow their bandwidth, turning them into light that can then be recycled as electricity. (Credit: Naik Lab)
WASTE HEAT
Discussions with Gururaj Naik, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, led the pair to see if the films could be used to direct “thermal photons.”
“Thermal photons are just photons emitted from a hot body,” Kono says. “If you look at something hot with an infrared camera, you see it glow. The camera is capturing these thermally excited photons.”
ABOUT 20 PERCENT OF OUR INDUSTRIAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION IS WASTE HEAT. THAT’S ABOUT THREE YEARS OF ELECTRICITY JUST FOR THE STATE OF TEXAS.
Infrared radiation is a component of sunlight that delivers heat to the planet, but it’s only a small part of the electromagnetic spectrum.
“Any hot surface emits light as thermal radiation,” Naik says. “The problem is that thermal radiation is broadband, while the conversion of light to electricity is efficient only if the emission is in a narrow band. The challenge was to squeeze broadband photons into a narrow band.”
The nanotube films presented an opportunity to isolate mid-infrared photons that would otherwise be wasted. “That’s the motivation,” Naik says. “A study by [co-lead author and graduate student] Chloe Doiron found that about 20 percent of our industrial energy consumption is waste heat. That’s about three years of electricity just for the state of Texas. That’s a lot of energy being wasted.
CARBON NANOTUBES CAN TAKE THE HEAT
“The most efficient way to turn heat into electricity now is to use turbines, and steam or some other liquid to drive them,” he says. “They can give you nearly 50 percent conversion efficiency. Nothing else gets us close to that, but those systems are not easy to implement.” Naik and his colleagues aim to simplify the task with a compact system that has no moving parts.
The aligned nanotube films are conduits that absorb waste heat and turn it into narrow-bandwidth photons. Because electrons in nanotubes can only travel in one direction, the aligned films are metallic in that direction while insulating in the perpendicular direction, an effect Naik called hyperbolic dispersion. Thermal photons can strike the film from any direction, but can only leave via one.
“Instead of going from heat directly to electricity, we go from heat to light to electricity,” Naik says. “It seems like two stages would be more efficient than three, but here, that’s not the case.”
Naik says adding the emitters to standard solar cells could boost their efficiency from the current peak of about 22 percent. “By squeezing all the wasted thermal energy into a small spectral region, we can turn it into electricity very efficiently,” he says. “The theoretical prediction is that we can get 80 percent efficiency.”
Nanotube films suit the task because they stand up to temperatures as high as 1,700 degrees Celsius (3,092 degrees Fahrenheit). Naik’s team built proof-of-concept devices that allowed them to operate at up to 700 C (1,292 F) and confirm their narrow-band output. To make them, the team patterned arrays of submicron-scale cavities into the chip-sized films.
“There’s an array of such resonators, and each one of them emits thermal photons in just this narrow spectral window,” Naik says. “We aim to collect them using a photovoltaic cell and convert it to energy, and show that we can do it with high efficiency.”
A paper on the technology appears in ACS Photonics. The Basic Energy Science program of the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and the Robert A. Welch Foundation supported the research.
Source: Rice University
Lead Photo: (Credit: James Moran/Flickr)
Original Study DOI: acsphotonics.9b00452
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