Why Airflow is Imperitive

Everything that a plant needs to thrive is governed by air control.

Water & Nutrients: A difference in pressure between water vapor within leaves and their ambient atmosphere enables plants to absorb water and nutrients through their roots. Without proper climate conditions, nutrients and water cannot be delivered to cells.

Optimal Gas Exchange: To maximize a plant’s ability to draw C0₂ and expel oxygen, plants require a dynamic balance of temperature, humidity, and air velocity.

Light: Without sufficient CO₂, photons are wasted which reduces the efficiency of grow lights.

A Mold & Pathogen Free Environment: Stagnant air provides ideal conditions for mold and pathogens that can cause disease.

Treated Air is Pushed Upward

Conditioned, C0₂ enriched air is delivered to the base of each plant and pushed through the canopy equally down the length of each production layer.

Ascending airflow also reduces the often-overlooked issue of excess humidity caused by air movement over grow mediums

(Fig. 1). Reduced evapotranspiration results in less energy spent on dehumidification and eliminate grow medium parching.

Spent Air is Pulled Upward

Inter-canopy ducts remove the by-products of photosynthesis and problematic heat generated by grow lights directly at their source, removing spent air before it can degrade the surrounding environment. By abandoning the concept of spent and conditioned air mixing we have eliminated problematic microclimates and overcome the environmental limitations of multi-layer canopies grown indoors.

CDF Modelling has proven that multi-tier systems that do not remove excess heat and humidity at the canopy level experience accumulated environmental effects due to the unavoidable fact that hot air rises. Understanding and exploiting this fact leads back to our second design principle – Don’t fight physics. It’s inefficient.

Naturally occurring phenomena can be leveraged. Push/Pull Ascending Airflow takes advantage of the natural buoyancy of heat generated by grow lights, ascending airflow reduces CFM requirements, and does not decimate leaf boundary layers with high-velocity airflow required by horizontal and descending airflow methods at scale.

Automotive-grade precision airflow nozzles can be adjusted to compensate for the unavoidable pressure drop that occurs as pressure changes down the length of a duct.

Custom nozzles and combinations of nozzles can be developed to:

1. Satisfy specific plant requirements

2. Achieve specific project goals

3. Achieve specific airflow patterns

By eliminating microclimates, sensors data quality can be far better relied upon to make meaningful decisions during production to adjust for crop variability and a grower’s ability to develop proprietary expressions of common genetics.

AgricUltra Advancements customizes human-machine interfaces (HMIs) for clients to match control and data collection requirements.

Optional Data Collection Points

• Plant Health
• Visual Imaging
• VDP
• Transpiration
• MicroCoil Efficiency
• Reheat Coil Temp
• Cooling Coil
• Relative Humidity
• Comparative Temperature
• Realtime Biomass
• Lighting Efficiency
• RHC / CC Temp Delta
• Fan Speed
• Irrigation Flow
• PH
• Nutrient Uptake
• QA
• Product Traceability

Please Note: Options vary depending on AMPL Model

The AMPL Platform integrates with widely adopted warehouse logistics systems without interfering with environmental systems; a result of our patent-pending Push/Pull Ascending Airflow system. This reduces the cost of automation and added the assurance of implementing the same systems used by some of the biggest companies in the world.

With AMPL’s ability to stack virtually unlimited canopies, warehouse automation has been an important design consideration. We have developed a robotic plant handler that attaches to third-party automated logistic systems to be used for a wide range of applications.

Robotic Plant Charge / Discharge,
Analysis & Treatment

The AMPL Plant Handler accesses grow shelves from both sides of the aisle, charging/discharging, analyzing, and tending to plants. Aeroponic chambers and hydroponic drip troughs are designed to be easily accessed by the handler.

Capabilities

• Charging and Discharging of Plants
• Real-Time Biometric Feedback
• Daily Biomass Monitoring
• Nutrient Uptake Rate Monitoring
• Optimizing Harvest Dates
• Determine Exact Yields
• Computer Visions Pathogen & Pest Identification
• Environmental Confirmation of Canopy Conditions
• Full Traceability Through Facility for Production QA
• Matching of Harvest Rates to Downstream Processing
• Make better-informed profit projections
• UV Plant treatment (Plant Health/Pathogen & Pest Control)
• Targeted Chemical Pathogen & Pest Treatment
• Environmental confirmation of canopy conditions.
• Targeted chamber/trough charge/discharge
• Robotic Arm Agnostic Mount (T-Slot System)

This is an approximation. Values change based on crop requirements and logistics platforms.

Room Length: 55.5 m / 179’
Room Width: 30.5 m / 100’
Room Height: 15.25 m / 50’
Layer Height: 9
Row Count: 20
Plant Count per Cycle: 149,600

Beyond reducing environmental impact, hydronic energy management is just smart business. In colder climates, AMPL Ultra leverages outdoor temperatures to lower cooling costs. AMPL Ultra can be is easily integrate ground or lake geothermal strategies.

Implementing the AMPL’s Platform often qualifies producers for government environmental subsidies that offset capital costs.

Heat (43°C to 50°C / 110° F to 120° F) can be redirected for auxiliary purposes such as radiant heat flooring or circular economy production.

As air is rapidly cooled to manage humidity it must be reheated before it enters the canopy. Spent air and heat captured from grow lights preheat the cold air before it crosses AMPL’s reheat coil. This results in a 30 to 50% reduction in energy costs vs. traditional bulk HVAC systems.

With AMPL’s Optional Energy Harvesting realizes a 30 - 50% reduction in energy costs vs. traditional bulk HVAC systems.

Reduction realized is dependent upon set point
conditions, type of lights used, and chiller type.

Operate with a Greater Margin of Safety with UV Pathogen Control

UV is a highly effective wavelength for controlling mold and mildew (Fig. 4a, b) by reducing spore germination and mycelial growth. Given that UV’s effects are dose-dependent - with the right exposure time and frequency, UV penetrates through cell walls and disrupts the structure of DNA molecules (Fig. 5), prohibiting reproduction, effectively preventing mold colony growth, drastically reducing the need for human and chemical intervention.

Increase Plant Resilience to
Pests & Pathogens

UVA-induced changes in plants include thicker leaves that are more resilient against insects and mold, while the UVR8 response produces higher levels of naturally occurring compounds that help protect some plants.

Pest Control

UV is commonly used to quarantine labs to keep potentially dangerous insects from escaping into the environment however at lower intensities in horticultural settings its effects vary between species and exposure times.

By using multiple channels and split wavelengths (285 nm / 385 nm), the UV effect can be had for up to 20 hours crossing the visible cycle and night cycles. This significantly limits the available habitat and resources for insects and increases the probability of interspecific interactions, such as competition and predation.¹¹

Insects eat less when they are exposed to UVB and UVA radiation,
causing less crop damage.¹⁰

Lethal effects of UVB have been reported for aphids and spider mites.⁹

UVB irradiation strongly decreases survivorship and egg production.¹⁰  

AMPL Ultra™
An Independent Hydronic MicroCoil Based System

AMPL Ultra offers the ultimate in environmental control, energy management and flexible production. Independent MicroCoils turn each layer into its own growing environment, enabling growers to match output to market needs. AMPL Ultra is even capable of growing different crops on different layers**. Hydronic technology also eliminates the need for bulk air ducts, simplifying facility design. Modular production layer and facility components can be added as needed allowing for scaled growth; a highly desirable trait in emerging markets.

AMPL Ultra is an elegant solution for pharmaceutical horticulture and plant factories with unique output or architectural requirements.

AMPL Pro™
A Bulk Air Based Environmental System

AMPL Pro utilizes controlled bulk air diffusion and directed inter-canopy bulk air conditioning. This is the most cost-effective means of implementing Push/Pull Ascending Airflow in high-volume plant factories pending production goals.

AMPL Pro can facilitate staggered production to meet ever-changing market requirements. Bulk air entry air intake can be isolated to segregate setpoints between rows.