Analysis on Transporting Methods of Cultivation Unit for Vertical Cultivation in Plant Factory

Song Gu, Hanhan Ji, Yanli Yang, Qi Chu, Yi Yang, Houcheng Liu and Xianping Jiang
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Song Gu: College of Engineering, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
Hanhan Ji: College of Engineering, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
Yanli Yang: Guangzhou Sky Mechanical & Electrical Technology Co., Ltd., Guangzhou 510642, China
Qi Chu: Guangzhou Sky Mechanical & Electrical Technology Co., Ltd., Guangzhou 510642, China
Yi Yang: College of Electronic Engineering, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
Houcheng Liu: College of Horticulture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
Xianping Jiang: Guangdong Modern Agricultural Equipment Research Institute, Guangzhou 510635, China

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 10, 1-13

Abstract: Automatic transport can improve the operational efficiency in plant factory production and reduce the use of labor. However, a determination of a plant factory automation operation mode should comprehensively consider the economic strength of the enterprise, operation objects and operation mode, production scale, technical strength, labor costs, and other factors. In this study, a logistics transport system comprising a set of cultivation units was developed for plant factories, using a mode based on shelf-end delivery without power inside the shelf. Moreover, an analysis was conducted on four modes of common transportation methods for the cultivation units for vertical cultivation in plant factories. The results showed that, when comparing the progressive transport type and warehousing/reciprocating transport type for cultivation units, the transport productivity of the former is higher than that of the latter, and the difference in the two transport productivities is proportional to the capacity for cultivation units in each layer. When the capacities for cultivation units in each layer are 20 and 40, the transport productivity of the former is 115–200% and 130–250% higher than that of the latter, respectively. Moreover, the logistics transport system developed herein reaches an input (output) transport productivity of 330 (270) cultivation units h −1 .

Keywords: plant factory; vertical cultivation; cultivation unit; vertical transport; logistics equipment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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