Previous Blog Posts
Blog 1 - Challenge Overview + Plant Growth Factors
Blog 2 - Plant Growth Chamber Design
The Project Plan: T-minus — 10 Weeks
Now that I have a design, it's time to create my project plan, a roadmap for how my design will become a prototype!
Research
System Design
Material Procurement
System Build
Developmental Testing
System Application Tests
Documentation & Conclusions
Prototype Materials
Prototyping is perhaps the most time-consuming step in the engineering process, but when planned properly, prototyping can be streamlined. One key principle to keep in mind is that each prototype is simply one iteration of the engineering cycle: design, build, test, modify. There may be several iterations before the final product is achieved so it is best to start off with a small version of the final product and with simple everyday materials.
Let's drive this principle home with a humorous example — My design can accommodate 140 lettuce plants, but if I were to grow 140 lettuce plants in every iteration, my apartment would be overrun with lettuce. Another roadblock is manufacturing custom-made parts. If I were to create custom-made pots for every plant I grew, my apartment would quickly become a resource-intensive, merciless factory.
To that end, I choose to build a 0.5m3 plant growth chamber with upcycled materials for my first prototype. For instance, the enclosure will be made from a cardboard shipping box, and the pot systems from plastic pots and canned food cans. With that in mind, I created a full list of prototype materials:
Enclosure
- 0.5m3 cardboard box
Light/Air
- LED light strips
- Power supply
- Small fan
Pot Systems
- Metal cans
- Plastic pots
- Wicks
- Seeds
- Calcined clay substrate
- Slow-release fertilizer
Water
- Irrigation tubing
- Syringe/water pump
Automation
- 1 Meter of Pi Challenger Kit
- Raspberry Pi 4 Model B 2GB
- PIM487 Automation Hat Mini
- PIM486 ENVIRO Hat for Raspberry Pi
- PIM300 PICO Hat Hacker
When prototyping involves plants, time must be carefully allocated. Plants need anywhere from three weeks to three months from seed to harvest. Like dougw observed "it is going to be a short growing season..." So I decided to get a head start. Before writing this blog, I had already grown some radish in my plant growth chamber.
In the next blog, I'll explain how I'll use the Challenger Kit for automation! Until then, keep learning and have fun! Click the arrow to navigate to the next blog.
