Stacked shallow water culture (sswc) growing systems, apparatus and methods

Abstract

A vertically-stacked growing system includes vertical beams and horizontal shelves respectively arranged on different vertical levels. Each horizontal shelf has a length and a width, and includes horizontal structural supports coupled to at least some of the vertical beams, decking coupled to the horizontal structural supports, and multiple walls to form a shallow pond when the horizontal shelf contains a plant nutrient water culture, thereby constituting a growing layer of the growing system. The walls include two side walls along the length and two end walls along the width. Each horizontal shelf further includes a loading and/or unloading apparatus to facilitate loading and/or unloading of a plurality of rafts into and/or out of the shallow pond, via the two end walls, wherein respective rafts of the plurality of rafts include a plurality of germinated plants. At least a first horizontal shelf further comprises a raft conveyance system to move at least a first raft of the plurality of rafts through a first shallow pond contained in the first horizontal shelf.

1 . A vertically-stacked growing system, comprising:
 a plurality of vertical beams; and   a plurality of horizontal shelves mechanically coupled to the plurality of vertical beams and respectively arranged on different vertical levels of the growing system, each horizontal shelf of the plurality of horizontal shelves having a length and a width and comprising:
 a plurality of horizontal structural supports coupled to at least some of the plurality of vertical beams; 
 decking, coupled to the plurality of horizontal structural supports; 
 a plurality of walls to form a shallow pond when the horizontal shelf contains a plant nutrient water culture, thereby constituting a growing layer of the growing system, the plurality of walls comprising:
 two side walls along the length of the horizontal shelf; and 
 two end walls along the width of the horizontal shelf, and 
 
 a loading and/or unloading apparatus to facilitate loading and/or unloading of a plurality of rafts into and/or out of the shallow pond, via the two end walls, when the horizontal shelf contains the plant nutrient water culture, wherein respective rafts of the plurality of rafts include a plurality of germinated plants, 
   wherein:   at least a first horizontal shelf of the plurality of horizontal shelves further comprises a raft conveyance system to move at least a first raft of the plurality of rafts through a first shallow pond contained in the first horizontal shelf when the first shallow pond and the first raft are present in the growing system; and   the loading and/or unloading apparatus comprises at least one ramp, disposed proximate to at least one end wall of the two end walls and above the decking.   
     
     
         2 . The growing system of  claim 1 , wherein:
 each horizontal shelf contains the plant nutrient water culture to form the shallow pond constituting the growing layer of the growing system; and   the growing system further comprises the plurality of rafts in the shallow pond of at least some of the horizontal shelves of the plurality of horizontal shelves.   
     
     
         3 . The growing system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one ramp comprises a plurality of rails. 
     
     
         4 . The growing system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one ramp comprises a second ramp disposed proximate to a second end wall of the two end walls and above the decking, to facilitate unloading of the respective rafts out of the shallow pond when the horizontal shelf contains the plant nutrient water culture. 
     
     
         5 . The growing system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one ramp comprises a first ramp disposed proximate to a first end wall of the two end walls and above the decking, to facilitate loading of respective rafts of the plurality of rafts into the shallow pond when the horizontal shelf contains the plant nutrient water culture. 
     
     
         6 . The growing system of  claim 5 , wherein at least the first ramp includes a plurality of first underwater rails inside an inner edge of the first end wall to prevent tops of the respective rafts from dipping under the plant nutrient water culture during the loading of the respective rafts into the shallow pond. 
     
     
         7 . The growing system of  claim 6 , wherein at least some of the plurality of first underwater rails include an angled portion to facilitate loading of the respective raft into the shallow pond. 
     
     
         8 . The growing system of  claim 7 , wherein respective ends of the at least some of the plurality of first underwater rails are above the plant nutrient water culture proximate to the first end wall. 
     
     
         9 . The growing system of  claim 5 , wherein the at least one ramp comprises a second ramp disposed proximate to a second end wall of the two end walls and above the decking, to facilitate unloading of the respective rafts out of the shallow pond when the horizontal shelf contains the plant nutrient water culture. 
     
     
         10 . The growing system of  claim 9 , wherein the second ramp includes a plurality of second underwater rails inside an inner edge of the second end wall to prevent tops of the respective rafts from dipping under the plant nutrient water culture during the unloading of the respective rafts out of the shallow pond. 
     
     
         11 . The growing system of  claim 10 , wherein at least some of the plurality of second underwater rails include an angled portion to facilitate unloading of the respective rafts out of the shallow pond. 
     
     
         12 . The growing system of  claim 11 , wherein respective ends of the at least some of the plurality of second underwater rails are above the plant nutrient water culture proximate to the second end wall. 
     
     
         13 . The growing system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one ramp comprises:
 a first ramp disposed proximate to a first end wall of the two end walls and above the decking, to facilitate loading of respective rafts of the plurality of rafts into the shallow pond when the horizontal shelf contains the plant nutrient water culture, the first ramp comprising a plurality of first underwater rails inside an inner edge of the first end wall to prevent tops of the respective rafts from dipping under the plant nutrient water culture during the loading of the respective rafts into the shallow pond, wherein at least some of the plurality of first underwater rails include a first angled portion to facilitate loading of the respective rafts into the shallow pond; and   a second ramp disposed proximate to a second end wall of the two end walls and above the decking, to facilitate unloading of the respective rafts out of the shallow pond when the horizontal shelf contains the plant nutrient water culture, the second ramp comprising a plurality of second underwater rails inside an inner edge of the second end wall to prevent the tops of the respective rafts from dipping under the plant nutrient water culture during the unloading of the respective rafts out of the shallow pond, wherein at least some of the plurality of second underwater rails include a second angled portion to facilitate unloading of the respective rafts out of the shallow pond.   
     
     
         14 . The growing system of  claim 13 , wherein the side walls of the horizontal shelf are higher than at least one end wall of the two end walls of the horizontal shelf. 
     
     
         15 . A method for handling a plurality of rafts of germinated plants in a vertically-stacked growing system, the vertically-stacked growing system including a plurality of elongated shallow ponds of plant nutrient water culture respectively arranged on different vertical levels of the vertically-stacked growing system, wherein at least a first elongated shallow pond of the plurality of elongated shallow ponds has a length and a width smaller than the length and comprises:
 two side walls along the length of the elongated shallow pond; and   two end walls along the width of the elongated shallow pond,   the method comprising:   A) loading and/or unloading the plurality of rafts into and/or out of at least the first elongated shallow pond from the two end walls of the first elongated shallow pond and not the two side walls of the first elongated shallow pond; and   B) moving at least a first raft of the plurality of rafts through at least the first elongated shallow pond of the plurality of elongated shallow ponds,   wherein the first elongated shallow pond includes at least one ramp, disposed proximate to at least one end wall of the two end walls, to facilitate loading and/or unloading of the plurality of rafts into and/or out of the first elongated shallow pond, and wherein A) comprises:   sliding the respective rafts of the plurality of rafts into and/or out of the first elongated shallow pond via the at least one ramp.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the at least one ramp includes a plurality of first underwater rails inside an inner edge of the at least one end wall of the two end walls to prevent tops of respective rafts of the plurality of rafts from dipping under the plant nutrient water culture during A), and wherein A) comprises:
 sliding the respective rafts of the plurality of rafts into and/or out of the first elongated shallow pond via the plurality of first underwater rails.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein at least some of the plurality of first underwater rails include an angled portion to facilitate the sliding of the respective rafts into and/or out of the first elongated shallow pond. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein:
 at least one ramp includes a first ramp disposed proximate to a first end wall of the two end walls of the first elongated shallow pond;   a second end wall of the two end walls includes a catchment area constituting a weir for the first elongated shallow pond, wherein the plant nutrient water culture flows freely over a top of the weir and into the catchment area; and   A) comprises:
 A1) loading respective rafts of the plurality of rafts into the first elongated shallow pond via the first ramp; and 
 A2) unloading the respective rafts out of the first elongated shallow pond via the weir. 
   
     
     
         19 . A vertically-stacked growing system, comprising:
 a plurality of vertical beams; and   a plurality of horizontal shelves mechanically coupled to the plurality of vertical beams and respectively arranged on different vertical levels of the growing system, each horizontal shelf of the plurality of horizontal shelves having a length and a width and comprising:
 a plurality of horizontal structural supports coupled to at least some of the plurality of vertical beams; 
 decking, coupled to the plurality of horizontal structural supports; 
 a plurality of walls to form a shallow pond when the horizontal shelf contains a plant nutrient water culture, thereby constituting a growing layer of the growing system, the plurality of walls comprising:
 two side walls along the length of the horizontal shelf; and 
 two end walls along the width of the horizontal shelf, and 
 
 at least one ramp ( 106 ), disposed proximate to at least one end wall of the two end walls and above the decking, to facilitate loading and/or unloading of a plurality of rafts ( 500 ) into and/or out of the shallow pond when the horizontal shelf contains the plant nutrient water culture, wherein respective rafts of the plurality of rafts include a plurality of germinated plants. 
   
     
     
         20 . The growing system of  claim 19 , wherein:
 each horizontal shelf contains the plant nutrient water culture to form the shallow pond constituting the growing layer of the growing system; and   the growing system further comprises the plurality of rafts in the shallow pond of at least some of the horizontal shelves of the plurality of horizontal shelves.   
     
     
         21 . The growing system of  claim 19 , wherein the at least one ramp comprises a first ramp disposed proximate to a first end wall of the two end walls and above the decking, to facilitate loading of respective rafts of the plurality of rafts into the shallow pond when the horizontal shelf contains the plant nutrient water culture. 
     
     
         22 . The growing system of  claim 21 , wherein at least the first ramp includes a plurality of first underwater rails inside an inner edge of the first end wall to prevent tops of the respective rafts from dipping under the plant nutrient water culture during the loading of the respective rafts into the shallow pond. 
     
     
         23 . The growing system of  claim 22 , wherein at least some of the plurality of first underwater rails include an angled portion to facilitate loading of the respective raft into the shallow pond. 
     
     
         24 . The growing system of  claim 23 , wherein respective ends of the at least some of the plurality of first underwater rails are above the plant nutrient water culture proximate to the first end wall. 
     
     
         25 . The growing system of  claim 21 , wherein the at least one ramp comprises a second ramp disposed proximate to a second end wall of the two end walls and above the decking, to facilitate unloading of the respective rafts out of the shallow pond when the horizontal shelf contains the plant nutrient water culture. 
     
     
         26 . The growing system of  claim 25 , wherein the second ramp includes a plurality of second underwater rails inside an inner edge of the second end wall to prevent tops of the respective rafts from dipping under the plant nutrient water culture during the unloading of the respective rafts out of the shallow pond. 
     
     
         27 . The growing system of  claim 26 , wherein at least some of the plurality of second underwater rails include an angled portion to facilitate unloading of the respective rafts out of the shallow pond. 
     
     
         28 . The growing system of  claim 27 , wherein respective ends of the at least some of the plurality of second underwater rails are above the plant nutrient water culture proximate to the second end wall. 
     
     
         29 . The growing system of  claim 19 , wherein the at least one ramp comprises:
 a first ramp disposed proximate to a first end wall of the two end walls and above the decking, to facilitate loading of respective rafts of the plurality of rafts into the shallow pond when the horizontal shelf contains the plant nutrient water culture, the first ramp comprising a plurality of first underwater rails inside an inner edge of the first end wall to prevent tops of the respective rafts from dipping under the plant nutrient water culture during the loading of the respective rafts into the shallow pond, wherein at least some of the plurality of first underwater rails include a first angled portion to facilitate loading of the respective rafts into the shallow pond; and   a second ramp disposed proximate to a second end wall of the two end walls and above the decking, to facilitate unloading of the respective rafts out of the shallow pond when the horizontal shelf contains the plant nutrient water culture, the second ramp comprising a plurality of second underwater rails inside an inner edge of the second end wall to prevent the tops of the respective rafts from dipping under the plant nutrient water culture during the unloading of the respective rafts out of the shallow pond, wherein at least some of the plurality of second underwater rails include a second angled portion to facilitate unloading of the respective rafts out of the shallow pond.   
     
     
         30 . The growing system of  claim 29 , wherein the side walls of the horizontal shelf are higher than at least one end wall of the two end walls of the horizontal shelf.