engineering stem hydroponics
TRANSCRIPT
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Designing a Better Hydroponics System
Thomas Ayers
Deoveon Craig
Alex Veverka
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Ask
• Can we build a better hydroponics system ? We are currently using a deep water containment (DWC) unit.
• Can we design a unit that will produce better growth results?
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Imagine
Jan. 21, 2014
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Imagine
Jan. 21, 2014
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Plan
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Plan
Jan. 23, 2014
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Create
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Starting Seedlings Feb. 18, 2014
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Safety
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March 7, 2013
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March 10, 2014
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March 13, 2014
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Data Collection
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Data Analysis
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0
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
He
igh
t in
Inch
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Plant Numbers
Growth Over Time in the PVC Lateral System
26-Feb
19-Mar
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0
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3.5
DWC Lateral PVC
He
igh
t (i
nch
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Hydroponics Units
Comparison of Swiss Chard Seedling Growth inDWC vs. Lateral PVC Hydroponics Units
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Improve: Systems Comparison
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Improve: “What Can Work Better?”Future Designs & Possible Projects
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Conclusion
• We saw better growth in our engineered PVC lateral flow system.
• The PVC unit proved to be a better starter for seedlings. The Swiss chard seedlings were double the size of the seedlings in the DWC unit.
• The strawberry plants ripened quicker in the lateral flow unit.
• Both of these factors, quicker growth and faster ripening of fruit would be important for those who were growing commercially or for personal use.
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Reflections
• One of our team’s biggest challenges was finding a type of plant suited to adjust to the environment of the STEM lab, in the dead of winter.
• We started first with sage which we found does not like to be wet.
• Luckily one of our advisors traveled south and brought back lettuce plants and Swiss chard.
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Reflections
• Growing plants takes PATIENCE!
• Because plants were scarcely available in December and we began experiencing absences from school during periods of inclement weather, we began planting seeds in case our plants died.
• We also began growing strawberries because of the availability of plants that had been started in a local greenhouse.
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Reflections• We had problems with algae growth.
• Algae will compete with plants for nutrients and will decompose leading to waste and bacteria.
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Reflections
• Changes we would have made to improve our unit’s efficiencywould be to paint the inside of the PVC pipes in our PVC lateral flow unit black to eliminate some of the algae growth.
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Acknowledgements