Thanks! We are hoping to start product development in early 2013. Our R&D has allowed us to design over 7 different fixtures. We are hoping to be the first company to make aeroponics commercially scalable.
I like the sound of that. There are certain systems that are already available but they seem overpriced . Looks cool !
We are looking at between $80-$90 a square foot for HPA systems. With 10 rows of Philips Horticulture LED lighting equal to about 800 watts of T5, you are looking at an additional $56 dollars a square foot for a total of $146 a square foot. The nearest equivalent system is $462 a square foot lol.. and that doesn't even include the lights. Unlike the other guys who are using thermoforming/vaccumforming to manufacture their root chambers, we use rotational molding so we can make some really big systems. Not only that, but we can use food grade, FDA approved HDPE materials in the molding. Nothing sticks to HPDE.. it's the stuff they make cutting boards out of.
Sounds like you know your stuff ! I assume you guys plan to offer different lids with different spacing between each plant ? This would be useful, or I guess u could always just plug up a few holes... That feeding system looks insane. How exactly does it work? Also , how are those basil coming out ? I'd love to see how the system performs when there is extreme root balls like I've seen on some of the other aero systems...I've never grown aero but I feel like those little sprayers would have trouble pumping being covered by massive root balls . Any thought on this ? Also, do you have a website I could check out ? Thanks !
I'm really glad I found this thread. I'm looking at something like this for a host of herbs and spices, but the price is always too high. I'll keep it in mind when I have the funds. Subbed.
New video with some hairy roots!! [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGNo95f4dI4]Aeroponics by Indoor Harvest (multi-cell root hairs) - YouTube[/ame]
How does your system use half as much water as an aquaponics system when your system is drain to waste? Aquaponics systems use the same water recirculating and just being cleaned by the plants. Also wondering how your system will work being drain to waste, you must have a res of RO water connected and being constantly topped up?
In aquaponics, raft systems are employed. There are also the fish tanks. Anytime you have a large water surface area, you will loose water through evaporation. Same with LPA, the running water increases evaporation rates. Our system, the water does not come into contact with the air until it is dispersed by the nozzle head. The nutrient solution is atomized to around 50-60 micron so there is very little run off. We are dispersing oz's at a time, not gallons. We are talking drips, not flowing run off here. We do not use reservoirs, because we are not collecting water. We do use a small holding tank post our mechanical dosers, but that is mainly to create head pressure since our system is based around a central plant that feeds a fixture based system. The system can however be configured for recirculating LPA if that's what a user wants. Our tests however are all being done using HPA since LPA is relatively straight forward. IF you look at the roots, we develope very fine hairs which allow for faster absorbtion and growth. You won't get that with aquaponics or LPA.
A gallon of 50-60 micron mist presents a greater surface area for evaporation than an olympic sized swimming pool