Abstract
Plant factory has drawn attention in many countries in the world due to capability of environmental control not only for better yield and quality, but also for increase in functional and medicinal components of the products. In this paper, an experimental plant factory was constructed for various tests under different environmental conditions, and the operations were evaluated. A production room was constructed with adiabatic materials with dimensions of $6,900{\times}3,000{\times}2,500$ mm ($L{\times}W{\times}H$). Four sets of $2,890{\times}600{\times}2,320$ mm ($L{\times}W{\times}H$) production frame unit, each with 9 light-installed beds and an aeroponic fertigation system, resulting in 36 beds, were prepared. Accuracy and response were evaluated for each environmental control component with and without crops. Air temperature, humidity, $CO_2$ concentration, light intensity, frequency, and duty ratio, fertigation rate and scheduling were controllable from a main control computer through wireless communication devices. When the plant factory was operated without crop condition, the response times were 8 minutes for change in temperature from 20 to $15^{\circ}C$ and 20 minutes from 15 to $20^{\circ}C$; 7 minutes for change in humidity from 40 to 65%; and 4 minutes for change in $CO_2$ concentration from 450 to 1000 ppm. When operated for 24 hours with crop cultivation; average, maximum, and minimum values of temperatures were 20.06, 20.8, and $18.8^{\circ}C$; humidity were 66.72, 69.37, and 63.73%; $CO_2$ concentrations were 1017, 1168, and 911 ppm, respectively. Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density was increased as the distance from the light source decreased, but variability was greater at shorter distances. Results of the study would provide useful information for efficient application of the plant factory and to investigate the optimum environment for crop growth through various experiments.
