Recipient Organization
Cycloptics Technologies, LLC
2358 Adirondack Trail
Dayton,OH 45409
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Greenhouse farming is an absolute necessity to revive and create local agriculture industries in northern climatically challenged regions with short growing seasons. Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) has made significant strides in greenhouse farming technology. State of the art CEA farming utilizes direct control of lighting, temperature and CO2 in a hydroponics environment. Key advantages of CEA greenhouse farming include reduced use of pesticides, faster and higher quality growth, minimal transport costs to local customers, and "vine ripened" produce with minimal spoilage and contamination risks. For CEA greenhouse farming to be adopted in rural northern climates, progress is needed to reduce greenhouse-operating costs. While temperature does play some role, lighting continues to be the most significant limiting factor in the growth of several specialty crops. Providing adequate amounts of photo synthetically active radiation (PAR) has been shown to increase greenhouse production capacity to a level capable of supporting large market demand. The challenge for northern climates is to implement such supplemental lighting systems at a cost that makes CEA greenhouse farming competitive with large out of state centralized farm and ship sources. In Phase 2 Cycloptics is combining recently available high intensity discharge (HID) bulb technology with its patent-pending, optimized reflector designs to achieve unprecedented plant growth lighting energy and cost savings. The new HID bulbs feature small emitters and high PAR efficiency relative to previous HID bulbs, making them ideal for compact and highly energy efficient growth luminaires. Cycloptics can design both direct and indirect lighting reflectors for these HID bulbs that can be precisely engineered to a highly uniform distribution over large arbitrary patterns and depths. HID bulbs have up to now been problematic as PAR luminaires for growth applications. Plants nearer the source tended to be burned, while others were not getting enough light. The design and optical performance of Cycloptics reflectors allow them to be placed closer to the plant canopy, enabling smaller volume highly efficient energy curtains for cooler months. The innovative compact reflector design will translate to less shadowing of natural lighting in warmer months. It is the combination of target efficiency, compactness, and HID lamp energy efficiency that ultimately yields the energy and cost savings for the proposed luminaire.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Cycloptics Technologies goals and objectives of its SBIR Phase 2 project titled "Next Generation Energy Efficient Supplemental Lighting for Plant Production" are 1a) Achieve the optimum forming and assembly method for a 315W ceramic metal-halide HID supplemental lighting reflector/fixture for installation and testing in a 96 sq. ft. walk-in plant growth chamber. 1b) Evaluate and contrast the energy efficiency and plant production results of Cycloptics 315W HID system of fourteen reflectors versus a fluorescent configuration of forty-eight T12VHO 110W lamps and forty-eight 50W incandescent bulbs, and a T5 system consisting of 108 54W bulbs and ten 50W incandescent bulbs in identical 96 sq. ft. chambers each growing Lactuca sativa, cv Flandria (Bibb lettuce). 2a Achieve the optimum forming and assembly method for a 315W supplemental lighting reflector/fixture for installation and testing in a research greenhouse at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. 2b) Evaluate and contrast the energy efficiency and plant production performance of twenty Cycloptics 315W ceramic metal-halide HID fixtures installed in a Cornell University research greenhouse to existing 400W and 600W high pressure sodium and metal-halide HID fixtures. 3a) Achieve the optimum forming and assembly method for a 315W ceramic metal-halide HID supplemental lighting reflector/fixture for installation and testing in a CEA (controlled environment agriculture) hydroponic lettuce production greenhouse at Finger Lakes Fresh in Ithaca, NY. 3b) Evaluate and contrast the energy efficiency and plant production performance of forty Cycloptics 315W ceramic metal-halide HID fixtures installed over one bay at Finger Lakes Fresh in Ithaca, NY to their existing 600W high pressure sodium HID fixtures.
Project Methods
Cycloptics will start Phase 2 by designing and testing new, sequential iterations (beta and gamma) of the alpha prototype reflector it completed in Phase 1 to establish accurate tooling factors and tolerances for the plant growth chamber reflector fabrication process. The optical performance of the iterative prototype reflector designs for a 96 sq. ft. chamber will be verified through independent testing to determine planar and semi-spherical maps using linear and goniometer translation stages respectively. Spectral data will also be collected to determine optical wavelength content and uniformity for each map. Directionality will be determined based on the light sensor characteristics. As a baseline for the Cycloptics luminaire, several measurements will be taken without the reflector installed in the walk-in plant growth chamber. The overall "wall plug" efficiencies with and without the reflector will also be measured, as determined by optical PAR output vs. electrical power input. Cycloptics will correlate test data with simulation results. Modifications to the luminaire model will be made, and a final layout of the luminaires for the growth chamber at Cornell will be prepared. Performance metrics will include lighting lateral and depth uniformity, and daily light integral relative to that required for lettuce. The PAR efficiency, energy savings, and manufacturing cost of the new luminaire configuration will be compared to that for the existing T12 configuration as well as to configurations based on next generation T5 fluorescent lamps. As part of the "bottom line" economic impact portion of the proposed effort, the estimated volume procurement, installation and operation costs of the new luminaire design will be estimated and compared with existing fluorescent luminaires. The target audiences for the research results that Cycloptics achieves in Phase 2 for its Next Generation Energy Efficient Supplemental Lighting for Plant Production are U.S. land grant universities, agricultural research corporations and CEA greenhouses, and similar entities worldwide. Within these organizations the groups that will benefit from the projected 50% energy savings for plant growth chambers retrofitted with Cycloptics supplemental lighting, and the 50% reduction in electric demand for both supplemental lighting and air-conditioning for new chambers manufactured with Cycloptics supplemental lighting are the researchers, facility managers, trustees and general management.