Objective :-
The main objective of this project is to design & fabricate rack for hydroponics: flood & drain system
Introduction :-
1) we had the requirement of rack for pot settlement for hydroponics : flood & drain system.
2) we found the rack in scrap yard & decided to modify that as per our design requirement .
What is flood & drain system:-
1) This system is operated in a very basic and simple technique. It floods the root system of the plants with proper solution of mixed nutrients.
2) Instead of continuous manner, this works periodically; thus, very easy, efficient and manageable. Its just simply fill the pots with water and drain same water.
So, initially we decided to go with basic one pot flood and drain system. From below image we can see for reservoir tank we took bucket and for putting plant we took paint bucket.
Need of project:-
1) In previous ,We put flood & drain system inside shed net structure but aesthetically it not seems good as shown in below image, that’s why I decided to build rack structure for this flood & drain system
Procedure followed:-
Searching a material
1) First we found the rack structure in scrap yard & we decided that to utilise this structure for our system .
Manufacturing processes followed :-
welding , grinding , surface finishing , bending are different manufacturing processes used during fabrication
Ideation 2D sketch:- During 2D sketch draw of pot system I consider the different parameters like dimension of pot, weight of pot, no of pots in a row etc...
Design parameters :-
1) the structure is 226 cm in height ,214 cm wide in dimension
2) the structure is symmetric at a distance 107 cm from terminal portion.
3) so we decided that ,to fabricate a two pot layer system.
4) first layer is 70 cm from top & second one is 70 cm from bottom .
5) considering plant growth height is around 3 feet , so the distance between two pot layer system is maintained 3 feet .
6) Each layer contain 14 pot ,that means 7 pot in a row.
7) so we design the whole flood & drain system for 28 pots
8) each pot is fixed in 15x15 cm dimesion squre block
9) Each pot is 3.5 liter in capacity .
10) so total weight of 28 pots on whole system is 98-100 liter
Material selection & properties :-
with considering total load act on strucure & strength consideration I choose mild steel rod material with folloeing properties
# modulus of elasticity =200GPa
# Poisons ratio=0.27
# Density = 7800 kg/m3
# Tensile strength = 475 MPa
# Yield strength = 275 Mpa
Pot design parameters :-
Height of pot is 16 cm
bottom diameter of pot 12 cm
top diameter of pot 18 cm
pot having water holding capacity 3.5 liter
we required 28 pots of equal features .
Calculations :-
1) Total weight calculations of pot system
each pot having 3.5 litre water holding capacity,
so , we wants to fabricate 2 layers of pot system
each layer contain 14 pots , that means 7 pots in a single row.
so , # weigth on each row = capacity of single pot * no of pots
= 7*3.5
=24.5 liter
# weigth on each layer = capacity of single row * no of rows
= 24.5*2
= 49 liter.
# Total weigth on structure of pot system = capacity of a sinle layer * no of layers
= 49*2
= 98 liter.
2) Total load calculations :-
# force act by a single pot on squar shape ros frame = mass of single pot x gravitational acceleration
= 3.5 x 9.81
= 34.3 Newton
# force act on one layer of pot = mass of single pot * no of pots * gravitational accelertion
= 3.5*14*9.81
= 480.6 Newton
# Total force act on whole structure = mass os single pot * total no of pots * gravitational acceleration
= 3.5*28*9.81
= 961.4 Newton
Conclusion :-
The hydroponic: flood & drain system structure fabrication completed with considering required design parameters .
Next action :-
1) The fabricated flood & drain structure will place next to kitchen empty space as shown in below image
2) then we will grow plants in pots with syphone technique.
3) the base portion of structure is empty to keep water containing drum
