Development of a cost effective UV A&B transmissible coating for the Airbox LED-based lighting system

工业合作伙伴BrezaWorks(BW)最近开发了一种名为Airbox的垂直农业创新平台。这个Airbox是为垂直和室内农业行业量身定做的受控环境农业生产平台。在空气箱中，植物生长在垂直的塔式盆栽中，并通过水培方法自动提供水分和养分。空气箱的照明由BW专有的内部LED照明提供，其光谱范围从可见光光谱中简单的低水平光子通量到具有UV A和B贡献的高级光谱，根据种植者的需求量身定做。目前的空气箱有两个主要问题：1)LED闪电系统目前对室内开放，因此没有保护；2)用于种植盆和生长塔的材料不耐紫外线，因此会随着时间的推移而退化。NSERC-Engage项目的目的是解决这些问题，并为BW的LED闪电系统提供低成本的涂层，以及用于垂直耕作的生长塔和生长盆的轻质材料。该项目将直接培训两名研究生材料选择、制造、表征和CAD建模。这些研究生将受益于BW的定期访问和与他们的技术人员的直接接触。通过这个Engage项目，我们将开发所需的涂料，这将导致大量额外的商业应用，例如暴露在水或粘稠的植物薄膜或新的容器材料中的风险，这些材料将支持食品保存方法，从而显著减少新鲜农产品的变质。潜在的应用是无穷无尽的，将为BrezaWorks带来大量的就业机会，并将使加拿大受益匪浅，因为大部分材料和所有制造都位于安大略省。

Industrial partner BrezaWorks (BW) has recently developed an innovative platform for vertical farming calledthe Airbox. This Airbox is a controlled environment agricultural production platform tailored for the verticaland indoor farming industry. In the AirBox, plants grow in vertical grow towers, in pots and are suppliedautomatically with water and nutrients via hydroponic methods.Lighting for the Airbox is provided by BW proprietary in-house LED lighting, whose spectrum ranges fromsimple low level photon flux in the visible spectrum through to advanced spectra with UV A&B contributions,tailored to the needs of the individual grower. The design of the AirBox is such that it can accommodate theexisting lighting infrastructure of established grow-systems if desired.The current Airbox has two major problems: 1) the LED lightning system is currently open to the chamber andtherefore unprotected; and 2) the materials used for the grow-pots and grow-towers are not UV stable andtherefore degrade over time. The aim of this NSERC-Engage project is to solve these issues, and provide BWwith a low cost coating for its LED lightning system, as well as a lightweight material for its grow-towers andgrow-pots, ready to use for vertical farming.This project will directly train two graduate students on materials selection, manufacturing, characterization,and CAD modeling. These graduate students will benefit from regular visits at BW and direct involvementwith their technical staff. With this Engage project we will develop the required coating which would lead tonumerous additional commercial applications such as where there is risk of exposure to water or tacky plantbased films or new container materials that would support food preservation methods which would lead tosignificant reductions in spoilage of fresh produce. The potential applications are endless and would lead tosignificant employment opportunities for BrezaWorks and would significantly benefit Canada given that thebulk of material and all the manufacturing is located in Ontario.