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）最近开发了一个名为Airbox的垂直农业创新平台。这款Airbox是为垂直和室内农业行业量身定制的受控环境农业生产平台。在AirBox中，植物生长在垂直的生长塔中，在盆中，并通过水培方法自动浇水和养分。Airbox的照明由BW专有的内部LED照明提供，其光谱范围从可见光谱中的简单低水平光子通量到具有UV A和B贡献的高级光谱，根据个人种植者的需求量身定制。AirBox的设计是这样的，如果需要的话，它可以容纳已建立的生长系统的现有照明基础设施。目前的Airbox有两个主要问题：1）LED照明系统目前对腔室开放，因此不受保护; 2）用于生长盆和生长塔的材料不是紫外线稳定的，因此随着时间的推移而降解。NSERC Engage项目旨在解决这些问题，并为BW的LED照明系统提供低成本的涂层，以及用于垂直农业的生长塔和种植盆的轻质材料。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的定期访问和直接参与他们的技术人员。通过这个Engage项目，我们将开发所需的涂层，这将导致大量额外的商业应用，例如有暴露于水或粘性植物薄膜或新容器材料的风险，这些材料将支持食品保存方法，从而显着减少新鲜农产品的腐败。潜在的应用是无止境的，将导致BrezaWorks的重大就业机会，并将大大有利于加拿大，因为大部分材料和所有的制造业位于安大略。

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.