CHAPTER 1

PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING

1.1 Introduction
Hydroponics is a subset of hydroculture. The field of mechanical engineering has always
been used to improve agricultural technology, such as the drier for drying fruits, pumps for
fisheries, tractors, rice mills, etc. This study focuses on how the mechanical engineering field
improves the field of hydroponics. Conventional hydroponic farming methods have horizontal
gardens with 12 hours of photosynthesis period per day. One advantage of hydroponic farming to
conventional soil farming is space maximization minimal water requirement. More plants can be
planted in a given space by just increasing the concentration of the nutrient solution. [] And the
least amount of water is needed for irrigation. This study designed and fabricated a rotary
hydroponic gardening system that increased the 12 hour photosynthesis period per day to 24
hours. And at the same time, it increased space maximization even more by a factor of 4. This
rotary hydroponic gardening system quadrupled the number of plants planted in a given space.
Farming vegetables in the Philippines mostly use soil in growing plants because this is
the traditional and easy way in farming vegetables. However growing vegetables in soil in
outdoors have negative consequences. Vegetables that are grown outdoors are exposed in
different weather conditions, making the growth of the vegetables inconsistent. Also, these are
exposed in different insects and pests, thus making the farmers use insecticides and pesticides
which is harmful to the health of the consumers. Moreover, these are exposed in soil borne plant
pathogens that can significantly reduce the yield and quality in vegetables[39]. These negative
effects can be avoided using Hydroponics. Furthermore, hydroponics was derived from Greek
words, hydro meaning water and ponos meaning labor, i.e working water[35]. In addition, Dr.
William Frederick Gericke began promoting the use of hydroponics in agricultural crop
production in 1929[15,68].Also, Dr. William Frederick Gericke growed a twenty-five feet high
using a mineral solution rather than a soil[71]. Moreover, advantages of using a hydroponics in
farming are that crops can be grown where no suitable soil exists or where the soil is
contaminated with disease, labor for tilling, cultivating, fumigating, watering, and other
traditional practices is largely eliminated, maximum yields are possible, conservation of water
and nutrients is a feature of all systems, this can lead to a reduction in pollution of land and water
streams because valuable chemicals (i.e. insectides,pesticides) are not needed, soilborne plant
diseases are more readily eradicated in closed systems[33].
The Philippines agricultural sector should be the leading country in Asia in terms of
productivity with the natural resources that our country have. But apparently the agricultural
sector experiences a lot problem such as climate change, which results to unpredictable weather
conditions and longer El Nio periods, and soil contamination and degradation because of
pollutants such as synthetic pesticides and misuse of agricultural chemicals. All of these
problems hinder plant growth.
Since the Philippines is a tropical country, where El-Nio occurs once a year , the
vegetable production during the El-Nio will expectedly go down given that farmers in the
Philippines are using traditional method of farming. At year 1990 to 2006 agricultural damage
alone stood at PhP12.431billion per year (63% of the total damage) of which about PhP2.23
billion per year or 17.9% are due to drought[8]. Since, the air condition is controlled inside a
greenhouse farm, the vegetables cannot be affected during the drought thus maintaining the
vegetable supply during drought. In addition, by having the water recirculated in to the plants
back to the reservoir thus making hydroponics more, water conservative than the conventional
method of farming which the use of soil.
The rotary hydroponic gardening system designed, fabricated and tested in this study has
the three main parts (e.g. rotary hydroponic garden unit, grow lights and irrigation system) which
corresponds to advantageous capabilities. The plants are planted in a cylindrical configuration. It
will maximize space that will quadruple the number of plants. The rotational motion of the
garden distributes the lighting throughout the night. The grow lights of the lighting prolong the
photosynthesis period to 24 hours which means the growing period is doubled in a given time. It
is hydroponically grown thus minimum water requirement. To ensure that the plants are not
stressed and the nutrient solution in the trays is not shaken, a rotational speed that will make the
rotary hydroponic garden to be almost static was designed, fabricated and tested. Lastly an
irrigation system that avoids spillage and distributes evenly the heterogeneous nutrient solution
was designed, fabricated and tested These capabilities were used to solve the aforementioned
problems. After the mechanical aspect has been analyzed, the effects on the morphometry of the
Black Behi Pechay being grown in the rotary hydroponic gardening system were analyzed.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Soil issues, pests and diseases, water conservation problems, and space requirement are
problems that has always been encountered in the field of agriculture Planting in soil would
expose the plants to unwanted chemicals that may be present in soil such as herbicides and
pesticides and soilborne pests and diseases. Plants that are planted conventionally in soil are
exposed to the outside environment and to diseases and pests that will affect their health and
might kill them. Water conservation has always been a problem. Once the water is used for
irrigation it will never be recovered. And knowing that only a few percent of the water poured is
used by the plants needs to be solved. And lastly, maximizing space in a given area of land will
be tackled by this study.

1.3 Objectives
The study aims to design, fabricate and test a hybrid solar powered rotary hydroponics
gardening system that prolongs the usual 12-hour photosynthesis period to 24 hours
Specifically, the study aims:
To test the drive mechanism if the design speed is attained
To test the grow lights if the design lumens per square meter or illuminance (lx) is
attained
To test the irrigation system if the design flow rate is attained
To be able to grow Black Behi Pechay (Brassica rapa) on both rotary hydroponic
gardening system and soil
To test the growing capability of the gardening system by comparing the
morphometry of Black Behi Pechay cultivated in rotary hydroponic system to soil-
grown Black Behi Pechay (Brassica rapa)

1.4 Significance of the Study

The researchers will benefit from this study by giving them an opportunity to design,
fabricate, install and test a rotary hydroponic gardening system that will enable them to apply the
knowledge and fundamentals of Mechanical Engineering specifically Machine Design. It offers a
mechanical strategy of cultivating plants to provide sustainable hydroponic growing. Nutrient
solutions are recycled in recirculating system to reduce the amount of waste and for excellent
nutrient absorption. Since the water is recirculated is used all throughout the growing cycle. It
will serve as a benchmark for future studies on growing plants in a hydroponic garden with
mechanical intervention here in the Philippines. It will benefit the farmers by providing a higher
yield than the conventional soil-based culture of growing plants since mechanical hydroponic
growing of plants avoids nutrient deficiency and considering that this system does not take so
much space. It will also benefit the people in these areas or the consumers because they will have
an access to a healthier produce and ingestion of artificial ripening agents or pesticides can be
prevented. It will benefit hobbyists of hydroponic gardening. This is a new way of gardening
which improves the beauty and the horticultural aspect of their garden. Moreover, this study will
be helpful to the plant industry addressing them the modern way of breeding plants so that they
can catch up to the needs of the growing population since less production caused by infertile soil
and pests will be avoided which results to a more produce.

1.5 Scope and Limitations

1.5.1 Scope
This study focuses on creating a hybrid solar powered rotary hydroponics
gardening system and its major parts such as the drive mechanism, grow lights, and
irrigation system. Only conventional materials will be used in the fabrication. Used
materials, such as used hollow steel tubes, wood and sheet metal will be recycled and
used for the fabrication. Black Behi Pechay is the chosen crop to be planted because it is
the variety of Brassica rapa which grows here in the Philippines. A housing will also be
assembled to enclose the gardening system thereby making an adequate environment for
the plants without pests. The gardening system will operate on Ebb and Flood all
throughout the growing period of 30 days. The gardening system will be located beside
the back lobby of the Bunzel Building of the University of San Carlos-Talamban
Campus. Nutrient solution from University of the Philippines Los Banos and
dechlorinated water from MCWD will be used all throughout the study. The volume of
the grow tray will also be based on the preliminary design from SolidWorks software
which is 26.56 liters. The time needed to fill the 8 Grow trays is 2 minutes such that it
will not take too long to fill the 8 grow trays and the water velocity is enough that
spillage and root damage is avoided. The head or the energy required to pump the water
 plus nutrient solution to the grow trays will be based on the preliminary design from
SolidWorks software which is 3.23m as measured. The proponents will then grow the
chosen crop in the gardening system. To test the mechanical aspect of the gardening
system, the drive mechanism will be tested if indeed the desired speed of 1/60 revolution
per minute is attained. The grow lights will be tested if the desired 1305 lumens per
square meter are attained using a light intensity meter. The irrigation system will be
tested if the desired flow rate for ebbing of 13.28 liters per minute is attained using a
rotameter. Testing for the growing capability will be done through morphometry during
harvesting period.

1.5.2 Limitations
This study will not include the following, such as the effects of air temperature,
air movement for transpiration, relative humidity, pH, salinity, electrical conductivity,
dissolved oxygen of mineral nutrient solution and water temperature. Evapotranspiration
will not be considered in the study since the water requirement here in the Philippines for
Black Behi Pechay was already determined by previous studies. This study is limited to
Ebb and Flood Technique. The type of light source is based from the textbook How to
Hydroponics which is LED. The effects of non-uniform lighting distribution to the
plants because of the different distances of the trays from the light source above will not
be focused. The determination for the intensity of the lamp will be based from the nearest
grow tray. Even with the non-uniform lighting distribution, the duration of light exposure
is equal for all the plants because of the rotary motion of the gardening system. Thermal
analysis is not included in this study because the group is unable to procure the air
conditioning and ventilation system for this analysis. The economic aspect of the study is
not considered because the proponents will be focusing on the mechanical aspect. Also,
the conceptualization of the solar panel system and circuitry will not be included in the
study; instead a solar panel kit will be procured.