US 11,700,804 B2
Production facility layout for automated controlled environment agriculture
Gage Goodspeed Coffin, Los Altos Hills, CA (US); Michael Peter Flynn, Palo Alto, CA (US); Brice Leon Klein, San Francisco, CA (US); Alexandre Le Roux, Redwood City, CA (US); Nathaniel R. Storey, Laramie, WY (US); Tamara Tahir Hasoon, Redwood City, CA (US); Merritt Jonathan Jenkins, Cambridge, MA (US); Maria Alexandria Malone, San Francisco, CA (US); Matthew James Matera, San Francisco, CA (US); Kelly Catherine Casie LaBuff, San Francisco, CA (US); and Alan Colbrie Schoen, Los Gatos, CA (US)
Assigned to MJNN LLC, South San Francisco, CA (US)
Appl. No. 17/281,694
Filed by MJNN LLC, South San Francisco, CA (US)
PCT Filed Oct. 30, 2019, PCT No. PCT/US2019/058770
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Mar. 31, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/092506, PCT Pub. Date May 7, 2020.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/752,980, filed on Oct. 30, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2022/0007601 A1, Jan. 13, 2022
Int. Cl. A01G 31/04 (2006.01); A01G 31/06 (2006.01)
CPC A01G 31/045 (2013.01) [A01G 31/06 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A crop production facility for controlled environment agriculture, comprising:
a growth environment having a first end and a second end, the growth environment comprising a grow conveyance mechanism for conveying crop modules from the first end to the second end; wherein the growth environment and the grow conveyance mechanism comprises
a vertical grow tower conveyance system comprising
one or more grow lines extending from the first end to the second end of the growth environment;
a plurality of grow towers, each of the plurality of grow towers vertically attached to, and moveable along, a respective one of the one or more grow lines, wherein each of the plurality of grow towers includes a plurality of grow sites extending at least along one face thereof; and
a grow tower conveyance mechanism operative to move the one or more grow towers along a respective grow line from a first end to a second end;
a central processing system located adjacently to the growth environment comprising
a transplanter station arranged proximal to the first end of the growth environment;
a harvester station arranged proximal to the second end of the growth environment; and
a post-harvest processing facility located adjacent to the central processing system and proximal to the harvester station;
wherein the harvester station comprises a crop harvesting machine, and a feeder mechanism to receive a grow tower in a horizontal orientation and feed the grow tower through the crop harvesting machine in a horizontal orientation; and
wherein the crop production facility further comprises an automated laydown station comprising a first robot including an end effector adapted to releasably grasp a grow tower, and control logic operative to cause the first robot to pick the grow tower from a pick location in a vertical orientation, rotate the grow tower to a horizontal orientation and place the grow tower on a conveyor for loading into the harvester station.