Farm equipment project

Hi all.

I need to make a theoretical project about a farm, where with plc and scada i have to control temperature, humidity and ph of soil. So i am wondering what equipment should i use for this to work. Assuming the demo farm is 20mx20m.

Help of any kind will be appreciated.

Make a list and think about it.

Equipment as in PLC? What do you have, what do you know, what do you prefer, what can you afford? Or is it all going to be theoretical?
Temperature, will a single temperature transmitter do? Air/Water/Other Liquid? How are you going to control it? When I read farm, I am thinking outside?
Humidity, how are you going to control it? Same as previous?
ph, if you are talking about a 20x20m, I would not trust a single point for measurement. How are you going to adjust ph? Automatically?

Sounds like a fun little project, good luck! And welcome to the forum!

A couples of years ago I took a tour of a local plant nursery. They grew plants, potted they, repotted them when they were bigger. Most manufacturing companies measure plant size in square feet; this company measured itself in acres.

So they had automatic picking "Robots" that would move a seadling from one small container to another...all PLC controlled. They also had a PLC control overhead conveyor system. When the plant got a certain size some would be placed in pot and stored on this system until they were ready to be unloaded and shipped to a store near you; that was PLC controlled.

They had beds that could be filled with water and then drained out based either on timers in the PLC program or operator input. They had a steam heating system. At the hight of the summer the incoming vents were closed (and probably the heating system was shut off or put in stand-by). As it got colder the heating was turned up. If fresh air was needed skylights were automatically opened and vents were turned on.

It was a fairly slick operation.

@boneless Thank you for the reply

It is indoor farm (livestock, crops .. not really defined ). Air temperature control, i am thinking using thermocouple or LM35 as sensor (1or2) and some sort of fancoiler/chiller for regulation (2-3). Also humidity sensor (1or2) and a dehumidifier. And ph sensors i think around 6 should be enough for that space, ph adjustment should be automated also but i dont have idea how still researching. All control should go through plc. I guess i will need plc like MicroLogix 1400 1766-L32BWAA.

Should be simple and not expensive, i just need suggestions for equipment like type of the PLC(AB, Siemens ..). I am sorry I am new at this, thank you again.

@GlenGineer Thank you for the reply

That sounds very good, thanks for sharing, but this should be just for demonstration and i would say basic automation.

xMilos said:

@boneless Thank you for the reply

It is indoor farm (livestock, crops .. not really defined ). Air temperature control, i am thinking using thermocouple or LM35 as sensor (1or2) and some sort of fancoiler/chiller for regulation (2-3). Also humidity sensor (1or2) and a dehumidifier. And ph sensors i think around 6 should be enough for that space, ph adjustment should be automated also but i dont have idea how still researching. All control should go through plc. I guess i will need plc like MicroLogix 1400 1766-L32BWAA.

Should be simple and not expensive, i just need suggestions for equipment like type of the PLC(AB, Siemens ..). I am sorry I am new at this, thank you again.

@GlenGineer Thank you for the reply

That sounds very good, thanks for sharing, but this should be just for demonstration and i would say basic automation.

Click to expand...

Somebody has to make a system like this to control a Retail Greenhouse. I have seen them at local Home Centers. Probably humiditats and louver/spray controls.
They do make soil moisture sensors...fork-like things that stick in the soil.