Claims:I/We claim;
1. An urban agro-farming using rainwater harvesting channels comprises of;
a) A tunnel-like structure is constructed and at the bottom of the tunnel, there is a rain water harvesting channel;
b) Slightly above this channel, a planting slab will be held in which the cultivation of crops will take place;
c) At the surface road level, the overall structure is covered by concrete slabs, above which vehicles will be travelling;
d) Under these slabs artificial lights are placed for photosynthesis when the sunlight is scarcely available;
e) In between the concrete slab and the road there is a small opening, where a drain way is placed;
f) Through the drain way rainwater will be directly transferred to rainwater channels at the bottom and at the same time the rain water is harvested in the tanks built at the street ends;
g) From those storage tanks, irrigation through drip irrigation systems will be carried out;
h) For planting, harvesting and maintenance purposes a path is kept at the street end and through this entry way we can get into the channel and harvest food products;
i) For Irrigation, the water stored in the storage tank is utilized during the rainy season and the irrigation is controlled externally using the control valve placed at the street end which reduces evaporation loss.
, Description:The present invention generally relates to agricultural device. More specifically, the invention describes an urban agro-farming in rain water harvesting channels.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Water conservation is gradually being stimulated in critical sectors of the economy, such as the agriculture sector. This is fuelled by an cumulative demand for water and growing apprehensions of water scarcity in the society. The United Nations even considers water accessibility to be a major problem for the 21st century.
Rainwater harvesting has agricultural practices. It can be used for watering gardens in our residents and crop plants in agricultural fields. These decrease the reliance of garden owners and farmers on other sources of water supply, thus saving them money.
Also, we are in a climate change period where intense rainfall is anticipated. And it can impairment agricultural land areas. Rainwater harvesting can be used to distract heavy rainfall from attaining agricultural lands, thereby protecting crop plants from getting damaged.
The use of soft water from rainwater harvesting can help to reduce farmers operating costs. This is because calcium carbonate from hard water normally piles up in pumps or sprinklers causing blockages. When such equipment is blocked, money is used to unblock their pathways. In contrast, such problems are not usually associated with the use of soft water in farming operations, thus reducing the cost to maintain crops.
A scientific literature titled “Rainwater Harvesting Agriculture: An Integrated System for Water Management on Rainfed Land in China's Semiarid Areas”, [Feng-Rui Li, et al., Dec 2000] describes rainwater harvesting system, water-saving irrigation system, and highly effective crop production system. Its main function is to provide farmers in water-limiting environments with access to the water needed to meet domestic and agricultural water needs.
A patent US20120017996A1 titled “Device for portably harvesting rainwater” describes a device for portable rainwater harvesting which consists of a closed container of indeterminate size with removably sealable openings which allow for entrapment and containment of precipitation, and an intermediate system which may connect to a catchment system. The container may have an opening near the top as an entry point for the collected rainwater and an opening with valve assembly at or near the bottom for controllably dispensing the collected rainwater.
Therefore, there exists a need to design and develop an cost-effective advanced system that should utilize rainwater harvesting for agro-farming.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The following summary is provided to facilitate a clear understanding of the new features in the disclosed embodiment, and it is not intended to be a full, detailed description. A detailed description of all the aspects of the disclosed invention can be understood by reviewing the full specification, the drawing and the claims and the abstract, as a whole.
The objective of the present invention is to design and develop a rainwater harvesting channels for urban agro-farming.
The aforementioned aspects along with the objectives and the advantages can be achieved as described herein.
According to the embodiment of the present invention, a rainwater channel is constructed and planting slabs are fixed.
In an aspect of the present invention, after installing the planting medium in the slab, desired plants are cultivated in it.
In another aspect of the present invention, after the required growth, it is harvested and supplied to the nearby residents.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, a drip irrigation system is implemented and use water most efficiently for plant growth.
Further in accordance with the present invention, no extra nutrients are supplied and Pesticides are completely avoided thus ensure natural growth.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description of the techniques and methodologies accompanied by suitable diagrams.
Fig. 1 illustrates the model for large multi-lane roads;
Fig. 2 illustrates the model for small single lane roads;
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The principles of operation, design configurations and evaluation values in these non-limiting examples can be varied and are merely cited to illustrate at least one embodiment of the invention, without limiting the scope thereof.
The embodiments will be described in detail with corresponding marked references to the drawings, in which the illustrative components of the invention are outlined. The embodiments disclosed herein can be expressed in different forms and should not be considered as limited to the listed embodiments in the disclosed invention. The various embodiments outlined in the subsequent sections are construed such that it provides a complete and a thorough understanding of the disclosed invention, by clearly describing the scope of the invention, for those skilled in the art.
It must also be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Although any systems and methods similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of embodiments of the present invention, the preferred, systems and methods are now described.
The objective of the present invention is to construct the rain water channels in a small efficient manner so that it is not disturbing the transportation and space problems.
As illustrated in Fig. 1, initially, a tunnel-like structure of eight feet long is constructed. At the bottom of the tunnel, there is a rain water harvesting channel through which excess rain water will be drained to the nearby water resources and also the draining water will be in contact with the groundwater table, thus increasing the ground water level. These channels will be enough to efficiently drain excess rain water on the roads and streets of urban areas.
Slightly above this channel, a planting slab will be held. In the planting slab the cultivation of crops will take place. At the surface road level, the overall structure is covered by concrete slabs, above which vehicles will be travelling. Under these slabs artificial lights are placed for photosynthesis when the sunlight is scarcely available. The width of the overall structure is Four feet.
In between the concrete slab and the road there is a small opening, where a drain way is placed. Through the drain, rainwater gets drained and natural light enters. Through the drain way rainwater will be directly transferred to rainwater channels at the bottom. At the same time the rain water is harvested in the tanks built at the street ends. From those storage tanks, irrigation through drip irrigation systems will be carried out which is more efficient than conventional irrigation methods.
For planting, Harvesting and maintenance purposes a path is kept at the street end. Through this entry way we can get into the channel and harvest food products.
As illustrated in Fig. 2, the design is small and simple for single lane roads. The construction has a total Five feet depth. There is a separate slab for planting and a drain pathway. The planting slab will be situated at three feet below the surface level. The drain path runs below these plant slabs.
For Irrigation, the water stored in the storage tank is utilized during the rainy season. The irrigation is controlled externally using the control valve placed at the street end which reduces evaporation loss. The advantages of using drip irrigation is, it eliminates surface run-off and there is no contact of water with leaves and trunks thus reduces fungal potential simultaneously discourages weeds.
In the present invention, Super Absorbent Polymers (SAP)along with coir pith is used in the planting medium, so there is no need of separate irrigation system for small scale plantation, these SAP absorb the rain water and have the ability to retain it for months.
The SAP is made from orange peels and widely used in South Africa. The advantage of using sap is it is made from waste products, biodegradable, can hold water up to 500 times its weight, extremely low cost, and provide nutrients to soil whilst retaining water and absolutely no chemicals are added.
The Coir pith is made from coconut husk. It contains High carbon and nitrogen composition, High lignin content lowers biodegradability. It can hold 70% more moisture than normal soil. Lifespan of Coir pith is 60 days. It also contains essential plant minerals such as cellulose, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, zinc and copper.
It is emphasized that the Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to allow a reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features are grouped together in a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment. In the appended claims, the terms “including” and “in which” are used as the plain-English equivalents of the respective terms “comprising” and “wherein,” respectively. Moreover, the terms “first”, “second,” “third,” and so forth, are used merely as labels, and are not intended to impose numerical requirements on their objects.
What has been described above includes examples of the disclosed architecture. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components and/or methodology, but one of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that many further combinations and permutations are possible. Accordingly, the novel architecture is intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
Without further description, it is believed that one of ordinary skill in the art can, using the preceding description and the illustrative examples, make and utilize the present invention and practice the claimed methods. It should be understood that the foregoing discussion and examples merely present a detailed description of certain preferred embodiments. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that various modifications and equivalents can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.