11/09/2017
You don’t have to worry about how pesticides in vegetables are damaging your health anymore. To meet the demand for growing fresh vegetables in large cities, a group of students at the University of Economics in Đà Nẵng city have come up with a model called Greendy Smart Hydroponic Vegetable Production, which gives effective economic results while protecting your health and the environment.
Students won the third prize at Đà Nẵng Start-up Runway 2016
The innovative concept has won the students third prize for "Đà Nẵng Start-up Runway 2016".
Greendy is a model for growing vegetables at homes using the hydroponic method and has two main components: The hydroponic platforms, and the Greendy application runs on smartphones.
The hydroponic rig is made of PVC material and stainless steel and is designed as per the customer’s requirement. To operate the pump system and sensor-related factors such as pH, temperature, water volume and water levels, customers have to install wireless modules that are linked to their smartphones.
Hydroponics is a method of growing vegetables and fruits without soil, using mineral nutrient solutions - with sodium, phosphorus, potassium, nitrogen, calcium, magnesium, zinc and iron - in water. The roots are surrounded by a sterilizing mixture such as coconut fibre, rice husk and lava, The method is suitable for narrow spaces such as terraces, and balconies in urban areas. It ensures that plants do not have chemical residues.
Once customers sow seeds and start up the Greendy application, the wireless, electronic circuit will receive signals and control the hydroponic solution through a pre-programmed formula. The sensor is installed in a solution tank and will automatically measure pH levels by adjusting the volume of water to be pumped into the tank. A diluted hydroponic solution will be pumped into the pipe system automatically after 24 hours.
An automated system, all users have to do once they get the hydroponic truss home is set up the Greendy application and take the three steps as follows: sow seeds, open the application on their smartphone and choose vegetables and wait for 20 days before picking them. People don’t need to spend much time tending to their vegetables.
Besides, giving you pesticide-free vegetables, the Greendy model will add greenery to your homes and help decorate your interiors.
Vegetable growers can interact with the system using their smartphone. The Greendy application will send notifications to growers when there are unusual problems, like for instance, if it runs out of water or solution. The application also lets people control the system remotely, through Wifi, Bluetooth and messages.
The most important feature of the application is that customers can get all data on the optimal formulation for each kind of crop in it. Growers only need choose the vegetables they want, the Greendy application will identify which solution to make for which vegetable automatically.
During the growing process, all information regarding temperature and pH level of the hydroponic solution will be sent continuously to the app so that growers can monitor what’s happening. Solution pumping is also automatically pre-programmed, but growers have the flexibility to set up the time to open and close the pump.
If that’s not all, the application also instructs people on how to use the system and offers recipes, including special ones for dieters. It has nutritional information of all the vegetables and suggests weekly or monthly plans based on the biological characteristics of the user.
These features were built into the Greendy application as the Start-up Run way competition had a specific requirement - that all products entered must have a unique feature that is practical and has high application value in the real world. Over three months and many rounds later, the Greendy team’s concept was completed and listed among the top 10 best ideas of the contest.
The Project was a huge challenge as most of the team’s members are students of business administration who have no specialisation in technology. But after a lot of time and effort, the application was completed successfully.
A model of smart hydroponic plantation
The team hopes this application will become an educational model on protecting the environment by applying smart technology for global development. Team members also hope the application will help households grow their own vegetables and help change the perception of production methods, to create uncontaminated producen
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