DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A KNOWLEDGE-BASED NUTRIENT SOLUTION IRRIGATION SYSTEM FOR HYDROPONIC APPLICATIONS

Hydroponics can allow crops to grow faster and can reduce plant pathogens. However, hydroponic systems have several disadvantages, of which the two most important are: (1) improper management or dramatic changes in the electrical conductivity (EC) and pH of the nutrient solution can harm the plant roots and affect the plant growth, and (2) system operators need to monitor the nutrient solution and replenish it regularly, thereby increasing the labor cost. Therefore, this study developed a micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMs) based mixing system for hydroponic nutrient solutions based on fuzzy rule-based inference, which uses a micro-controller as the core and controls the output of five nutrient solution tanks to the mixing tank. The proposed system maintained an appropriate range of pH and EC in the mixing tank. Operators can view the changes in pH, EC, dissolved oxygen (DO), and other values in the nutrient solution on a graphic user interface. Moreover, operators can manually or automatically mix the nutrient solution. The system has been implemented in a hydroponic cultivation system, and the analysis results are discussed in this article.