[Cody] of Cody’sLab has been bit by what he describes as the algae growing bug. We at Hackaday didn’t understand that was a illness floating around, however we’ll admit that we’re not shocked after the last few years. So not material to stick to the small-time algae farms, [Cody] made a decision to scale up as well as develop a whole algae panel.
Now, why would you want to grow algae? There are edible varieties of algae, you can extract oils from it, as well as a lot of importantly, it can be pumped around in liquid form. To top it off, all it needs is just sunlight, carbon dioxide, as well as a few minerals to grow. Unlike those other challenging land-based organisms that use photosynthesis, algae don’t requirement to develop any type of structure to hold themselves up or gather sunlight; it floats.
The real goal of the algae is to develop a system known as “Chicken Hole.” The fundamental concept is to have a self-sufficient system. The algae feed the insects, the insects feed the chickens, as well as so on up the chain until it reaches [Cody]. While glass would make an suitable material for the algae tubes, plastic soda bottles seem like a respectable proxy for a prototype as well as are much cheaper. He connected around 100 half-liter bottles to type long tubes as well as a PVC distribution system. The algae needs to be pumped into an insulated container to stop it from freezing at night. At first, a basic timer outlet controlled the pump to only run during the day, draining it by means of gravity at night. However, the algae can’t warm up sufficient when running on cloudy, chilly wintertime days, as well as it cools off. A solar panel as well as a temperature sensor type the logic for the pump, with a minimum temperature as well as sunlight needed to run.
[Cody] mentions that he can expect around 10 grams of algae per day on a panel this size in the winter. He’s going to requirement quite a few much more if he’s going to scale up properly. possibly in the future, we’ll see panels growing algae robots? video after the break.