How to Make Your Own Aeroponics System

Know what it takes to build your own High Pressure Aeroponics (HPA)

Gathering information on HPA is very important before building your own system. We can learn a lot from other people’s mistakes and just avoid heartaches. Why go through the school of hard knocks if someone else has done it already? The problem we have is knowing what information is good advice while others are poor. So let’s talk about some of my research here.

First let’s set this straight that true aeroponics is high pressure. It happens to be more complicated but the most rewarding when it comes to plant growth.

The design of HPA can be traced to 1970. However, NASA revolutionized in the 1990s by reporting it as the most efficient way to grow plants in outer space. Many studies have proven the benefits of growing plants in an aeroponic system, both on Earth and in space.

Here are some of the benefits – PROS:

• It uses up to 98% less water than conventional growing methods

• The nutrients used are 1/3 the amount needed for hydroponics and soil growing methods

• We can plant more plants in a closer spacing

• There is no cost for any soil

• Some crops can produce up to four harvests annually rather than just two.

Even though aeroponics sound great there are a few downfalls – CONS:

• There are more pieces or parts to purchase compare to other growing methods

• It uses an expensive high pressure pump

• HPA requires close monitoring and maybe frequent maintenance, mainly clogged spray head due to salt buildup.

• The system depends on electricity to keep it running

• Relative short failures of the system could lead to loss of your whole crop in minutes instead of hours.

Now, let’s talk about the specifics of building an HPA (High Pressure Aeroponics) system.

There are basically two types of aeroponics

One that NASA produced HPA (High Pressure Aeroponics), and the LPA (Low Pressure Aeroponics) lower cost system. LPA systems are the most common used and built by DIYers.

LPA systems use a standard magdrive pump couple to some PVC or tubing, and a few miniature sprinkler heads. The water spray from an LPA sprinkler head has large droplets that surround the plant roots. LPAs generally run the system 24 hours and 7 days a week, continually wetting the roots. The works well, and are cheap and easy to build. However they are not as efficient as HPA systems.

HPA systems must operate at a high pressure, normally above 80 PSI, ideal is 100 PSI. The high pressure is used to atomize the water through a small orifice to create water droplets of 50 microns or less in diameter. One micron is one-millionth of a meter. The average diameter of human hair is 80 microns. So we are talking about a really tiny water drop. HPA also must run on a much accurate time cycle. HPAs might run 1 to 5 seconds on, and then off 3 to 5 minutes. Specific components are required in controlling the timing interval and creating the proper size mist.

Droplet size

NASA research has shown that plants are more willing to absorb nutrient water in 5 to 50 microns droplets more effectively than any other sizes. Water droplet size is crucial for sustaining aeroponic growth. Too large of a water droplet means less oxygen is available to the root system. Too fine of a water droplet, such as those generated by the ultra-sonic mister, produce excessive root hair without developing a lateral root system for sustained growth in an aeroponic system.

In review, HPAs require high pressure to operate properly for producing the optimal 50 micron droplet size from the misters. Also, HPAs need precise timers that are adjustable down to seconds.

The components of our system:

As mentioned earlier, NASA as shown that plants ae more willing to absorb water in the 5 to 50 microns. Therefore, it is for this understanding that HPA (High Pressure Aeroponics) is more efficient than the most common Low Pressure Aeroponics system.

Again, to achieve the optimal conditions for plant development, it requires some primary components and tools.

The basic components of our HPA are as follows:

• High-Pressure water pump

• Pre-Pressurize Accumulator Tank

• Electrical-Solenoid hooked to an adjustable relay timer

• Pressure switch

• Mister nozzles

The High-Pressure Water Pump

The main component of an HPA system is the water pump. The pump has to be able to produce the droplet size of twenty to fifty microns. These kind of pumps are usually diaphragm type or the reverse osmosis boosters. The pump should produce a constant 80psi, so try to find one that can generate 100psi or even more.

When you buy the pump, set it somewhere between 80 and 100psi, any adjustments later will be difficult to be made. If you planned an expansion of your system later on, then get a Shur-flow pump, they are commonly used in soda machines and carpet cleaners.

The Accumulator Tank

You can find these tanks in many homes and RV’s to keep the right water pressure in the pipeline. Mainly, they prevent the pump from overworking. These tanks are pre-pressurized and are divided into two spaces. One space takes up the rubber bladder which expands according to the water pressure, and the other space is taken by the pressurized air.

The pressurized air is used to move the water out when the faucet is turned on. So now, we assume you might be thinking why would you need a tank if you already have a pump that can create the pressure? Well, let us go a little bit back, the water pump is the main component of the HPA system and the most expensive one.

The accumulator tank is there to extend its lifetime and to reduce the time of usage of it. In the long term, the tank will save you money, because if the pump gets broken, the replacement will be way more expensive than the tank.

The accumulator tank has one more key role, and that is to create a constant pressure once the solenoid is opened thus creating the right size droplets. In a system, without the accumulator tank, the size of the droplets wouldn’t be constant, and they would be bigger than they should be.

The Electrical Solenoid

The sole use of the solenoid is to start and stop the water flow to the system when the timer goes on and off. It’s an electronically operated valve. The solenoid is plugged into a relay timer circuit. The system is pretty similar to the simple automatic lawn sprinkler. The best timers for solenoid control are the ones that are accurate to one second on, and in the minutes off.

The Pressure Switch

This part of the system is controlling the pressure. Some pumps have it included, but it can be purchased separately as well. What it does is tell the pump at what pressure it’s supposed to turn on and off. Basically, it senses the pressure of the water, and when it gets too low, it turns on the pump. Once it measures the right pressure, it turns the pump off again. It should be set to turn the pump on at 80psi and off at 100psi.

The Misters

Atomization of the water is achieved by pumping the water through small nozzles at high pressure. We want to save our nutrients, and the cost of operation, so smaller nozzles are what we need. Choose a full-cone nozzle pattern. Higher pressure nozzles have high velocity, and they can cut off the root hairs. Stay away from these. To prevent clogging, use a fine mesh filter prior to misting nozzles.

Source : gardeningwizards & aeroponicsdiy