Design of a Scalable and Optimized LED Grow-light System Driven by a High Efficiency DC-DC Power Converter

Abstract

Uncertainty in weather pattern adversely affects agriculture and results in food scarcity and food deserts in some regions of our planet. This has promoted research in the field of plant growth in controlled environment. The concept of artificial sunlight is significant in regions like Minnesota which don’t get strong sunlight over the year and have an extremely cold climate. Modern LEDs called Grow-lights which have sufficiently high radiometric power output are replacing HID halogen lamps for such light. Despite the easy commercial availability of LED Grow-light systems, there is a need for scalable end-to-end system design with independent control over light spectrum channels so that it can used for any crop. An LED Grow-light system driven by an efficient buck based 4 channel DC-DC power converter with low current ripple which provides light from the PAR spectrum with controlled intensity was designed and simulated using Matlab Simulink. Hardware implementation of the system was done with the help of a micro-controller and Sciamble Workbench software developed at University of Minnesota.