Project Details
[Return to Previous Page]Ventilating harvest walls
Company: Harvest Today,LLC
Major(s):
Primary: EGEE
Secondary: ME
Optional: IE
Non-Disclosure Agreement: NO
Intellectual Property: YES
Harvest Today Broomfield, Colorado Harvest Today designs and manufactures vertical indoor farming systems (“Harvest Walls”) that enable year-round, local food production for communities, institutions, and commercial environments. Project Description: Harvest Today is sponsoring a Learning Factory project to design an air distribution and ventilation system for a vertical indoor farming application. The goal is to deliver uniform, controlled airflow across the full plant canopy of a Harvest Wall panel in order to improve plant health, growth consistency, and environmental stability. Unlike traditional horizontal grow systems, the Harvest Wall is a vertical growing surface, which introduces unique airflow challenges related to gravity, pressure loss, and uneven air exposure. This project asks students to develop a practical, manufacturable solution that evenly distributes conditioned air over a tall, narrow plant surface. System Overview Harvest Wall Panel Dimensions: Width: 26 inches - Height: 75 inches Plants occupy the full vertical surface. Airflow must be directed so that as many plants as possible experience consistent air movement. System must be compatible with indoor controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) installations and scalable for multiple panels installed side-by-side. Project Objectives: Students will be tasked with: Designing a system that provides uniform airflow across the entire vertical plant surface. Minimizing dead zones, excessive turbulence, and high-velocity air that could stress plants. Balancing airflow effectiveness with energy efficiency and manufacturability. Creating a solution that integrates cleanly into existing Harvest Wall installations. Providing recommendations suitable for real-world deployment. Key Design Considerations: Vertical airflow dynamics and pressure distribution Plenum, ducting, or diffuser concepts Slot, perforation, or channel-based air delivery Conceptual fan selection and placement Noise, cleanliness, maintenance, and cost Scalability across multiple adjacent panels Expected Deliverables: Conceptual design(s) with supporting rationale Engineering drawings and/or CAD models Basic airflow analysis or simulation (if applicable) Manufacturing and integration considerations Recommendations for prototyping and testing Project Impact: This project directly supports Harvest Today’s mission to increase access to fresh, nutrient-dense food through efficient indoor farming. A successful design may be implemented in food banks, schools, hospitals, community farms, and commercial installations. Students will gain hands-on experience solving a real-world engineering problem with direct commercial, environmental, and social impact.
