Many phenomena in Nature involve trapped drops of water: the formation of dew drops on a spider’s web, the capture of drops of water on the spines of cacti or the movement of droplets on plant fibres. These phenomena have been studied and explored for various technological applications: from microfluidics for medical and electronic equipment, to harvest nets of the water drops from fog in the desert areas. MEAPLANT’s innovation for the first time in history has applied these physical principles to make soilless cultivation simple, efficient and suitable for everyone.
Our cultivation substrate is made up of a mesh of threads made with materials for food use which are hydrophobic and chemically inert.
The drops of water and mineral salts, supplied by an irrigation system, remain suspended on the threads for the balance that it is established between the surface tension of the drops and their weight.
The videos below show how the drops supplied by an irrigation system are captured by a mesh of interwoven threads as happens in our growing substrate. When the drops increase in mass and become greater than the surface tension resistance force, they precipitate inside the tank.
Diagram of the equilibrium forces.
Simulation Acknowledgements: Simulation result courtesy of Flow Science, Inc., developer of the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software, FLOW-3D® (https://www.flow3d.com). Flow Science is based in Santa Fe, New Mexico USA – Inc. 683 Harkle Road.
