ENGR-103 Freshman Final Report

ENGR 103 - Spring 2013 Freshman Engineering Design Lab Veggie Wall Project Design Proposal

Section 103-080, Group 3

Date Submitted: April 16,

2013

Submitted to: Group Members:

Donald J. Bucci , dab382@drexel.edu Michal Swoboda, ms3737@drexel.edu Carlos Ruiz, cr536@drexel.edu Mick Giraso, mng42@drexel.edu Blake Fink, bzf23@drexel.edu

Abstract: The group was given the multiple options at the beginning of the term, on which project to partake for the term. The group had chosen to create a design to enable the growth of vegetation vertically for the Walnut Hill farm. The farm was visited to determine the stakeholders and their needs of improvement growing more vegetation on the land. The placement of the fence was widely considered as multiple locations served accordingly on the farm. The initial designs were scrutinized by the material, costs and ability to implement them into a constructed figure. The stakeholder was then contacted after the elimination of previous flawed designs. The final design chosen was the standard cross bar fence. The initial materials were modified to meet the needs of the stakeholder. The compartment design was then chosen as dual buckets attached together through a custom bracket. The buckets will allow sun exposure as they will be tilted on an angle. The final deliverable produced was the vertical fence conceptual design and a prototype compartment.

ENGR-103 Freshman Final Report

Section 103-080, Group 3

1 1.1

Introduction Problem Overview The increasing popularity of urban farms and community gardens creates a need for a more efficient use of the growing area. Currently, most urban farms use the raised beds technique [1], which allows the user to isolate the crops from the potentially polluted soil in urban areas and create a unique growing habitat in every bed [2]. However, the ongoing need to create more space efficient solutions led to the development of vertical gardens, which incorporate the positive characteristics of raised beds, in addition to being sustainable and more space efficient. The goal of this project is to create a cheap, durable and space efficient vertical garden for the Walnut Hill Community Farm. The main constraint taken into consideration during the design process was cost, because the Community Farm operates on a relatively small budget collected from donations and profit from selling crops. According to the farms manager, the vertical garden has to increase the growing space of the farm while not creating deficit. In addition, the design could not incorporate any existing walls to support its structure because the Community Farm does not have permission to use or alter walls that are adjacent to it. Therefore, the design has been renamed to veggie fence and has been developed as an independent structure. Detailed constraints and specifications can be seen in the decision matrix in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Decision Matrix, an algorithm was used to determine the best design with the highest points.

ENGR-103 Freshman Final Report 1.2 Existing Solutions

Section 103-080, Group 3

The space efficiency problem has lead to the creation of several variants of the vertical gardens. The three general design trends can be seen in Figures 2-4 given below.

Figure 2. The bio-wall solution consists of a plant compartments arranged vertically to form a wall

The bio-wall is the most popular variant of the vertical garden idea. The wall is built from plant compartments stacked vertically, as shown above in Figure 2. It requires an existing wall to support its structure. The plants are positioned in horizontal fashion within their compartments. The design is relatively complicated and expensive to build. The horizontal compartment arrangement prevents the growth of a wide variety of vegetables. This design is often used as a decor inside of buildings and apartments [1].

Figure 3. This figure shows a vertical garden consisting of a frame and horizontal compartments

ENGR-103 Freshman Final Report

Section 103-080, Group 3

Vertical gardens, which includes a frame, are the cheapest to build and easiest to maintain. In addition, the frame can be mounted on a wall or building as it can be an independent structure due to its own base. This concept can be easily modified to fit unique specifications and needs. The versatility of the design made it popular among urban farms and apartment gardens [4].

Figure 4. This figure presents the concept of vertical garden tower design [3].

The vertical garden tower designs are built as independent structures. The plants compartments are arranged vertically in a single pillar, which can be seen in Figure 4 shown above, allowing this design to become the most space efficient of the two concepts previously shown. Since the vertical garden tower shares similar characteristics of the bio-wall, it is relatively complicated and expensive to build [1],[3]. 1.3 Project Objectives

The main objective of this project is to permit plants and vegetation to grow on a vertical fence. The importance of vertical growing is to maximize the growing area on farms. There are a variety of possible designs for vertical farming. The focus of the final design is to create a fence that is easily accessible and will withstand many environmental and climate changes such as wind velocity, extreme temperature, seasons, trespassers, animals, sun exposure and UV radiation. The fence is designed to be two wooden posts that hold steel bars between them. The steel bars are there to hold metal crates containing the plants and vegetation. The design of the fence with two posts became our top design because it is very cost effective, durable and it is constructed with parts that can easily be replaced.

ENGR-103 Freshman Final Report 2 Technical Activities

Section 103-080, Group 3

Initially, there were five possible designs for the vertical fence. There was the A-frame, where two wooden pallets leaning against each other to form an A and removable compartments on each side. The other design was a cylinder with compartments around it. Factoring the security factor, the post and beams was the reasonable option.

Figure 5. A-Frame Veggie Fence without the compartments

Figure 6. A-Frame with the compartments designed with Creo

Figure 7. Cylinder Design with compartments modeled with Creo

ENGR-103 Freshman Final Report

Section 103-080, Group 3

Figure 8. Model created with Creo for the post and beams design

The vertical fence will be 5ft tall. The fence contains wooden posts and metal pipes. 3 pipes will be arranged horizontally and held together by a vertical post at each end. The material used for the veggie fence is determined based on the cost, the ability to support the weight of the compartments (with plants and soil) and the resistance of environmental factors. Considering all this, the posts are made of wood, because it is inexpensive and provides necessary stability for the fence and would be easier to acquire when replacement is needed. The metal pipes will be galvanized steel, for the long lasting ability and weather resistance. The metal pipes will be used to attach the compartments to the fence. The compartments are in form of metal buckets that can withstand the weight of the soil and the plants. The buckets are attached to the fence by a bent metal bar that sits on the pipe and holds two buckets, one on each side (Figure 3).

Figure 9. Creo model showing the metal buckets attached on the fence

Combining the wooden posts made stable by putting 3ft in ground using concrete, the metal pipes, the compartments (buckets) and the bent metal, the completed design (in Creo) becomes a veggie wall and a fence for security issues. 5

ENGR-103 Freshman Final Report

Section 103-080, Group 3

Figure 4. Creo model of the Veggie Fence placed in the ground with concrete.

2.1

Project Timeline
Week Task 1 x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x Table 1. Design Project Timeline. x x x x x 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Initial research Initial design Computer model of prototype Supply search Construction of prototype compartment Final report preparation

2.2

Project Budget

The Veggie Fence is composed of a fence and compartments, to provide security and produce plants for the farm.
Category Fence One Plant Compartments TOTAL Projected Cost

$82.78 $92 $174.78

ENGR-103 Freshman Final Report

Section 103-080, Group 3

Table 2. General cost overview of the Veggie Fence project [6].

Fence: The fence is the main structural component of the vertical fence garden. It consists of three metal pipes placed horizontally between two wooden posts. The material used for the fence (both the post and beams) is weather resistant and long lasting to avoid constant renewal. The posts will be stabilized by concrete.
Category 4x4X8Wooden Posts 5ft Metal Pipes Concrete Projected Cost

$16.54 $51.24 $15

TOTAL

$82.78

Table 3. Cost overview of the frame [6]

Plant Compartments: The compartments are in form of buckets that have the ability to withstand weather conditions and the weight of both the soil and plants. A bent metal rod is used to attach the buckets to the pipe.
Category Metal Buckets 4ft Metal Flat Bar Projected Cost

$34.8 $14.42 $37.41 $5.37 $92

Bolts Nuts
TOTAL

Table 4. Cost overview of one compartment [6]

Results

The presented deliverable is a vertical fence design that will be able to sustain the growth of vegetation to the Walnut Hill community. The location of the fence, standing at the entrance of the farm, is located in the left most corner of the farm. The conceptualized design will be 5 ft. in 7

ENGR-103 Freshman Final Report

Section 103-080, Group 3

length and 5ft. in height. The fence, shown in Figures 4 and 5, was designed to meet all specifications and needs required by the Walnut Hill Farm. The posts material had been changed from galvanized steel to 4x4 wooden posts. The wood was noticed to be more cost efficient and the easiest material to apply modifications. The initial design of the vertical fence was disposed of as it did not allow enough sufficiency within its horizontal parameters. It was proven that the vertical alignment would not allow the plants within the compartments to gain enough exposure for growth. The initial design was also 10ft in length and 6ft in height. Given the decision matrix, the idea was not the best way to go due to the unmet standards of the specifications. The compartments were also altered from the composition of aluminum sheets. The aluminum was relatively expensive. The final design for the compartments is to incorporate buckets that can be modified. The cost for the buckets was substantially cheaper and could allow easy accessibility, removal, and replacement. 4 Future Work

The purpose of this project is to have plants and vegetation grow vertically to give the farm a maximum amount of space. Any person or group in the future can utilize these designs to make additions of more fencing around the perimeter of the farm. The future group can go to the farm and examine the vertical fence to see if there are any problems but it should not be necessary to make changes to the fencing. All the designs are already complete so only thing that the future group needs to do is obtain more materials. The group is also going to need permission from Allison, the manager, from The Walnut Hill Farm. 5 References

[1] Cohoon, Sharon, and Kathlen N. Benzei. Make a Vertical Garden Tower. Sunset.com. Sunset Publishing Corporatio, Mar. 2010. (Accessed: 13 May. 2013). [2] Hartley, Richard S. Gardening With Raised Beds. Gardening With Raised Beds. [online] Oct. 1998. (Accessed: 13 May. 2013). [3] What Is Tower Garden. Put a Farmers Market on Your Back Porch. NSA Juice Plus+, [online] 2012. (Accessed: 13 May. 2013). [4] Building a Vertical Garden. DIY Guides. DIY Guides, [online] 2013. Web. 23 Apr. 2013. (Accessed: 13 May. 2013). [5] Community Garden Provides Fertile Soil For Freshman Engineers' Creativity. Drexel University. Drexel University, [online] 27 Sept. 2012. (Accessed: 13 May. 2013). [6] Home Depot. Outdoors. The Home Depot, [online] May 2013 (Accessed: 13 May. 2013). 8