Gene A Giacomelli

Gene A Giacomelli

Professor, Agricultural-Biosystems Engineering
Professor, Applied BioSciences - GIDP
Professor, Plant Science
Professor, BIO5 Institute
Primary Department
Department Affiliations
Contact
(520) 626-9566

Work Summary

Gene Giacmomelli's research focus includes controlled environment plant productions systems [greenhouse and growth chamber] research, design, development and applications, with emphases on: crop production systems, nutrient delivery systems, environmental control, mechanization, and labor productivity.

Research Interest

Gene Giacomelli, PhD, is the director of the CEAC, or interdisciplinary education, research and outreach program for greenhouse and other advanced technology systems. Here at the University of Arizona, he teaches Controlled Environment Systems, which is an introduction to the technical aspects of greenhouse design, environmental control, nutrient delivery systems, hydroponic crop production, intensive field production systems, and post-harvest handling and storage of crops. His research interests include controlled environment plant productions systems (greenhouse and growth chamber) research, design, development and applications, with emphases on: crop production systems, nutrient delivery systems, environmental control, mechanization, and labor productivity.

Publications

Ting, K. C., Ling, P. P., & Giacomelli, G. A. (1996). Research on flexible automation and robotics for plant production at Rutgers University. Advances in Space Research, 18(1-2), 175-180.

PMID: 11538960;Abstract:

This is an overview of research activities in the areas of flexible automation and robotics (FAR) within controlled environment plant production systems (CEPPS) in the Department of Bioresource Engineering, Rutgers University. In the past thirty years, our CEPPS research has dealt with the topics including structures and energy, environmental monitoring and control, plant growing systems, operations research and decision support systems, flexible automation and robotics, and impact to natural (i.e. surrounding) environment. Computer and modeling/simulation techniques have been utilized extensively. Mechanized systems have been developed to substitute human's physical labor and maintain uniformity in production. Automation research has been directed towards adding, to the mechanized systems, the capabilities of perception, reasoning, communication, and task planning. Computers, because of their programmability, provide flexibility to automated systems, when incorporated with generic hardware devices. Robots are ideal hardware tools to be employed in flexible automation systems. Some technologies developed in our CEPPS research may be readily adaptable to Closed Bioregenerative Life Support Systems (CBLSS).

Patterson, R. L., Giacomelli, G. A., Kacira, M., Sadler, P. D., & Wheeler, R. M. (2012). Description, operation and production of the south pole food growth chamber. Acta Horticulturae, 952, 589-596.

Abstract:

The South Pole Food Growth Chamber (SPFGC) is an automated hydroponic climate controlled chamber located inside the Amundsen-Scott South Pole station, which produces fresh vegetables and herbs, as well as a psychologically pleasurable environment for station personnel. The objective of this study was to document the SPFGC automated control practices, telepresence support, and resource utilization and crop production. Resource inputs included energy, water, plant nutrients, carbon dioxide, labor and the outputs included food, condensate water and oxygen. Data collected from January through October 2006 were used to evaluate the performance. Various plants (e.g. leafy greens, fruit crops, herbs and edible flowers) were grown within a hydroponic polyculture cropping system within the same controlled environment. Consumed resources included 1.1 kg d-1 of carbon dioxide, 0.21 kg d-1 of dry plant fertilizer salts, 1012 MJ d-1 (281 kWh d-1) of electrical energy, and production included 0.52 kg d-1 of oxygen and 2.8 kg d-1 of edible vegetables (fresh mass). The SPFGC system components and the control elements were described, and an energy balance analysis of the SPFGC was completed, and comparisons were made to various ALS food and oxygen production results.

Sauser, B. J., Giacomelli, G. A., & Janes, H. W. (1998). Modeling the effects of air temperature perturbations for control of tomato plant development. Acta Horticulturae, 456, 87-92.

Abstract:

The primary objective of the investigation was to evaluate the effects of selected perturbations in air temperature on the development of the tomato plant, Lycopersicon esculentum (c.v. Laura, DeRuitter Seeds Laura FI, Tm-C2-V-F2). The approach to this investigation was to quantify the plants responses to air temperature and organize this information to develop an environmental control model for tomato plant growth while integrating the information with machine vision technologies. The focus was on the effect of selected air temperature perturbations on crop growth and scheduling. The objectives were accomplished through growth chamber experimentation and model development in coordination with non-destructive machine vision technologies. Three replications were performed at three different air temperatures (high, normal, low). These experiments were used to develop baseline data for calibration of an empirical model and correlation with machine vision images. The model would allow for the quantity of biomass to be predicted at a given air temperature under constant air temperature conditions. Results from the growth chamber studies indicated that the small air temperature differences had the effect of altering the time to first flower for the tomato plant. However, under the three different temperature regimes the dry weight of the aerial portion of the plant at time of flowering was similar for each crop, and seemingly independent of air temperature. Preliminary, results of the plant model indicated that it was capable of predicting developmental rates and changes in the tomato plant based on the dry weight of the aerial portion of the plant. The correlation of the machine vision images with dry weight can be used with the model for plant developmental predictions and development of a control system for maintaining plant scheduling.

Ting, K. C., Giacomelli, G. A., & Shen, S. J. (1990). Robot workcell for transplanting of seedlings. Part I. Layout and materials flow. Transactions of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers, 33(3), 1005-1010.

Abstract:

The transplanting of seedlings from high density plug trays into low density growing flats, as currently practiced in the bedding plant production systems, was the operation studied within a prototype workcell utilizing a Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm (SCARA) type robot. The concept of a multi-stop local work trajectory surrounding each seedling was incorporated into the workcell design consideration. The trays and flats were envisioned to flow across each other's path at different heights within the workcell. A straight-line robot wrist motion was used between the locations on a tray and a flat. A computer program for checking the interactions of the workcell layout, the robot motions and the flows of materials was developed. The average robot wrist horizontal travel distance per transplanting (AHT) for a given workcell could be readily calculated using this computer program. The AHT was evaluated for its use as an indication of the performance of any given workcell design. For the 12 cases studied, the AHT ranged from 0.381 m to 0.993 m which was found to correlate well with the average cycle time per transplanting.

Giacomelli, G. A., & Ting, K. C. (1999). Horticultural and engineering considerations for the design of integrated greenhouse plant production systems. Acta Horticulturae, 481, 475-481.

Abstract:

Design and operation of a greenhouse for plant production are challenging tasks even for the most experienced growers or designers, primarily because they are a highly complex system of biological and mechanical subsystems. These subsystems are deeply interrelated and must function together to provide successful crop production. With fundamental understanding and a desire to develop integrated crop production systems, the design of future greenhouses may become less guesswork, less design by "experience", and more methodical and reliant on information databases. The specific greenhouse structure, the crop production system, the environmental control and the labor/management procedures, directly affect the ability of the greenhouse manager to successfully produce high quality crops within the greenhouse. The greenhouse design requires the selection of many individual component systems, within the three primary areas of automation, culture and environment. Having selected the crop or crops, thereby knowing the culture requirements, it becomes necessary to select a water/nutrient delivery system, which when housed within a greenhouse structure, will efficiently incorporate labor requirements and environmental control. The complexity of the dynamic greenhouse system requires that problem solving and planning should not occur with the daily management decisions, but during the design stage of the greenhouse, prior to implementation. A logical procedure of design steps needs to be developed, in order to avoid the trial and error methodologies typically utilized, and whose success or failure depends totally on the past experiences of the designer, with too little input from the grower. Although a detailed design procedure does not currently exist, the basis for its development will be considered in this paper.