General

(This blog post is not completed)

This biosphere was put together around 10 years ago.  A lot of time goes by when establishing biospheres.  This was the first biosphere attempt.  I needed to start small because I knew there would be mistakes along the way.  It started out as a climate simulator where I collected data in a number micro-climates.  A system needed to be designed where is would emulate a climate.  Very quickly I learned I did not really understand how the eco-system on the earth really worked.  Since then, my perception how the earth's eco-system works is really different than the normal thought process and intuition.

Before I can make a climate simulator, I needed to get something to grow in an enclosed space without it going into a mono-culture.  After doing extensive research on biospheres around the world, people putting a plant or two in a bottle and sealing it up for 70 years, no one really has been successful in bottling up Mother Nature.  Here's my turn.

I knew I would have to make a lot of new biospheres and keep solving problems once I solved another problem.  My experience in building inventions is to take a lot of good small ideas and put them into one system.  No one will wake up one day with a vision how to do this.  That is the sure way to fail.  There are too many problems to solve and it has to be done incrementally.

This version of the biosphere is my first best guess how to cork up Mother Nature.  It was decided to first use a high metabolism eco-system where I can be impatient and see results.  The majority of effort was put into getting the parts together and making it.  Below is a list of components and functions in this first biosphere.

Pictured below is the front of Biosphere I.  A breadboard computer (PIC 18F) with 16 segment LED display (a little of my past)  to monitor CO2, O2, NH4, H2SO4, water pH, air pressure, water temperature, RH and air temperature.  It is also used to control air circulation fans, air pressure for rain, water temperature, lights and RH.

The general structure is simple.  There was one immediate problem the needed to be solved before anything else would grow inside the tank.  There is way too much heat from the outside going into the tank.  The lights themselves was a huge problem.  An HID light can raise the air temperature 30 degrees C in a couple of house.  Later the lights were switched out for LEDs, but they heat up too and their reliability is not good.  Not only did I have to solve the problems with heat, but equipment failure and maintenance became an issue.

Ultimately the entire tank had to be surrounded with a plywood box and insulation.  A small dorm refrigerator was used to pass chilled air between the tank and the plywood box.  It did not work and a small window air-conditioned had to be used.  The lights had to be chilled with fans.  Finally the temperature stabilized.

Last, the bottom of the tank would be filled with water about 3 inches deep.  This would be the start of cycling the tank into a bog.  Aquaponic water is used.  The first food source was a dead rat one our cats gave us as a gift.  There is no water circulation.

Dehumidifier

This device is used to control the RH inside the biosphere.  A thermal electric water chiller is used outside of water.  The evaporated humidity would condense on the chiller and freeze.  It turned out the dehumidifier had to be cycled on and off every 30 minutes.  It was also discovered that methane would be generated for about 15 to 25 minutes.  It was a result from the defrosting of the dehumidifier.  Methane is lighter than air and would hang around at the top of the tank.  The bacteria on the ceiling of the tank would eat it up and produce CO2.  The CO2 would then drop to the bottom of the tank.  It would be consumed by the plants in the bog.  There are really no methane issue(s) in biospheres.  This is how the earth is different than a biosphere.  Methane rises up into the atmosphere and combines with ozone and OH ions.  And then it turns into NOx because of unburned petroleum form car's exhaust. Hence, smog

 

 

Lights

 

 

Water/Bog Level

 

Biosphere Cycling

 

 

CPU and Instrumentation

 

Pumps

 

Atomostphere Temperature Control