2019-2023 infarm — Xijing Xu

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Works
Info

industrial design of vertical farming system
2019-2023

Infarm is a vertical farming company. Through its diverse range of hydroponic farming equipment and global agricultural network, Infarm produces fresh herbs, salad greens, mushrooms and vegetables in and around urban areas to support food systems built upon metropolitan centres.

From 2019 to 2023, I worked within infarm's R&D team as an industrial designer. Collaborating with plant scientists, engineers from diverse disciplines, architects and other specialists, I continually updated my knowledge of agricultural technology while gaining experience in research and development within interdisciplinary teams.

Participated Projects:

2019-2020 Instore Farm
2019.2023 Operational Tools
2021-2022 Acre Farm

Instore Farm

Prototype Iteration

Final view of the farming units in use with POS in a local supermarket

Irrigation System Design

Each floor has a irrigation system. It consists of 12 grow trays, all sitting in a water reservoir with slanted floor designed for ebb and flow irrigation method.

The grow tray and reservoir are core modules in the irrigation system of a hydroponic farm. They provide a touchpoint between the plant, the farming unit, and the human operation.

The instore farm grow tray is produced using vacuum forming techniques. It is designed to be easily handled, cleaned, and transported.

The challenge of designing the grow tray was to find the sweet spot between healthy root growth and ease of harvest.

Prototype interation of the grow tray design

Branding Crown Bracket Design

Operational Tools

POS box

Pot Tray

Seedling Transport Tray

Acre Farm

Acre Farm is a growing tower that mass produces salads, herbs and other eatable plants.

As a designer, I worked on the Acre Farm with engineers from various disciplines to integrate different functional layouts of the farming system (e.g. irrigation, ventilation, lighting, etc.).

During the projects‘ conceptual phase, I visualize the highly com- plex engineering systems through rapid modelling and rendering to assist the project manager in communicating information to internal and external parties.