Overheard medical marijuana growers discussing high electric bills and that their air conditioners run even when it is freezing outside. They do enriched CO2 growing which boosts yields but precludes exchanging air with the outdoors.

The obvious solution was to switch to LED grow lights. But that still dumps a lot of heat into the grow space. Unlike the traditional grow lights (HPS) which emit heat radiant in all directions, LEDs emit most of their heat off of the back side via conduction and with COB LEDs this heat is emitted in a concentrated area. Capturing this heat while it is still concentrated and getting it out of the grow space would drastically reduce AC infrastructure requirements and electricity needed for cooling year round. Unlike other watercooled LED lights that require a cold water source or chiller, our's cools with outdoor air.

Introducing the Hiparcool 720.
91% of generated heat is whisked out of the fixture in water or a water glycol mixture. In addition to reducing electric use as compared to HPS, it reduces AC infrastructure requirements/costs by 75% over HPS fixtures and 50% over standard LED fixtures. The LEDs are mounted to high flow, low temperature delta cooling blocks. Cooling liquid recirculates from LED cooling blocks to pump to outdoor HEX (heat exchanger) and back.

Unanticipated benefits
10% increase in yields as compared to 1000W HPS,
Reduced manufacturing costs as compared to other LED fixtures.
Extended LED life expectancy compared to other LED fixtures due to the LEDs running cooler.
The option to redirect the heated water to heat other spaces or store in for use during cool nights.

With growth in the “locally grown” produce/food market, the need to be able to supply a consistent product year round is critical and enriched CO2 growing boosts the yields of food crops. So while our initial focus is the MJ market due to the value of the crop, the industry buildout that is happening with more states legalizing medical/recreational MJ and the requirement in many states that MJ be grown indoors, the larger market will ultimately be the produce market.

“The LED grow light market is expected to rise to more than $1.9 Billion by 2020, growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 26%” - MarketsandMarkets

It is paramount that the lights grow crops well, so we made 32 proof of concept fixtures that have been installed at numerous locations for 12-18 months yielding fabulous results. The production prototype has many improvements, drastically reduced number of parts, assembly time and costs while making the fixtures work with standard hydronic heating components.

The lights have PVC extrusions instead of metal housings, 45g cooling blocks instead of multiple kilogram finned aluminum extrusions, and oxygen barrier PEX tubing, the production cost of the fixtures is 20-40% less than other LED solutions. Plus growers save more due to the 50% reduction in AC infrastructure.