It is important to manage the environment inside an horticultural greenhouse in order to guarantee suitable growing condition for the crop, safety condition for the workers and energy savings. Microclimate is influenced by climatic parameters, such as solar radiation, air temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed. Evaporative systems are generally used in warm regions for commercial greenhouse cooling, however such systems require large quantity of water that is often a scarce natural resource in Mediterranean areas. Solar absorption systems can be applied for greenhouse cooling in regions with high values of solar irradiation as alternative to evaporative systems by exploiting renewable energy sources. The solar cooling system could provide significant energy-saving opportunities for cooling greenhouses in hot climates allowing the reduction of electricity and water consumption by exploiting the contemporaneity between the cooling requirements and the solar energy availability. The paper presents the technical considerations on the application of a solar absorption cooling system to a greenhouse in the Mediterranean climatic region. The aim of the research was to define the solar collector surface related to the greenhouse cultivated area and the potential of the system in terms of cooling capacity and energy consuption. The simulation study was realized based on the experimental data collected at the experimental centre of the University of Bari, Southern Italy, in order to control the air temperature of a greenhouse covered with plastic film; the greenhouse was characterized by a surface of 300 m2. The cooling system was designed by adopting suitable technologies of energy saving, in order to reduce cooling energy needs. The designed system consists of an absorption chiller having a cooling capacity of 18 kW fed by 50 m2 of evacuated-tube solar collectors coupled to a new distribution system which provides the cooling power only for the air volume surrounding the crop and not for the whole greenhouse.
A solar absorption cooling system for greenhouse climate control: technical evaluation
Blanco I;
2014-01-01
Abstract
It is important to manage the environment inside an horticultural greenhouse in order to guarantee suitable growing condition for the crop, safety condition for the workers and energy savings. Microclimate is influenced by climatic parameters, such as solar radiation, air temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed. Evaporative systems are generally used in warm regions for commercial greenhouse cooling, however such systems require large quantity of water that is often a scarce natural resource in Mediterranean areas. Solar absorption systems can be applied for greenhouse cooling in regions with high values of solar irradiation as alternative to evaporative systems by exploiting renewable energy sources. The solar cooling system could provide significant energy-saving opportunities for cooling greenhouses in hot climates allowing the reduction of electricity and water consumption by exploiting the contemporaneity between the cooling requirements and the solar energy availability. The paper presents the technical considerations on the application of a solar absorption cooling system to a greenhouse in the Mediterranean climatic region. The aim of the research was to define the solar collector surface related to the greenhouse cultivated area and the potential of the system in terms of cooling capacity and energy consuption. The simulation study was realized based on the experimental data collected at the experimental centre of the University of Bari, Southern Italy, in order to control the air temperature of a greenhouse covered with plastic film; the greenhouse was characterized by a surface of 300 m2. The cooling system was designed by adopting suitable technologies of energy saving, in order to reduce cooling energy needs. The designed system consists of an absorption chiller having a cooling capacity of 18 kW fed by 50 m2 of evacuated-tube solar collectors coupled to a new distribution system which provides the cooling power only for the air volume surrounding the crop and not for the whole greenhouse.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
