Technology for managing thermal energy flows in industrial greenhouses

Abstract

The paper presents technical solutions to improve the energy efficiency of growing greenhouse vegetables using artificial irradiation. The authors describe the technology of controlling the flow of thermal energy during irradiating of plants. A comparison of the developed technology with the fifth generation Ultra Clima greenhouse technology has been carried out. Key technical solutions have been identified, the introduction of which increases the efficiency of using thermal energy by 6%, increases the area irradiated by a single irradiator by 2.5% while maintaining photosynthetically active irradiation reaching the biocenoses, and provides an increase in the yield of vegetable crops by 2-5%. It has been established that with equal economic conditions of greenhouse growing of vegetables, the savings in energy costs compared to Ultra Clima technology is 5-6%, depending on the climatic conditions of the environment.

An Analysis of Global Research Trends on Greenhouse Technology: Towards a Sustainable Agriculture

“…The greenhouse industry is continually developing new strategies and technologies to resolve specific limitations of the crops, reducing any related environmental impact and adapting to the new market requirements [35]. Therefore, soilless crops [36]; the comprehensive control of the factors that constitute the microclimate inside the greenhouse [47,48]; the creation of vertical agroecosystems that can be located in urban environments [49]; the development of specific environmentally sustainable solutions for supplying greenhouse production with renewable energy [50,51]; the development of new materials and structures capable of optimising production [52,53]; etc. are all now possible.…”

Technical support by automated control system for ecological-technological processes of crop growing in conditions of protected ground

“…Table 1 shows examples of such installations used in life support systems for training cosmonauts, as well as in private household plots. We carried out an analysis to identify technological components and characteristics that meet the questions and objectives during many years of research [6]. Table 2 contains examples not only in terms of technological components, but also of inventions that were the result of such an analysis.…”

“…Greenhouse farming helps create jobs and stimulates the service sector in different regions [2], even in the southern regions. The conducted studies emphasize the importance of growing soilless cultural [3], integrated control of microclimate factors, creating vertical agrosystems in urban and rural areas, rational use of energy [4][5][6], development of materials and constructions [7,8] and the use of information technology [9]. These scientific areas are capable of optimizing the overall global production and adding jobs.…”

Development of environmentally sustainable solutions to provide greenhouse production with alternative energy

“…It is economically more expedient to heat winter greenhouses using thermal energy from third-party production processes or from local heat sources [8]. A more effective environmentally sustainable solution to improve energy efficiency and provide greenhouse production with alternative energy is to expand the functions of the irradiation facility with the development of new technological irradiation schemes [9].…”