Harnessing solar energy for homogeneous spatial variability of a greenhouse air temperature:System design and implementation

Abstract

The interest of using renewable energy sources for greenhouse heating is actually high because of the intensive heating loads of these shelters. Among the important alternative sources of energy are solar collectors. For this purpose, this study investigates the heating of a Hydroponic Greenhouse, Hyd_G (3 m × 3 m × 8 m) by a Multi-Stage Exchanger Heating System, MSEHS. This system was designed and realized in order to mitigate the thermal stratification inside the hydroponic greenhouse and subsequently improve the harvests quality. The required heating loads of the greenhouse were determined and the mentioned alternative energy system was sized and then constructed according to the dimensioning. Experiments were conducted extensively during the winter period.