Effectiveness of the Fuzzy Logic Control to Manage the Microclimate Inside a Smart Insulated Greenhouse

Abstract

Agricultural greenhouses incorporate intricate systems to regulate the internal climate. Among the crucial climatic variables, indoor temperature and humidity take precedence in establishing an optimal environment for plant production and growth. The present research emphasizes the efficacy of employing intelligent control systems in the automation of the indoor climate for smart insulated greenhouses (SIGs), utilizing a fuzzy logic controller (FLC). This paper proposes the use of an FLC to reduce the energy consumption of a greenhouse. In the first step, a thermodynamic model is presented and experimentally validated based on thermal heat exchanges between the indoor and outdoor climatic variables. The outcomes show the effectiveness of the proposed model in controlling indoor air temperature and relative humidity with a low error percentage. Secondly, several fuzzy logic control models have been developed to regulate the indoor temperature and humidity for cold and hot periods. The results show the good performance of the proposed FLC model as highlighted by the statistical analysis. In fact, the root mean squared error (RMSE) is very small and equal to 0.69% for temperature and 0.23% for humidity, whereas the efficiency factor (EF) of the fuzzy logic control is equal to 99.35% for temperature control and 99.86% for humidity control.