A greenhouse needs a cooling system to keep growing conditions as ideal as possible. This technology ensures that plants grow in a comfortable environment by regulating temperature and humidity levels. The cooling system helps ensure that a wide range of crops are successfully cultivated by preventing overheating. This CFD study is conducted based on the reference paper “ Modeling and optimal design of evaporative cooling system in controlled environment greenhouse “.

Figure 1: Schematic of the greenhouse

Simulation Process

As illustrated in Figure 1, the central height is 3m, and the heights of the north and south walls are 3m and 2m, respectively. To cool the greenhouse during the summer, a cooling pad is installed on the west wall, and two fans are placed on the east wall. It is provided a smooth cold flow that transmit through a porous system. The greenhouse is placed in a specific geographical coordination that is defined in Solar Ray Tracing properties. The enable of this module needs use of Discrete Ordinates (DO) radiation model. The convective heat transfer with the hot outdoor surroundings is included.

Post-processing

Despite the hot outdoor temperature (307K), the cooling system can provide 286K cold flow and cold down the greenhouse indoors. Undoubtedly, the higher air change per hour (ACH) results in better ventilation. However, the sensitive vegetation is one of the main limitations in cooling system design. On balance, the indoor volume average temperature reaches 296.7K in steady-state conditions, showcasing a 10-degree decrement compared to the ambient.