Evaluation of an Adapted Greenhouse Cooling System with Pre-Chamber and Inflatable Air Ducts for Semi-Arid Regions in Warm Conditions

The growing needs for fruit and vegetable production, together with the current climate change situation, make agriculture under plastic and greenhouse cooling indispensable. The most commonly used approaches are natural ventilation, shading and fan-pad systems. To foster a climate that allows forpl...

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Main Authors: Cámara Zapata, José María, Sánchez Molina, Jorge Antonio, Wang, Hui, Carreño Ortega, Angel, Rodríguez Díaz, Francisco
Format: info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Language:English
Published: MDPI 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10835/8269
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author Cámara Zapata, José María
Sánchez Molina, Jorge Antonio
Wang, Hui
Carreño Ortega, Angel
Rodríguez Díaz, Francisco
author_facet Cámara Zapata, José María
Sánchez Molina, Jorge Antonio
Wang, Hui
Carreño Ortega, Angel
Rodríguez Díaz, Francisco
author_sort Cámara Zapata, José María
collection DSpace
description The growing needs for fruit and vegetable production, together with the current climate change situation, make agriculture under plastic and greenhouse cooling indispensable. The most commonly used approaches are natural ventilation, shading and fan-pad systems. To foster a climate that allows forplant production under cover in extreme conditions, a novel fan-pad system has been devised that incorporates a pre-chamber and an air distribution system using air ducts running alongside the crop rows. The system has been tested in a greenhouse in Almeria (Spain) during the daytime in August, when the weather was hotter. Tests were also carried out in combination with natural ventilation and shading. The results indicate that the fan-pad system was efficient under extreme weather conditions and that it avoided creating horizontal thermal gradients. By determining the theoretical value of the air temperature leaving the pad, we were able to estimate the evaporative cooling potential of the fan-pad system as a function of the outdoor climate. Under extreme conditions, the fan-pad system’s efficiency decreased along with increased air temperature and, above all, the increased relative humidity of the outside air. When the outdoor climate is warm and humid, natural ventilation may be the most efficient temperature control method. If the outdoor climate is warm and dry, the evaporative pad is more effective, especially when combined with shading.
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spelling oai:repositorio.ual.es:10835-82692023-11-08T08:19:58Z Evaluation of an Adapted Greenhouse Cooling System with Pre-Chamber and Inflatable Air Ducts for Semi-Arid Regions in Warm Conditions Cámara Zapata, José María Sánchez Molina, Jorge Antonio Wang, Hui Carreño Ortega, Angel Rodríguez Díaz, Francisco evaporative cooling natural ventilation shading resilience to climate change high temperature crop production The growing needs for fruit and vegetable production, together with the current climate change situation, make agriculture under plastic and greenhouse cooling indispensable. The most commonly used approaches are natural ventilation, shading and fan-pad systems. To foster a climate that allows forplant production under cover in extreme conditions, a novel fan-pad system has been devised that incorporates a pre-chamber and an air distribution system using air ducts running alongside the crop rows. The system has been tested in a greenhouse in Almeria (Spain) during the daytime in August, when the weather was hotter. Tests were also carried out in combination with natural ventilation and shading. The results indicate that the fan-pad system was efficient under extreme weather conditions and that it avoided creating horizontal thermal gradients. By determining the theoretical value of the air temperature leaving the pad, we were able to estimate the evaporative cooling potential of the fan-pad system as a function of the outdoor climate. Under extreme conditions, the fan-pad system’s efficiency decreased along with increased air temperature and, above all, the increased relative humidity of the outside air. When the outdoor climate is warm and humid, natural ventilation may be the most efficient temperature control method. If the outdoor climate is warm and dry, the evaporative pad is more effective, especially when combined with shading. 2020-05-27T08:51:57Z 2020-05-27T08:51:57Z 2020-05-23 info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2073-4395 http://hdl.handle.net/10835/8269 en https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/10/5/752 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess MDPI
spellingShingle evaporative cooling
natural ventilation
shading
resilience to climate change
high temperature crop production
Cámara Zapata, José María
Sánchez Molina, Jorge Antonio
Wang, Hui
Carreño Ortega, Angel
Rodríguez Díaz, Francisco
Evaluation of an Adapted Greenhouse Cooling System with Pre-Chamber and Inflatable Air Ducts for Semi-Arid Regions in Warm Conditions
title Evaluation of an Adapted Greenhouse Cooling System with Pre-Chamber and Inflatable Air Ducts for Semi-Arid Regions in Warm Conditions
title_full Evaluation of an Adapted Greenhouse Cooling System with Pre-Chamber and Inflatable Air Ducts for Semi-Arid Regions in Warm Conditions
title_fullStr Evaluation of an Adapted Greenhouse Cooling System with Pre-Chamber and Inflatable Air Ducts for Semi-Arid Regions in Warm Conditions
title_full_unstemmed Evaluation of an Adapted Greenhouse Cooling System with Pre-Chamber and Inflatable Air Ducts for Semi-Arid Regions in Warm Conditions
title_short Evaluation of an Adapted Greenhouse Cooling System with Pre-Chamber and Inflatable Air Ducts for Semi-Arid Regions in Warm Conditions
title_sort evaluation of an adapted greenhouse cooling system with pre-chamber and inflatable air ducts for semi-arid regions in warm conditions
topic evaporative cooling
natural ventilation
shading
resilience to climate change
high temperature crop production
url http://hdl.handle.net/10835/8269
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