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Cooling improvement of an agricultural greenhouse using geothermal energy in a desert climate

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Abstract

This work treats the air ventilation and the cooling of a tunnel greenhouse. For determining the temperature of the cover surface, the energy audit is examined by the Trnsys software. The investigation of the thermal comfort inside the greenhouse is performed using the airflow conservation equations. Ansys CFD code is used to simulate indoor thermal behavior. Openings and chimneys are added for evacuating hot air and participating in greenhouse cooling. Natural ventilation of greenhouse and Rayleigh number changes are investigated to show their effects on indoor air temperature. The numeral simulation shows that the increase in buoyancy force leads to an indoor temperature decrease. But experimental tests show that the drowning up of air flow toward the chimney requires an aspirator to reinforce the buoyancy. The integration of geothermal energy shows considerable improvement in reducing indoor temperature and getting less cooling energy levels in critical climatic conditions. Daily energy of 5 kWh is needed to cool the greenhouse at an ambient temperature of 37 °C. Further energy consumption reduction can reach 50% for an ambient temperature of less than 30 °C.

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Abbreviations

Ac :

Area of the greenhouse transparent cover [m2]

Ap :

Area of the greenhouse horizontal projection [m2]

Cpa :

Specific heat of moist air at a constant pressure [J/kg]

Cps :

Specific heat of steam at a constant pressure [J/kg]

G:

Solar irradiance [W /m2]

Kc :

Thermal transmittance of the greenhouse transparent cover [W/m2°C]

\(\dot{m}_{a}\) :

Specific airflow [kg/s]

N:

Air change per hour [h−1]

rin :

Specific latent heat of evaporation at the indoor temperature [J/kg]

rout :

Specific latent heat of evaporation at the outdoor temperature [J/kg]

Tin :

Indoor air temperature [°C]

Tout :

Outdoor air temperature [°C]

Ts :

Apparent sky temperature [°C]

V:

Volume of the greenhouse [m3]

Xa,in :

Humidity ratio of moist air at the indoor temperature

Xa,out :

Humidity ratio of moist air at the outdoor temperature

αs :

Solar radiation absorptivity of greenhouse cover

εc :

Emissivity coefficient of greenhouse cover

εv :

Emissivity coefficient of greenhouse cover

ρa :

Air density [kg/s]

τLW :

Medium-long infrared transmission coefficient of greenhouse cover

σ:

Stefan Boltzmann constant [W/C4.m2

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Kasdi Merbah Ouargla, Ouargla, Algeria

    Ibrahim Cherrad, Boubekeur Dokkar, Naoui Khenfer, Soufiane Benoumhani & Mohamed Cherif Benzid

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  1. Ibrahim Cherrad
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  2. Boubekeur Dokkar
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  4. Soufiane Benoumhani
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Correspondence to Boubekeur Dokkar.

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Cherrad, I., Dokkar, B., Khenfer, N. et al. Cooling improvement of an agricultural greenhouse using geothermal energy in a desert climate. Int J Energy Environ Eng 14, 211–228 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40095-022-00514-4

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