Most of the greenhouses in Mexico are from low to medium technological level, with no heating or cooling systems, and in soil cultivation. These features result in no control on the environment and on the conditions for optimum plant growth and development. Daily air temperature averages during December and January show the need for calefaction. However, with only natural ventilation it is possible to provide adequate climate conditions for plant growth during the rest of the year, if the ventilationis properly managed In this way, understanding natural ventilation is crucial for establishing a control system for opening and closing the vents for achieving adequate uniform air temperature profiles. Therefore, a model based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), in steady state, was developed that predicts the temperature of the greenhouse air under different ventilation configurations, under different external climatic conditions. The mathematical model was validated through a network of 9 temperature sensors distributed over the transverse and central plane of the greenhouse. The results of the simulation allowed to obtain the root mean square error between the measured temperatures and the simulated temperatures. The simulations allowed to establish the opening and closing of more suitable vents for different external conditions.
展开▼