Simulation and validation model of cooling greenhouse by solar energy (P V) integrated with painting its cover and its effect on the cucumber production

摘要

Solar energy as a kind of renewable energy is used to power evaporative cooling system to decrease high temperatures that pose a highly negative effect on agricultural production. Greenhouses can be used to avoid the impact of high temperatures. The main objective here is to study the effect of a solar-assisted evaporative cooling in a cucumber greenhouse integrated with painting the greenhouse cover on the environmental factors to improve production. The study was divided into two experiments (preliminary and field experiment). The preliminary study was a mathematical model by MATLAB program developed to predict the value of environmental factors inside the cooled greenhouse. The field experiment was to validate the solar panel (PV), cooling systems, model results and their effect on cucumber yield and water consumption. Good agreement was found between predicted and measured values. Evaporative cooling which consumed about 8.32 MJ day(-1) obtained from solar energy (PV) alongside painting the greenhouse cover decreased the temperature about 10 degrees. The evaporative efficiency was 74%. This system has been applied in the climatic conditions of Egypt and can be used for cooling within most facilities with high efficiency in areas of similar environmental conditions. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.