Article
Energy & Fuels
Changqing Si, Fei Qi, Xiaoming Ding, Fen He, Zhenjun Gao, Qian Feng, Liang Zheng
Summary: The microclimate, soil, and back walls in solar greenhouses have a significant impact on the thermal environment due to their heat storage and release characteristics. Increased crop transpiration leads to a sharp increase in indoor humidity, which is the main factor affecting humidity distribution. Therefore, understanding the microclimate changes and studying the coupling effect of thermal and humidity environment in solar greenhouses is highly important. This paper establishes a three-dimensional model of the thermal and humidity environment using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), considering the influences of soil, crops, and back walls. The simulation results under different working conditions show good agreement with actual results, providing valuable insights for greenhouse structure improvement and environmental regulation.
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Yiming Li, Dapeng Sun, Tianyang Xia, Petar Sabev Varbanov, Xingan Liu, Tianlai Li
Summary: Chinese solar greenhouse (CSG) is essential for sustainable agriculture as it allows year-round vegetable cultivation without energy consumption or carbon emissions. However, frost damage during winter production is common in high latitudes and cold regions. To improve the thermal insulation of unheated CSG, a novel internal insulation method was proposed.
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
(2023)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Niansi Li, Tao Gu, Bendong Yu, Jie Ji, Xiaoyong Liu
Summary: A Trombe wall with thermal catalytic blinds (TC-Blind/TW) for indoor heating/cooling, air purification, and shading is proposed. The study comprehensively explores the system's advancement and feasibility, including material preparation and performance testing, system construction and steady state experiment testing, heat-mass transfer model establishment and verification, and system operation strategy analysis. The main conclusions are: the thermal catalytic material MnOx-CeO2 shows excellent heating and purification performance, the system achieves a thermal efficiency of 35%-55% and a formaldehyde single-through conversion of 32%-42% during the daytime, the established heat-mass transfer model has high accuracy, and the blinds turning angle significantly affects the system performance.
Article
Agronomy
Yunfei Zhuang, Shumei Zhao, Jieyu Cheng, Pingzhi Wang, Na Lu, Chengwei Ma, Wenxin Xing, Kexin Zheng
Summary: A Chinese solar greenhouse (CSG) utilizes solar energy to create an optimal growth environment for crops. By optimizing the performance of the north wall, the CSG can improve growth conditions and reduce fossil fuel consumption. The study proposes a heat storage north wall with a hollow layer that utilizes air convection to collect and store excess solar energy during the day for heating purposes at night. Field tests compare natural and forced convection strategies and ensure that the minimum winter temperature inside the greenhouse remains above 5 degrees Celsius.
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Milad Teymori-omran, Ali Motevali, Seyed Reza Mousavi Seyedi, Mehdi Montazeri
Summary: The study utilized ANSYS Fluent for numerical simulation to improve energy consumption in greenhouse systems. The photovoltaic/thermal system was simulated under various parameters and compared for performance in indoor and outdoor conditions. The optimal design was identified as longitudinal 14 mm tubes with a flow rate of 3 lit/min, showing good agreement between experimental and simulation data.
SUSTAINABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES AND ASSESSMENTS
(2021)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Jinxin Xiao, Yixin Hu, Qiang Wang, Jianming Li
Summary: This study presents a structural design method for an earth-air heat exchanger (EAHE) based on the architectural characteristics of greenhouses. The method can guide the application of EAHE in a greenhouse and satisfy the energy demand of greenhouses.
Article
Agronomy
Xiao Wu, Hong Li, Siyu Sang, Anhui He, Yimei Re, Hongjun Xu
Summary: This study aims to provide information and theoretical support for the development planning of facility agriculture in desert areas. It measures the temperature, humidity, and heat transfer distribution of different types of greenhouses in the Aksu desert area of Xinjiang using sensor monitoring and computer connection record. The results show that the assembled solar greenhouse (G3) has the highest average temperature among the three types of greenhouses in the cold season. G3 also has fast heating and cooling characteristics, making it suitable for crop growth.
Article
Thermodynamics
Yong Guan, Qi Meng, Tianxu Ji, Wanling Hu, Wenlong Li, Tianming Liu
Summary: Solar greenhouses are agricultural facilities that utilize solar energy for vegetable growth. The thermal characteristics of the greenhouse wall play a significant role in creating a suitable greenhouse microclimate, and enhancing the heat storage capacity of the wall material can prevent freeze damage to the crops. This study proposes a novel greenhouse wall with micro-heat pipe arrays and phase-change materials to improve the temperature regulation and heat storage/release properties. Through experimental evaluation and analysis, it was found that the combined use of micro-heat pipe arrays and phase-change materials effectively increased heat storage and release rates, resulting in improved air temperature during the night and creating an optimum environment for crop growth.
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Noureddine Choab, Amine Allouhi, Anas El Maakoul, Tarik Kousksou, Said Saadeddine, Abdelmajid Jamil
Summary: Protected crop production is rapidly expanding in the Mediterranean Basin, particularly in Morocco, driven by increased demand locally and overseas. Government policies encouraging greenhouse development have played a significant role. Research investigating key design parameters affecting thermal behavior and energy needs of greenhouses in Agadir, Morocco, reveals that East-West orientation and Quonset shape are optimal choices, reducing air-conditioning costs significantly compared to other options.
Article
Thermodynamics
Muhammad Shahid Shafiq, Muhammad Mahabat Khan, Muhammad Irfan
Summary: The study investigates the impact of various fin designs on the performance of a thermal energy storage unit. Different fin angles, shapes, and lengths can significantly affect the melting rate and energy storage efficiency of the phase change material. Optimal fin configurations can greatly enhance the overall performance of the system.
CASE STUDIES IN THERMAL ENGINEERING
(2021)
Article
Agricultural Engineering
Yanfei Cao, Hongjun Xu, Miao Shi, Xueyan Zhang, Yahong Zhang, Zhirong Zou
Summary: This study designed a novel Chinese solar greenhouse to improve its thermal insulation and storage performance in winter. Compared with conventional greenhouses, this new design had a higher land utilization rate in cold climatic areas and achieved higher indoor temperatures on typical sunny and cloudy days. The results of a 24-day experiment showed that the average indoor temperature of the new greenhouse was 1.4 degrees Celsius higher than that of the conventional greenhouse.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Agricultural Engineering
Yanfei Caol, Hongjun Xu, Miao Shi, Xueyan Zhang, Yahong Zhang, Zhirong Zou
Summary: A novel assembled Chinese solar greenhouse (ACSG) was designed to improve thermal insulation and storage performance in winter compared to traditional Chinese solar greenhouses (CSG). Results showed that ACSG had higher land utilization rate and maintained higher indoor temperatures, making it a more efficient option.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Guangqing Yang, Yunfei Zhao, He Wang, Zhijie Wang
Summary: This research aims to study the performance of Back-to-back geosynthetic-reinforced soil walls (BBGRSWs) and optimize the design method for cost-efficiency and stability. By establishing a numerical model and conducting FEM analysis, it was found that reinforcing the same layer on both sides can reduce post-construction deformations, and longer reinforcements are needed to achieve the same performance.
APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL
(2022)
Article
Thermodynamics
Md Nadim Heyat Jilani, Somil Yadav, Caroline Hachem-Vermette, S. K. Panda, G. N. Tiwari, Sanket Nayak
Summary: A quonset-type greenhouse integrating a Thin-film Photovoltaic (GiTPV) system is designed to facilitate plant growth in harsh cold climates. The system is coupled with an Earth-Air Heat Exchanger (EAHE) to enhance its self-sustainability. A periodic thermal model based on energy equilibrium equations is developed to evaluate the system's performance. The results show that the EAHE provides heating during off-sunshine hours, reducing temperature fluctuations and increasing thermal comfort. The GiTPV system generates 15.3 kWh of electrical energy per day, making it self-sustainable in cold climates.
APPLIED THERMAL ENGINEERING
(2023)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Yulong Zhao, Hongmei Diao, Guoyin Zhang, Minghui Ge
Summary: Building-integrated photovoltaic-thermal systems provide both electrical and thermal energy for buildings. By cooling the air, the thermal/electrical performance of the system can be improved. Experimental results show that reducing the cooling water temperature increases the heat efficiency and electrical efficiency of the system.
Article
Agricultural Engineering
Yifan Bai, Junzhen Yu, Shuqin Yang, Jifeng Ning
Summary: A real-time recognition algorithm (Improved YOLO) is proposed in this paper for accurately identifying small, similar-colored, and overlapping strawberry seedling flowers and fruits. The experimental results show that the algorithm achieves high precision, recall, and average precision, and meets the real-time detection requirements, providing effective support for the automated management of strawberry seedling flower and fruit thinning.
BIOSYSTEMS ENGINEERING
(2024)
