Design of a Micro-Plant Factory Using a Validated CFD Model

Xinxin Chen, Tengyuan Hou, Shulin Liu, Yongxiu Guo, Jianping Hu, Gaoming Xu, Guoxin Ma and Wei Liu ()
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Xinxin Chen: School of Agriculture Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Tengyuan Hou: School of Agriculture Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Shulin Liu: College of Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China
Yongxiu Guo: School of Agriculture Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Jianping Hu: School of Agriculture Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Gaoming Xu: College of Intelligent Manufacturing and Equipment, Jiangmen Polytechnic, Jiangmen 529030, China
Guoxin Ma: School of Agriculture Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Wei Liu: School of Agriculture Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China

Agriculture, 2024, vol. 14, issue 12, 1-18

Abstract: The uniformity of the cultivation environment in a micro-plant factory plays a critical role in ensuring the consistent growth of seedlings, and an optimal airflow pattern is the key to maintaining environmental uniformity. This study applied computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling to compare the effects of six different ventilation modes on the microclimate within the cultivation space. In cases 1 and 2, the inlet was positioned at the top, while the outlets were located at both the bottom and the top of the side walls. For cases 3 to 6, a side-inlet and side-outlet ventilation system was employed across the three cultivation layers. Case 4 maintained consistent inlet and outlet airflow speeds, whereas cases 3, 5, and 6 featured airflow settings that either increased or decreased progressively from the top layer to the bottom. Notably, case 6 was characterized by a more compact arrangement of cultivation racks within the space, which were positioned closer to the outlet than in the other cases. In case 1, the air inlets were positioned at the top, while the outlets were located on both side walls at the lower layer of cultivation. In contrast, case 6 used a side-inlet and side-outlet ventilation strategy, in which the airflow speed of the inlets decreases progressively from the top to the bottom of the cultivation layers. Additionally, the cultivation racks in case 6 were arranged more compactly and positioned closer to the outlet of the cultivation space. The relative standard deviation (RSD) was used to evaluate the uniformity of the airflow velocity (m/s), temperature (K), and relative humidity (%) within the crop-growing area. The results indicated that, among all the scenarios, case 6 demonstrated the lowest RSD values for the airflow velocity, temperature, and relative humidity, with reductions of 18.34%, 0.12%, and 2.05%, respectively, compared to the control group (case 1). Based on the ventilation design of case 6, a micro-plant factory was developed featuring a bidirectional flow fan, air conditioning, and PWM fans for the coordinated control of air circulation within the seedling cultivation space, along with adjustable cultivation layer heights and shelf spacing. The accuracy of the CFD model for the micro-plant factory was validated with normalized root mean square error (NMSE) for cultivation layer heights of 250 mm, 300 mm, and 350 mm. The NMSE values comparing the simulated and measured results for the airflow velocity, temperature, and relative humidity were found to be 0.032, 0.0020, and 0.0022; 0.031, 0.0021, and 0.0018; and 0.046, 0.0021, and 0.0021, respectively. These findings indicate that the established CFD model can reliably predict the microenvironment within the micro-plant factory.

Keywords: micro-plant factory; ventilation design; cultivation layer heights; airflow velocity; uniformity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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