Closed Solar House with Radiation Filtering Roof for Transplant Production in Arid Regions: Energy Consumption

Ahmed M. Abdel-Ghany, Ibrahim M. Al-Helal, Abdullah A. Alsadon, Abdullah A. Ibrahim and Mohamed R. Shady
Additional contact information
Ahmed M. Abdel-Ghany: Department of Agricultural Engineering, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Ibrahim M. Al-Helal: Department of Agricultural Engineering, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Abdullah A. Alsadon: Department of Plant Production, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Abdullah A. Ibrahim: Department of Plant Production, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Mohamed R. Shady: Department of Agricultural Engineering, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia

Energies, 2016, vol. 9, issue 3, 1-18

Abstract: Under harsh weather conditions, closed transplant production systems (CTPS) are currently used to produce high quality transplants under artificial lighting. More than 70% of the electric energy consumed in the CTPS is for lighting. This article presents a simulation study to examine the possibility of using an alternative closed solar house, with radiation filtering roof, for transplant production in hot sunny regions to replace the artificial lighting in the CTPS with sunlight. The sidewalls of the house were insulated as in the CTPS and the roof was transparent, and made from polycarbonate hollow-channeled structure. There was a liquid radiation filter (LRF) (1.5% CuSO 4 –water solution) flowing in a closed loop through the roof channels to absorb the solar heat load ( i.e. , the near infra-red radiation, NIR: 700–2500 nm) and transmit the photosynthetically active radiation (PAR: 400–700 nm) for plant growth. The LRF inlet temperature was assumed to be 25 °C to prevent vapor condensation on the inner surface of the cover. The evapo-transpired water vapor was removed immediately to maintain the relative humidity inside the house at 70%. The results proved that this technique can offer an appropriate air temperature inside the house less than outside air temperature by around 8–10 °C in hot summer days, and the integrated electric energy consumption during the production period was estimated to be around 43% of the CTPS consumption.

Keywords: fluid-roof; hot desert; solar radiation; transplants production; radiation filter (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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