DEVELOPMENT OF A SIMULATION MODEL TO EVALUATE ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROLS IN A TOMATO GREENHOUSE

The objective of this study was to develop a simulation model to evaluate environmental controls in a tomato greenhouse after considering the local conditions of East Asia, including Japan.
To achieve this objective, we used the simulation soft-ware TRNSYS to develop a simulation model for the greenhouse climate.
We selected and modified the components that modeled ventilation, and calculated the heat balance necessary to predict the inside air temperature and humidity.
A fog cooling module and an evapotranspiration module for summer production of tomato was added.
The model was validated with an experimental greenhouse with a fog cooling system.
The fog cooling module included parameters for rate of fog application.
The evapotranspiration module predicted evapotranspiration from the vegetation surface based on meteorological datasets consisting of hourly averaged values for solar radiation, outside air temperature, and relative humidity.
The results showed that the simulation output for the inside air temperature corresponded with the measured values with good accuracy.
The simulation model combined with the fog cooling and evapotranspiration modules could accurately simulate environmental conditions in a greenhouse with a fog cooling system.

International Symposium on New Technologies for Environment Control, Energy-Saving and Crop Production in Greenhouse and Plant Factory – Greensys 2013

Y. Ishigami, E. Goto, M. Watanabe , T. Takahashi , L. Okushima

computer simulation, fog cooling, greenhouse environment, temperature, TRNSYS

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2014.1037.7