ECONOMICAL OPTIMIZATION OF ENERGY CONSUMPTION IN AN EARLY CUCUMBER CROP

Dynamic optimization of glasshouse temperature control is achieved by continuously maximizing the difference between the rate of production and the rate of fuel consumption, both expressed in terms of economic value.
In this approach the momentary effect of environmental factors on earliness and rate of production has to be quantified.
For control purposes this problem may be solved by developing simple models relating the environmental factors to one or a few characteristic parameters.
In order to keep the models simple and to reduce the number of parameters a culture may be divided into a number of phases, each with its characteristic parameters and with different models.

With cucumber the phase from planting till flowering was optimized using the rate of leaf formation as a characteristic parameter related to the onset of the production phase.
In a preliminary glasshouse experiment it proved to be difficult to quantify the benefits of this control strategy experimentally.
Furthermore, it was concluded that the importance of temperature optimization increases with increasing energy prices and increasing K-values of the glasshouse and with decreasing efficiency of the heating system.

Working-party on Greenhouse Cucumber

H. Challa, J.C. Bakker, G.P.A. Bot, A.J. Udink ten Cate, J. van de Vooren

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1981.118.19