SOLAR RADIATION VARIABILITY IN EAST-WEST ORIENTED MEDITERRANEAN GREENHOUSES

East-west orientation of multispan greenhouses in the Mediterranean area generates, when roof slope is high enough, solar radiation transmission differences between the various zones of the greenhouse, specially relevant along the transversal section of the span.
Therefore, choosing the point for a representative measurement of solar radiation inside the greenhouse is difficult.
A study about the spatial uniformity of solar radiation along the transversal section of the span of an arch-roofed plastic multispan greenhouse (6.3 m span wide) was performed, using six linear solarimeters placed at the eaves level, along the autumn and winter seasons in the south of Spain.
The average solar radiation transmissions in the southern and northern sides of the greenhouse span were 75.3% and 59.0%, respectively, resulting in a mean greenhouse transmission of 67.2%. The sensor located at the middle-north of the transversal section of the span (number four of the six sensors) provides the more representative value of the solar radiation average in the greenhouse.

VII International Symposium on Protected Cultivation in Mild Winter Climates: Production, Pest Management and Global Competition

T. Soriano, J. Hernández, M.I. Morales, I. Escobar, N. Castilla

Radiation uniformity, multispan, solarimeter, transmission, plastichouse

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2004.659.14