CFD Study of Airflow and Microclimate Patterns Inside a Multispan Greenhouse

Understanding and improving greenhouses requires the analysis and modelling of energy and mass exchange phenomena. The mastery of all these physical mechanisms can make it possible to propose technological solutions to control the greenhouse climate. This study presents an analysis and simulation of air flow, temperature and humidity patterns ,in ½-ha multi-span greenhouse with oblique side walls,covered by insect proof nets.The site is located in the coastal area of southern Morocco. The fundamental calculation of climatic conditions is based on CFD, wich uses the mass, momentum and energy conservation equations. The dynamic influence of the insect screens and tomato crop on airflow movement, was described ,using the concept of the porous medium approach proposed by Darcy and Forchheimer.The coupling of convective and radiative exchanges at the plastic roof cover is considered. A good agreement was observed between the measured and simulated values for inside air temperatures and relative humidity. Insect screens significantly reduced airflow and increased thermal gradients inside the greenhouse. The results clearly showed the heterogeneity of the greenhouse’s internal climate, which infects agricultural production in quantity and quality</jats:p

A Review on Recent Development of Cooling Technologies for Photovoltaic Modules

When converting solar energy to electricity, a big proportion of energy is not converted for electricity but for heating PV cells, resulting in increased cell temperature and reduced electrical efficiency. Many cooling technologies have been developed and used for PV modules to lower cell temperature and boost electric energy yield. However, little crucial review work was proposed to comment cooling technologies for PV modules. Therefore, this paper has provided a thorough review of the up-to-date development of existing cooling technologies for PV modules, and given appropriate comments, comparisons and discussions. According to the ways or principles of cooling, existing cooling technologies have been classified as fluid medium cooling (air cooling, water cooling and nanofluids cooling), optimizing structural configuration cooling and phase change materials cooling. Potential influential factors and sub-methods were collected from the review work, and their contributions and impact have been discussed to guide future studies. Although most cooling technologies reviewed in this paper are matured, there are still problems need to be solved, such as the choice of cooling fluid and its usability for specific regions, the fouling accumulation and cleaning of enhanced heat exchangers with complex structures, the balance between cooling cost and net efficiency of PV modules, the cooling of circulating water in tropical areas and the freezing of circulating water in cold areas. To be advocated, due to efficient heat transfer and spectral filter characters, nanofluids can promote the effective matching of solar energy at both spectral and spatial scales to achieve orderly energy utilization