International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

Volume 3, Special Issue 3: ICERTSD 2013, Feb 2013, pages 348-355

An ISO 9001:2008 certified Int. Journal, ISSN 2250-2459, available online at www.ijetae.com

THERMAL MODELING OF A RIDGE-VENTILATED GREENHOUSE

EQUIPPED WITH LONGITUDINALLY DISTRIBUTED EVAPORATIVE
COOLING PADS
D.Misra 1, S.Ghosh 2*
1

Department of Mechanical Engineering,

Saroj Mohan Institute of technology,Guptipara, Hooghly712512,West Bengal,India;
Ph-+91-3213-224041, fax-+91-3213-224137
2*

Department of Mechanical Engineering,

Bengal Engineering & Science University, Shibpur, Howrah-711103, West Bengal, India;
Ph-+91-33-26684561-63, fax-+91-33-26682916
*

Corresponding author email: sudipghosh.becollege@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
In the present paper, a thermal model of a fan-pad ventilated greenhouse with distributed evaporative cooling has
been presented to minimize the temperature gradient along the length. An uneven-span ridge type greenhouse is
considered, the fans being aligned along the ridge of the greenhouse and the cooling pads being aligned along the side
wall segments. The analysis is based on energy balance equations for various elements like plants, floor and inside air of
the greenhouse. A computer program in C has been developed to solve the energy equations and compute the
performance parameters for a given set of input climatic and geometric data. The model has been compared with an
earlier model available in the literature which was based on a single-element analysis considering the whole greenhouse
as a single entity. The analysis suggests that during extreme summer days, the greenhouse air temperature can be
maintained about 5-7oC below the ambient temperature for a given ventilation rate of 1.2 ACM and canopy shading of
50%. Parametric studies are presented to show the effects of various operating parameters viz. ventilation rate, shading
and leaf area index on the greenhouse air and plant temperature.
Keywords: Greenhouse; Solar radiation; Evaporative cooling; Ventilation

1. INTRODUCTION
A greenhouse is a framed structure covered with a
transparent material, which enable the cultivation of
crops, vegetables, flower etc. in qualities, quantities
when it's impossible to achieve cultivating in an open
environment. The structures protect the plants from
wind and natural hazards, provide cover from rain in
order to manage the irrigation and fertilization schedule,
and contribute to preventing outbreaks of disease and
pest infestation. Greenhouses should provide a
controlled environment for plant production with
sufficient sunlight, temperature and humidity.
Nowadays, greenhouse technology has been in use in
hot and humid countries like India, by using appropriate
cooling and ventilation method. A lot of research work
has been carried out on greenhouse technology for the
last few decades but very few of them are relevant to
Indian climatic condition with fan pad evaporative
cooling. Ganguly and Ghosh [1] have presented a
thermal model of a fan-pad ventilated floriculture
greenhouse to predict the inside greenhouse
temperature.

Presented at International Conference on Energy Resources and

Technologies for Sustainable Development, 07-09 February 2013,
Howrah, India.

They have also shown the effects of shading and

ventilation rate on greenhouse temperature. Shukla et al.
[2] have carried out an experimental study to see the
effect of an inner thermal curtain in an evaporative
cooling system of a cascade greenhouse. A thermal
model has also been developed to predict the air
temperature. Kittas et al. [3] have shown that the
evaporative cooling system is able to keep the
greenhouse air temperature at rather low levels. Impron
et al. [4] demonstrated that air temperature was affected
more by variations of ventilation and leaf area index
than by the applied cover properties. The leaf area index
had the highest impact on greenhouse air temperature,
implying that a large proportion of the cooling is
achieved by the crop itself. Sethi and Sharma [5]
developed a thermal model for heating and cooling of
an agricultural greenhouse integrated with an Aquifer
Coupled Cavity Flow Heat Exchanger System
(ACCFHES). Kittas et al. [6] reported experimental
investigation of the climatic variables of greenhouse
such as air temperature, solar radiation, outside wind
speed and direction and their interactions affecting the
air temperature in a fan-ventilated multi-span
greenhouse with rose crop.
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Ghosal et al. [7] presented a mathematical model

considering heat transfer through flowing water film on
shade cloth, stretched over the roofs and south wall of
an even span greenhouse to study the effectiveness of
cooling in greenhouse.
In the conventional fan-fad evaporative cooling and
ventilation system greenhouse fans and the cooling pads
are installed on the opposite walls of the house. When
outside air is drawn by the induced draught fan in the
greenhouse through the wet pad, it gets cooled as latent
heat of evaporation of water is taken from the air. This
cold air picks up heat while flowing from the pad end to
the fan end, causing a temperature gradient along the
length of the greenhouse. This puts a restriction on the
construction of longer greenhouse. In this paper, a
thermal model of a greenhouse with distributed
evaporative cooling is presented. An uneven-span ridge
type greenhouse is considered, the fans being aligned
along the ridge of the greenhouse and the cooling pads
being aligned along the side wall segments (Fig.1).

During the operation, air is drawn by the fans through

the wet pads and ventilated out of the greenhouse
through the roof. This avoids temperature gradient
along the length but a small temperature gradient is set
up along the width and height of the greenhouse.
Therefore, temperature gradient does not put any
restriction on the length of the greenhouse. The study is
based on the climate data for the city of Kolkata
(22.83oN, 88.82oE), which bears the mixed climatic
conditions of the plains and coastal areas of India.
In the present model an east-west oriented, un-even
span, single ridge greenhouse has been considered, with
a floor area of 180-m2. Fig.1 represents the general
arrangement of the proposed system. Central and side
wall heights of greenhouse are 4 m and 2 m,
respectively. The greenhouse is covered with Fiber
Reinforced Plastic (FRP). The cooling pads are on the
north and south walls, one on each side of each of the
six bays or segments. A door is on the west wall and
fans are aligned along the ridge of the greenhouse as
shown in Fig.1. Shade nets are provided along both of
the canopy in inclined manner.

N
Fig.1: General arrangement of proposed greenhouse
30 m
Y
0.7 m
F

2m

m
2m
m

CWP
m

Fig.1(a): Side elevation (North) of the system

m
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Air out
0.7 m

Shade net

2m

Air in
2m

6m
Fig.1(b): Sectional elevation of Y-Y
b is the transmisivity of the beam radiation which
varies with hour angle and the maximum value is
assumed as 0.8 for the material fiber reinforced plastic
(FRP). r and d are the transmisivity of the global and
diffuse radiation which are assumed to be constant and
value chosen is 0.76 respectively.
To calculate the total heat load into the greenhouse it
is considered that the vertical surfaces receive only
diffused radiation because during the peak radiation
hours the contribution of beam radiation on the vertical
walls is insignificant compared to the total radiation [1].

2. THERMAL MODELING
The following assumptions were made in the
development of the thermal model:
(i) Analysis is considering steady-state condition.
(ii) Heat flow is considered to be one dimensional.
(iii) No energy is absorbed by the structural
elements.
(iv) Radiative heat exchange between canopy and
side walls has been neglected.
Following input parameters are used for the thermal
model of the greenhouse:
Transmissivity of the covering material for normal
beam radiation [1]:
0.8
Transmissivity for diffused and reflected radiation
[1]:
0.76.
Saturation efficiency of cooling pad [1]: 0.88.
Heat absorptivity of Ground [5]: 0.30.

2.2. Energy balance equations

It is considered that the transmitted solar radiation
into the greenhouse is fully absorbed by the plants,
inside-air and floor of the greenhouse. The temperature
inside the greenhouse air can be calculated by applying
the law of conservation of energy for the different
elements (plant, floor, inside air) of the greenhouse[14].
In the following section energy balance equations for
each of the greenhouse components has been presented.

2.1 Total incident solar energy on greenhouse

cover
The total intensity of solar radiation falling on
different inclined and vertical surfaces of greenhouse is
calculated using solar radiation geometry for the
relevant surfaces and solar radiation. The total incident
heat load of greenhouse is given by:

St

(1 SF)A I

i ti

2.2.1. Greenhouse plants

pSt M p C p

(1)

bR b b

I d R d d (I b I d )R r r

p (1 rf )(1 )

(2)

h pr A p (Tp TG )

(3)

(4)

In equation (4) rf is the reflectivity of leaves which

depends on the variety of plants; is transmisivity of
leaves; hpr is convective-evaporative heat transfer
coefficient and PT is saturation pressure, suggested by
Tewari [7].

Where Ib and Id are intensity of beam and diffuse

radiation respectively. Rb, Rd, and Rr are tilt factors for
beam, diffuse and reflected radiation respectively.
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dt

[Rate of energy absorbed by the vegetation] =[ Rate

of energy used to increase plant temperature] + [Rate of
energy convected and evaporated to the surrounding
through leaves]
Where, (p) is absorptivity of plant suggested by
Sameshima [12], is given by

Where Ai is the area of the surface i and Iti is the

intensity of transmitted solar radiation into the
greenhouse through that surface.
The intensity of transmitted solar radiation (It) into the
greenhouse can be written as:

It

dTp

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2.2.2. Greenhouse floor

g (1 p )S t KA g

dT
dx | x o

Where, H is the effective height considering the

entire shape of the greenhouse as a parallelepiped. Thus
the total volume of air inside the greenhouse is
equivalent to the volume of the parallelepiped .
Temperature of pads can be expressed as

hA g (Tx|o TG ) (5)

[Rate of energy absorbed by the floor] = [Rate of

energy conducted through the floor] +[Rate of energy
convected into the greenhouse air]
The rate of thermal energy conducted in the ground is
expressed in a steady state condition as

KA g

dT
dx | x o

h b A g (Tx|o To )

Tpad Ta (Ta Twb )

Where is the saturation efficiency of cooling pads.

In equation (8) h is the overall heat transfer
coefficient, given by Sethi [5].
From Eq. (7) the surface temperature of the floor of the
greenhouse (Tx=0) can be written as

(6)

Tx o

Where, Tx=o is the surface temperature of the

ground, C. Temperature in the ground after a certain
depth (T) becomes constant and is considered equal to
the underground annual temperature, which is assumed
to be constant (To) beneath the greenhouse floor as
discussed by Tiwari and Goyal [14]. Thus, eqn. (5) can
be written as
g (1 p )St h bAg (Tx|o To ) ha Ag (Tx|o TG )

TG

(7)

TG

(11)

Tfan Tpad

(12)

PSt RTp H G (MS t N) hA gc Ta QTpad

hA gc Q R H G h b A g
(13)

Considering
ha
HG
ha hb

M g (1 p )

N h b A g To

P (1 g )(1 p )

Q 2 a VC a

R h pr A p

In simplified form TG can be written as

TG A BTp

(1 g )(1 p )St h prAp (Tp TG ) h a Ag (Tx o TG )

(14)

Where

(8)

[Rate of energy gained by the greenhouse air after

absorption by plants and floor] + [Rate of energy
convected and evaporated in the greenhouse air through
plant leaves] + [Rate of energy convected from the floor
to the greenhouse air] = [Rate of heat transfer between
the greenhouse air and the ambient] + [Rate of sensible
heat gain of greenhouse air which is to be ventilated out
under steady state condition]
Where V is the volume of air handled by ID fan and
expressed as

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h bAg ha Ag

Combining equations (8), (11) and (12) greenhouse

air temperature (TG) can be obtained.

2.2.3. Greenhouse Air

The total heat accumulation in the greenhouse air is
the summation of transmited heat after absorption by
the plant and floor, convected-evaporated heat from the
plants and convected heat from the floor. It is also
considered that the heat exchange occurs across the
greenhouse coverings due to temperature difference
between inside and the ambient. If ambient temperature
is more than the inside temperature then heat transfer
takes place from outside to inside. This total heat
increases the inside air temperature and is required to be
ventilated out of the greenhouse by ID fans. Thus
energy balance equation for the air becomes

V ACM (L B H) / 60

g (1 p )S t h b A g To h a A g TG

The average greenhouse air temperature (T G) can be

considered to be the arithmetic average of temperature
at pad and fan end and Thus

[Rate of energy absorbed by the floor] = [Rate of

energy convected from floor to underground] +[Rate of
energy convected into the greenhouse air]

hAgc (TG Ta ) VCa (Tfan Tpad )

(10)

PSt H G (MS t N) hA gc Ta QTpad

hA gc Q R H G h b A g

R
hA gc Q R H G h b A g

Combining equation (14) and equation (3) and after

simplification it can found as

dTp
dt

(9)
351

A1Tp B1

(15)

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Where A1

R (1 B)
MpCp

B1

p S t AR

d Lc

MpCp

B1
B
( 1 Tpo )e A1t
A1
A1

(17)

Lc

Considering Lc (length Lc that can be geometrically

evaluated by the fig.2) is the linear distance from the
centre of pad to fan which can be calculated greenhouse
geometry. It has seen that the average temperature of
greenhouse air (calculated by eqn. 14) located above
gutter level of shed net (point D in fig.2). Though
greenhouse vegetation below the gutter level therefore
it may be considered average air temperature of the
effective plantation zone occurs in between the gutter
level and pad (shown at point B in fig.2). From the
geometry average greenhouse temperature around
plantation zone

Solving Eqn. (15) temperature of the plant (T P) can

be obtained as

Tp

Tfan Tpad

(16)

Where Tpo= initial plant temperature of the

greenhouse andt is the time in seconds.
By the value of plant temperature(Tp), greenhouse air
average temperature (TG) can be obtained from eqn.(14)
and fan (Tfan) temperature can be found out from the
eqn.(12). Accordingly, temperature gradient along the
flow path

TGp Tpad (dTLc L c / 6)

(18)

Tfan

l
TG

Temperature
profile

TGutter

TGP
Lc

2m
Approximate
Air flow path

2m

B
B
A

3m
Fig.2: Air flow path and temperature profile

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3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The model performance has been carried out using
radiation and temperature data published for Kolkata
[13], assuming a relative humidity.
The results have been compared with the results
predicted by Ganguly and Ghosh [1].
Fig. 3 shows the hourly variation of greenhouse air
temperature for a given value of ventilation rate,
shading and LAI on 15th May (a representative hot and
dry day in summer). At 15 hours of the day when
ambient temperature is the maximum it is seen that
using 50% shading, 1.2 ACM ventilation rate and
assuming 50% relative humidity a temperature
difference of about 7.52C between ambient and
greenhouse air is obtained by using longitudinally pads
and fan ventilated distributed evaporative cooling
system when LAI is one. Maximum greenhouse air
temperature is limited by 28.28C when the ambient
temperature is 35.8C.
Fig. 4 shows the variation of greenhouse air
temperature on16th August (a representative hot and
humid day in the monsoon). The model considers the
average hourly radiation intensities for clear sky as the
input values. The relative humidity is assumed 75% in
this month. It is seen that during hot and humid
condition greenhouse inside temperature is well
manageable though high relative humidity restricts the
temperature reduction by evaporative cooling occurring
in the cooling pad. The result arises when greenhouse
provides 50% shading, 1.2 ACM ventilation and one
LAI.
Fig. 5 shows the variation of greenhouse air
temperature on 17th January (a representative day in
winter). As the thermal load in the month of January is
low, ventilation rate of 0.6 ACM is used instead of 1
ACM with 50% shading and assuming 50% relative
humidity. It is seen that the model predicts the
greenhouse inside air temperature below 16C during
the off peak radiation hours in the morning up to 10 a.m.
Fig. 6 shows the variation of greenhouse air
temperature on 17th January with dry pads. It is seen that
greenhouse temperature becomes more than the
ambient temperature using the dry run during the winter
season. The greenhouse temperature can be maintained
between 14.01-24.12C, a favourable temperature for
the plant growth, using 1 ACM ventilation rate with dry
pad and 50% shading when LAI is one. Relative
humidity assumed to be 50% throughout the day.
In all the cases stated above it is seen that the results
predicted by the model are lower than the results
predicted by Ganguly and Ghosh [1]. There is a
favourable difference of about 1.5-2C between the
outputs of the two models at peak radiation hours. The
model of Ganguly and Ghosh predicts higher value.
This is due to the fact that they have not considered the
convective heat transfer from floor surface to
underground, plant absorptivity which is considered in
the present model.

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May, ACM=1.2, SF=0.5, RH=0.5

36
32

Temperature ( C)

28
24
20
16

Ta
TGanguly

12

TModel
Tp

8
6

10

12

14

16

18

Time (hr)

Fig.3: Variation of greenhouse plant and air temperature

for a representative hot and dry summer day of 15 th
May.
36

August, ACM=1.2, SF=0.5, RH=0.75

32

24

Temperature ( C)

28

20

16

Ta
TGanguly

12

TModel
Tp

8
6

10

12

14

16

18

Time (hr)

Fig.4: Variation of greenhouse plant and air temperature

for a representative hot and humid day of 16 th August.
36

January, ACM=0.6, SF=0.5, RH=0.5

32

24

Temperature ( C)

28

20

16

Ta
TGanguly

12

TModel
Tp

8
6

10

12

14

16

18

Time (hr)

Fig.5: Variation of greenhouse plant and air

temperature for a representative winter day of
17th January.
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36

3.

Dry pads, ACM=1, SF=0.5, RH=0.5

32

24

Temperature ( C)

28

4.
20

16

Ta
Tp
TModel

12

8
6

10

12

14

5.
16

18

Time (hr)

6.
Fig.6: Variation of greenhouse plant and air temperature
for a representative winter day of 17th January.
7.

5. CONCLUSIONS
It can be concluded that the length of the greenhouse
can not put any restriction for moderating room air
temperature. From the analysis it has been shown that
the greenhouse and plant temperature can be maintained
satisfactorily throughout the season in a place like
Kolkata. In the month of summer the model it is most
effective. In winter the model shows very low
temperature during the non peak radiation hours. Thus
during those hours in winter natural ventilation with dry
pads can be employed.

8.

9.

Appendix

10.

Table 1: Parameter values used

Parameters
Values
Ag (m2)
180
Ac (m2)
102.74
Agc (m2)
372.3
Ap (m2)
144
Mp (Kg)
120
Cp (JKg-1 C-1)4190
Ca (JKg-1 C-1) 1005
a (Kgm-3)
1.2
T0 (0C)
17
LAI
1
rf
0.22
k
0.57
v (m/s)
1

0.2

11.

12.

13.

14.

0.88

REFERENCES
1.

2.

15.

Ganguly. A., Ghosh. S., 2007, Modeling and

analysis of a fanpad ventilated floricultural
greenhouse, Energy and Buildings, 39 (10):
10921097.
Shukla. A., Tiwari. G..N., Sodha. M.S., 2008,
Experimental study of effect of an inner thermal
curtain in evaporative cooling system of a cascade
greenhouse, Solar Energy, 82 (1): 61-72.

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Kittas. C., Bartzanas. T., Jaffrin. A., 2003,

Temperature Gradients in a Partially Shaded
Large Greenhouse equipped with Evaporative
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Impron. I., Hemming. S., Bot. G.P.A., 2008,
Effects of cover properties, ventilation rate, and
crop leaf area on tropical greenhouse climate,
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Sethi. V. P., Sharma. S. K., 2007, Thermal
modeling of a greenhouse integrated to an aquifer
coupled cavity flow heat exchanger system, Solar
Energy, 81 (6) : 723-741.
Kittas. C., Karamanis. M., Katsoulas. N., Air
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Tiwari. G. N., Gupta. A., 2002, Performance
evaluation of greenhouse for different climatic
zones of India, Solar Energy Society of India
(SESI), 12 : 4557.
Ghosal. M. K., Tiwari. G. N., Srivastava. N. S. L.,
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Fuchs. M., Dayan. E., Presnov. E., 2006,
Evaporative cooling of a ventilated greenhouse
rose crop, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology,
138 (1-4): 203-215.
Marina. H., Dan. G. Blumerg., Stanley. R. Rotman.,
2010, Estimation of vegetation parameters from
polarimetric sar data EGU General Assembly,
available on line at ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Sameshima. R, 1995, Estemating the Absorptivity
of Solar Radiation in Soybean Canopies for Use in
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Tiwari, G. N., 2002, Solar Energy- Fundamentals,
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Tiwari, G. N., Goyal, R.K., 1998. Greenhouse
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Sukhatme. S. P., 2004,Solar Energy-Principle of
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Willits. D. H., 2003, Cooling Fan-ventilated
Greenhouses, a Modeling Study, Biosystems
Engineering, 84 (3): 315-329.

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NOMENCLATURE

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Symbol
I Intensity of radiation (W/m2)
R Tilt factor (dimensionless)
Transmissivity (dimensionless)
T Temperature (C)
P Pressure (Pa)
A Area (m2)
C Specific heat (JKg-1 C-1)
a Density of air (Kgm-3)
M Mass (Kg)
ho
Outside heat transfer coefficient of
greenhouse
(Wm-2C-1 )
ha
Heat transfer coefficient between greenhouse
floor and room air (Wm-2C-1 )
hb
Heat transfer coefficient between greenhouse
floor and ground beneath (Wm-2C-1 )
hpr
Convective-evaporative heat transfer
coefficient between plants and air
(Wm-2C-1)
h
Overall heat transfer coefficient (Wm-2C-1 )
hp
Convective heat transfer coefficient between
plant and greenhouse air (Wm-2C-1 )
K Thermal conductivity (Wm-1C-1)
LAI
Leaf area index (dimensionless)
ACM
Air change per minute (dimensionless)
RH
Relative humidity (dimensionless)

Debajit Misra was born on 1st

January, 1979 in India. He
obtained his bachelor equivalent
degree in Mechanical Engineering
from The Institution of Engineers
(India) in 2006 and Master of
Engineering
from
Bengal
Engineering
and
Science
University, India in 2007. His
major field of study is Renewable Energy Systems like
Cooling Techniques for Greenhouse cultivation.
Presently he is working as an Assistant Professor in the
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Saroj Mohan
Institute of Technology, Guptipara, Hooghly (India). He
is teaching the subjects like Power Plant Engineering,
Internal Combustiion Engine, Heat Transfer.
Dr. Sudip Ghosh is an Associate
Professor
of
Mechanical
Engineering Department, Bengal
Engineering & Science University,
Shibpur, INDIA.
He received his Bachelor of
Engineering (Mechanical) degree
from
Jalpaiguri
Government
Engineering College in 1991,
Master of Technology degree from Bengal Engineering
& Science University in 1993, Shibpur and completed
Ph.D. from Jadavpur University, Kolkata in 2005.
He is teaching the subjects like Power Plant
Engineering, Thermodynamics and Heat Power for UG
and Graduate students.
His areas of research interest include Clean Coal
Technology, Renewable Energy Technologies like Fuel
Cell and Biomass Gasification Systems and Greenhouse
Technology. He has several publications in various
national and international journals

V Volume of air handled, (m3/s)

v Air velocity inside the greenhouse (m/s)
SF Shading factor (dimensionless)

Transmisivity of solar radiation through

leaves (dimensionless)
rf
Reflectivity of solar radiation on leaves
(dimensionless)
Absorptivity (dimensionless)
Efficiency of cooling pad (dimensionless)
St
Solar energy transmitted into the greenhouse
(W)
L Length (m)
B Width (m)
H Effective height (m)
P Cooling pad
CWP Circulating water pump
Subscrits
a Ambient
b Beam
c Canopy
d Diffuse
g Ground/Floor
gc Cover of greenhouse canopy
G Greenhouse
Gp Greenhouse plantation
p Plant
r Reflected
wb wetbulb

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