Misr J. Ag. Eng.

, 31 (2): 667 - 682 BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING

GREENHOUSE HEATING AND VENTILATION

CONTROL SYSTEM
Shaymaa Abed Elfattah,* Mubarak M. Mostafa,*
Mahmoud A. Elnono * and Ahmed M. Kassem**
ABSTRACT
This research aims to study the effect of using the heating and ventilation
system on the production and quality of tomato crop in winter season.
Two different poly-greenhouse models were constructed at Al-Zahwiyyin,
Egypt (ɸ= 30°15′N). It was equipped with heating and ventilation control
system (treatment) and the other was a traditional greenhouse (control).
Results of the experimental work show that the specific approach of
heating and mechanical ventilation for tomato crop production enhances
the rate of growth and increasing the fresh tomato yield by 57.69%
comparing with control greenhouse. The quality of tomato crop of the
treatment greenhouse can be noticed through the firmness and toughness
value comparing with the control one. They were greater by 85% and
62.5%, respectively.
Keywords: Greenhouses, Heating system, Ventilation, Relative humidity
INTRODUCTION

P
olyethylene greenhouses used in Egypt on an increasingly large
scale for early production of warm-season vegetable, fruit and
flowers. It is a good application of solar energy collection for
space heating and plant production. Moreover, its productivity per unit
area is greater than the field production, and its product quality is always
the highest. However, in winter, supplementary heating is necessary at
night and during periods of gray sky to maintain the required plant
temperature. Also, proper manipulation of the moisture in the greenhouse
air by use of heat and ventilation is necessary to reduce or prevent
fungous diseases that cause great losses and cannot easily controlled with
fungicides.
Generally, Climate control is of great importance for greenhouse
production in order to achieve high yield and good quality crops that meet
the demands of consumers, as well as for economical production.
*Agric. Eng. Dept., Fac. of Agric., Ain Shams Univ.
**Agric. Eng. Research Institute, ARC.

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Temperature and relative humidity (RH) are two basic climatic

parameters usually controlled by heating and ventilation equipment. It is
more difficult to control RH than temperature because relative humidity
not only relies on air exchange from the infiltration and ventilation, but
also related to evaporation from growing media and transpiration of the
plants. (Gao 2012)
Therefore, the present research is aimed to develop, construct, and test an
experimental greenhouse that will be equipped with heating and
ventilation control system to maintain optimum growing environment for
tomato growth during winter season through the following specific
objective:-
1- Connecting the greenhouse to an adequate heating system.
2- Supplying the designed system with environmental instruments to
control the interior climate for plant growth under environmentally
controlled high-yield conditions as well as offering an opportunity to
reduce the electrical energy consumption.
3- Investigating the effect of adequate mechanical ventilation to adjust
the relative humidity of air inside the constructed greenhouse.
4- Comparing the productivity of the designed system with a traditional
greenhouse that has the same shape, dimensions, cover, and
orientation with natural ventilation.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
1- Description of the greenhouses:-
Two identical gable-even-span greenhouses were designed, constructed
and installed on the roof of a house at Al-Zahwiyyin village, Al-Qaliobia
Governorate, Egypt (ɸ= 30°15′N). The construction was made of steel
angle (1" x 1" x 3/16"). Each greenhouse was 4.0 m long and 3 m wide
with a single gable at maximum height of 1 m, whilst the height of
sidewall was 2 m. The greenhouse frame was covered using 0.1 mm
thickness polyethylene sheet. It was oriented in north-south direction, one
longitudinal side facing south and other facing north (Fig.1), and the roof
was sloped at an angle 26.6°.
The first greenhouse was used to study and test the effect of heating the
interior climate and mechanical ventilation on the growth and production

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of tomato crop. It was connected to an insulated storage tank of pure

water, which was supplied with an electrical heater, through heat
exchanger inside the greenhouse and small size pump to circulate the hot
water in closed loop in order to transfer extra thermal energy to the
interior climate for accelerating the growth of plants during winter season.
Storage tank
A galvanized steel tank, (100 liters capacity) filled with 60 liter of water
was used. It has cylindrical shape, diameter of 0.46 m and height of 0.62
m. It was insulated using a glass wool insulation of 3 inches (76.200mm)
thickness to reduce the thermal losses to the ambient. It was provided
with an electrical heater (type R-T-M water heater- made in Italy) and a
thermostat (single-pole 40-80 °C) to adjust the water temperature at about
60 °C. It had an outlet galvanized tube (3/4" diameter) (19.05mm) at the
bottom which was connected to the intake-mouse of the pump, and input
tube (3/4" diameter) at the top which was connected to the external outlet
connection of the heat exchanger. The tubes were also insulated by 3
inches thickness glass wool.
Heat exchanger
Heat exchanger was made of galvanized pipes (3/4" diameter) and placed
inside the greenhouse at 20 cm above the ground; It was used to transfer
the heat from the working fluid (hot pure water) to the interior climate of
the greenhouse to maintaine the required plant temperature. Two
thermocouples (k type) were used to measure the inlet and outlet
temperatures of heat exchanger.
Pump
An electrical rotary pump (0.5 HP, model QP-60, 21 l/min capacity, made
in China) was used to circulate the working fluid.
Ventilation fan
A 40 cm diameter ventilation fan (FAD104 model, 200 m3/h capacity,
1400 rpm, 145 W power) was used to exchange the air inside the
greenhouse. The fan placed on the opposite side of the intake window (50
X 50 cm) of air (Ventilation shutter).
2- Instrumentation
a- Thermocouples (K-type) and a digital thermometer (DM6801A,
made in China, - 50 °C to 1300 °C range, ± 0.3 % accuracy) were used to

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 BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING

measure the following temperatures: the inlet and outlet temperatures of

the heat exchanger, air in and outside the greenhouse.

Fig.1: Schematic diagram showing the basic dimensions and component

of the constructed greenhouse

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 BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING

b- Two electrical thermostats were used. The first one (10-60 °C range)
was used to control the water pump operation. When the inside
temperature of the greenhouse air is lower than 20 °C, the thermostat
operates the pump until the air temperature reaches the desired plant
temperature. The other one is to operate the exhaust fan if the
greenhouse air temperature exceeds 28 °C.
c- Digital temperature and humidity meter (HTC2, 20-50 °C temperature
range, 10% - 95% RH range, made in china) was used as a humidity-
sensing device to measure the air humidity of the greenhouse and a
humidistat (35%- 95% RH range ± 3.0%) was used to operate the
exhaust fan of the ventilation system when the relative humidity
exceeds 75%. It was necessary to use such device because on cold days
of winter, especially at night, the ventilation fan would not be
operated, it was adjusted to operate on the temperature rise (greater
than 28 °C), and the RH could be increased (more than 75%) which
may initiate some serious disease problems.
3- Heat losses from the greenhouse
a- Heat flow through the polyethylene
Heat flow through the greenhouse covering materials (walls and roof)
during the heating season is represented the greatest losses with respect to
the other energy losses from the greenhouse. It is generally related the
temperature difference between the inside and outside temperature by the
overall heat transfer coefficient as following

(Ibrahim, 2000 and Abdel-Lattif, 1993)

Where
Qc : Heat flow, J/s;
U : Overall heat transfer coefficient ,W/(m2.°C) ;
A : Area of greenhouse wall and roof, m2;
Ti : Interior ambient air temperature, °C;
To : Exterior ambient air temperature, °C.

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b- Energy loss via ventilation

Heat loss via ventilation (Qv) is approximated as follows (Ibrahim, 2000)
Qv= Qsv + Qlv
Where
Qsv is the sensible heat losses via ventilation;
Qlv is latent heat losses via ventilation;
Qsv = 𝑚̇ × 𝑐𝑝 × (𝑇𝑖𝑛 − 𝑇𝑜 ), J/s (Abdel-Lattif, 1993).
𝑄𝑙𝑣 = 𝐸 × 𝐹 × 𝑄𝑖 = 𝐸 × 𝐹 × 𝜏 𝐼 𝐴𝑓
Where
𝜏 Transmittance of greenhouse covering (assumed 88%);
I Total solar radiation outside the greenhouse on
horizontal surface (W/m2), it was obtained from the
weather station of the arid land and agricultural research
and services center Faculty of Agriculture,Ain Shams
University. ;
𝐴𝑓 Floor area of the greenhouse, (m2) ;
𝑇𝑖𝑛 , 𝑇𝑜 Inside and outside air temperature of greenhouse;
𝑚̇ Mass flow rate of air kg/s = M x ρ/3600, (Abdel-
Lattif, 1993) ;
Where
M= greenhouse volume x air exchange rate per hour ,(m3/ h) ;
ρ = air density(= 1.2 kg/m3) ;

Cp = Air specific heat 1007 J/kg. °C;

E = Floor use factor—ratio of ground covered by plants to
total ground area, (assumed 0.4 ) ;
F = Evapotranspiration to internal solar radiation (assumed
0.5).
c- Total losses
Qloss = Qc + Qv
4- Heating system
Heating system delivers heat energy from boiler to the air of the
greenhouse by circulating hot water through piping system of the heat
exchanger, and the rate of heat transfer may be approximated by the
equation

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 BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING

𝑄ℎ𝑙 = 𝑚̇𝑤 × 𝐶𝑝𝑤 × (𝑇𝑒𝑥𝑖 − 𝑇𝑒𝑥𝑜 )

Where
: the rate of heat transfer, J/s;
: Water mass flow rate, kg/s;
𝐶𝑝𝑤 : Water specific heat , (4190 J/kg.°C) ;
𝑇𝑒𝑥𝑖 : Inlet temperature of the heat exchanger, °C;
𝑇𝑒𝑥𝑜 : Outlet temperature of the heat exchanger, °C.
5- Mechanical ventilation
a- Determining ventilation volume rate
The ventilation volume rate may be calculated by the following equation
Air volume flow rate (m3/h) = Vgh x AR
Where
Vgr : Greenhouse volume, m3;
AR : Air exchange rate per hour 1 /h
In Winter AR = 2 1/h (Buffington et al., 2002).

b- Size of the intake vent

The following equation is used to determine the area of the air inlet
Air volumetric flow rate (m3/h)
Size of the intake vent =
Maximum air speed allowed (m/h)
Since air speed influences many factors that affect plant growth, such as
transpiration, evaporation, leaf temperature, and carbon dioxide
availability, the maximum air speed allowed through the vent was used to
be 1.27 m/s (Abdel-Lattif, 1993 and Aldrish and Bartok, 1994).
6- Natural ventilation
Natural ventilation depends upon the ventilation opening area’s and
positions, to achieve the optimum air exchange in the greenhouse, the
lateral wall opening and roof holes in the range (15- 30)% of the floor
area of the greenhouse (Ibrahim, 2000).
7- Firmness value:-
The mechanical damage of tomatoes usually occurs as a result of careless
handling at mechanical harvest, package, and transport (Li et al., 2013),
therefore firmness values of tomatoes are the most important internal
quality to retail marketing or using at home (Sirisomboon et al.,2012). It
is defined as the ability of fruit to retain its original shape when exposed to

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external force and usually it is described by the fruit’s force-deformation

behavior. (Rajabipour, 1995 and BATU, 1998). Jackman et al. (1990)
indicated that firmness of tomatoes has commonly been measured by flat-
plate compression or by puncture of whole fruit and defined as either the
force at failure or the ratio of force to deformation at failure.
In this study a number of tests are conducted under certain puncture force
by specific point on the tomato fruit and the resulting force deformation
curve is obtained using Tinius Olsen Benchtop Materials Testing
machines with a plunger diameter (6.05 mm), then the firmness is
determined as the following (Sirisomboon et al.,2012)
∆𝐹𝑟 𝑁
Average firmness = , ( )
∆𝐷𝑟 𝑚𝑚

Where
∆𝐹𝑟 Is the rapture force , (N) ;
∆𝐷𝑟 Is deformation at the rapture point, (mm).

8- Toughness :-
Toughness is defined as the area under the complete force-deformation
curve from the origin to the rapture point (N/mm)

𝟏
Toughness = 𝟐 × 𝐹𝑟 × 𝐷𝑟 (Shafiee et al., 2008)
Planting and harvesting time
Each greenhouse was equipped by 40 pots (30 cm high and 25 cm
diameter).
a- Planting time 1/1/2012

b- Flowering First date of the treatment greenhouse was 25/1/2012 and

the control greenhouse was 7/2/2012.

c- Vegetating date of the treatment greenhouse was 6/2/2012 and the

control greenhouse was 23/2/2012.

d- The first date of picked tomatoes of the treatment greenhouse was

14/3/2012 and the control greenhouse was 4/4/2012.

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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

1- Hourly variation of temperatures:
Fig. (2) illustrates the average hourly temperatures variation of the
ambient and inside the treatment and control greenhouses. The results
show that the temperatures of the air gradually increased with the time,
which peaked at about 2:00 pm, then reduced towards the evening.
25
ambient control treatment
20
Temperature C

15

10

0
7:00 AM 10:00 AM 1:00 PM 4:00 PM 7:00 PM 10:00 PM 1:00 AM 4:00 AM
Day time (Jan.)

30 ambient control treatmet

25
TEMPERATURE C

20
15
10
5
0
7:00 AM 10:00 AM 1:00 PM 4:00 PM 7:00 PM 10:00 PM 1:00 AM 4:00 AM
DAY TIME (FEB.)

Fig. (2): The average air temperatures outside and inside the treatment
and control greenhouses vs. time during (January to March).

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The temperatures of the treatment greenhouse was higher than the control
one, and of course the ambient temperature was the lowest. Also, at night
and up to 4.0 AM the temperatures of the control greenhouse and the
ambient were almost the same.
2- Relative humidity
Fig; (3) shows the hourly relative humidity variation of the greenhouse. It
is clear that the relative humidity inside the greenhouses gradually
decreased with time it reached to the minimum
90
Relative humidity %

ambient control treatment

80
70
60
50
40
30
7:00 AM 10:00 AM 1:00 PM 4:00 PM 7:00 PM 10:00 PM 1:00 AM 4:00 AM
Day time (Jan.)
ambient control treatment
Relative humidity %

80
70
60
50
40
30
7:00 AM 10:00 AM 1:00 PM 4:00 PM 7:00 PM 10:00 PM 1:00 AM 4:00 AM
Day time (Feb.)
80
ambient control treatment
RELATIVE HUMIDITY %

70
60
50
40
30
20
7:00 AM 10:00 AM 1:00 PM 4:00 PM 7:00 PM 10:00 PM 1:00 AM 4:00 AM
DAY TIME (MAR.)

Fig. (3): Average air relative humidity outside and inside the treatment
and control greenhouses vs. time during (January to March).

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 BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING

value at about 3 PM for all measurements then increased up to 4 AM.

These results could be attributed to the fact that the level of the inside
relative humidity is accompanied by the level of temperatures inside the
greenhouses. The results has also show that the relative humidity of the
control greenhouse is higher than the treatment one and there is slight
increase in the relative humidity of the ambient comparing with the
relative humidity of the control greenhouse.
3- Firmness
Figures (4), (5) and (6) represent the average firmness value of tomato
fruits of the treatment and control greenhouses. It was 1.85 N/mm and 1.0
N/mm, respectively; this means that the firmness value of tomato fruits of
the treatment greenhouse was greater by 85%.

Fig. (4) Tomato’s force-deformation Fig. (5) Tomato’s force-deformation

behavior (treatment greenhouse) behavior (control greenhouse)
4- Toughness
2

1.5
Firmness, N/mm

0.5

0
treatment control

Fig. (6): Values of firmness of tomato fruits in treatment

and control greenhouses.

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Figs (4),(5) and (7) show the average toughness value of tomato fruits of
the treatment and control greenhouses. It was 45.5 N.mm and 28 N.mm,
respectively. This means that the percentage of increasing of toughness of
tomato fruits was about 62.5%.
50
Toughness, N.mm

40

30

20

10

0
treatment control
Fig. (7): Value of toughness of tomato fruits of the treatment and control
greenhouses.
5- Heat losses through the greenhouse
Fig. (8) showed the results of the mean components (Qv, Qc) and Qtotal of
the greenhouse energy loses (treatment greenhouse) during the daytime of
February 27, 2012. It can be noticed that, energy lost via ventilation
increasing gradually from 7AM to 10 AM and decreasing before 1 PM to

5000 conduction Ventilation Total

Energy losses (W)

4000

3000

2000

1000

0
7:00 AM 10:00 AM 1:00 PM 4:00 PM

Fig.(8): Heat loss through the greenhouse. Day time

4 PM but the heat flow through the polyethylene was approximately
stable from 7 AM to 10 AM and began to increase gradually after 10 AM
to 1 PM, then decreasing after 1 PM to 4 PM. Also, it be noticed that the
greatest total losses of the energy from the greenhouses were at about 1.0
PM The reason of that is the air temperature difference between outside
and inside greenhouse was maximum.

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6- Effect of heat and ventilation on plant growth

Fis (9), (10), (11) and (12) show the effect of heat and mechanical
ventilation on the average number of leaves, plant height, stem diameter
and tomato production per plant during winter season of 2012. The
obtained data show significant increase in all the above parameters in case
of the treatment greenhouse as compared with the control greenhouse.
Such increases were 28.98%, 22.21%, 28.75% and 57.69 %, respectively,
at the end of the growth season.
30
treatment control
25
Number of LEAVES

20

15

10

0
50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
Days of growing
Fig. (9): The average variation in leaves number of the treatment and
control greenhouses through growing season.
These increases may be due to control the interior climate (heat and RH)
for plant growth under environmentally appropriate conditions, which
help for (a) increasing the rate of nutrient absorption due to maintaining
the optimum growth temperature; (b) forming a large number of leaves,
which are necessary for photosynthesis process; and (c) increasing
diameter and height of stem and consequently increasing the tomato
production.
CONCLUSION
An experimental polyethylene greenhouse was constructed and equipped
with heating and mechanical ventilation system to investigate the effect of
air temperature and relative humidity on plant growth of early production
of tomato crop during winter season of (2012) the designed system was
supplied with environmental instruments to control the interior climate for
high-yield conditions and it was compared with a traditional greenhouse
the results showed an increase in number of leaves, stem height, stem
diameter, tomato production, average value of firmness, and average
value of toughness by 28.98%, 22.21%, 28.75% 57.69 % , 85%, and
62.5%, respectively.

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150
treatment control
Stem length average, cm
100

50

0
50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
Days of growing

Fig. (10): The average variation in stem length of the treatment

and control greenhouses through growing season.
25
Stem average diameter. mm

treatment control
20

15

10

0
50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
Days of growing

Fig.(11): The average variation in the stem diameter of the treatment

and control greenhouses through growing season.
1.8
Average production per plant,

1.6
1.4
1.2
kg

1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
treatment control

Fig. (12): The average production per plant of the treatment and
control greenhouses at the end of growing season.
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RECOMMENDATION
As a future work, it is recommended to use a solar heating system for
substitution of stored solar energy for a significant portion of the
electrical energy (that was used in this study, to heat the treatment
greenhouse) in order to reduce the electrical consumption and save
production cost.
‫المراجع العربية‬
-‫كلية الزراعية‬-‫قسم الهندسة الزراعية‬.‫هندسة بيئة الصوب الزراعية‬.0222-‫إبراهيم محمد حلمي‬
‫جامعة اإلسكندرية‬
‫كلية‬-‫قسم الهندسة الزراعية‬.‫تصميم وتشغيل أنظمة الزراعة المحمية‬.3991-‫صالح عبد اللطيف‬
.‫جامعة الملك فيصل‬-‫العلوم الزراعية واالغذية‬
REFERENCES
Aldrish,A.R.and Bartok.W.J.(1994).greenhouse engineering. NRASE-33-
3rd edition
BATU, A. (1998). Some factors affecting on determination and
measurement of tomato firmness. Tr. J. of agriculture and forestry
22(1998) 411-418.
Buffington, D.E.; Bucklin, D.A.; Henley, R.W. and Mc Connell, D.B.
(2002). Fans for greenhouses, institute of food and agriculture
science, university of Florida AE-12
Gao,Z.(2012).Dehumidification of greenhouses in cold regions. Thesis,
degree of, Sc, Uni. of Saskatchewan.
Jackman, R. L., A. G. Marangoni and Stanely, D. W. (1990).
Measurement of tomato fruit firmness, Hort Science. 25(7):781-
783.
Rajabipour,A.(1995).Effects of Ca, K and water table depth on tomato
mechanical properties; PhD thesis, McGill Univ. MacDonald
campus.
Shafiee, s; Motlag,A.M; Didar,R.A., and Minaee,s.(2008). Investigation
the effect of skin on mechanical behavior of apple, journal of food
technology 6(2):86-91, 2008.ISSN:1684-8426.
Sirisomboon,P. ; Tanaka,M. ; Kojima,T. and William,P. (2012).
Nondestructive estimation of maturity and textural properties on
tomato ‘momotaro’ by near infrared spectroscopy. Journal of Food
Engineering 112 (2012) 218-226.
Li, Z.; Li,P.; and Liu, J. (2011), Physical and mechanical properties of
tomato fruits as related to robot’s harvesting. Journal of food
engineering 103 (2011) 170- 178.

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‫الملخص العربي‬
‫نظام التحكم في التدفئة والتهوية للبيت المحمي‬
‫*شيماء عبد الفتاح ‪* ،‬مبارك محمد مصطفى ‪،‬‬
‫*محمود احمد النونو و **احمد محمد قاسم‬
‫تستخدم الصوب الزراعية في مصر على نطاق واسع ومتزايد إلنتاج الخضراوات والفواكه‬
‫ونباتات الزينة مبكراً‪ ،‬وتعتبر الصوب الزراعية أحد التطبيقات الجيدة لتجميع الطاقة الشمسية‬
‫بغرض التدفئة وانتاج النباتات‪ .‬عالوة على ذلك فان انتاجية وحدة المساحة للصوب أكبر من‬
‫إنتاجية الحقل وجودة منتجاتها تكون دائما أفضل‪ .‬ورغم ذلك فان الصوب تحتاج الى مصدر‬
‫حرارة اضافي في فصل الشتاء خاصة اثناء الليل وخالل الفترات التي تكون فيها السماء ملبدة‬
‫بالغيوم إلمداد النباتات باحتياجاتها الحرارية ولذا فمن الضروري التحكم في درجة حرارة‬
‫ورطوبة الهواء الالزمة ألفضل نمو للنباتات داخل الصوبة عن طريق نظام للتدفئة والتهوية‬
‫الميكانيكية مما يساعد أيضا على تقليل فرص اصابة النباتات باألمراض الفطرية والتي تسبب‬
‫خسائر فادحة للمزارع والتي يصعب مكافحتها عن طريق المبيدات‪.‬‬
‫إن التحكم في الظروف المناخية ذو اهمية كبيرة لإلنتاج داخل الصوب لتحقيق اعلى انتاجية بأقل‬
‫تك لفة وبأفضل جودة والتي يحتاجها السوق والمستهلك وتعد درجة الحرارة وكذلك الرطوبة من‬
‫العوامل المناخية االساسية التي يتم التحكم فيها من خالل نظامي التدفئة والتهوية‪ ،‬ولذا تم في هذا‬
‫البحث تطوير‪ ،‬انشاء واختبار صوبة تجريبية مزودة بنظام للتحكم في التدفئة والتهوية لتوفير‬

‫الظروف المثلي لبيئة نمو نبات الطماطم اثناء فصل الشتاء من خالل‪- :‬‬
‫‪ -3‬امداد الصوبة بنظام تدفئة مناسب من خالل دفع مائع تشغيل (ماء نقي) في دائرة مغلقة من‬
‫خزان معزول مزود بسخان كهربائي الى مبادل حراري داخل الصوبة بواسطة مضخة‪.‬‬
‫‪ -0‬تزويد الصوبة بنظام للتهوية الميكانيكية لضبط الرطوبة النسبية داخل الصوبة‪.‬‬
‫‪ -1‬امداد النظام المصمم بأدوات للتحكم في المناخ الداخلي للصوبة (درجة حرارة ورطوبة‬
‫نسبية) عن طريق ثرموستات وحساس للرطوبة لتوفير الظروف البيئية المناسبة للنبات‪.‬‬
‫‪ -4‬مقارنة إنتاجية الصوبة المصممة بصوبة تقليدية لها نفس المواصفات والتوجيه‪.‬‬
‫ويمكن تلخيص النتائج فيما يلي‪ :‬زيادة عدد أوراق النباتات‪ ،‬طول النبات‪ ،‬قطر النبات‪ ،‬االنتاجية‬
‫‪/‬نبات‪ ،‬ثبوت الثمرة )‪ ،(firmness‬صالبة الثمرة )‪ )toughness‬بالصوبة المصممة عنها في‬
‫الصوبة التقليدية بمقدار ‪ %70.2 ،%22،%28.79 ،%02.82 ،%00.03 ،%02.92‬على‬
‫التوالي‪ .‬نوصى باستخدام نظام تسخين شمسي إلحالل الطاقة الشمسية المخزنة كجزء بدال من‬
‫الطاقة الكهربية‪.‬‬

‫*قسم الهندسة الزراعية ‪-‬كليه الزراعة‪-‬جامعه عين شمس‪.‬‬

‫**معهد بحوث الهندسة الزراعية‪.‬‬

‫‪Misr J. Ag. Eng., April 2014‬‬ ‫‪- 682 -‬‬