11

CONTROLLING GREENHOUSE
ENVIRONMENT
Equipment required for controlling greenhouse environment
• Precise control of various parameters of greenhouse environment is necessary to
optimize energy inputs and thereby maximize the economic returns.
• Basically, the objective of environmental control is to maximize the plant growth.
The control of greenhouse environment means the control of temperature, light, air
composition and nature of the root medium.
• A green house is essentially meant to permit at least partial control of microclimate
within it. Obviously green houses with partial environmental control are more common
and economical.
• From the origin of greenhouse to the present there has been a steady evolution of
controls. Five stages in this evolution include manual controls, thermostats, step-
controllers, dedicated microprocessors and computers.
• This chain of evolution has brought about a reduction in control labour and an
improvement in the conformity of greenhouse environments to their set points.
• The benefits achieved from greenhouse environmental uniformity are better timing
and good quality of crops, disease control and conservation of energy.
 Active summer cooling systems
• Active summer cooling is achieved by evaporative cooling process. The
evaporative cooling systems developed are to reduce the problem of
excess heat in green house. In this process cooling takes place when the
heat required for moisture evaporation is derived from the surrounding
environment causing a depression in its temperature.
• The two active summer cooling systems in use presently are fan-and
pad and fog systems.
• In the evaporative cooling process the cooling is possible only up to the
wet bulb temperature of the incoming air.
 Fan-and Pad cooling system
• The fan and pad evaporative cooling system has been available since 1954
and is still the most common summer cooling system in green houses
(Fig.).
• Along one wall of the green house, water is passed through a pad that is
usually placed vertically in the wall.
• Traditionally, the pad was composed of excelsior (wood shreds), but today it
is commonly made of a cross-fluted-cellulose material somewhat similar in
appearance to corrugated card board.
• Exhaust fans are placed on the opposite wall.
• Warm outside air is drawn in through the pad.
• The supplied water in the pad, through the process of evaporation,
absorbs heat from the air passing through the pad as well as from
surroundings of the pad and frame, thus causing the cooling effect.
• Khus-khus grass mats can also be used as cooling pads.
 Fog cooling system
• The fog evaporative cooling system, introduced in green houses in 1980, operates on the
same cooling principle as the fan and pad cooling system but uses quite different
arrangement (Fig.).
• A high-pressure pumping apparatus generates fog containing water droplets with a
mean size of less than 10 microns using suitable nozzles.
• These droplets are sufficiently small to stay suspended in air while they
are evaporating.
• Fog is dispersed throughout the green house, cooling the air everywhere.
As this system does not wet the foliage, there is less scope for disease and
pest attack. The plants stay dry throughout the process.
• This system is equally useful for seed germination and propagation since it
eliminates the need for a mist system.
• Both types of summer evaporative cooling system can reduce the
greenhouse air temperature.
• The fan-and pad system can lower the temperature of incoming air by about
80% of the difference between the dry and wet bulb temperatures while the
fog cooling system can lower the temperature by nearly 100% difference.
• This is, due to the fact that complete evaporation of the water is not taking
place because of bigger droplet size in fad and pad, whereas in the fog
cooling system, there will be complete evaporation because of the
minute size of the water droplets. Thus lesser the dryness of the air,
greater evaporative cooling is possible.
 Active winter cooling systems

• Excess heat can be a problem during the winter.

• In the winter, the ambient temperature will be below the desired temperature inside the
green house, Owing to the green house effect the entrapment of solar heat can rise
the temperature to an injurious level if the green house is not ventilated.
• The actual process in winter cooling is tempering the excessively cold ambient air
before it reaches the plant zone. Otherwise, hot and cold spots in the green house will
lead to uneven crop timing and quality .
• This mixing of low temperature ambient air with the warm inside air cools the green
house in the winter.
• Two active winter cooling systems commonly employed are convection tube cooling
and horizontal air flow (HAF) fan cooling systems.
 Convection tube cooling

• The general components of convection tube are the louvered air

inlet, a polyethylene convection tube with air distribution holes, a
pressurizing fan to direct air in to the tube under pressure, and an
exhaust fan to create vacuum.
• When the air temperature inside the green house exceeds the set point,
the exhaust fan starts functioning thus creating vacuum inside the
green house.
• The louver of the inlet in the gable is then opened through which cold air enters
due to the vacuum. The pressurizing fan at the end of the clear polyethylene
convection tube, operates to pick up the cool air entering the louver.
• A proper gap is available for the air entry, as the end of the convection tube is
separated from the louvered inlet by 0.3 to 0.6m and the other end of the tube
is sealed.
• Round holes of 5 to 8 cm in diameter are provided in pairs at opposite sides of the
tube spaced at 0.5 to 1m along the length of the tube.

• Cold air under pressure in the convection tube

shoots out of holes on either side of the tube in
turbulent jets.
• In this system, the cold air mixes with the warm
greenhouse air well above the plant height. The
cool mixed air, being heavier gently flows down
to the floor level, effects the complete cooling of
the plant area.
• The pressurizing fan forcing the incoming
cold air in to the convection tube must be
capable of moving at least the same volume of
air as that of the exhaust fan, thereby
avoiding the development of cold spots in the
house.
• When cooling is not required, the inlet louver
closes and the pressurizing fan continues to
circulate the air within the greenhouse.
• The process minimizes the temperature
gradient at difference levels.
• The circulation of air using convection tube
consumes more power than a circulation
system.
 Horizontal air flow cooling
• HAF cooling system uses small horizontal
fans for moving the air mass and is
considered to be an alternative to
convection tube for the air distribution.
• In this method the green house may be
visualized as a large box containing air and
the fans located strategically moves the air
in a circular pattern.
• This system should move air at 0.6 to 0.9
m3/min/m2 of the green house floor area.
• Fractional horse power of fans is 31 to 62
W (1/30 to 1/15hp) with a blade diameter of
41cm are sufficient for operation.
• The fans should be arranged in such a way that air
flows are directed along the length of the greenhouse
and parallel to the ground.
• The fans are placed at 0.6 to 0.9m above plant height
and at intervals of 15m.
• They are arranged such that the air flow is directed
by one row of the fans along the length of the
greenhouse down one side to the opposite end and then
back along the other side by another row of fans .
• Greenhouses of larger widths may require more
number of rows of fans along its length.
• Temperatures at plant height are more uniform with
HAF system than with convection tube system.
• The HAF system makes use of the same exhaust fans,
inlet louvers and controls as the convection tube
system. The only difference is the use of HAF fans in
the place of convection tubes for the air distribution.
• Cold air entering through the louvers located at the
higher level in the gables of the green house is
drawn by the air circulation created by the net
work of HAF fans and to complete the cycle, proper
quantity of air is let out through the exhaust fans.
• The combined action of louvered inlet, HAF fans
and the exhaust fans distribute the cold air
throughout the greenhouse.
• Similarly, to the convection
tubes, the HAF fans can be used
to distribute heat in the green
house When neither cooling nor
heating is required, the HAF fans
or convection tube can be used to
bring warm air down from the
upper level of the gable and to
provide uniform temperature in the
plant zone.
• It is possible to integrate summer
and winter cooling systems with
heating arrangements inside a
greenhouse for the complete
temperature control
requirements for certain days of
the season.
HAF system in different sizes of greenhouses
 Greenhouse ventilation
• Ventilation is the process of allowing the fresh air to enter in to the enclosed area by driving
out the air with undesirable properties.
• In the greenhouse context, ventilation is essential for reducing temperature, replenishing Co2 and
controlling relative humidity.
• Ventilation requirements for green houses vary greatly, depending on the crop grown and the
season of production.
• The ventilation system can be either a passive system (natural Ventilation) or an active system
(forced ventilation) using fans. Usually, green houses that are used seasonally employ natural
ventilation only.
• The plant response to specific environment factor is related to the physiological
processes and hence the latter affects the yield and quality.
• Hence, controlling of environment is of great importance to realize the complete
benefit of CEA ( Controlled Environment Agriculture ).
• Manual maintenance of uniform environmental condition inside the green
house is very difficult and cumbersome. A poor maintenance results in less crop
production, low quality and low income.
• For effective control of automatic control systems like microprocessor and
computer are used presently to maintain the environment.
 Natural ventilation ( passive system )
• In the tropics, the sides of greenhouse structures are often left open for natural
ventilation. Tropical greenhouse is primarily a rain shelter, a cover of polyethylene
over the crop to prevent rainfall from entering the growing area. This mitigates the
problem of foliage diseases.
• Ventilators were located on both roof slopes adjacent to the ridge and also on both
side walls of the greenhouse. The ventilators on the roof as well as those on the side
wall accounts, each about 10% of the total roof area.
• During winter cooling phase, the south roof ventilator was opened in stages to meet
cooling needs. When greater cooling was required, the north ventilator was opened in
addition to the south ventilator.
• In summer cooling phase, the south ventilator was opened first, followed by the north
ventilator. As the incoming air moved across the greenhouse, it was warmed by
sunlight and by mixing with the warmer greenhouse air. With the increase in
temperature, the incoming air becomes lighter and rises up and flows out through
the roof ventilators. This sets up a chimney effect, which in turn draws in more air
from the side ventilators creating a continuous cycle. This system did not adequately
cool the greenhouse. On hot days, the interior walls and floor were frequently
injected with water to help cooling.
Chimney effect in general passive ventilation
 Roll up side passive ventilation in poly houses
• In roll up method of ventilation, allowing the air to flow across the plants.
The amount of ventilation on one side, or both sides, may be easily adjusted
in response to temperature, prevailing wind and rain (Fig.).
• During the periods of excessive heat, it may be necessary to roll the sides
up almost to the top.
• Passive ventilation can also be accomplished by manually raising or parting
the polyethylene sheet. The open vent areas must be covered with screens
to prevent virus diseases. The holes must be large enough to permit free
flow of air. Screens with small holes blocks air movement and cause a build
up of dust.
• Rollup side passive ventilation on plastic greenhouses is only effective on
free standing greenhouses and not on gutter connected greenhouses.
 Forced Ventilation (active ventilation )

• In forced or active ventilation, mechanical devices such as fans are used to

expel the air. This type of ventilation can achieve uniform cooling. These
include summer fan-and-pad and fog cooling systems and the winter convection
tube and horizontal airflow systems.
• For mechanical ventilation, low pressure, medium volume propeller blade
fans, both directly connected and belt driven are used for greenhouse
ventilation. They are placed at the end of the green house opposite to the air
intake, which is normally covered by gravity or motorized louvers.
• The fans vents, or louvers, should be motorized, with their action controlled by
fan operation.
• Evaporative cooling in combination with the fans is called as fan-
and-pad cooling system. The fans and pads are usually arranged on
opposite walls of the greenhouse. The common types of cooling pads
are made of excelsior (wood fiber), aluminum fiber, glass fiber, plastic
fiber and cross-fluted cellulose material.
• Evaporative cooling systems are especially efficient in low humidity
environments. There is growing interest in building greenhouses
combining both passive (natural) and active (forced) systems of
ventilation. Passive ventilation is utilized as the first stage of cooling, and
the fan-pad evaporative cooling takes over when the passive system is
not providing the needed cooling. At this stage, the vents for natural
ventilation are closed.
• When both options for cooling are designed in greenhouse construction,
initial costs of installation will be more. But the operational costs are
minimized in the long run, since natural ventilation will, most often
meet the needed ventilation requirements.
• Fogging systems is an alternative to evaporative pad cooling. They
depend on absolutely clean water, Free of any soluble salts, in order to
prevent plugging of the mist nozzles.
• Such cooling systems are not as common as evaporative cooling pads,
but when they become more cost competitive, they will be adopted
widely.
• Fogging systems are the second stage of cooling when passive systems
are inadequate.
 Microprocessors

• Dedicated microprocessors can be considered as simple computers. A typical microprocessor will have a
keypad and a two or three line liquid crystal display of, sometimes, 80-character length for programming.
• They generally do not have a floppy disk drive. They have more output connections and can control up to
20 devices. With this number of devices, it is cheaper to use a microprocessor.
• They can receive signals of several types, such as, temperature, light intensity, rain and wind speed.
• They permit integration of the diverse range of devices, which is not possible with thermostats. The
accuracy of the microprocessor for temperature control is quite good.
• Microprocessors can be made to operate various devices, for instance, a microprocessor can operate the
ventilators based on the information from the sensor for the wind direction and speed. Similarly a
rain sensor can also activate the ventilators to prevent the moisture sensitive crop from getting wet.
• A microprocessor can be set to activate the CO2 generator when the light intensity exceeds a given
set point, a minimum level for photosynthesis.
 Computers in Greenhouse
• Now-a-days, computer control systems are
common in greenhouse installation throughout
Europe, Japan and the United States.
• Computer systems can provide fully integrated
control of temperature, humidity, irrigation and
fertilization, CO2, light and shade levels for
virtually any size growing facility.
• Precise control over a growing operation
enables growers to realize saving of 15 to 50%
in energy, water, chemical and pesticide
applications.
• Computer controls normally help to achieve
greater plant consistency, on-schedule
production, higher overall plant quality and
environmental purity.
 Computer systems
Advantages Disadvantages
• 1. The computer always knows programmed
• 1. High initial cost investment.
properly.
• 2. Requires qualified operators.
• 2. The computer can record the environmental • 3. High maintenance, care and precautions
data and also be displayed in table or graph are required.
form. • 4. Not economical for small scale and
• A high-speed computer with networking facility seasonal production.
can control several remotely located
greenhouses.
• 4. With proper programming and sensing
systems, the computer can anticipate weather
changes and make adjustments in heating and
ventilation systems, thus saving the energy.
• 5. The computer can be programmed to sound
an alarm if conditions become unacceptable to
and to detect sensor and equipment failure.
12
 Planning of green house facility
• A greenhouse, is basically the purpose of providing and maintaining a
growing environment that will result in optimum production at maximum yield.
• The agriculture in the controlled environment is possible in all the regions
irrespective of climate and weather.
• It is an enclosing structure for growing plants, greenhouse must admit the
visible light portion of solar radiation for the plant photosynthesis and, there fore,
must be transparent. At the same time, to protect the plants, a greenhouse must
be ventilated or cooled during the day because of the heat load from the
radiation.
• The structure must also be heated or insulated during cold nights.
• A greenhouse acts as a barrier between the plant production areas and the
external or the general environment.
Site selection and orientation
• A greenhouse is designed to withstand local wind,
snow and crop loads for a specific cropping
activity. In this way, the structure becomes location
and crop specific.
• The building site should be as level as possible to
reduce the cost of grading, and the site should be
well aerated and should receive good solar
radiation.
• Provision of a drainage system is always possible.
• It is also advisable to select a site with a natural
windbreak.
• In regions where snow is expected, trees should
be 30.5 m away in order to keep drifts back from
the greenhouses.
• To prevent shadows on the crop, trees located on
the east, south, or west sides should be at a
distance of 2.5 times their height.
 Structural design
• The most important function of the greenhouse structure and its covering is the
protection of the crop against hostile weather conditions (low and high temperatures,
snow, hail, rain and wind ), diseases and pests.
• It is important to develop greenhouses with a maximum intensity of natural light
inside.
• The structural parts that can cast shadows in the greenhouse should be minimized.
• The different structural designs of greenhouse based on the types of frames
are available.
• A straight side wall and an arched roof is possibly the most common shape
for a greenhouse, but the gable roof is also widely used. Both structures can
be free standing or gutter connected with the arch roof greenhouse.
• The arch roof and hoop style greenhouses are most often constructed of
galvanized iron pipe. If tall growing crops are to be grown in a greenhouse or
when benches are used, it is best to use a straight side wall structure rather
than a hoop style house, this ensures the best operational use of the
greenhouse.
• A hoop type greenhouse is suitable for low growing crops, such as lettuce, or
for nursery stock which are housed throughout the winter in greenhouses
located in extremely cold regions.
• A gothic arch frame structure can be designed to provide adequate side wall
height without loss of strength to the structure.
• Loads in designing the
greenhouse structures include
the weight of the structure itself
and, if supported by the
structure, loads of the equipment
for the heating and ventilation
and water lines.
• Greenhouse structures should
be designed to resist a 130 km/h
wind velocity. The actual load
depends on wind angle,
greenhouse shape and size, and
the presence or absence of
openings and wind breaks.
Structural designs of different greenhouse frameworks
The ultimate design of a greenhouse depends on the following aspects:

 The overall structural design and the properties of the individual

structural components.
The specific mechanical and physical properties which determine the
structural behavior of the covering materials.
The specific sensitivity of the crop to light and temperature to be grown
in the greenhouse.
The specific requirements relevant to the physical properties of the
covering material.
The agronomic requirements of the crop.
 Covering materials
• The following factors are to be considered while selecting the greenhouse
covering material i.e., light, transmission, weight, resistant to impact, and
durability to outdoor weathering and thermal stability over wide range of
temperatures.
• Before selecting the covering material, two important points should be
taken into consideration: the purpose for which greenhouse facility is intended
and service life of material.
• In temperate regions where high temperatures are required, the covering
material with high light transmission and far IR absorption must be selected.
Also the loss of heat by conduction should be minimum.
Covering material Life span
1. Glass and acrylic sheet 20 years
2. Polycarbonate and fiberglass-reinforced polyester sheet 5-12 years
3. Polyethylene 2-6 months
4. Polyethylene stabilized for UV rays 2-3 years
 The ideal greenhouse selective covering material should have the following properties:

 It should transmit the visible light portion of the solar radiation which is utilized
by plants for photosynthesis.
 It should absorb the small amount of UV in the radiation and convert a portion
of it to fluoresce into visible light, useful for plants.
 It should reflect or absorb IR radiation which are not useful to plants and which
causes greenhouse interiors to overheat.
 Should be of minimum cost.
 Should have usable life of 10 to 20 years.