Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 17401747

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Energy partition and conversion of solar and thermal radiation into sensible and latent heat in a greenhouse under arid conditions
I.M. Al-Helal, A.M. Abdel-Ghany
Department of Agricultural Engineering, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
For a greenhouse thermal analysis, it is essential to know the energy partition and the amount of solar and thermal radiation converted into sensible and latent heat in the greenhouse. Factors that are frequently needed are: efciency of utilization of incident solar radiation ( ), and sensible and latent heat factors ( and ). Previous studies considered these factors as constant parameters. However, they depend on the environmental conditions inside and outside the greenhouse, plants and soil characteristics, and structure, orientation and location of the greenhouse. Moreover, these factors have not yet been evaluated under the arid climatic conditions of the Arabian Peninsula. In this study, simple energy balance equations were applied to investigate , and ; energy partitioning among the greenhouse components; and conversion of solar and thermal radiation into sensible and latent heat. For this study, we used an evaporatively cooled, planted greenhouse with a oor area of 48 m2 . The parameters required for the analysis were measured on a sunny, hot summer day. The results showed that value of was almost constant ( =0.75); whereas the values of and strongly depended on the net radiation over the canopy (Rna ); and could be represented by exponential decay functions of Rna . At a plant density corresponding to a leaf area index (LAI) of 3 and an integrated incident solar energy of 27.7 MJ m2 d1 , the solar and thermal radiation utilized by the greenhouse components were 20.7 MJ m2 d1 and 3.74 MJ m2 d1 , respectively. About 71% of the utilized radiation was converted to sensible heat and 29% was converted to latent heat absorbed by the inside air. Contributions of the oor, cover and plant surfaces on the sensible heat of the inside air were 38.6%, 48.2% and 13.2%, respectively. 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Article history: Received 26 October 2010 Received in revised form 20 February 2011 Accepted 18 March 2011 Keywords: Radiation ux Energy balance Heat factors Greenhouses Arid regions

1. Introduction In the Arabian Peninsula, because of its arid climate, scarce water resources and poor-quality of land resources, is not well suited for crop production. As a results, the use of greenhouses for crops production is rapidly increasing. However, achieving favorable environment in the greenhouses under hot and sunny summer conditions has become one of the major challenges still facing designers and growers. Crop productivity depends on the environment and more specically on the thermal performance of the greenhouse system. The latter is usually predicted by using mathematical models, with proper assumptions, aided by some environmental parameters measured outside and inside the greenhouse. Evaluation of the thermal performance of a greenhouse requires an understanding of the energy exchanges among its components (i.e., the cover, plants, soil and inside air) and the amounts

of solar and thermal radiation that are converted into sensible and latent heat. Previous studies have used three parameters to quantify the efciency of utilization and the amount of solar and thermal radiation converted into sensible and latent heat in the greenhouse: (a) Evaporation coefcient (), is also dened as the evaporation efciency, or latent heat factor, which estimates the fraction of the transmitted global solar radiation (Si ) that is taken up by evapo-transpiration in the greenhouse. Based on this denition, several values for were reported in the range from 0.22 to 0.5 [13]. However, it is better to dene as the ratio of latent heat to the net solar and thermal radiation above the plant canopy (Rna ). Based on this denition, the value of was in the range of about 0.251.25 during the maximum radiation load at solar noon [4]. (b) Solar radiation heating factor (), is also dened as the sensible heat factor, which estimates the fraction of Si that is transformed to sensible heat contributing to the greenhouse air temperature increases. Several values of were reported in the range between 0.1 and 0.7 [16].

Corresponding author. Tel.: +966 4678502; fax: +966 4678502. E-mail addresses: aghany@ksu.edu.sa, amghany@yahoo.com (A.M. Abdel-Ghany). 0378-7788/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2011.03.017

I.M. Al-Helal, A.M. Abdel-Ghany / Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 17401747

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Nomenclature Alphabetic symbols D heat ux conducted into the soil (W m2 ) ET evapo-transpiration rate of plant and pots soil surface (kg m2 s1 ) H sensible heat ux in the greenhouse (W m2 ) h enthalpy of moist air (kJ kg1 ) LAI leaf area index (surface area of plant leaves per unit area of oor) () Ln1 , Ln2 net thermal radiation uxes above and below the plant layer (W m2 ) ma ventilation rate of the greenhouse air (kg s1 ) QL sensible heat ux exchanges between inside and outside the greenhouse (W m2 ) Qca convective heat exchanges between the cover and inside air (W m2 ) convective heat exchanges between the plant and Qpa inside air (W m2 ) convective heat exchanges between the oor and Qsa inside air (W m2 ) RH relative humidity of air (%) upward and downward effective reectance of the R , R combined coverplant system() Rna , Rnb net (solar and thermal) radiation above and below the plants (W m2 ) Rnp , Rns net (solar and thermal) radiation absorbed by the plant layer and oor (W m2 ) Si global solar radiation ux transmitted into the greenhouse (W m2 ) SL solar energy lost to outside the greenhouse (W m2 ) Sn1 , Sn2 net solar radiation uxes above and below the plants (W m2 ) global solar radiation ux outside the greenhouse So (W m2 ) dry bulb temperature of air ( C) Td Tw wet bulb temperature of air ( C) T , T upward and downward effective transmittances of the combined coverplant system () U overall heat transmission coefcient of the greenhouse cover (W m2 C1 ) Greek symbols latent heat factor () sensible heat factor () latent heat due to vaporization of water (J kg1 ) solar radiation utilization efciency () reectance of the greenhouse cover to global solar C radiation () effective reectance of the plant layer to global solar radiation () reectance of the oor surface to global solar radias tion () transmittance of the greenhouse cover to global c solar radiation () effective transmittance of the plant layer to global p solar radiation () cover-to-oor surface area ratio () fraction of the incident solar radiation that is lost to outside the greenhouse ()

Subscripts c condition of the cooled air exiting the wet pad ( C) e condition of the exhausted air from the greenhouse ( C) f condition of air exiting the fans ( C) m the mean condition of air inside the greenhouse ( C) o condition of air outside the greenhouse ( C)

The factor has been used in the ASAE standard (1999) to simply dene the sensible heat balance of the greenhouse air [4] as: (1 )Si = U(Tdm Tdo ) + ma Cpa (Tde Tdo ) (1)

where Tdm , Tdo and Tde are the mean dry bulb temperatures of the inside air, outside air and air exhausted from the greenhouse, respectively. U is the overall heat loss coefcient of the greenhouse cover and ma is the mass ow rate of the ventilated air. In Eq. (1) the transmitted solar radiation (Si ) was assumed to be completely transformed into sensible and latent heat added to the greenhouse air, which means + = 1. However, Eq. (1) is valid only when the greenhouse oor soil is covered with a dense canopy, in which case the soil heat ux (D) is expected to be minor and can be neglected. In addition, a portion of the transformed sensible heat is lost to outside the greenhouse, which means Tdm is always higher than Tdo . Accordingly, Eq. (1) is not suitable for a greenhouse without plants or a greenhouse that has a thin canopy or a greenhouse that uses a cooling system during hot summer conditions (Tdm < Tdo ). (c) Efciency of utilization ( ), which is an estimate of the fraction of the outside global solar radiation (So ) that was utilized by the greenhouse system. Under steady state condition, is also dened as the incident solar radiation minus the solar radiation lost to outside the greenhouse (So SL ) divided by So . Several values of were reported in the range between 0.32 and 0.79 [1,711]. In fact, the factors , and are no longer adjusted constants; they change with the time of the day and depend on several parameters such as: solar and thermal radiative properties of the greenhouse components, soil surface conditions, plant characteristics, greenhouse conguration, location and its orientation, ventilation rate, the presence of evaporative cooling in the greenhouse and the environmental conditions inside and outside the greenhouse. Therefore, several values for each factor (i.e., , and ) are given in the literature. A survey of previous studies that estimated these factors revealed that: (i) The conduction heat ux into the greenhouse soil (D) was often neglected as in Eq. (1). (ii) The contribution of thermal radiation to the greenhouse thermal balance and its effects on the values of , and were neglected. (iii) The transmitted solar radiation into the greenhouse (Si ) was assumed to be completely utilized by the greenhouse components; however, the fraction of So that is lost to outside the greenhouse (SL ) was neglected. (iv) The net radiation above the canopy (Rna ) was assumed to be absorbed completely by plants and then released as sensible and latent heat (H and ET) to the inside air. However, this assumption is valid only when the greenhouse includes a dense canopy that covers the oor soil. (v) In some instances was evaluated by determining the convective heat transfer from the greenhouse components to the inside air using Newtons law of cooling. This method depends on the convective coefcients between these components and the inside air. These coefcients were derived mainly from in situ measurements, and thus several correlations for each convective coefcient

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are available in the literature. This leads to different values of H under the same conditions [1214]. To avoid the uncertainty in the value of H, an indirect method should be used to estimate H in the greenhouse. Moreover, the factors , and were evaluated at different locations under different climatic conditions worldwide. These factors had never been evaluated under the arid conditions of the Arabian Peninsula. Accordingly, the objectives of this study were to: (i) provide a proper methodology for determining the energy partition among the greenhouse components without the need for empirical correlations to estimate the energy terms, (ii) evaluate the , and factors and investigate the dependence of these factors on the environmental parameters, and (iii) investigate the contribution of thermal radiation to the total radiation in the greenhouse. Thus, simple energy balance equations were applied to a greenhouse that has a plant canopy under arid climatic conditions. 2. Measuring the required parameters An experiment to measure the required environmental parameters to be used in the study was conducted in an experimental greenhouse with a oor area of 32 m2 , covered with polyethylene lm (0.2 mm thickness). The greenhouse was oriented in a NS direction on the Agricultural Research and Experiment Station, Agriculture Engineering Department, King Saud University (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 46 47 E, longitude and 24 39 N, latitude). Layout dimensions and locations of the instruments are illustrated, not to scale, in Fig. 1(a). The greenhouse was cooled using a wet pad-fan system. Three fans each have an air ow rate (ma ) of 45.8 m3 min1 and a power consumption of 130 W. The fans were installed on the south vertical wall of the greenhouse and the wet pad was installed on the opposite side. The oor was covered with a black sheet (polyvinyl chloride) to prevent the evaporation of soil moisture into the greenhouse air. Because the evapo-transpiration may affect the dry and wet bulb temperatures exiting the wet pad, before starting the actual measurements, the cooling system was operated on a hot sunny summer day (July 6, 2010) when the greenhouse was without plants. The dry and wet bulb temperatures outside (Tdo , Two ) and inside at the wet pad exit (Tdi , Twi ) were measured. The cooling efciency (c ) was estimated as (Tdo Tdi )/(Tdo Two ) to be 71% and 85%, on average, during the day and night times, respectively. After that, 300 potted Gardenia jasminoides plants were distributed uniformly on the greenhouse oor. The measurements were carried out on a hot, sunny summer day (July 7, 2010). The required parameters were measured, every 1 min, at the locations shown in Fig. 1(a), averaged at every 15-min and recorded in a data logger (CR23X Micrologger, Campbell Scientic, Inc.). These parameters are: (i) The dry and wet bulb temperatures outside the greenhouse (Tdo , Two ), after the exhaust fans (Tdf , Twf ) and at ve locations inside the greenhouse (Tdi , Twi ). Normally, values of Tdi , Twi increase along with the longitudinal direction of the greenhouse. The maximum values of (Td5 -Td1 ) and (Tw5 -Tw1 ) were recorded at solar noon to be 5 C and 6 C, respectively. Therefore, the mean dry and wet bulb temperatures inside the greenhouse (Tdm and Twm ) were estimated from Tdi and Twi that were measured at the ve locations to be used in the present analysis. The dry and wet bulb temperatures were measured using aspirated psychrometers. Each psychrometer used two type-T copper constantan thermocouples of 0.2 mm in diameter. The actual dry bulb temperature of the cooled air exiting the wet pad (Tdc ) was estimated to be equal [Tdo c (Tdo Two )]. The corresponding relative humidity for each condition was estimated using well known psychometric relations [15].

(ii) Inside and outside global solar radiation uxes (Si and So ), Si was measured at 2 m above the oor surface at the center of the greenhouse. Si and So were measured with CMP3 solarmeters (Kipp & Zonen B.V. Inc., USA). (iii) The oor surface reectance to global solar radiation ( s ), s was measured on July 6 at 1 m above the oor using an albedo-meter CMA-11(Kipp & Zonen B.V. Inc., USA) when the greenhouse was without plants. The time courses of the cover transmittance and the oor surface reectance ( c and s ) to global solar radiation were estimated to be used in the upcoming analysis. (iv) The net solar and thermal radiation uxes above the plant canopy (Sn1 , Ln1 ) and below the plant canopy (Sn2 , Ln2 ) were measured with CNR-2 net radiometers (Kipp & Zonen). (v) The time course of the evapo-transpiration rate (ET) of 6 potted plants was measured with CBW-30 digital balance (Adam Equipments, UK) and the total ET in the greenhouse was estimated. (vi) The leaves area of three plants was measured with LI-3000 portable area-meter (LI-COR Inc.) and the LAI was estimated to be about 3 on the day of experiment. 3. Thermal analysis 3.1. The greenhouse system The greenhouse was considered as a solar collector [1,16] enclosed by a control volume suggested to be the volume below the outer surface of the cover and above the oor surface (Fig. 1(b)). The solar energy utilized by the greenhouse is So SL , where SL is the solar radiation ux lost to outside the greenhouse. The reasons of this loss are (1) reection on the outer surface of the cover, (2) backward multiple reections on the plants and oor surfaces, and (3) double transmittance through the covering material of the greenhouse envelope when the solar elevation is low in the early morning and late afternoon. The different modes of energy exchange in the greenhouse system are illustrated in Fig. 1(b). Energy balance was applied to the greenhouse under the quasi steady-state condition, within a small time interval assuming: (i) The moist air inside the greenhouse does not absorb solar or thermal radiation; well mixed and characterized by average dry and wet bulb temperatures and average thermo-physical properties; and the temperature prole of air in the vertical direction in the greenhouse was neglected. (ii) The radiative properties of the greenhouse components are total properties, independent of the wavelength. (iii) The cover is opaque to thermal radiation transmission, which means no thermal radiation crosses the greenhouse cover. (iv) Parameters in the upcoming analysis are time dependent and to simplify the expressions, time t is omitted from all the symbols hereafter. (v) The plant canopy is a semi-transparent layer including aerial parts of plant tissues and air that can be characterized by an effective reectance ( ) and effective transmittance ( p ) to global solar radiation incident on the upper or on the lower surface of the plant layer. and p were estimated according to [17] as follows:

st [1 e

(C1 LAI)

(2)

where st is the reectance of the plant stand and would always be in the interval 0.51.0 of the green leaf reectance L , ( st was assumed to be 0.75 L ) [17]. Exp(C1 LAI) represents the fraction of oor area uncovered by plant stands. The coefcient C1 , (C1 = 01), depends on the plant geometry and leaf orientation and was taken

I.M. Al-Helal, A.M. Abdel-Ghany / Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 17401747

1743

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the greenhouse system: (a) layout and locations of the instruments used to measure the required parameters and (b) different modes of energy exchanges in the greenhouse.

to be 0.5 for G. jasminoides [18]. The effective transmittance of the plant layer, downward or upward ( p ) is given by [17] as:
p

downward and upward, respectively. R and R were given by [16] as R =

c

= e(C2 LAI)

and

C2 = C1 [(1

L)

2 0.5 L] L

(3) and

2 c

(1

c)

R =

2 c p

(1

c)

(7)

where L is the reectance of green leaf. The mean values of L were taken to be 0.25 [18]. 3.2. Greenhouse energy balance

By considering the greenhouse system in Fig. 1(b) as a solar collector [1,16], the energy balance equation, per unit area of oor, is given by So = H + ET + U(Tdm Tdo ) + D (4)

Descriptions of the parameters involved in Eq. (4) are as follows: the fraction of the incident solar radiation that was utilized by the greenhouse ( ) is equal to (1 ), where is the loss fraction to outside the greenhouse and is equal to SL /So . was developed by the authors [16] as = R +
s T T 1 s R

(5)

where T and T are the effective transmittances of the combined coverplant subsystem for a beam radiation incident downward (on the upper surface) and upward (on the lower surface) of the subsystem. T and T were given by [16] as T = T =
c p

The unknowns in Eqs. (6) and (7) are: the cover transmittance ( c ), cover and oor surface reectances ( c and s ), and effective transmittance and reectance of the plant layer ( p and ). Diurnal variation of c and s were measured [Section 2 (ii) and (iii)], and an average value of 0.2 was used for c [16]. Values of p and were estimated using Eqs. (2) and (3). The overall heat transfer coefcient between inside and outside the greenhouse [U in Eq. (4)] was studied by Abdel-Ghany and Kozai [19] for an evaporatively cooled glasshouse under daytime, hot sunny summer conditions considering: the convection at the inner and outer surfaces of the cover, thermal radiation exchanges with the inner and outer surfaces of the cover, and the wind speed outside the greenhouse. An average value of 4.5 (W m2 C1 ) for U was obtained [19]. Tdm and Tdo are the mean inside and the outside air dry bulb temperatures, respectively. is the cover-to-oor area ratio and H is the amount of sensible heat ux added to the greenhouse air. In other words, H is the heat ux convected from: the plant, inner surface of the cover, pots soil surface and oor surface to the greenhouse air. ET is the latent heat rate, due to evapo-transpiration, added to the greenhouse air, is the heat of vaporization of water and ET is the evapo-transpiration rate. Values of (kJ kg1 ) and H (W m2 ) were reported in [14] as: = 3.4702 103 5.7352(T ) + 1.1687 102 (T 2 ) 1.3478 105 (T 3 ), T in K (8)

(1

c)

(6)

Also R and R in Eq. (5) are the effective reectances of the combined coverplant subsystem for a beam radiation incident

H = ma Cpa (Tde Tdc )

(9)

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where ma is the mass ow rate of air extracted by the fans; Cpa is the specic heat of air at constant pressure; Tdc is the temperature of the cooled air exiting the wet pad; Tde is the temperature of air exhausted from the greenhouse. Value of Tde was assumed to be equal (Tdm + Tdf )/2, Tdf is the dry bulb temperature of air exiting the fans. Thus, the conduction heat ux into the greenhouse soil (D) can be estimated directly from Eq. (4). For un-cooled greenhouses (Tdm > Tdo ), sensible heat factor () is dened as the ratio between H and net radiation over canopy (Rna ). However, for evaporatively cooled greenhouses, Tdm is always lower than Tdo during the daytime, thus a sensible heat gain QL , [QL = U(Tdo Tdm )] would be added to the inside air from outside the greenhouse. In this case, value of QL should be subtracted from H to give the amount of radiation that was converted into sensible heat in the greenhouse. Thus, the and factors should be expressed as: = [H QL ] Rna and = ET Rna (10)

a
Temperatures ( oC)

50 45 40 35 30 25 20 5:30

9:30

13:30

17:30

21:30

1:30

5:30

Local time (hh:mm)

b
Relative humidity, RH (%)

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 5:30 9:30 13:30 17:30 21:30 1:30

1000

Because the evaporation from the oor soil was prevented, thus ET represents the plant transpiration and the pots soil evaporation. The sensible heat ux that was convected from the plant leaves to the greenhouse air (Qpa ), and from the oor and pot soil surfaces to the greenhouse air (Qsa ) can be estimated by applying steadystate energy balance, per unit area of oor, to the plant layer and to the oor surface as follows: Rnp ET Qpa = 0 Rns Qsa D = 0 (11) (12)

800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 5:30

where Rnp and Rns are the net (solar and thermal) radiation absorbed by plants and oor, respectively. Values of Rnp and Rns were estimated from the net solar and thermal radiation uxes that were measured above and below the plants [Section 2 (iv)] as: Rnp = Sn1 Sn2 + Ln1 Ln2 and Rns = Sn2 + Ln2 (13)

Local time (hh:mm)

Fig. 2. Time courses of the environmental parameters measured inside and outside the greenhouse: (a) temperatures and (b) relative humidity and solar radiation uxes.

Thus, the convective ux from the inner surface of the cover to the inside air (Qca ) is given by: Qca = H Qpa Qsa 4. Results and discussion 4.1. The greenhouse environment and parameters needed for the analysis Temperatures, relative humidity and solar radiation ux inside and outside the greenhouse needed for the present analysis are illustrated in Fig. 2(a) and (b). In the arid summer season of the Arabian Peninsula, the daytime air dry bulb temperature (Tdo ) usually exceeds 45 C at around noon as solar radiation ux (So ) reaches more than 1000 W m2 ; while the relative humidity (RHo ) drops sometimes to 10%. Such conditions are unfavorable for plant growth even during most of the night since Tdo is higher than 35 C and RHo is lower than 40% (Fig. 2(a) and (b)). Under such conditions an evaporative cooling technique is adequate for greenhouse cooling because it provides suitable ranges of Tdm and RHm in the greenhouse for plant growth. Also, Tdm is much lower than Tdo which means there is a sensible heat transfer from outside to inside the greenhouse (QL ) during both day and night. The net (downwardupward) solar and thermal radiation uxes (Sn1 , Sn2 and Ln1 , Ln2 ) were measured in the greenhouse at 30 cm above plants and at the level of the pot soil surface below plants to be used in Eq. (13). The time courses of Sn1 , Sn2 and Ln1 , Ln2 are illustrated in Fig. 3. In this gure, Sn1 and Sn2 are positive (downward) during the daytime and values of Sn1 are much higher than Sn2 because the plant was dense (LAI = 3) and absorbs considerable (14)

amount of solar radiation. The net thermal radiation uxes (Ln1 and Ln2 ) are also positive (downward) during most of the daytime. However, in the early morning and nighttime values of Ln1 are negative (upward) because the upward emission of plants is higher than the downward emission of the inner surface of the cover. Below the plants, the upward emission from the oor surface is in equilibrium with the downward emission from the plants; therefore values of Ln2 are close to zero at night. However, around noon Ln2 is positive (downward) because of solar radiation absorbed by plants.

450
sunset time

60
S n1

Net solar radiation flux (W m )

400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 5:30

-2

50 40 30 20 10 0 -10

L n1

L n2

S n2

-20 -30 -40

9:30

13:30

17:30

21:30

1:30

5:30

Local time (hh:mm)

Fig. 3. Time course of the net (downwardupward) solar and thermal radiation uxes measured above (Sn1 , Ln1 ) and below (Sn2 , Ln2 ) the canopy in the greenhouse.

Net thermal radiation flux (W m )

July 7, 2010 LAI=3

-2

Solar radiation flux (W m )

900

-2

I.M. Al-Helal, A.M. Abdel-Ghany / Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 17401747

1745

Energy exchanges with plants (W m )

Energy exchanges with cover (W m )

-2

-2

400
sunset time

600 500 400 300 200 100 0 -100 -200 5:30

QL
SL

300 250 200 150 100 50 0 -50 -100 -150 -200 5:30 9:30 13:30

R np ET
July 7, 2010 LAI = 3

Qc-a

17:30

21:30

1:30

5:30

9:30

13:30

17:30

sunset time

350

Qp-a

July 7, 2010 LAI=3

21:30

1:30

5:30

Local time (hh:mm)

Fig. 4. Time course of different modes of energy exchanges with the plants in the greenhouse.

Local time (hh:mm)

Fig. 6. Time course of different modes of energy exchanges with the greenhouse cover.

4.2. Energy partition in the greenhouse The rst objective of this study was to investigate the energy partition among the greenhouse components (plants, soil, inside air and cover). Therefore, time course of the different modes of energy exchange with plants, oor, and cover are illustrated in Figs. 46, respectively. For plants, the absorbed net radiation (Rnp ), convection exchanges with the inside air (Qpa ) and latent heat released via evapo-transpiration ( ET) are illustrated in Fig. 4. Values of Rnp are signicant during the daytime because of the high solar radiation ux that is absorbed by plants; Rnp is almost null at night due to the absence of solar radiation and low thermal radiation ux. Values of Qpa are negative in the afternoon and at night which means the average temperature of plant leaves was lower than air temperature during these times and a sensible heat is added to plants from the inside air. Values of ET are always positive even at night due to transpiration of plants. It was high during daytime and at the beginning of night as affected by the absorbed radiation by plants (Rnp ) and convection transferred from the inside air to plants (Qpa ). For the oor and pots soil surfaces, time course of the absorbed net radiation (Rns ), convection exchanges with the inside air (Qsa ) and conducted heat ux into the oor soil (D) are illustrated in Fig. 5. Values of Rns are positive during the daytime due to the high solar radiation ux; and almost zero at night because the downward emission from plants is in equilibrium with the upward emission from oor surface. The oor surface releases convected heat (Qsa )

to the inside air all the time except around noon the oor gains a sensible heat from the inside air. The soil heat ux (D) conducted upwards all the time except around noon because the downward net radiation (Rnb ) is high at that time. For the greenhouse cover, time course of the convected heat from the inner surface of the cover to the inside air (Qca ), solar radiation lost to outside the greenhouse (SL ) and sensible heat exchanges between inside and outside the greenhouse (QL ) are illustrated in Fig. 6. Because of Tdm was lower than Tdo [see Fig. 2(a)], the inside air gains sensible heat from outside the greenhouse (value of QL is negative, included in Qca ). Values of Qca are always positive because the cover temperature is higher than Tdm due to the absorbed radiation by the cover during daytime and due to the effect of the greenhouse cooling to reduce Tdm lower than the cover temperature. 4.3. The radiation factors The second objective of this study was to investigate the efciency of utilization ( ) and the sensible and latent heat factors ( and ). The diurnal variations of , and are illustrated in Fig. 7. The best estimate of the later two factors is to refer them to the net radiation above the canopy, Rna , (Rna = Sn1 + Ln1 ) as in Eq. (9). In Fig. 7, during most of the daytime (from 8 am to 2 pm), about 50% of Rna was consumed by evapo-transpiration ( 0.5). How= ever, in the early morning and in the afternoon, rapidly increased due to the rapid decreases of Rna . At these times, existing the evapo4.0

Energy exchanges with the floor surface (W m )

-2

400 300 200 100 0 -100 -200 -300 -400 5:30 9:30 13:30 17:30 21:30
D
sunset time

July 7, 2010 LAI=3

Qs-a Rns

Radiation factors, , and (-)

3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 5:30

July 7, 2010 LAI=3

1:30

5:30

7:30

9:30

11:30

1:30

3:30

5:30

Local time (hh:mm)

Local time (hh:mm)

Fig. 7. Time course of the efciency of utilization of the greenhouse ( ), and sensible and latent heat factors ( and ) in a hot sunny summer day.

Fig. 5. Time course of different modes of energy exchanges with the oor surface in the greenhouse.

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20 18
=1315.3 exp(-0.5241)Rna, (r2=0.998)

4.0 3.5
=0.425+5.74 exp(-0.015)Rna, (r2=0.77)

Sensible heat factor, ()

16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 0 100 200 300 400

-2

Latent heat factor, ()

500

3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 0 100 200 300 400
-2

500

Net radiation above canopy, Rna (W m )

Fig. 8. Sensible heat factor () as affected by the net radiation above the canopy (Rna ) in the greenhouse at LAI of 3 in a hot sunny summer day (July 7, 2010, Riyadh area, Saudi Arabia).

Net radiation above canopy, Rna (W m )

Fig. 9. Latent heat factor () as affected by the net radiation above the canopy (Rna ) in the greenhouse at LAI of 3 in a hot sunny summer day (July 7, 2010, Riyadh area, Saudi Arabia).

transpiration (ET) is attributed mainly to the sensible heat absorbed by plants (Qpa ) that was convected from the inside air (see Fig. 4). The value of was about one at around noon and rapidly increased in the morning and in the afternoon. During this time, the high values of are attributed mainly to the decrease of Rna and the increase of Qca and Qsa as sensible heat uxes added to the inside air (see Figs. 5 and 6). The value of was nearly constant during the day and was about 0.75 on average. The dependences of and factors on Rna are illustrated in Figs. 8 and 9 and exponential decay functions could be obtained with r2 values of 0.77 and 0.99, respectively in the forms: = 0.425 + 5.73 e0.015Rna , = 1315 e
0.5241Rna

dent integrated solar radiation of 27.7 MJ m2 d1 , the greenhouse utilized 20.73 MJ m2 d1 by absorption in its components; and utilized also 3.75 MJ m2 d1 of thermal radiation that was generated in the greenhouse. 17.36 MJ m2 d1 of the utilized radiation was converted to sensible heat and 7.13 MJ m2 d1 was converted to latent heat added to the greenhouse air. The inside air gained 17.36 MJ m2 d1 as a sensible heat from the surfaces of the oor (6.75 MJ m2 d1 ), the plant leaves (2.26 MJ m2 d1 ) and the inner surface of the cover (8.35 MJ m2 d1 ). 4.4. Contribution of thermal radiation The third objective of the study was to investigate the significance of thermal radiation in the greenhouse. In 2007, Takakura et al. [20] found that the thermal radiation in a commercial tomato greenhouse is insignicant and its effect can be neglected. To investigate the signicance of thermal radiation, values of Ln1 against the net radiation above the canopy (Rna ); and values of Ln2 against the net radiation below the canopy Rnb , (Rnb = Sn2 + Ln2 ) were plotted in Fig. 11. The regression lines in Fig. 11 showed that the net

(r 2 = 0.77)
2

and (15)

(r = 0.99)

The constants in these relations are based on the plant density (LAI = 3), and these constants may change with changing LAI. The daily integral for the energy exchanges among the greenhouse components and the conversion of solar and thermal radiation into sensible and latent heat are illustrated in Fig. 10. For an inci-

Fig. 10. Schematic diagram showing the conversion of solar and thermal radiation into sensible and latent heat in the greenhouse at LAI of 3 in a hot sunny summer day (July 7, 2010, Riyadh area, Saudi Arabia).

I.M. Al-Helal, A.M. Abdel-Ghany / Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 17401747

1747

40 30

July 7, 2010 LAI=3

and to generalize the relations of and [Eq. (15)] to be functions of Rna and LAI.
(r2=0.73)

Ln2=-1.76+0.127(Rnb),

Acknowledgements This work has been nancially supported by Agricultural Research Centre, Deanship of Scientic Research at King Saud University. Authors express thank to Mr. M.R. Shady for his technical assistance during the experiments. References
[1] T. Boulard, A. Baille, Analysis of thermal performance of a greenhouse as a solar collector, Energy in Agriculture 6 (1987) 1726. [2] C. Kittas, T. Bartzanas, A. Jaffrin, Temperature gradients in a partially shaded large greenhouse equipped with evaporative cooling pad, Biosystems Engineering 85 (2003) 8794. [3] C. Kittas, M. Karamanis, N. Katsoulas, Air temperature regime in a forced ventilated greenhouse with rose crop, Energy and Buildings 37 (2005) 807812. [4] N. Katsoulas, A. Baille, C. Kittas, Inuence of leaf area index on canopy energy partition and greenhouse cooling requirements, Biosystems Engineering 83 (2002) 349359. [5] A. Arbel, O. Yekutieli, M. Barak, Performance of a fog system for cooling greenhouses, Agricultural Engineering Researches 72 (1999) 129136. [6] A.M. Abdel-Ghany, T. Kozai, Cooling efciency of fogging systems for greenhouses, Biosystems Engineering 94 (1) (2006) 95107. [7] H. Fatanassi, T. Boulard, J. Lagier, Simple indirect estimation of ventilation and crop transpiration rates in a greenhouse, Biosystems Engineering 88 (4) (2004) 467478. [8] T. Boulard, A. Baille, A simple greenhouse climate control model incorporating effects of ventilation and evaporative cooling, Agriculture and Forest Meteorology 65 (1993) 145157. [9] T. Boulard, S. Wang., Greenhouse crop transpiration simulation from external climate conditions, Agriculture and Forest Meteorology 100 (2000) 2534. [10] G.N. Tiwari, P.K. Sharma, R.K. Goyal, R.F. Sutar, Estimation of an efciency factor for a greenhouse: a numerical and experimental study, Energy and Buildings 28 (1998) 241250. [11] A. Ganguly, S. Ghosh, Modeling and analysis of a fan-pad ventilated oricultural greenhouse, Energy and Buildings 39 (2007) 10921097. [12] A.M. Abdel-Ghany, T. Kozai, Concept of the un-cooled air in a greenhouse cooled by fogging in summer: an aid to estimate the cooling efciency of a fogging system, Environment Control in Biology 45 (1) (2007) 918. [13] H. Suhardiyanto, Y. Romdhonah, Determination of convective coefcient at the outside cover of a monitor greenhouse in Indonesia, Applied Sciences in Environmental Sanitation 3 (1) (2008) 3746. [14] A.M. Abdel-Ghany, T. Kozai, Dynamic modeling of the environment in a naturally ventilated, fog-cooled greenhouse, Renewable Energy 31 (2006) 15211539. [15] Equation describing the physical properties of moist air at: http://www. natmus.dk/cons/tp/atmcal/ATMOCLC1.HTM and http://members.nuvox. net/on.jwclymer/wet.html. [16] A.M. Abdel-Ghany, I.M. Al-Helal, Solar energy utilization by a greenhouse: general relations, Renewable Energy 36 (2011) 189196. [17] C. Stanghellini, Transpiration of the greenhouse crop canopies: an aid to climate management, PhD Thesis, Agriculture University of Wageningen 1987; xvi+150 pp. [18] J.L. Monteith, M.H. Unsworth, Principals of Environmental Physics, 2nd ed., Arnold, London, 1990. [19] A.M. Abdel-Ghany, T. Kozai, On the determination of the overall heat transmission coefcient and soil heat ux for a fog-cooled, naturally ventilated greenhouse: analysis of radiation and convection heat transfer, Energy Conversion and Management 47 (2006) 26122628. [20] T. Takakura, C. Kubota, S. Sase, M. Hayashi, M. Ishii, K. Takayama, H. Nishina, K. Kurata, G.A. Giacomelli, Measurement of evapo-transpiration rate in a singlespan greenhouse using the energy-balance equation, Biosystems Engineering 102 (2009) 298304.

Ln1,Ln2 (W m )

-2

20 10 0 -10 -20 0 100 200 300 400 500

Ln1=-4.57+0.08 (Rna), (r2=0.92)

Rna, Rnb (W m-2)

Fig. 11. Relations between the net thermal radiation (Ln1 , Ln2 ) and the total net radiation (Rna , Rnb ) above and below the canopy in the greenhouse (July 7, 2010, Riyadh area, Saudi Arabia).

thermal radiation represents 8% of the total net radiation (Rna ) above plants; whereas below plants it represents 12.7% of Rnb . Thus, for a greenhouse that has dense plants, thermal radiation below the canopy is expected to be signicant and its effect should be considered in the greenhouse thermal analysis. However, for a greenhouse without plants or that includes plants in the early growth stages, net thermal radiation is expected to be minor and its effect can be neglected. In Fig. 11 the negative values of Ln1 and Ln2 when Rna and Rnb equal zero (lacking or absence of solar radiation) mean the upward emissions from the oor and plants surfaces are higher than the downward emission from the cover surface. 5. Conclusions and recommendation Energy partition and conversion of solar and thermal radiation into sensible and latent heat in the greenhouse were evaluated under arid conditions. Simple energy balance equations for the greenhouse components under quasi-steady state conditions were used. Convection exchanges between the greenhouse components and the inside air were determined without the need of heat transfer coefcients that may cause uncertainties. The radiation factors (i.e., , and ) which are frequently used for the greenhouse thermal analysis were investigated. For a certain greenhouse type, oriented on a certain location, the value of is nearly constant during the day. However, and depend on the plant characteristics and on the net radiation above the canopy (Rna ). For plant density (LAI) of 3, exponential decay relations could be obtained between these factors and Rna . Ratios of thermal-to-total radiation in the greenhouse were 8% and 12.7% above and below canopy, respectively; such contributions should be considered in a greenhouse thermal analysis. Further research is needed to investigate the energy partition in the greenhouse at different densities or growth stages of plants