S06 - Session P4 - Potential of Solar-assisted Adsorption Cooling System for Warm Mediterranean Greenhouses

Authors: T M Abir Ahsan *, Md Shamim Ahamed

Greenhouse crop production is increasingly used in Mediterranean regions because of its potential to produce more at the expense of limited land, water, and other resources. The space heating and cooling system maintain indoor climates of greenhouses within the plant comfort zone and thus ensures uninterrupted food production regardless of outside weather conditions. Providing the desired temperature for plants is challenging due to the heat buffer from solar radiation in the greenhouses located in warmer areas. Cooling closed cultivation spaces can be energy-intensive, and it accounts for a significant component of operational cost, especially during the summer season. Considerable improvements have been made to minimize the cooling demand of greenhouses by integrating efficient design fixtures to the outer envelope, improving shade screens, and establishing optimal control parameters. However, the greenhouses in warm regions still resort to mechanical chillers or evaporative coolers (low efficiency for hot and humid areas) to remove the excess heat, which is expensive or water-intensive and contributes to carbon emissions. Solar-assisted adsorption cooling systems can be an excellent alternative to the traditional systems from economic and environmental aspects. Because they can operate at lower temperatures, making them more attractive than other solar cooling systems. This study focuses on the case study of solar-assisted adsorption cooling systems for a commercial-scale greenhouse application in California. The designed system contains a two-bed silica gel-water adsorption chiller connected to a flat solar thermal collector. The thermal performance of the overall system has been simulated using the MATLAB program to analyze the potential of the proposed system for the study greenhouse under Mediterranean climates.