Abstract
Traditional agricultural greenhouses have been used to grow vegetables in the winter without any auxiliary heating. However, crop production is highly influenced by soil and air temperatures, humidity, and solar radiation. The aim of this paper is to review the recent active solar thermal technologies that help reduce the energy demand for greenhouse climate control and achieve intensive crop production. The review is categorized into the following topics: 1) locations for collector installation; 2) discussion on the different types of solar collectors, which include metal-based, glass-based, ceramic-based, plastic-based, and hybrid photovoltaic/thermal types for greenhouse applications; 3) heat release systems in active greenhouses in terms of basal heating, backwall heating, and air heating systems; and 4) short-term and long-term heat storage systems for greenhouses. Future studies on active solar greenhouses might focus on microclimate prediction, long-term heat storage, and system optimization.
Highlights
In recent years, the energy demand of civil building environmental control has been greatly reduced (Kelly et al, 2020), and substantial energy-saving potential still exists in other sectors, such as agricultural production buildings, because crop production directly accounts for approximately 10–12% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions (Wu et al, 2020)
The scope of this paper is to review the recent active solar thermal technologies that help reduce the energy demand for greenhouse climate control and achieve intensive crop production
This paper 1) introduces a new type of all-ceramic solar collector that can be used in greenhouse construction; 2) analyzes the four installation locations of solar collectors in greenhouse projects and proposes the inner surfaces of the backwalls; and 3) categorizes heat release systems in active solar greenhouses as basal heating systems, backwall heating systems, and air heating systems
Summary
Solar Thermal Technologies in Greenhouses: A Mini Review. Crop production is highly influenced by soil and air temperatures, humidity, and solar radiation. The aim of this paper is to review the recent active solar thermal technologies that help reduce the energy demand for greenhouse climate control and achieve intensive crop production. The review is categorized into the following topics: 1) locations for collector installation; 2) discussion on the different types of solar collectors, which include metal-based, glass-based, ceramic-based, plastic-based, and hybrid photovoltaic/thermal types for greenhouse applications; 3) heat release systems in active greenhouses in terms of basal heating, backwall heating, and air heating systems; and 4) short-term and long-term heat storage systems for greenhouses. Future studies on active solar greenhouses might focus on microclimate prediction, long-term heat storage, and system optimization
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