Abstract:
The study entitled “Development and testing of evaporative cooling box
for a naturally ventilated greenhouse” was taken up to fabricate an evaporative
cooling box for naturally ventilated greenhouse situated in the KCAET campus
and which is suitable for the climatic conditions of Kerala. For analyzing the
performance of the cooling system, first of all the climatological parameters
inside and outside greenhouse before the installation of cooling box are observed
from 22-11-16 to 1-12-16 at an interval of 1hr for every 1m distance inside
greenhouse from 6.00 am to 6.00 pm. The daily peak temperature is observed to
analyze the cooling requirement by the crop inside the greenhouse. Then Type A
and Type B cooling boxes are fabricated and installed in the greenhouse. The
measurements of climatological parameters both inside and outside the
greenhouse were taken before and after cooling. Then the observations from the
two cooling boxes were compared and concluded that type A cooling box is more
effective in cooling action than the type B cooling box. But in type A, cooling
losses occurs due to the backward movement of air by striking on its frame. Then
eliminating the disadvantages of the type A cooling box, a new type C cooling
box has been fabricated and installed in the greenhouse .Then the observations
are taken about 1 week and it shows that type C cooling box exhibits uniform
cooling in the greenhouse and provide the optimum condition for the plant
growth while type A cooling box exhibits maximum efficiency.
