Development and testing of evaporative cooling box for naturally ventillated greenhouse

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.