Abstract
Greenhouse technology is a practical option for the production and drying of agricultural products in controlled environment. For the successful design of a greenhouse, the selection of a suitable shape and orientation is of great importance. Of various shapes of greenhouses, the even-span roof and the Quonset shape greenhouses are the most commonly used for crop cultivation and drying. The orientation of greenhouses is kept east–west for maximum utilization of solar radiations. Hybrid and modified greenhouse dryers have been proposed for drying of products. The agricultural products dried in greenhouses are found to be better in quality as compared to open sun drying because they are protected from dust, rain, insects, birds and animals. Moreover, various greenhouses shapes along with their applications have been reviewed.
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Abbreviations
- A :
-
Area/m2
- C :
-
Specific heat/(J·kg−1·°C−1)
- F :
-
Fraction of solar radiation
- g :
-
Acceleration due to gravity/(m·s−2)
- ΔH :
-
Difference in pressure head/m
- h c :
-
Convective heat transfer coefficient of crop/(W·m−2·°C−1)
- I :
-
Solar radiation on greenhouse wall/(W·m−2)
- M :
-
Mass/kg
- N :
-
Number of air passes per hour
- P(T):
-
Partial vapor pressure at temperature T/(N·m−2)
- ΔP :
-
Difference in partial pressure/(N·m−2)
- U :
-
Overall heat loss/(W·m−2·°C−1)
- α :
-
Absorptivity of the crop surface
- γ :
-
Relative humidity of air/%
- ρ :
-
Density of air/(kg·m−3)
- τ :
-
Transmissivity of greenhouse cover
- amb:
-
Ambient
- c:
-
Crop
- ghf:
-
Greenhouse floor
- ghr:
-
Greenhouse room air
- ghfr:
-
Greenhouse floor to room
- g∞:
-
Greenhouse floor to underground
- ∣x=0 :
-
Greenhouse floor surface
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Sahdev, R.K., Kumar, M. & Dhingra, A.K. A comprehensive review of greenhouse shapes and its applications. Front. Energy 13, 427–438 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-017-0464-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-017-0464-8