Thesis
Influence of different building practices on the performance of a passive solar design greenhouse
Washington State University
Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
2011
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/102714
Abstract
The goal of the present paper was to study a greenhouse with a passive solar design (avoiding the use of extra heat supply but the Sun radiation) in order to determine if this greenhouse provided good growing conditions for vegetable during the Winter in a climate similar to the one observed in Eastern Washington, and which building practices or features represented the best option to achieve the goal of passive solar design. The greenhouse studied presented characteristics similar to the one studied by Tong et al. (2009), but many of its constitutive parts were studied independently (glazing, slab design, building materials), such as the influence of several features like a covering blanket at night or fish tanks used as thermal mass. The experiments were based on comparing the results of a computer-aided simulation, using the DOE Energy Plus energy analysis software. The general conclusions were that passive solar greenhouse can properly grow vegetables in the required conditions. More specifically, experiments showed that polycarbonates were the most suitable material for glazing in terms of energy efficiency; they highlighted the use of high thermal mass material as construction material, and proved adding water tanks to the greenhouse as thermal mass was a beneficial practice, such as adding a covering blanket at night. The best shape among those tested was a straight South facing roof with a 45° angle with horizontal. The experiences also highlighted relationships between average air temperature, minimal air temperature, and standard deviation of the average air temperature on the one hand, and R-value of the slab and width of concrete on the other hand. The kind of relationship unifying these parameters is a logarithmic relationship for the average air temperature and the R-value, and a linear relationship for minimal air temperature, average standard deviation and concrete thickness. The best configuration for slab was the concrete at the innermost layer and insulation at the outermost layer.
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Details
- Title
- Influence of different building practices on the performance of a passive solar design greenhouse
- Creators
- Camille Pirou
- Contributors
- Michael P. Wolcott (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Civil and Environmental Engineering, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; [Pullman, Washington] :
- Identifiers
- 99900525036701842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis