Conference Paper

Proceedings of Building Simulation 2021: 17th Conference of IBPSA

Impact of modelling thermal phenomena in a high-density controlled environment agriculture (CEA-HD) space

Marie-Hélène Talbot, Danielle Monfet, Timothé Lalonde, Didier Haillot
École de technologie supérieure, Canada

DOI: https://doi.org/10.26868/25222708.2021.30283
Abstract: There is a rising interested in controlled environment agriculture (CEA) to address food security issues. Modelling of indoor high-density CEA (CEA-HD) spaces is relatively recent and often some of the thermal phenomena, such as the effect of light interception by crops leaves and the thermal storage capacity of the hydroponic solution, are assumed to be negligible. In this study, the impacts of those thermal phenomena on the energy demand and consumption of a small-scale CEAHD space, modelled in a BPS tool, are quantified. Both phenomena are modelled and compared to a base case, for which none of the phenomena were considered. For a specific size of crops, the effect of light interception by crops leaves led to a reduction of 35% of both peak sensible cooling demand and annual consumption. The thermal storage in the hydroponic solution led to a reduction of 46% and 76% of the peak sensible heating demand and annual consumption, respectively.
Keywords: Controlled environment agriculture, thermal loads, building modelling
Pages: 1357 - 1364
Paper: