A numerical study of cucurbit cultivation in a greenhouse under direct solar radiation and equipped with a direct evaporative cooler in summer season

The performance of direct evaporative cooler to meet cooling demand of a greenhouse in Tehran in the hottest months of the year as well as water and electricity consumption were numerically studied. The suitable values of air change per hour (ACH) was also obtained for cultivation of tomato, cucumber, eggplant and bell peppers. The k-epsilon Realizable Turbulence and Discrete Ordinates (DO) models was used for simulating the airflow and estimating radiative heat transfer, respectively. The results showed that an ACH of 10 is proper for tomato cultivation. When the ambient temperature is maximal, an ACH of 15 can be used for cucumber cultivation. However, ACH cannot be kept constant, and ACHs of <= 10 should be utilized when the ambient temperature decreases. For eggplants, it is better to use an ACH 20 at hot hours and an ACH of 10 when the temperature declines. For the bell pepper plant, 20 and 10 ACHs are suitable for day and night hours, respectively. Moreover, the maximum daily water consumed in the greenhouse happens in August and equals 222 lit/day for 20 Air Changes per Hour (ACH). The minimum daily water is consumed in July, equaling 106 lit/day for an ACH of 10. In the present study, the electricity rate consumed in the greenhouse equals 127W when ACH = 20, i.e., the consumed electric energy is 3 kWh for the entire system in a 24-h interval.