Performance study of an enhanced solar greenhouse combined with the phase change material using genetic algorithm optimization method

There are several common shapes for solar greenhouses structure. In a special structure, the curved glass roof is equipped with a thin remarkable cover. In this case, the cover modifies the solar light spectrally and reflects the unnecessarily wavelengths on a tubular collector installed in the focal line of the curved roof, out of the greenhouse, for greenhouse multipurpose applications. In this work, the basic idea for mentioned above special greenhouse was enhanced. As a new study, the performance effects of the collectors numbers (here, 1, 2, and 3) used for roof of the one solar greenhouse system was investigated. Also, for better saving energy process, a specific amount of phase change material (PCM) was applied in the collector. A genetic algorithm method was used to optimize the collector pipe radius versus the volume of the PCM placed inside this pipe. Simulation results indicated that the use of this enhanced system solar greenhouse leads to the remarkable results in the energy budget and the economic factors. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.