Evolutionary algorithms in the optimization of natural ventilation parameters in a greenhouse with continuous roof vents

Although natural ventilation plays an important role in the affecting greenhouse climate, as defined by temperature, humidity and CO2 concentration, particularly in Mediterranean countries, little information and data are presently available on full-scale greenhouse ventilation mechanisms. In this paper, we present a new method for selecting the parameters based on evolutionary algorithms which optimize the choice of parameters by minimizing a cost function. The simulator was based on a published model with some minor modifications as we were interested in the parameter of ventilation. The function is defined by a reduced model that could be used to simulate and predict the greenhouse environment, as well as the tuning methods to compute their parameters. This study focuses on the dynamic behavior of the inside air temperature and humidity during ventilation. Our approach is validated by comparison with some experimental results. Various experimental techniques were used to make full-scale measurements of the air exchange rate in a 400 in plastic greenhouse. In recent years, evolutionary algorithms been applied to a variety of dynamic optimization problems. The model which we propose, based on natural ventilation parameters optimized by evolutionary algorithms, was compared with the measurements and with other results published in the literature.