Abstract
Air distribution system in plant factories with artificial lighting (PFALs) is responsible for the air exchange and replacement to create desired growing conditions for plants. Combined effects of multitiers, heat from supplemental lighting, improper air conditioning, and air distribution system design can lead to environmental nonuniformity in PFALs. The principle for the design of air distribution system is to understand the physics of wind and how crops response to wind. This chapter describes how wind affects the photosynthesis and transpiration processes of crops by briefly explaining the theory of leaf boundary layer and boundary layer resistance. Then an example application of improving air movement to prevent plant physiological disorder (e.g., tipburn in lettuces) is introduced. For the design of air distribution system, the overall control with mixing ventilation systems and the localized control with cooling fans and perforated air tubes are described. Finally, several indices for assessment of ventilation performance are defined such as air exchange effectiveness, local mean age of air, efficiency of heat removal, and coefficient of variation.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Awbi HB (2008) Ventilation systems: design and performance. Taylor & Francis, New York
Awbi HB (2015) Ventilation and air distribution systems in buildings. Front Mech Eng 1:1–4. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmech.2015.00004
Berckmans D, Randall JM, Van Thielen D, Goedseels V (1993) Validity of the Archimedes Number in ventilation Commercial livestock building. J Agric Eng Res 56:239–251
Cao G, Awbi H, Yao R et al (2014) A review of the performance of different ventilation and airflow distribution systems in buildings. Build Environ 73:171–186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2013.12.009
Chanteloup V, Mirade PS (2009) Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling of local mean age of air distribution in forced-ventilation food plants. J Food Eng 90:90–103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2008.06.014
Gaastra P (1959) Photosynthesis of crop plants as influenced by light, carbon dioxide, temperature, and stomatal diffusion resistance. Overdruk 59:1–68
Goto E, Takakura T (1992) Promotion of calcium accumulation in inner leaves by air supply for prevention of lettuce tipburn. Trans ASAE 35:641–645
Kikuchi S, Ito K, Kobayashi N (2003) Numerical analysis of ventilation effectiveness in occupied zones for various industrial ventilation systems. In: Proceedings of 7th international symposium on ventilation for contaminant control, pp 103–108
Kitaya Y (2005) Importance of air movement for promoting gas and heat exchanges between plants and atmosphere under controlled environments. In: Omasa K, Nouchi I, De Kok LJ (eds) Plant responses to air pollution and global change. Springer Japan, Tokyo, pp 185–193
Kitaya Y, Shibuya T, Kozai T, Kubota C (1998) Effects of light intensity and air velocity on air temperature, water vapor pressure and CO2 concentration inside a crops stand under an artificial lighting condition. Life Support Biosph Sci 5:199–203
Kitaya Y, Tsuruyama J, Kawai M et al (2000) Effects of air current on transpiration and net photosynthetic rates of plants in a closed plant production system. Transpl Prod 21st Century 83–90. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9371-7_13
Lee JG, Choi CS, Jang YA et al (2013) Effects of air temperature and air flow rate control on the tipburn occurrence of leaf lettuce in a closed-type plant factory system. Hortic Environ Biotechnol 54:303–310. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13580-013-0031-0
Nobel PS (2009) Temperature and energy budgets. Physicochem Environ Plant Physiol 318–363. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-374143-1.00007-7
Randall JM, Battams VA (1979) Stability criteria for airflow patterns in livestock buildings. J Agric Eng Res 24:361–374. https://doi.org/10.1016/0021-8634(79)90078-7
Saunders DD, Albright LD (1984) Airflow from perforated polyethylene tubes. Am Soc Agric Eng 84:1144–1149
Schiavon S (2009) Energy saving with personalized ventilation and cooling fan. PhD thesis
Shibata T, Iwao K, Takano T (1995) Effect of vertical air flowing on lettuce growing in a plant factory. Acta Hortic:175–182. https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1995.399.20
Van Gardingen P, Grace J (1991) Plants and wind. Adv Bot Res 18:189–253. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2296(08)60023-3
Wells CM, Amos ND (1994) Design of air distribution systems for closed greenhouses. In: Acta horticulturae. International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS), Leuven, pp 93–104
Yabuki K (2013) Photosynthetic rate and dynamic environment. Springer, Dordrecht
Zhang Y, Kacira M (2017) Analysis of environmental uniformity in a plant factory using CFD analysis. In: Acta Hortic 1037:1027–1034
Zhang Y, Kacira M, An L (2016) A CFD study on improving air flow uniformity in indoor plant factory system. Biosyst Eng 147:193–205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2016.04.012
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Zhang, Y., Kacira, M. (2018). Air Distribution and Its Uniformity. In: Kozai, T. (eds) Smart Plant Factory. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1065-2_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1065-2_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-13-1064-5
Online ISBN: 978-981-13-1065-2
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)