Optimizing the 3D Distributed Climate inside Greenhouses Using Multi-Objective Optimization Algorithms and Computer Fluid Dynamics

Abstract

As one of the major production facilities in agriculture, a greenhouse has many spatial distributed factors influencing crop growth and energy consumption, such as temperature field, air flow pattern, CO 2 concentration distribution, etc. By introducing a hybrid computational fluid dynamics−evolutionary algorithm (CFD-EA) method, this paper constructs a micro-climate model of greenhouse with main environmental parameters optimized. Considering environmental factors’ spatial influences together with energy usage simultaneously, the optimal solutions of control variables for crop growth are calculated. A commercial greenhouse located in east China is chosen for the method validation. Field experiments using temperature/velocity sensor matrix are carried out for CFD accuracy investigation. On this basis, the proposed optimization method is employed to search for the optimal control variables and parameters corresponding to the environmental Pareto frontier. By the proposed multi-objective scheme, we believe the method can provide set point basis for the design and regulation of large/medium-sized greenhouse production with high spatial resolution.

Keywords

• greenhouse
• multiple environmental parameters
• interactive optimization scheme
• spatial distributed factors
• online–offline strategy
• CFD-EA