• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.277-282
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• 2016

This study was aimed to investigate the effect of air-circulation fans on air temperature and relative humidity in a single-span tomato greenhouse (W: 7m, L: 25m, H: 3.2m). According to standard of fan layout by ASAE (1997), a total of 10 fans were bilaterally arranged in 2 rows in the experimental greenhouse. The distributions of air temperature and relative humidity were measured from 6 pm to 8 am under different conditions, with and without fans. The measurement heights were 0.7m, 1.7m and 2.7m. Under the condition of "fans off", the spatial differences of air temperature and relative humidity between upper and lower sides were $1.7^{\circ}C$ and 10.8%, respectively. The operation of 10 fans showed their differences to $0.1^{\circ}C$ and 3.2%. The number of fans and installation direction were evaluated their performance on reducing the spatial variation of air temperature and relative humidity. The experimental layouts were 5 and fans in 2 rows (bilaterally) and 10 fans in the one (same) direction. Under the condition of "6 fans on" and "5 fans on", the spatial differences of air temperature and relative humidity between upper and lower side were $0.3^{\circ}C$, 3.4% and $0.3^{\circ}C$ and 4.0%. The operation of 10 fans in the one direction reduced their differences to $0.5^{\circ}C$ and 4.9%. The overall findings of this study showed that there was no significant differences under each condition. Therefore, this study suggested that it is more economic and effective to install five fans in 2 rows (bilaterally) in the greenhouse (W: 7m, L: 25m, H: 3.2m).

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.291-296
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• 2007

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of horizontal air flow produced by circulation fans on horizontal and vertical profiles of meteorological factors. The three-dimensional distributions of air speed, air temperature, relative humidity and carbon dioxide $(CO_2)$ concentration were measured with and without the fans in operation. The uniformity of the spatial distribution of meteorological factors decreased as the outside air temperature decreased. In "fans off" condition, spatial variations of $4.7^{\circ}C$ in air temperature, 19% in relative humidity were detected. When the fans were operated, these variations were reduced to 2.2 and 6.3%, respectively. As the fan capacity increased, the difference in air temperature among sampling points decreased. The fan capacity of $0.0104m^3{\cdot}s^{-1}{\cdot}m^{-2}$ was enough to obtain a reasonable air flow in greenhouse. The vertical profiles of air temperature and $CO_2$ concentration were reasonably uniform regardless of measurement height and fan capacity. Further researches on the position of fans to reduce the difference in air temperature along the width and the effects of using a larger number of smaller fans are required.

• Journal of the Institute of Convergence Signal Processing
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.167-173
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• 2018

We propose an air purification system that utilizes aerial plant parts and root zone of indoor plants where light is insufficient and air circulation is bad. In order to maximize the air purification effect of the plant, the aerial plant parts illuminates mixed light combining blue and green LED and CRI(Color Rendering Index) LEDs close to natural light, respectively. And the root zone was forcibly circulated by the fan to use the soil as a filter. The indoor air purification system combined with the light source and the fan removed most polluted air in the shortest. In the case of mixed light and CRI LEDs of indoor air purification system, fine dust decreased by 14%, 14.2%, and TVOC(Total volatile organic compounds) decreased by 7.5% and 9.4%, respectively. In the experiment in which the fan was operated for 15 minutes, the TVOC decreased to 97.8%. The photosynthesis of the plant and the use of soil as a filter were able to purify polluted air in a short time. And the fan's temporary operation gave the similar effect of continuous operation.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.57-65
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• 2015

As information technology fusion is accelerated, the researches to improve the quality and productivity of crops inside a plant factory actively progress. Advanced growth environment management technology that can provide thermal environment and air flow suited to the growth of crops and considering the characteristics inside a facility is necessary to maximize productivity inside a plant factory. Currently running plant factories are designed to rely on experience or personal judgment; hence, design and operation technology specific to plant factories are not established, inherently producing problems such as uneven crop production due to the deviation of temperature and air flow and additional increases in energy consumption after prolonged cultivation. The optimization process has to be set up in advance for the arrangement of air flow devices and operation technology using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) during the design stage of a facility for plant factories to resolve the problems. In this study, the optimum arrangement and air flow of air circulation fans were investigated to save energy while minimizing temperature deviation at each point inside a plant factory using CFD. The condition for simulation was categorized into a total of 12 types according to installation location, quantity, and air flow changes in air circulation fans. Also, the variables of boundary conditions for simulation were set in the same level. The analysis results for each case showed that an average temperature of 296.33K matching with a set temperature and average air flow velocity of 0.51m/s suiting plant growth were well-maintained under Case 4 condition wherein two sets of air circulation fans were installed at the upper part of plant cultivation beds. Further, control of air circulation fan set under Case D yielded the most excellent results from Case D-3 conditions wherein air velocity at the outlet was adjusted to 2.9m/s.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.335-341
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• 2019

In order to provide basic data for uniformization of temperature distribution in heating greenhouses, heating experiments were performed in two greenhouses with a hot water heating system. By analyzing heat transfer characteristics and improving pipes layout, measures to reduce the variation of pipe surface temperature and to improve the uniformity were derived. As a result of analyzing the temperature distributions of two different greenhouses and examining the maximum deviation and uniformity, it was found that the temperature deviation of greenhouses with a large amount of hot water flow and a short heating pipe was small and the uniformity was high. And it was confirmed that the temperature deviation was reduced and the uniformity was improved when the circulating fan was operated. The correlation between the surface temperature of the heating pipe and the indoor air temperature was a positive correlation and statistically significant(p<0.01) in both greenhouses. It was confirmed that the indoor temperature distribution in a hot water heating greenhouse was influenced by the surface temperature distribution of heating pipe, and the uniformity of indoor temperature distribution could be improved by arranging the heating pipe to minimize the temperature deviation. Analysis of the heat transfer characteristics of heating pipe showed that the temperature deviation increased as the pipe length became longer and the temperature deviation became smaller as the flow rate in pipe increased. Therefore, it was considered that the temperature distribution and the uniformity of environment in a greenhouse could be improved by arranging the heating pipe to shorten the length and controlling the flow velocity in pipe. In order to control the temperature deviation of one branch pipe within $3^{\circ}C$ in the tube rail type hot water heating system most used in domestic greenhouses, when the flow velocity in the pipe is 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, $1.0m{\cdot}s^{-1}$, the length of a heating pipe should be limited to 40, 80, 120, 160, 200m, respectively.