Optimum design and orientation of the greenhouses for maximum capture of solar energy in North Tropical Region

This investigation is devoted to calculate the amount of solar energy that can be captured by the greenhouse surface. This energy reduces the cost of fossil fuel or any other heating systems used to warm the greenhouse during winter season. The novelty in this study is the handling of the greenhouses surface analytically. The analytical solution is carried out for different elliptic curved surface aspect ratios, to reach the optimum one for maximum captured solar energy. The captured solar energy is calculated from 1st of November to the end of April (cold weather season). The study covers a range of ellipse aspect ratio, Z, from 0.25 to 4.0 and latitude angle phi from 24 degrees to 31.2 degrees. Also, the orientation of the greenhouse is studied. Finally, for the optimum case, the amount of energy capture and the energy saving cost are obtained. The results showed that, the captured solar energy per square meter of the greenhouse land area reaches its maximum value at aspect ratio equals 4. The corresponding maximum heating cost savings equals to 50.971 $/m(2)/season. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.