Date of Publication: November 27, 2019

I. INTRODUCTION

Energy is closely linked to food. Energy is an important input in growing, processing,

packaging, distributing, storing, preparing, serving, and disposing of food. The use of energy

resources from fossil fuels contributes a major role in climate change which is likely to hinder

agriculture and threaten food security in the future. A viable solution to this issue is the use of

renewable energy. Renewable energy technologies are globally considered to reduce total world

energy consumption which is still dominated by fossil fuels, and to mitigate greenhouse gas

emissions in the atmosphere through clean energy generation. With this taken into consideration,

additional decisive measures are required for effective minimization of global energy

consumption.

The climate of the Philippines is tropical. A tropical climate is defined to have an absolute

minimum temperature of 18°C, but is typically hot at midday year-round, nearing or surpassing

30°C, with heavy precipitation. Many tropical nations rely heavily on agriculture for economic,

social, and food security motives. The average monthly relative humidity in the Philippines varies

between 71% in March and 85% in September. The mean temperature is between 25 to 27°C with

a range of 21°C to 34°C. Monthly average rainfall ranges from as low as 120 cm to as high as 270

cm. Due to this, the amount of low temperature thriving plants is always scares in hot and tropical

regions. This is one problem faced by the people living in these areas. Instead of growing them,

countries experiencing high temperatures, have become net importers of food. This discourages

the local farmers and would reduce the country’s gross domestic product. A solution must be

developed to be able to supply this demand. The combination of climate change and increasing

food demand make it very important to research means of growing food that can help adapt to

warming conditions.
 One viable solution is the use of protected agriculture (greenhouse) which is a modification

of a certain environment achieving improved conditions for plant growth. Protected agriculture

also grants successful crop production in places, climates, or seasons that are unsuitable to plant

production. Ventilation, air movement, and temperature control are key aspects in greenhouses

located in tropical climates. In many developing countries like the Philippines, greenhouse design

is said to be kept at a low cost and consist of materials that are available in the local area. Given

that in tropical climates, temperatures can reach up to 30°C or higher, protecting the crops by use

of the greenhouse isn’t sufficient enough for it to grow. Thus, cooling methods are to be employed

to keep the temperature inside the greenhouse at a controlled level. Passive cooling measures are

highly recommended over active ones as they are simple and economically viable. However,

evaporative cooling, which is form of active is cooling, is considered to be most effective in

decreasing the temperature of a certain structure if economically available. A more concrete

example of evaporative cooling is the direct evaporative cooling in which this method uses a spray

system which sprays either a fine mist of water, or a film of water on the surface of the roof so that

when hot air outside evaporates when contacting the wetted area. As the water evaporates, it

removes large amounts of heat and lowers the roof temperature. The lowering of the roof

temperature is due to the sensible heat of the air being removed.

II. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

 Evaporative cooling is a concept that is defined as making air cool via increasing its water

vapor content. Evaporative cooling is an environmentally friendly air conditioning system that

operates using induced processes of heat and mass transfer, where water and air are the working

fluids. The evaporative cooling process is achieved by having water come into either direct or

indirect contact with ambient air, where the water absorbs the heat carried by the air, thus making

the air cooler while increasing its humidity level and the total heat/enthalpy of the air changes.

Evaporative cooling is an environmentally friendly air conditioning system that operates using

induced processes of heat and mass transfer, where water and air are the working fluids. The two

main driving forces of an evaporative cooling system are the differences in temperature of water

and air.

The effect of evaporative cooling strongly depends on the evaporation rate, which is

defined as the mass of water evaporated from a unit area. Evaporative cooling is one of the energy

efficient technologies that is suitable for hot and dry climatic conditions since it provides cool air

to a space or area as well as providing a promising way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, since

it uses water as heat transfer fluid rather than refrigerants, and reduces energy consumption

There are two basic types of evaporative cooling namely the direct evaporative cooling

(DEC) and indirect evaporative cooling (IEC). In DEC, the direct contact of the air stream or

ambient air to water results in the reduction of dry bulb temperature of the air with an increase in

its humidity. Due to the direct contact between the air and water, the relative humidity in the

processed air will increase. With these types of evaporative cooling, the overall thermal

performance mainly depends upon the moisture content of air that needed to be cooled. The

thermal performance of ambient air is indirectly proportional to its level of humidity since the

ambient air that has high level of humidity or moisture content is less likely and has less capacity
to undergo evaporative cooling process. In IEC, which is the other type of evaporative cooling,

there is no direct contact between the water and air, thus the moisture content in the processed air

is well controlled within the limit of the IEC system. In this system, there is no increase of the

moisture content in the air.

III. OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH

• Determine the maximum amount of temperature reduction attained by the retrofitted roof
spray cooling system with solar power integration.

• Determine the maximum cooling efficiency attained by the retrofitted roof spray cooling

system with solar power integration.

• Determine the daily micro-climatic conditions of the greenhouse with the retrofitted roof

spray cooling system with solar power integration.

• Compare the maximum amount of temperature reduction between the existing roof spray

cooling system and retrofitted roof spray cooling system with solar power integration to

determine if the refinement of the existing roof spray cooling system was effective.

• Compare the micro-climatic condition of the greenhouse between the existing roof spray

cooling system and retrofitted roof spray cooling system with solar power integration.

• Integrate solar power system to the roof spray cooling system.

IV. SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH

Scope
• The focus of this study is the temperature reduction in the roof and ceiling of the

greenhouse.

• The extent of this study is to improve the efficiency of the existing roof spray cooling

system through modifications of design and integrate solar energy utilization.

• The experiment will be done in 12 hours (6AM to 6PM) for 7 consecutive days.

• The experiment will be done simultaneously with the misting cooling system and earth-air

passive cooling system.

• The retrofitted roof spray cooling system will be installed on the existing greenhouse.

• The study will be conducted inside the Cebu Experiment Station, Department of

Agriculture - Regional Field Office VII at Mandaue City, Cebu.

Limitations

• The materials that will be used during the fabrication of the retrofitted roof spray cooling
system with solar power integration will be restricted to the availability of the market in

the Philippines.

• The components for the solar power system installation to be used will be bought from the

local supplier.

• The energy diagram of the on-grid solar power system will depend on the Hi-Brid Power

Solutions Technology.

• The solar irradiance will be assumed constant throughout the day (6AM to 6PM) for the

heat load calculations.

• Changes in weather conditions and sun positioning throughout the testing period were not

considered in the heat load calculations.

V. METHODOLOGY
 This study is a continuation of the previous study. This study focuses on improvements and

modifications to further increase the efficiency of the existing roof spray cooling system. The study

started with the review of the previous study. After reviewing the previous study, the gap was
determined. The gap is something that remains to be done or learned in an area of research. After

determining the gap of the previous study, the design and conceptualization of the retrofitted roof

spray cooling system with solar power integration was started. The design that was proposed will

be followed by the fabrication and assembly of the retrofitted roof spray cooling system with solar

power integration. After the proposed design will be fabricated and assembled, the testing of the

set-up will be started. After the testing of the set-up, the collection of the data will then be made

followed by analysis, interpretation, and comparison of gathered data. Following the analysis and

interpretation of the collected data, the study’s conclusion and recommendations will be made.

VI. RESULTS AND FINDINGS

Cooling Efficiency
The efficiency of the roof spray cooling system was then calculated using the same formula used

by the researchers. This cooling efficiency is used to quantify the evaporative cooling efficiency

of the roof spray cooling system. Once the values were calculated, this was then plotted as a

function of time. From this, the graph can be interpreted in terms of its behavior, how effective the

system was, and at what time the system was at its highest efficiency.

It can be observed that the efficiency at the start of experiment ranged from 13% to around 17%.

At day 1, the efficiency of the system was at around 17% then suddenly dropped to around 15%

in a short amount of time. This was then followed by a fluctuation of the data of around 13%

throughout the day. The same behavior can be seen in day 5 although the data was cut due to

efficiencies reaching more than 100%. The efficiencies in day 2-4 were somewhat consistent with

efficiencies ranging from 15-17% throughout the day. It also can be observed that the efficiency

spiked to a max 23%.

From the data gathered, trends to also peak at early morning which was 6:00 am. This is because

the relative humidity at 6:00 was usually high. When the relative humidity is high, the difference

between the dry bulb and wet bulb temperature is small. This results to a small denominator value

when using the formula to find the cooling efficiency. Dividing a small number with a small

denominator value will make the quotient bigger resulting relative humidity. As day progresses,

the relative humidity reaches its lowest point during midday and the efficiency of the system

stabilizes.

Energy Balance
 The total solar radiation was defined as the sum of heat due to radiation, conduction,

convection, and evaporation. Based from the calculations, the largest proportion comes from heat

due to evaporation which was 77%. This means that most heat was lost due to evaporation before

it enters the greenhouse. The amount of evaporated heat corresponds to the cooling effect that

happened when the system is running. The second largest proportion comes from the heat lost

through convection, which was 14.70%. This was due to the help of the ambient air that flows

through the roof of the greenhouse. As the ambient air reaches the hot roof surface, it carries the

heat that was on the water on the roof. The third largest proportion was the radiation of heat of the

greenhouse roof. Since the greenhouse reflects some of the solar radiation, the heat was lost back

into the environment. The last proportion was the heat through conduction. The heat through

conduction is the heat that enters into the greenhouse. This calculation shows that there was
minimal heat that enters into the greenhouse since almost all the heat was lost through evaporation

and convection.

VII. CONCLUSIONS
 The maximum amount of temperature reduction attained by the refined roof spray cooling

system, as well as the misting system and earth air system was 11.37 ⁰C at around 9:01AM on

April 12, 2019. This occurred when the relative humidity is at its lowest, this corresponds to a

higher outside temperature, meaning it can hold more water vapor. This in return results to a higher

temperature difference between the inside temperature of the greenhouse and the ambient

temperature.

The maximum amount of cooling efficiency attained by the retrofitted roof spray cooling

system was around 17.18% when the system stabilizes.

The ceiling temperature almost always had the highest reading followed by the mid-level, then the

plant level. This is due to the phenomenon of air stratification.

The maximum amount of temperature reduction obtained by the retrofitted roof spray

cooling system, which was a closed system, was 11.37 ⁰C while the previous research, which was

an open system, only attained a maximum amount of temperature reduction was 6.26 ⁰C. The

average temperature reduction attained by the retrofitted roof spray cooling system throughout the

day was 4.07 ⁰C.

The solar power system was integrated to provide power to operate the retrofitted roof

spray cooling system. Operation of all three systems at once to cool the greenhouse was more

efficient than only a single system running.

VIII. RECOMMENDATIONS
After studying the results of all the testing data, the following recommendations are suggested:

1. An exhaust is necessary to release the hot air that was accumulated at the ceiling level.

2. The misting nozzles should be located nearer the roof surface to minimize the misting lost

through ambient wind.

3. Change the location of the solar panel and face the panels to south to gain the maximum solar

radiation.

4. It is recommended to use waterproof temperature and relative humidity sensors to have a more

accurate reading of the parameters.

5. It is recommended to apply thermal destratification to eliminate stratified layers and achieve

temperature equalization throughout the building envelope.

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