Energy Conversion and Management 105 (2015) 1096–1104

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Energy Conversion and Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

Optimum design and orientation of the greenhouses for maximum

capture of solar energy in North Tropical Region
Wael M. El-Maghlany a, Mohamed A. Teamah a,b,⇑, Hiroshi Tanaka c
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University, Egypt
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering and Technology, Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport, Abu-Quir, Alexandria, Egypt
c
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kurume National College of Technology, Komorino, Kurume, Fukuoka 830-8555, Japan

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This investigation is devoted to calculate the amount of solar energy that can be captured by the green-
Received 17 April 2015 house surface. This energy reduces the cost of fossil fuel or any other heating systems used to warm the
Accepted 26 August 2015 greenhouse during winter season. The novelty in this study is the handling of the greenhouses surface
Available online 8 September 2015
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
Keywords: 1st of November to the end of April (cold weather season). The study covers a range of ellipse aspect ratio,
Greenhouses
Z, from 0.25 to 4.0 and latitude angle / from 24° to 31.2°. Also, the orientation of the greenhouse is stud-
Solar energy
Ellipse aspect ratio
ied. Finally, for the optimum case, the amount of energy capture and the energy saving cost are obtained.
Energy saving 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 $/m2/season.
Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Heating of the greenhouses is one of the most energy con-
sumers during the cold climates [1]. The insufficient heat has
adverse effects on the cultivation time, quality, and productivity
of the greenhouse. The greenhouses have large occupied closed
zone, and the heating with fossil fuels are relatively expensive.
The use of renewable energy as a low-cost heating system like
solar energy is, for this reason, important for a greenhouse to
provide optimum indoor conditions during cold months [2].
Al-Hussaini and Suen [3] investigated integrated shallow solar pond
in the greenhouse theoretically for storage and collection of solar
energy for heating during the night at different weather conditions.
Attar et al. [4] simulated the performance of the heating system
with water as working fluid in relation to the storage tank and a
capillary polypropylene heat exchanger; this simulation was per-
formed for tomato greenhouses. Bouadila et al. and Kürklü et al.
[5,6,14] improved the greenhouse inside climate by solar air heater
⇑ Corresponding author at: Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of
Engineering and Technology, Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime
Transport, P.O. Box 1029, Abu-Quir, Alexandria, Egypt. Tel.: +201003969521; fax:
+2035622915.
E-mail address: mteamah@yahoo.com (M.A. Teamah).
coupled with latent storage energy; the storage system was a
packed bed of spherical capsules with phase change materials.
Chen and Liu [7] analyzed numerically and experimentally the
passive solar heating room with greenhouse and heat storage, they
studied both heat transfer and air flow in rock bed, which is used as
a solar absorber and storage layer. Cossu et al. [8] replaced the roof
of the greenhouse by photovoltaic modules at its middle; the pho-
tovoltaic shading effect on crop productivity was described on
tomato. Fabrizio [9] studied the reduction of the energy demand
for the greenhouses. They reduced the thermal transmittance by
using different materials.
Hasson [10] investigated the solar energy parameters and the
heating requirement of a double plastic cover greenhouse during
the growing season. Joudi and Farhan [11] analyzed experimen-
tally the roof solar air heater for a greenhouse heating. The perfor-
mances of different arrangements of the solar air heater were
considered. Kıyan et al. [12] simulated mathematically the heating
of the greenhouse by a hybrid solar collector system, this hybrid
system consists of an evacuated tube solar heat collector unit, a
supplementary fossil fuel heating unit, a hot water storage ele-
ment, control, and piping parts. Korecko et al. [13] utilized active
and passive glass as an optical raster for high efficiency of conver-
sion of solar energy, for architectural usage in the greenhouse.
Lamnatou and Chemisana [15] analyzed the benefits of using the
solar radiation that enters the greenhouse by using particular kinds

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2015.08.066
0196-8904/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 W.M. El-Maghlany et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 105 (2015) 1096–1104 1097

Nomenclature

A greenhouse cover area (m2) r radius of the curved surface (m)

EG total energy absorbed daily on the surface on a clear-sky Z ellipse aspect ratio
day (J/m2)
Gb average beam radiation on a curved surface (W/m2) Greek symbols
Gbn beam radiation on a plane normal to the sun’s rays (W/ a polar angle
m2) as solar altitude angle
Gdc average diffuse radiation on a curved surface (W/m2) b inclination angle of curved surface
Gdt diffuse radiation on the tilted surface (W/m2) c azimuth angle of curved surface
Gdn diffuse radiation coming from the sun (W/m2) d declination angle
GG instantaneous average total radiation on the curved sur- h incident angle of beam radiation to the tilted surface
face (W/m2) / latitude angle
I extra-terrestrial solar radiation (W/m2) sa transmittance of the atmosphere
L greenhouse length (m) sg transmittance of the transparent cover
n number of days X hour angle
P vertical half axis of the ellipse (m)
Q horizontal half axis of the ellipse (m)

of cladding materials. Ntinas et al. [16] analyzed theoretically the 2. Material and methods
thermal efficiency of a hybrid solar energy saving system inside a
heated greenhouse; this introduced system included transparent Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate the possible shapes of the elliptic curved
water-filled polyethylene sleeve and two perforated air-filled poly- surface in the polar coordinate system; the following geometrical
ethylene tubes. parameters are presented. The relation between the radius r of
The usage of heat pump system for greenhouse heating was elliptic shape and the angle a is given by
investigated by Ozgener and Hepbasli [17–20] as assisted
PQ P
ground-source geothermal heat pumps. Wang et al. [21] analyzed r ¼ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ð1Þ
2 2
the effect of greenhouse building materials and also the type of P 2 cos2 a þ Q 2 sin a
2 Z cos a þ sin a
2

insulation on its thermal performance. Xu et al. [22] investigated

the utilization of U-tube heat exchanger in the soil of greenhouse where Z is the ellipse aspect ratio defined as, Z = P/Q.
to store the heat captured by a solar collector in non-heating By differentiation of the analytical equation of the ellipse and
seasons. transformation from Cartesian to polar coordinate, the slope of
From the previous survey, it was found that all trials for the the elliptic curved surface at any position a representing the tilting
greenhouse heating were focused on using the solar energy by angle b after simplification is given by
solar heaters, heat pumps, and geothermal energy under the green- b ¼ tan1 ðZ 2 cot aÞ ð2Þ
house soil. Recently, the solar energy absorbed by the elliptic
curved surface was analyzed numerically [23] and the ellipse The beam radiation on the elliptic curved surface is not uniform
aspect ratio was varied to cover all geometric shapes. The mathe- because the slope of the surface b varies with the angle a in a con-
matical equations developed to calculate the solar radiation found manner according to Eq. (2). The greenhouse is half of ellipse
absorbed by the elliptic curved surface are similar to those in this (if Z = 1 it will be a half of circle) and has two azimuth angles
paper. However, it cannot be applied directly to the greenhouse (c1 and c2) for the surfaces according to |c1| + |c2| = 180°, with
shape since the elliptic curved surface which has been analyzed opposite signs of both c1 and c2.
has only one azimuth angle. Also, the total solar radiation absorbed For this reason, the average transmitted radiation on the curved
was only calculated at the outside surface of the transparent mate- surface can be obtained by integration as:
rial, not the transmitted energy.
In this investigation; a new concept is presented by only the
shape of the greenhouse with the right orientation for maximum
transmitted solar energy through the greenhouse cover. The trans-
missivity of the transparent material is taken into account for both
Zenith
diffuse and radiation beam. Via the analytical solution, total cap-
tured solar energy is estimated for different shapes and orientation
of the greenhouse. The diffusion and reflected energy at any point
on greenhouse roof depends on the incidence angle. The incidence
β
angle is the angle between the solar beam and the normal to the
greenhouse roof. Also, the incidence angle depends on angle
between the longitudinal axis of the greenhouse and east–west r P
direction. Therefore, the greenhouse roof shape as well as the
orientation play an important role in exploiting the maximum
possible capture energy. The captured heat energy is intended to α
co-assist the greenhouse heating system to reduce its running cost.
If this energy is enough for heating the greenhouse, then there is no 2Q
need for additional heating. Otherwise, we must use the main
heating system to reach the required temperature for crops. Fig. 1. Polar coordinates for the greenhouse.
1098 W.M. El-Maghlany et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 105 (2015) 1096–1104

The transmissivity of the transparent cover, sgd(b) is a function

of the tilted angle, b, and may be presented as [24].

sgd ¼ 0:667  2:05  103 b  2:03  105 b2 ; with bðdegÞ

¼ 0:667  2:05  103 tan1 ðZ 2 cot aÞ  2:03 ð8Þ
  2
5
 10 tan1 Z 2 cot a

Substituting from Eq. (8) in Eq. (7) it will be

α= π/2, β=0
Zenith " R p2 # " Rp #
Gdn sgd rð1þcos bÞda Gdn p sgd rð1þcos bÞda
2 R
β Gdc ¼ 0
R p2 þ p
r da p r da
0 c¼c1 2 c¼c2
r 2 R p2 3 2 Rp 3
ð1þcosðtan1 ðZ 2 cot aÞÞ ð1þcosðtan1 ðZ 2 cot aÞÞ
Gdn sgd pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi da Gdn p sgd pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi da
6 0
7
þ4 5
Z 2 cos2 aþsin2 a Z 2 cos2 aþsin2 a
α ¼4 R p2 5 Rp
2
α=0, β= π/2
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
1 ffida p pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
1 ffi da
0
Z 2 cos2 aþsin2 a 2 Z 2 cos2 aþsin2 a c¼c2
P c¼c1
ð9Þ
The total solar energy transmitted on the curved surface of the
2Q
polyethylene cover of the greenhouse is calculated. This energy
equals to the sum of the average beam and diffuses radiations as
Fig. 2. Greenhouse realistic configurations.
follows

"R p # 2R p 3 GG ¼ Gb þ Gdc ð10Þ

0 sgb Gbn r cos hda
2 p sgb Gbn r cos hda
Gb ¼ R p2 þ4 2
Rp 5 ð3Þ The above integral in both Eqs. (6) and (9) are very complicated
p r da
0 r da c¼c1 2 c¼c2 to be mathematically solved. The numerical integration is used to
solve these equations. The following cases of the greenhouse
The transmissivity of the transparent material, sgb(h) is the ellipse aspect ratio are solved.
function of the incident angle h and may be presented as [24].
The angle h is incidence angle of beam radiation to tilted surface  (Z = 0.25) and (Z = 0.5) representing elliptic shape with (2Q) as a
in terms of the declination d, the latitude /, the slope of the surface major axis.
b, the azimuth of the surface c and the hour angle X as given below  (Z = 1) representing circular shape.
cos h ¼ M cos b þ N sin b ð4Þ  (Z = 2) and (Z = 4) representing elliptic shape with (2P) as a
major axis.
where
M ¼ sin d sin / þ cos d cos / cos X Eq. (10) represents the instantaneous total radiation absorbed
on the curved surface of the greenhouse; for this reason the total
N ¼ cos d sin / cos c cos X  sin d cos / cos c þ cos d sin c sin X
solar energy received for a total number of days (J) at any period
sgb ¼ 2:642  cos h  2:163  cos2 h  0:32 through the year will be obtained per square meter of the green-
 cos3 h þ 0:719  cos4 h ð5Þ house cover area (A) as

In the above equations, the angle u is positive in the north Z J Z Xsunset

1
hemisphere and negative in south hemisphere. The angle c mea- EG ¼ GG d X ð11Þ
2 1 Xsunrise
sured from the south direction. The value of c = 0.0 for the south
direction. The sign of c is negative with the east and positive with The above integral will be performed with respect to time (hour
the west direction. The hour angle X is negative in the morning angle X) for different days.
and positive in the afternoon. Both values of the beam Gbn and diffuse Gdn radiation for opti-
Substitute from Eqs. (2, 4, and 5) in Eq. (3) it will be mization are calculated according to Bouguer’s and Berlage’s equa-
2 Rp 1 2 cot aÞþN sin½tan1 ðZ 2 cot aÞ
3 tion respectively [25]
Gbn 02 sgb M cos½tan ðZpffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi da  
6 2
Z cos aþsin a
2 2
7
Gb ¼ 4 R p2 5 1

pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
1 ffi da Gbn ¼ Issin
a
as
ð12Þ
0 2 2
Z cos2 aþsin a c¼c1
2 Rp 1 2 cot aÞþN sin½tan1 ðZ 2 cot aÞ
3 0  1
Gbn p sgb M cos½tan ðZpffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi da 1
6 2 2
Z cos2 aþsin a 2
7 0:25 I sin as 1  ssin as
þ4 Rp 5 ð6Þ B a
C
p pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi da
1
Gdn ¼B
@
C
A ð13Þ
2 Z 2 cos2 aþsin2 a
c¼c2 1  1:4 ln sa

In the above equations, the beam radiation Gbn is instanta-

neously constant with respect to the hour angle. where
Isotropic sky models are used for estimation of diffuse radia-
 
360ðn  2Þ
tion. Isotropic sky models are simple models that assume a uni- I ¼ 1370 1 þ 0:033 cos ð14Þ
365
form distribution of the diffuse radiation over the sky dome and
circumsolar and horizontal brightening parts are considered to sin as ¼ sin d sin / þ cos d cos / cos X ¼ M ð15Þ
be zero. According to this simple model of an isotropic sky, the dif-
fuse radiation on the tilted surface Gdt can be obtained according to Here n is the number of days from the first of January, and sa is the
transmittance of the atmosphere that is calculated according to
Gdt ¼ sgd Gdn ½1 þ cos b ð7Þ
Hottel [26].
 W.M. El-Maghlany et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 105 (2015) 1096–1104 1099

3. Validation of the present work need for changing except if the change has a remarkable effect
on the captured solar energy. The simplest method is to change
In order to check on the validity of the analytical technique the orientation (c) to reach the optimum facing position. In our
employed for the solution of the problem considered in the present study, the major effect is found to be due to the aspect ratio (Z).
study, it was validated with Rodríguez-Sánchez et al. [27]. The ana- Figs. 4 and 5 represent the total accumulated energy day by day
lytical solution represented by Eq. (11) is applied only for one azi- to the final day of the studied period, the first day (J = 1) is for
muth angle (c) for the half circle (Z = 1) and applied to Madrid City the first of November and the last day (J = 182) is for the first of
in Mediterranean region (/ = 40.3°). The validation is only for the May. The study focuses on the optimum shape (Z) and orientation
captured solar energy per year at the outside surface, not the trans- (c) of the greenhouse at a different location (/). The results will be
mitted energy. Fig. 3 represents total energy (EG) captured over one represented as a cumulative energy at the season end per square
year by a horizontally positioned curved surface (Z = 1) for differ- meter of the cultivated land. From the results, it was found that,
ent azimuth angles (c) by [27] and the applied new model, the small aspect ratio (Z = 0.25) is the more efficient shape for all
Eq. (11). The figure shows very good agreement between the pre- orientations (c) also for all locations from the south (/ = 24°) to
sent model and their results. north (/ = 31.2°). The difference between the captured solar energy
by this shape (Z = 0.25) and all other shapes is significant, this
amount of heat gained is related to the cover area of the green-
4. Results and discussion house. But, it is recommended to calculate the amount of heat
gained per square meter of the plane cultivated the land. So the
The purpose of this section is to determine quantitatively the decision of the optimum shape will be stated with respect to the
amount of captured solar energy within the greenhouse space dur- maximum heat gained per unit area of the cultivated land, not
ing the winter season (the first of November J = 1 to the first of May for the greenhouse cover area. For half ellipse, the surface area will
J = 182) to reduce the energy consumption for the heating purpose. be;
The results will be displayed in the cities of Aswan (/ = 24°), Assuit sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Z p  2
(/ = 27.2°), Cairo (/ = 30), and Alexandria (/ = 31.2°) to cover Egypt dr
geographically. The shape of the greenhouse will be changed by Agreenhouse ¼ L r2 þ da ð16Þ
0 da
varying the aspect ratio for five cases (Z = 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 4). The
greenhouse is half of an ellipse or circle based on the aspect ratio; The ratio between the greenhouse cover areas and its cultivated
so it has two surfaces azimuth angles (c1 and c2) according to |c1| land area will be;
+ |c2| = 180°, with opposite signs, these values are (c1 = 0° and R p qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 2 R p qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 2
c2 = 180°), (c1 = 90° and c2 = 90°), (c1 = 45° and c2 = 135°) which Agreenhouse cov er L 0
r2 þ ddra da 0
r 2 þ ddra da
¼ ¼ ¼ FðZÞonly
is equivalent to (c1 = 45° and c2 = 135°); consequently, the Acultiv ated land 2QL 2Q
amount of captured solar energy is the summation of the transmit- ð17Þ
ted solar energy through the two halves of the greenhouse total
cover area from Eqs. (6) and (9). The above equation is solved numerically after substitution
from Eq. (1) for different Z values and gives

4.1. Total captured solar energy by the greenhouse cover Z 0.25 0.5 1 2 4
Agreenhouse cover/ 1.0716 1.2104 1.57 2.4208 4.2865
First, the change of the aspect ratio (Z), to reach the optimum Acultivated land
shape, is related to the manufacturing difficulties, so there is no

6 Consequently, the total heat gained with respect to the cultivated

γ=0 land area of the greenhouse is obtained from Eq. (18)), listed in
Madrid City (Spain) φ=40.3ο)
)
Rodríguez-Sánchez et al. [27] Table 1 and shown in Fig. 5 considering that, the heat that was cap-
Present Model
o
tured was based on the cover area of the greenhouse (A) (see Fig. 6).
γ = ± 90
   A
greenhouse cov er
EG GJ=m2cultiv ated land ¼ EG GJ=m2greenhouse cov er ð18Þ
A cultiv ated land
4
From the obtained results in Table 1, it is strongly recom-
EG ( GJ/m 2 )

mended to construct the greenhouses with high aspect ratios even

if manufacturing difficulties occur. But, beside the large amount of
solar energy gained by this shape (Z = 4), the height of the green-
houses for the same area of the land are significant with respect
to the other shapes with the same horizontal axis (2Q), it means
2 high initial cost with considerable amount of heat gained.
Optimization between heat gained, and initial cost must be taken
into consideration.
From Table 1, for large ellipse aspect ratio, the orientation
(c1 and c2) of the greenhouse has a significant effect on the cap-
tured energy per square meter of the cultivated land. Conversely,
0
the orientation angles don’t have any effect in small aspect ratio.
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 Also the amount of energy increases as the ellipse aspect ratio is
increased. This is due to a large roof surface area in high aspect
No of days
ratio compared with that for small aspect ratio.
Fig. 3. Total energy per year (Z = 1), for present study and Rodríguez-Sánchez et al. The orientation with one face to south and the other to North
[27]. (c1 = 0° and c2 = 180°) result in maximizing the gained energy
1100 W.M. El-Maghlany et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 105 (2015) 1096–1104

2.5 EG (total)=2.415 GJ/m2

2.5
Aswan City ( φ=24 ο) Assuit City ( φ=27.2 ο) EG (total)=2.26 GJ/m2
( γ1=0 , γ2=180ο)
2
EG (total)=2.17 GJ/m ( γ1=0 , γ2=180ο)
EG (total)=2.04 GJ/m2
2 Z=0.25 2 Z=0.25
Z=0.5 Z=0.5
EG (total)=1.774 GJ/m2
Z=1 Z=1 EG (total)=1.711GJ/m2
Z=2 Z=2
Z=4 Z=4
EG ( GJ/m 2 )

EG ( GJ/m 2 )
1.5 EG (total)=1.409 GJ/m2 1.5 EG (total)=1.3895 GJ/m2

EG (total)=1.028 GJ/m2 EG (total)=1.0455 GJ/m2

1 1

0.5 0.5

0 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
No of days No of days
(From 1st November to 1st May) (From 1st November to 1st May)

2.5 EG (total)=2.415 GJ/m2 2.5

Aswan City (φ=24ο) Assuit City ( φ=27.2 ο) EG (total)=2.255 GJ/m2
( γ1=45 , γ2=−135 ο) EG (total)=2.19 GJ/m2 ( γ1=45 , γ2=−135ο)
EG (total)=2.06 GJ/m2
2 Z=0.25 2 Z=0.25
Z=0.5 EG (total)=1.805 GJ/m 2 Z=0.5
Z=1 Z=1 EG (total)=1.7165 GJ/m2
Z=2 Z=2
Z=4 Z=4
EG ( GJ/m 2 )

EG ( GJ/m 2 )

1.5 EG (total)=1.418 GJ/m 2 1.5

EG (total)=1.3695 GJ/m2

EG (total)=1.02 GJ/m 2 EG (total)=1.0065 GJ/m2

1 1

0.5 0.5

0 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
No of days No of days
(From 1st November to 1st May) (From 1st November to 1st May)
2.5 2.5
EG (total)= 2.41 GJ/m 2
Aswan City (φ=24 ο) Assuit City ( φ=27.2 ο) EG (total)=2.26GJ/m 2
( γ1=90 , γ2=−90 ο) EG (total)=2.2 GJ/m 2
( γ1=90 , γ2=−90ο)
EG (total)=2.07 GJ/m 2
2 Z=0.25 2 Z=0.25
Z=0.5 EG (total)=1.84 GJ/m2 Z=0.5
Z=1 Z=1 EG (total)=1.73 GJ/m 2
Z=2 Z=2
Z=4 Z=4
EG ( GJ/m 2 )

EG ( GJ/m 2 )

1.5 EG (total)=1.45 GJ/m2 1.5

EG (total)=1.38 GJ/m 2

EG (total)=1.06 GJ/m2
EG (total)=1.01 GJ/m 2
1 1

0.5 0.5

0 0
0 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
No of days No of days
(From 1st November to 1st May) (From 1st November to 1st May)

Fig. 4. Total energy captured from 1st November to 1st May for different shapes and orientation per square meter of the greenhouse cover area.
 W.M. El-Maghlany et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 105 (2015) 1096–1104 1101

2.5 2.5
Cairo City (φ=30ο) Alexandria City (φ=31.2ο)
( γ1=0 , γ2=180ο) EG (total)=2.1 GJ/m2 ( γ1=0 , γ2=180ο)
EG (total)=2.035 GJ/m 2
2 Z=0.25 EG (total)=1.91 GJ/m2 2 Z=0.25
Z=0.5 Z=0.5 EG (total)=1.855 GJ/m 2
Z=1 Z=1
Z=2 EG (total)=1.636 GJ/m2
Z=2 EG (total)=1.605 GJ/m2
Z=4
EG ( GJ/m 2 )

Z=4

EG ( GJ/m 2 )
1.5 1.5
2
EG (total)=1.363 GJ/m EG (total)=1.3535 GJ/m 2

EG (total)=1.0535 GJ/m2 EG (total)=1.52 GJ/m 2

1 1

0.5 0.5

0 0
0 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
No of days No of days
(From 1st November to 1st May) (From 1st November to 1st May)

2.5 2.5

Cairo City (φ=30 )ο Alexandria City (φ=31.2ο)

( γ1=45 , γ2=−135 ο) ( γ1=45 , γ2=−135ο)
2
EG (total)=2.1 GJ/m EG (total)=2.035 GJ/m 2
2 Z=0.25 2 Z=0.25
EG (total)=1.92 GJ/m 2 EG (total)=1.86 GJ/m 2
Z=0.5 Z=0.5
Z=1 Z=1
Z=2 EG (total)=1.62 GJ/m2 Z=2 EG (total)=1.583 GJ/m2
Z=4
EG ( GJ/m 2 )

Z=4 1.5
EG ( GJ/m 2 )

1.5
EG (total)=1.3185 GJ/m2 EG (total)=1.294 GJ/m 2

EG (total)=0.9835 GJ/m2 EG (total)=0.9735 GJ/m 2

1 1

0.5 0.5

0 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
No of days No of days
(From 1st November to 1st May) (From 1st November to 1st May)

2.5 2.5
Cairo City (φ=30 ο) Alexandria City (φ=31.2ο)
( γ1=90 , γ2=−90 ο) 2
( γ1=90 , γ2=−90ο)
EG (total)=2.1 GJ/m
EG (total)=2.04 GJ/m 2
2 Z=0.25 EG (total)=1.93 GJ/m 2 2 Z=0.25
Z=0.5 Z=0.5 EG (total)=1.87 GJ/m 2
Z=1 Z=1
Z=2 EG (total)=1.62 GJ/m 2 Z=2 EG (total)=1.57 GJ/m 2
Z=4 Z=4
EG ( GJ/m 2 )

EG ( GJ/m 2 )

1.5 1.5
EG (total)=1.3 GJ/m 2 EG (total)=1.27 GJ/m 2

EG (total)=0.959 GJ/m 2 EG (total)=0.939 GJ/m 2

1 1

0.5 0.5

0 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
No of days No of days
(From 1st November to 1st May) (From 1st November to 1st May)

Fig. 4 (continued)
1102 W.M. El-Maghlany et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 105 (2015) 1096–1104
Fig. 5. Total energy captured from 1st November to 1st May for different shapes
and orientation per square meter of the greenhouse cover area.
per square meter of cultivated land for all latitude angles (/) at the
winter season excluding low latitude angle (/ < 24°), at this loca-
tion, orientation to both west and east (c1 = 90° and c2 = 90°) is
extra preferred.
4.2. Seasonally heating cost savings
For Egypt, the liquefied natural gas (LNG) is used for the heat-
ing purpose in all fields including the greenhouses. The cost of
each million BTU of energy released from LNG is 12 $. Based on
Fig. 6. Total energy captured from 1st November to 1st May for different shapes
and orientation per square meter of the cultivated land.
the obtained results in Table 1, the optimum shape is (Z = 4) with
orientation (c1 = 0° and c2 = 180°) for the different locations
except low latitude angle (/ < 24°). The maximum heat gained
per square meter of the cultivated land (EG) are (Aswan
4.544 GJ/m2), (Assuit 4.4815 GJ/m2), (Cairo 4.516 GJ/m2) and
(Alexandria 4.5095 GJ/m2). Consequently, the amount of heating
cost savings could be found per each square meter of the culti-
vated land at the season end, Table 2. Finally, this heating cost
 W.M. El-Maghlany et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 105 (2015) 1096–1104 1103

Table 1
The total storage energy for different shapes, different orientations and different locations per square meter of the cultivated land.

Aswan (/ = 24°) Assuit (/ = 27.2°)

c c
(0, 180°) (45, 135°) (90, 90°) (0, 180°) (45, 135°) (90, 90°)
Z 0.25 2.588 2.588 2.5825 2.422 2.4165 2.422 EG (GJ/m2)
0.5 2.6265 2.651 2.663 2.4695 2.4935 2.5055
1 2.785 2.834 2.889 2.6865 2.695 2.716
2 3.411 3.433 3.5105 3.364 3.3155 3.341
4 4.4065 4.3745 4.544 4.4815 4.3145 4.3295
Cairo (/ = 30°) Alexandria (/ = 31.2°)
c c
(0, 180°) (45, 135°) (90, 90°) (0, 180°) (45, 135°) (90, 90°)
Z 0.25 2.2505 2.2505 2.2505 2.181 2.181 2.181 EG (GJ/m2)
0.5 2.312 2.324 2.336 2.2455 2.2515 2.2635
1 2.5685 2.544 2.5435 2.52 2.4855 2.465
2 3.2995 3.192 3.147 3.2765 3.1325 3.0745
4 4.516 4.216 4.111 4.5095 4.173 4.025

The bold values indicate the maximum values.

Table 2
Maximum heating cost savings for different locations (Z = 4).
2
City and latitude Heating cost savings ($/m /season)
Aswan (/ = 24°) 51.6855
Assuit (/ = 27.2°) 50.971
Cairo (/ = 30°) 51.3635
Alexandria (/ = 31.2°) 51.2875
saving is as a result of right design (Z) and orientation (c1 and c2)
of the greenhouses.
5. Conclusion
The amount of solar energy captured by the greenhouse cover
during the winter season is estimated. The study has been done
at different locations, orientations, and different ellipse aspect
ratio. The results represented by the mathematical expression for
both transmitted beam and diffusive solar energy through curved
covers could be applied for different elliptical geometries at any
locations. The results could be concluded as for our case study
(24 6 / 6 31.2):
 The total heat gain is a supplementary free heating to reduce
the running cost of the heating system.
 The ellipse aspect ratio has a significant effect on the captured
solar energy. As the aspect ratio increases the captured energy
per square meter of the land is increased.
 The orientation of the greenhouses with respect to south direc-
tion is recommended. It has maximum amount of the captured
heat. The optimum orientation for the different locations is
(c1 = 0° and c2 = 180°) excluding low latitude angle (/ < 24°),
at this location, orientation to both west and east (c1 = 90°
and c2 = 90°) is better.
 For aspect ratio (Z = 4), at different locations and orientations;
per each square meter of the plane cultivated land; the solar
energy capture reaches maximum value of 4.544 GJ/season.
The equivalent heating cost savings 51.6 $/season. Tables 1
and 2 contain these values for different orientations and
locations.
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