Airflow and Thermal Management in NutraPonics Growing System for Quality Food Crop Production

用于优质食品作物生产的 NutraPonics 种植系统中的气流和热管理

• 批准号: 513737-2017
• 负责人: Wang, Liangzhu
• 金额: $ 1.82万
• 依托单位: Concordia University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Engage Grants Program
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2017-01-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=639507
• 关键词: Airflow; Thermal; Management; NutraPonics; Growing

NutraPonics Canada Corp., a Alberta-based company, develops an innovative Indoor Vertical AquaponicsFarming technology: the NutraPonics Growing System (NGS), a commercial plant and fish production systemwith proprietary growing methods based on the aquaponics for quality food crop production. However, due tolarge dimension and internal airflow resistance from the beds and plants, the NGS suffers from unbalanceddistribution of airflow: 20 m/s at the 1st row of beds whereas reduced to zero m/s at the 2nd row, consequentlyaffecting the desirable levels of temperature and humidity near the plants. Lack of airflow and/or high humidityare found to limit plant transpiration and lead to poor calcium intake for the plants, causing leaf tip burns andnecrosis. Therefore, there is an urgent need to optimize their NGS's airflow and thermal conditions for creatingbest growing conditions for the plants.This project proposes solving the problem by numerical simulations using computational fluid dynamics(CFD) techniques. However, in the case the NGS, the problem becomes complicated by the CFD simulationmodels based on the porous media models suitable for modeling different plants and for different growthstages. To keep a balance of simulation accuracy and time, therefore, this project takes a novel approachthrough "model verification and simulations" undertaken by four steps of combining "detailed but scaledsimulations" and "simplified full-scale simulations". This project involves many time-consuming CFDsimulations and associated analysis so two research assistants are assigned to undertake the taskssimultaneously including one postdoctoral fellow and one PhD student. Two site visits at NutraPonics are alsoplanned: one for 1st month of the project to collect in-situ modeling information and one for the finalpresentation and future collaborations. This project will contribute significantly to the NGS innovations bytackling the urgent airflow and thermal management issues to ensure healthy and nutrient-rich growingenvironment for achieving high-quality plant crop production, right here home-grown and branded in Canada.

NutraPonics Canada Corp. 是一家位于艾伯塔省的公司，开发了一种创新的室内垂直鱼菜共生农业技术：NutraPonics 种植系统 (NGS)，这是一种商业植物和鱼类生产系统，采用基于鱼菜共生的专有种植方法，用于生产优质粮食作物。然而，由于床和植物的尺寸较大以及内部气流阻力，NGS 的气流分布不平衡：第一排床的气流为 20 m/s，而第二排的气流降至 0 m/s，从而影响了植物附近的理想温度和湿度水平。研究发现，缺乏气流和/或高湿度会限制植物蒸腾作用，导致植物钙摄入不足，导致叶尖烧伤和坏死。因此，迫切需要优化NGS的气流和热条件，为植物创造最佳的生长条件。该项目建议使用计算流体动力学（CFD）技术通过数值模拟来解决这个问题。然而，就 NGS 而言，基于适合模拟不同植物和不同生长阶段的多孔介质模型的 CFD 模拟模型使问题变得复杂。因此，为了保持模拟精度和时间的平衡，本项目采用了“模型验证和模拟”的新颖方法，通过“详细但比例模拟”和“简化的全尺寸模拟”相结合的四个步骤进行。该项目涉及大量耗时的CFD模拟和相关分析，因此分配了两名研究助理同时承担任务，其中包括一名博士后和一名博士生。还计划对 NutraPonics 进行两次现场访问：一次是在项目第一个月收集现场建模信息，另一次是为了最终演示和未来的合作。该项目将通过解决紧迫的气流和热管理问题，为 NGS 创新做出重大贡献，以确保健康和营养丰富的生长环境，从而实现高质量的植物作物生产，在加拿大本土种植和品牌化。