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

总部位于艾伯塔省的NutraPonics加拿大公司开发了一种创新的室内垂直水培养殖技术：NutraPonics种植系统(NGS)，这是一种商业植物和鱼类生产系统，采用基于水培的专有种植方法，用于高质量的粮食作物生产。然而，由于床层和植物的巨大尺寸和内部气流阻力，NGS的气流分布不平衡：第一排床的气流速度为20m/S，而第二排床的气流速度降至零m/S，从而影响了植物附近理想的温湿度水平。缺乏气流和/或高湿度会限制植物的蒸腾作用，并导致植物对钙的吸收不足，导致叶尖灼伤和坏死。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。本项目提出通过使用计算流体动力学(CFD)技术进行数值模拟来解决这一问题。然而，在NGS的情况下，基于适合于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之间的平衡，本项目采用了一种新颖的方法，即通过“模型验证和模拟”四个步骤将“详细但大规模的模拟”和“简化的全尺度模拟”相结合。该项目涉及许多耗时的CFD模拟和关联分析，因此指派了两名研究助理同时承担任务，其中包括一名博士后研究员和一名博士后。NutraPonics还计划了两次现场访问：一次是在项目的第一个月收集现场建模信息，另一次是最后的演示和未来的合作。该项目将通过解决紧迫的气流和热管理问题，为NGS的创新做出重大贡献，以确保健康和营养丰富的生长环境，实现高质量的植物作物生产，就在这里，在加拿大本土种植和品牌。

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.