Design feasibility study of an innovative solar chiller/heater for thermal management of greenhouse water supplies

水是温室工业中至关重要的资源。温室效益直接受到水成本的影响。许多温室的主要供水来自市政当局。市政供水基础设施的扩建和/或更换目前使本已昂贵的水费更加昂贵。因此，温室经营者尽可能多地利用再生水是有利的。温室的主人也关心他们用水对环境的影响。因此，在可能的情况下，已经通过灌溉系统循环的水被收集起来，并添加到从温室屋顶和财产收集的雨水中。收集的水通常储存在一个像池塘一样的中央储存库中。现代温室是自动化的，严格控制的环境，对生长条件的变化非常敏感。这包括维持植物生长所需的水温。在冬季抽取的水在分配之前必须加热。在温暖的月份，池塘的水温超过了一个最高阈值，禁止水被用来灌溉温室。目前，运营商在这几个月里唯一可用的选择是转向更温和的市政供水。这种选择增加的成本大大降低了农场的利润。目前的提案描述了一项研究，该研究将调查一种创新的集成太阳能驱动的灌溉热管理系统的技术和财务可行性。提出的解决方案结合了已建立的吸收循环原理，以及温莎大学正在开发的前沿传热和光伏先进技术。就地太阳能吸收式制冷机/加热器系统将使农场大大减少对昂贵的市政供水的依赖。其次，除了为自给自足提供电力外，这些过程还可能产生多余的电力用于温室作业，从而进一步减少对当地公用事业的依赖。这项工作的总体目标是尽量减少温室对市政淡水供应的依赖。

Water is a critically essential resource in the greenhouse industry. Greenhouse profitability is directly influenced by the cost of water. The primary supply of water for many greenhouses is the municipality. The expansion and/or replacement of municipal water infrastructure is currently compounding already costly water rates. Subsequently, it is advantageous for greenhouse operators to utilize as much reclaimed water as possible. Greenhouse owners are also concerned about the environmental implications of their water usage. Thus, where possible, water that has already cycled through the irrigation system is collected and added to storm water collected from the greenhouse roofs and property. The collected water is often stored in a central repository like a pond. Modern greenhouses are automated and tightly regulated environments that are very sensitive to changes in growing conditions. This includes the temperature of the water required to sustain the plants. Water drawn in winter months must be heated prior to distribution. In warm months, pond water temperatures cross a maximum threshold that prohibits the water from being used to irrigate the greenhouses. Presently, the only available alternative for operators in these months is to switch to the more temperate municipal water supply. The increased cost of this option cuts significantly into farm profits. The current proposal describes a study that will investigate the technical and financial feasibility of an innovative integrated solar-driven irrigation thermal management system. The proposed solution incorporates established absorption cycle principals with leading edge heat transfer and photovoltaic advancement technology under development at the University of Windsor. The in-situ solar absorptive chiller/heater system will allow the farm to significantly reduce their reliance on costly municipal water supplies. Secondly, in addition to providing power for self-sustenance, these processes may yield excess power to be utilized in greenhouse operations, further reducing dependency on local utilities. The overarching objective of this work is to minimize greenhouse dependency on municipal fresh water supplies.