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

NutraPonics加拿大公司是一家总部位于阿尔伯塔省的公司，开发了一种创新的室内垂直水培农业技术：NutraPonics种植系统（NGS），这是一种商业植物和鱼类生产系统，具有基于水培技术的专有种植方法，可生产优质粮食作物。然而，由于大尺寸和来自床和植物的内部气流阻力，NGS受到气流分布不平衡的影响：第一排床20米/秒，而第二排床减少到0米/秒，因此影响了植物附近理想的温度和湿度水平。缺乏气流和/或高湿度会限制植物的蒸腾作用，导致植物钙摄入量不足，导致叶尖烧伤和坏死。因此，迫切需要优化其NGS的气流和热条件，为植物创造最佳的生长条件。本课题提出利用计算流体力学（CFD）技术进行数值模拟来解决这一问题。然而，在NGS中，基于适用于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，本项目采用了一种新颖的方法，即“模型验证和模拟”，分“详细但按比例模拟”和“简化全尺寸模拟”四个步骤进行。本项目涉及许多耗时的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。NutraPonics还计划进行两次实地考察：一次是项目的第一个月，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.