Cooling system for greenhouse structures
OwnerPhilip D. Sprunginventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A cooling system for a greenhouse comprising a plurality of water pipes mounted over the exterior surface of the structure to carry water from a source, with water outlets in the pipes to enable water to spray over the exterior surface, and controls associated with the pipes to control and regulate the amount of water and duration of spray received by the exterior surface of the structure.
Claims20
In a stressed fabric structure having fabric held under tension between ribs, the improvement characterized by a cooling system which comprises a plurality of water pipes mounted over the exterior surface of the structure to carry water from a source, the exterior surface being composed of a plurality of sections, water outlets in the pipes to enable water to spray over the exterior surface, control means associated with the pipes to control and regulate the amount of water and duration of spray received by the exterior surface of the structure, the control means arranged to control and regulate individually for each section the amount of water and duration of spray received by the exterior surface of each section, the control means comprising valves in the pipes to control the flow of water through the pipes, temperature sensors in the fabric in each section, and a microprocessor means which is electronically associated with the temperature sensors and the valves to actuate the water flow and spraying when the temperature of a section of the fabric exceeds a predetermined value.
In combination,
- a stressed fabric structure including a translucent impermeable stressed fabric shell enclosing predetermined spaces for crop development in sealed relation against external environmental air conditions, said shell having a plurality of sections, each said section being disposed between a pair of arched rib members;
- an external spray system for spraying a thin film of water over selected shell sections to cool said sections;
- a plurality of temperature sensors, each said sensor being disposed in a respective one of said shell sections and communicating with said spray system for actuating said spray system to spray water onto a respective shell section in response to a sensed temperature of said respective shell section;
- an internal mist generation system for producing a mist in a selected predetermined space;
- and
- a plurality of temperature monitors, each said monitor being disposed in a respective one of said predetermined spaces and communicating with said mist generation system to produce a mist in a respective space in response to a monitored temperature in said respective space exceeding a predetermined level.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.