Modeling and parametric studies for thermal performance of an earth to air heat exchanger integrated with a greenhouse

A thermal model has been developed to investigate the potential of using the stored thermal energy of the ground for greenhouse heating and cooling with the help of an earth to air heat exchanger (EAHE) system integrated with the greenhouse located in the premises of IIT, Delhi, India. Experiments were conducted extensively throughout the year 2003, but the developed model was validated against typical clear and sunny days experiments. Parametric studies performed for the EAHE coupled with the greenhouse illustrate the effects of buried pipe length, pipe diameter, mass flow rate of air, depth of ground and types of soil on the greenhouse air temperatures. The temperatures of the greenhouse air, with the experimental parameters of the EAHE, were found to be, on average 7–8 °C higher in the winter and 5–6 °C lower in the summer than those of the same greenhouse without the EAHE. The greenhouse air temperatures increase in the winter and decrease in the summer with increasing pipe length, decreasing pipe diameter, decreasing mass flow rate of flowing air inside buried pipe and increasing depth of ground up to 4 m. The predicted and measured values of the greenhouse air temperatures that were verified, in terms of root mean square percent deviation and correlation coefficient, exhibited fair agreement.