Performance of ventilation and cooling system on in-house environment in controlled environment structure

Crops grown under tropical conditions are often faced with problems of high temperature and relative humidity. A controlled environment (CE) structure was deployed to create a favourable environment for cultivation of vegetable crops. Devices such as thermal screens, circulation fans and foggers were used for improving the capability and the functionality of the structure to maintain the proper ambient temperature and humidity inside the structure. The performance of the thermal screen, circulation fan and fogger cooling system for a controlled environment structure was investigated under Malaysian tropical conditions. The results revealed that ventilation and cooling system with circulation fans, thermal screens and foggers had successfully lowered the in-house temperature and increased the humidity which was favourable for chilli cultivation. Circulation fans alleviated the wind movement within the CE structure. Temperature of the growing media with cooling treatment was also lower in comparison to those without cooling.