Modelling and simulation of a hybrid solar heating system for greenhouse applications using Matlab/Simulink

Solar energy is a major renewable energy source and hybrid solar systems are gaining increased academic and industrial attention due to the unique advantages they offer. In this paper, a mathematical model has been developed to investigate the thermal behavior of a greenhouse heated by a hybrid solar collector system. This hybrid system contains an evacuated tube solar heat collector unit, an auxiliary fossil fuel heating unit, a hot water storage unit, control and piping units. A Matlab/Simulink based model and software has been developed to predict the storage water temperature, greenhouse indoor temperature and the amount of auxiliary fuel, as a function of various design parameters of the greenhouse such as location, dimensions, and meteorological data of the region. As a case study, a greenhouse located in Şanlıurfa/Turkey has been simulated based on recent meteorological data and aforementioned hybrid system. The results of simulations performed on an annual basis indicate that revising the existing fossil fuel system with the proposed hybrid system, is economically feasible for most cases, however it requires a slightly longer payback period than expected. On the other hand, by reducing the greenhouse gas emissions significantly, it has a considerable positive environmental impact. The developed dynamic simulation method can be further used for designing heating systems for various solar greenhouses and optimizing the solar collector and thermal storage sizes.