WO2020101626A2

WO2020101626A2 - Modular, passive solar greenhouse structure having hexagon placement made of glass

Info

Publication number: WO2020101626A2
Application number: PCT/TR2019/050943
Authority: WO
Inventors: Gürsel ÖZBAY
Original assignee: Oezbay Guersel
Priority date: 2018-11-13
Filing date: 2019-11-12
Publication date: 2020-05-22
Also published as: WO2020101626A3

Abstract

The invention is related to a passive greenhouse structure that is formed of greenhouse modules (1) which can be modularly assembled and which has a horizontal section that is in hexagon form. The dimensions of the greenhouse structure can be extended or decremented by assembling a plurality of greenhouse modules (1) and by disassembling previously assembled modules.

Description

MODULAR, PASSIVE SOLAR GREENHOUSE STRUCTURE HAVING HEXAGON

PLACEMENT MADE OF GLASS

Technical Field

The invention is related to a hexagon form, modular, passive, solar energy greenhouse structure whose solar energy utilization has been increased as the majority of the structural aspects are formed of glass.

Prior Art

Nowadays, although efficient solar energy utilization has gained importance for heating greenhouses, some technical and economic problems are encountered in practice. Solar energy heating systems used in heating greenhouses, can be observed as passive and active systems depending on the arrangement of their heat collection and storage units. The significant amount of the heat requirement of greenhouses can be covered by means of solar energy active heating systems .

Alternative energy sources must be used instead of fossil energy sources in greenhouse heating applications, in order to prevent environmental pollution and in order to maintain current energy sources. Some of the alternative energy sources that can be used in heating greenhouses are solar energy, geothermal energy and low temperature waste thermal energy remaining from industrial facilities. Heating expenses which have a large share among operational expenses of greenhouse businesses, can be somewhat reduced by being able to use natural energy sources to heat greenhouses .

As a result solar energy is actively or passively utilized when heating greenhouses with solar energy. As the ratio of utilizing passive sources in order to provide the desired greenhouse temperatures increases, the operational costs of greenhouses will be reduced, therefore it is desirable for greenhouses to be operated by maximizing the usage of passive sources.

As the logic of using a passive solar energy greenhouse is to benefit from solar energy as much as possible, it is aimed for the design and the materials used to have maximum light transmittance and insulation values.

Light transmittance into the greenhouse needs to be increased and the amount of sunlight collected into the greenhouse needs to be increased in order to ensure that the passive solar energy systems are more efficiently and extensively used for heating greenhouses.

When taken into consideration with this logic, in order to increase the solar energy amount that is collected in the greenhouse, the number of high light transmitting materials used in the structure of the greenhouse also needs to be increased accordingly. For example, when the material used for light transmittance is glass, the more glass components the greenhouse structure shall have will enable the greenhouse to be able to collect higher amounts of solar energy . On the other hand the increment of the glass amount used in the greenhouse structure will allow less amounts of shade to fall on the crops that are being grown in the greenhouse

However using glass materials that have higher light transmittance as materials used in the structure of the greenhouse shall cause the roof loads to increase. As the amount of glass used in the structure increases, the resistance of the greenhouse against forces and loads created by for example earthquakes, snow, rain, hail etc shall be reduced at an equal rate.

This causes for glass usage in greenhouse systems that have been equipped with passive solar equipment in the prior art to be limited to a certain level and the passive effects used in greenhouses cannot be increased to these technical challenges .

The utility model application numbered CN206859483 describes a greenhouse structure, whose roof has been established in hexagon form. The hexagon shaped roof has been equipped with several numbers of support parts. These support parts also cause the amount of shade falling on the crops to increase.

The patent application numbered RU2570997 describes a greenhouse structure, whose roof section has been established in hexagon form. The structural components forming the greenhouse have been coated with light transmitting film. The greenhouse module comprises a roof made of transparent film material, where the side walls are coated with a paint coating having honeycomb formed perforations .

The patent application numbered RU2570997 aims to retain the heat inside rather than increasing light transmittance. Accordingly the hexagon formed module walls have been formed by sub units containing water or compressed air. It is understood that the water or air filled units are not formed for higher light transmittance but for retaining heat inside the greenhouse.

The patent application numbered CN102511336, describes a high-strength and short greenhouse skeleton structure and a construction method of the high-strength and short greenhouse skeleton structure. Accordingly the greenhouse skeleton structure is composed of a foundation, a ring beam and a top beam. The top beam is composed of multiple main truss units with a regular hexagon shape. In order to increase resilience of the structure, the greenhouse skeleton structure is shaped like the turtle back of a Brazilian turtle.

In the patent application numbered JP2011182707, discloses a framed panel having a cheap structure in order to easily form the greenhouse roofs.

The patent application numbered US4505066 describes a greenhouse form having a structure suitable to be used indoors .

The structure of the application comprises a housing that is preferably transversely hexagonal shaped. Said housing has a plurality of socket means connected to the support members for mounting each of a plurality of light tubes.

As the greenhouse formed is an indoor greenhouse, the lighting of the inside of the greenhouse is provided by fluorescent light tubes and fans are arranged to circulate air through the greenhouse.

The patent application numbered FR2324222 discloses a greenhouse in the form of a tunnel and is constructed from a lightweight tubular frame covered with transparent plastic sheet. Said frames have been formed as hexagons.

The problems aimed to be solved by the Invention

The aim of the invention is to establish an economic passive solar greenhouse structure which is mostly formed of glass, and residual materials remaining from industrial production whose usage lives have expired, which can be operated by passive systems, which has high durability and resistance and which is long lasting.

Most of the greenhouse structure is formed of light transmitting materials according to the greenhouse structure subject to the invention. By this means light can be transmitted with maximum efficiency into the greenhouse. As a result both the amount of diffused light that can reach the crops inside the greenhouse is increased and the temperature inside the greenhouse can be increased.

Glass is used as the high light transmitting material in the invention. The placement plan of the greenhouse is in hexagon form in order to reduce the risk of glass breakage that can arise due to usage of glass, and in order to reduce costs and to utilize the most usage area due to minimal wall surface. By this means, it is aimed for the greenhouse to be resistant against external factors such as earthquakes, climate conditions etc, and to provide maximum benefits and economic structural cost advantage.

By using the embodiment subject to the invention, it shall be possible to establish greenhouses that can be operated by having modular structures. This shall allow establishing greenhouse modules that can be used particularly for hobbies, and small scaled production applications. When the user wishes to enlarge the area of the greenhouse, the user can add a second module next to the first module to increase the capacity.

It is aimed for the greenhouse structure subject to the invention to be heated with natural sources and for the gained energy to be stored. Thereby a greenhouse can be operated without requiring using an external energy source. As a result, a greenhouse embodiment has been provided which is environmentally friendly and which can be operated with low cost .

As the solar rays are received with an less inclined angle relative to the ground plane in the winter and fall in the countries that are located in the Northern hemisphere such as Turkey and all other European Countries, the glass material is only used in the vertical plane as the self weight of the glass material is already high. This usage enables maximum solar energy gain and the loads on the roof are reduced and therefore the load carrying structure cost is low and the risk of glass breakage during hail is eliminated .

As the placement area of the greenhouse is in hexagon form, the amount of the solar rays reflected on the glass plane that are recovered by the angular side glass planes is increased, it is ensured that the product is not damaged, distribution of the light rays that are received inside and that are necessary for production increase are enabled, the formation of the shadowing curtain and the insulation curtain are made easier, it is enabled for the structure to be resistant against earthquake loads, for the risk of breakage of the glass planes to be reduced and for the amount of solar rays that are transmitted in the greenhouse to be increased.

The glass blocks that form the greenhouse are attached to each other without requiring any kind of frames and the system is supported by vertical glass columns against wind forces. This also reduces the amount of shade that falls on the crops that are being grown inside the greenhouse.

The heat gained inside the greenhouse is aimed to be retained by using mechanical curtain systems and isolation materials to retain the obtained heat, to prevent heat loss due to temperature changes, and by using additional elements that collect in the thermal mass the energy gained by radiation in the day and that heats the cold environment with convection at night.

As materials that are production waste and that are obtained after recycling are used in order to construct the greenhouse subject to the invention, it is aimed to provide a more environmentally friendly greenhouse structure. By this means both the factors that create environmental pollution are recovered in order to form a structure and a structure is formed by using materials that have already been produced without necessitating new production.

Description of the Figures

Figure 1. Top plan view of the single module relating to the hexagon form, modular, passive, solar energy greenhouse structure whose solar energy utilization has been increased as the majority of the structural aspects are formed of glass .

Figure 2. Top plan view of the hexagon form, modular, passive, solar energy greenhouse structure whose solar energy utilization has been increased as the majority of the structural aspects are formed of glass, where 3 modules have been connected to each other.

Figure 3. Detailed top sectional view of the front block. Figure 4. Front view of the hexagon form, modular, passive, solar greenhouse structure whose solar energy utilization has been increased as the majority of the structural aspects are formed of glass.

Figure 5. Side section view of the hexagon form, modular, passive, solar greenhouse structure whose solar energy utilization has been increased as the majority of the structural aspects are formed of glass.

Description of the reference numbers in the Figures

1. Greenhouse module

2. Front block

3. Rear block 4. Side block

5. Wall

6. Wheel

7. Barrel

8. Curtain

9. Zigzag formed glass block

10. Ventilation element

11. Polymer light transmitting block

12. Glass block

13. Isolation panel

DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION The invention is related to a passive solar greenhouse structure that is formed of at least a greenhouse module (1) which can be modularly assembled and which has a horizontal placement that is in hexagon form. The dimensions of the greenhouse structure can be enlarged or downscaled by assembling a plurality of greenhouse modules (1) and by disassembling previously assembled greenhouse modules (1) . Each greenhouse module (1) includes a front block (2) a rear block (3) and side blocks (4) that form the hexagon structure. In order to ensure higher light transmittance into the greenhouse, the front block (2) and the side blocks (4) are made of light transmitting materials. As the rear block (3) is formed at the section which is in the shade, it does not need to be produced from light transmitting materials. The side blocks (4) form the side walls of the greenhouse module (1) (Figure 1) . Figures 2, 3 describe a greenhouse structure that is formed of a greenhouse module (1) . As a result the greenhouse module (1) located at the mid section has been formed without having a block (4) .

It is particularly important for the structure to be heated with natural sources and for the gained energy to be stored especially at cold temperatures (for example in winter and during the cold fall season) . Similarly the excessive heating of the structure is also prevented during hot weather conditions (for example in the summer and hot spring months) .

The usage of glass material at the vertical planes of the structure is deemed important for higher solar energy attainment (maximum solar transmittance) . Accordingly the front block (2) and the side blocks (4) are made of light transmitting materials. In order to prevent shade falling onto the crops located inside the greenhouse, the elements that are light transmitting have been formed without frames

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the front block (2) and the side blocks (4) are made of glass. The glass materials used within the established greenhouse structure, have been utilized from materials that are used in the glass industry or are no longer being used / or are waste material. Thereby a field has been created to make use of said materials, and the greenhouse has been provided with features that are friendly to the environment and economy . According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, in order for the front block (2) and the side blocks (4) to be formed without frames, the glass plates are connected to each other by methods such as welding, adhesion, molding etc .

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention the glass plates are adhered with isolated, UV resistant silicon .

The front block (2) according to Figure 3, is formed of a zigzag glass block (9) . When it is taken into consideration that the front block (2) is the vertical wall, it is noted that the load carrying resistance of the front block (2) is increased when the glass structure is established as a zigzag form.

As the sun rays in the winter are received in less inclined plane, and as the own weight of the material is high, the glass material is used in the vertical plane in order to ensure that the structure is not affected from own weight of glass and hail breakage. Actually the greenhouse is operated in order to collect the sun rays in the greenhouse in cold winter months where the sun rays are received at an less inclined plane.

A polymer, light transmitting block (11) having high heat resistance (R) and low own weight, which is resistant against hail and snow loads and which transmits and diffuses light can be used on the inclined planes of the roof. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the polymer light transmitting block (11) is made of polycarbon material. The south side of the roof form according to Figure 5, is formed by the polymer light transmitting block (11) . By this means the light that is received from the top to the greenhouse module (1) can also be received into the greenhouse. The south side of the greenhouse module (1) according to Figure 5, has been equipped with 2 polymer light transmitting blocks (11) arranged horizontally. A vertically arranged glass block (12) has been positioned between the 2 polymer light transmitting blocks (11) that have been arranged horizontally. The glass block (12) that has been arranged vertically at the south direction, allows more solar radiation that are received horizontally to be collected inside the greenhouse.

According to other embodiments of the invention, the glass block (12) can be established in zigzag form.

The north section of the greenhouse module (1) has been reinforced with isolation materials in order to prevent heat loss and to store the heat that has been collected. At the south section a front block (2) which is made of light transmitting material is provided.

The bottom section of the front block (2) located at the south side according to Figure 4, has been equipped with a protective wall (5) .

By this means the light received especially from the south can be transmitted into the greenhouse and at the same time the loss of heat from the north side is prevented by means of isolation materials. The protective wall (5) shall protect the glass material against breaking and enable mounting of ventilation elements (10) .

The rear block (3) that is positioned at the north direction of the greenhouse module (1) is equipped with isolation materials. According to Figure 1, the rear block (3) is equipped with a wheel (6) and a wall (5) , thereby enabling isolation of this section.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the wall (5) is made of bricks, BIMS concrete and concrete.

The wheels (6) that are mounted to the isolation structure, have been formed by filling the inner sections of the used wheels with soil, soil mixed with cement and other materials. The used fruit-vegetable crates can also be used in order to create an extra layer for isolation next to the wheels ( 6 ) .

Wheels (6) are made of high heat resistance materials that are reinforced with steel braces, that are resistant, and that can be filled with high heat resistance materials such as soil mixed with cement or rubble, and the wall construction can be carried out with low cost and the construction can be performed under all kinds of geographical conditions.

By means of the hexagonal shape of the greenhouse modules (1) sunlight directly focuses onto the barrels (7) . Therefore the heat is stored in the barrels and at night time the cooling of air inside the inner volume of the greenhouse is prevented by providing heat transfer via the heated liquid located in the barrel. The barrels (7) have been constructed by recycling materials that have been used before. In order to receive more heat, the barrels (7) have been painted with a dark color and the inner sections thereof have been filled with water .

The natural ventilation of the structure, and the reduction of the effect of the elements that have high light and heat transmittance are important.

The south section ventilation element (10) has been formed at lower elevation and the north section ventilation elements (10) have been formed at higher elevations in order to provide natural ventilation.

An isolation panel (13) has been positioned on the roof section of the section of the greenhouse module (1) which faces north according to figure 5, or in other words the section having the isolation elements.

According to different embodiments of the invention, the isolation panel (13) can be made of BIMS concrete, concrete, sandwich panels and rock wool.

Moreover during hot weather conditions, the front block (2) has been further equipped with a curtain (8) aspect in order to prevent excessive heating in the greenhouse. In order to prevent excessive heating in the greenhouse, the curtain (8) is closed and the solar rays transmitted into the inner section are blocked. As the placement area of the greenhouse is in hexagon form, this enables variable volume spaces having triangular sections to be formed at the south section, between the front block (2) and the curtain (8) . By this means, variable volume, natural ventilation is provided and the effect that the heated curtain (8) has on the front block (2) is reduced.

The curtain (8) can be manually closed or opened by moving on a rail. According to different embodiments of the invention, the curtain (8) can be closed by means of a motorized element. In such a case, sensors that are susceptible to solar rays can be used, and the curtain (8) can be automatically operated by a motor that is controlled with a processor.

The front block (2) of the curtain (8) can, not only be operated at the out side of the zigzag formed glass block (9) but it can also be operated inside the zigzag formed glass block (9) . As it can be seen in Figure 5, the curtain (8) positioned at the front section of the front block (2) and the curtain (8) positioned at the inner section of the zigzag formed glass block (9) can be moved together or separately from each other. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the curtain (8) operated inside the zigzag formed glass block (9) is made of polymer having air bubbles therein. The curtain (8) operated inside the zigzag formed glass block (9) aims to provide thermal isolation .

The curtain (8) that is positioned at the out side of the front block (2) , can be defined as a primary curtain (8) . The aim of this curtain, is to prevent sunlight from entering into the greenhouse. The curtain (8) positioned inside the zigzag formed glass block (9) can be called the second curtain and it aims to provide thermal isolation.

Claims

1. A modular, passive, solar greenhouse structure whose solar energy utilization has been increased as the majority of its structural aspects are formed of glass, characterized by being formed of;

• at least a green house module (1) that has hexagonal placement and a structure that can be extended or decremented by assembling or disassembling greenhouse modules,

• a front block (2) established at the south section and side blocks (4) that are all made of light transmitting materials,

• and a rear block (3) formed at the north direction that is reinforced with isolation materials .

2. A modular passive solar greenhouse structure according to claim 1, characterized by being constructed with a front block (2) and/or side blocks (4) that have been formed from glass plates without frames, such that they are attached to each other by welding and adhesion methods.

3. A modular passive solar greenhouse structure according to claim 1, characterized by including a front block (2) made of a zigzag form glass block.

4. A modular passive solar greenhouse structure according to claim 1, characterized in that the south side of the roof structure includes a horizontally arranged polymer light transmitting block (11) .

5. A modular passive solar greenhouse structure according to claim 4, characterized in that the south side of the roof form comprises a vertically arranged glass block (12) that is formed between the two polymer light transmitting blocks (11) .

6. A modular passive solar greenhouse structure according to claim 1, characterized in that the rear block (3) that constitutes the wheels (6) and the wall (5), includes isolation materials.

7. A modular passive solar greenhouse structure according to claim 6, characterized in that it comprises a wall

(5) formed of sandwich panels, BIMS or bricks.

8. A modular passive solar greenhouse structure according to claim 6, characterized in that it comprises wheels

(6) that are filled with soil and cement.

9. A modular passive solar greenhouse structure according to claim 6, characterized in that it comprises isolation materials equipped with fruit-vegetable crates .

10. A modular passive solar greenhouse structure according to claim 1, characterized in that the inner section of the greenhouse module (1) comprises barrels

(7) .

11. A modular passive solar greenhouse structure according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises ventilations elements (10) that have been formed with lower elevation at the south section and with higher elevation at the north section in order to provide natural ventilation.

12. A modular passive solar greenhouse structure according to claim 1, characterized in that an isolation panel (13) is provided at the roof section at the north facing side, or in other words at the side containing the isolation elements.

13. A modular passive solar greenhouse structure according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises at least a curtain (8) formed in relation to the front block (2) .

14. A modular passive solar greenhouse structure according to claim 13, characterized in that it includes a curtain (8) that can be opened and closed by being pulled along a rail.

15. A modular passive solar greenhouse structure according to claim 13 or 14, characterized in that it includes a curtain (8) that can be opened and closed by a motorized element.

16. A modular passive solar greenhouse structure according to claim 15, characterized by comprising a motor which allows automatically operating the curtain (8) by being controlled with a processor, using sensors that are susceptible to sunlight.

17. A modular passive solar greenhouse structure according to claim 13, characterized by the front block (2) not only being operable at the front side of the zigzag formed glass block (9) but also being operable inside the zigzag formed glass block (9) .

18. A modular passive solar greenhouse structure according to claim 13, characterized by at least a first curtain (8) positioned at the out side of the front block (2) and a second curtain (8) positioned at the inner side of the zigzag formed glass block (9) which can be moved together or separately from each other .

19. A modular passive solar greenhouse structure according to claim 13, characterized in that it includes a second curtain (8) made of polymer containing air bubbles .