Modeling and Design a Special Type of Passive Solar Greenhouse in Cold Climate by TRNSYS

To improve the thermal performance, storage and saving heat solar  energy of conventional greenhouse, a passive solar greenhouse was  built which its north wall was made of soil. The bottom part of the  north, south, west and east walls were sloping and constructed  below ground surface. The indoor air temperature was measured  during January and February. To optimize the size of greenhouse in  cold climate condition a TRNSYS model was created and validated  using experimental data. According to the results obtained, Total  Incident Solar Radiation (TISR) in the north wall was 484 MJ  during January and February and there was the possibility of  cultivation in it. More specifically, the variation of TISR during 60  days varied from 190 to 3811 kJ h-1 m-2. The indoor air temperature  of the greenhouse varied from -4.3 to 42.4 °C while the outdoor  temperature fluctuated between -13.8 to 10.6 °C. In addition, the  differential temperature between modeled and measured data at  climate conditions of snowy, rainy, cloudy and sunny days were 2.3,  0.2, 0.2, and 2.6 °C during daytime and -1.8, -2, 0.3 and 1 °C at  nighttime, respectively. The obtained coefficient of determination  (R2) was 95.95% for measured and modeled data.