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Headhouse A 29.3 m (96 feet) by 12.2 m (40 feet) post-frame headhouse was built along the entire North wall of the greenhouse. The headhouse contains a general work area, utility room, plant growth room, cold storage room (large enough to hold several days of harvested product), restroom, computer station and loading dock. The general work area houses the fertilizer injection system, washing station, harvesting and packing station, seeding station, and liquid oxygen tanks. A weather station (temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, and light sensor) is attached to the roof of the headhouse. A refrigerated liquid carbon dioxide tank is located outside the facility. Plant Growth Room The plant growth room (6.1 by 7.3 m, or 20 by 24 feet) is used for seedling production. Seed trays are kept on ebb and flow benches, which are subirrigated three times a day for 15 minutes. The temperature (24ºC or 75ºF, continuously) inside the growth room is maintained by an off-the-shelf air conditioning unit. Water-cooled high-pressure sodium lamps (a total of 26 and each equipped with a 600-watt lamp bulb) provide a continuous and uniform light intensity of 350 µmol-m-2-s-1 (2650 ft-cd) over the entire growing area. The recirculating cooling water absorbs about half the total amount of heat generated by the lamps and only marginally reduces the light output of each lamp. The flow rate of the cooling water through each lamp is 75 L-hr-1 (0.33 gal-min-1) and the water temperature increases by 2-3ºC as it passes through each lamp. The cooling water is pumped to a water chiller, which returns the cooled water (30ºC or 86ºF) to the lamps. The recirculating chiller is located in the general work area outside the growth room. Warm air released from the chiller is exhausted outside the headhouse. Carbon dioxide enrichment of the growth room air will be used to further increase seedling growth and development. Pictures of the Floating
Hydroponics Greenhouse Design:
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