Reduction method of air conditioning load of plant factory based on lighting experiment and plant model analysis.

The lighting devices used in plant factories generate light and heat. The light affects crop yields of cultivated plants and the heat affects air temperature distribution inside the cultivation room. In order to improve the accuracy of air conditioning simulation tool considering of the effects of transpiration and photosynthesis on cultivated plants, it is necessary to comprehend the distribution rate to light energy among the electrical energy injected into the lighting device. In this paper, lighting experiments using Hf fluorescent lamp and LED were performed. It was investigated that the effect of the light types on air conditioning load from the results of the air conditioning simulation that integrated the experimental results. From the above results, it showed that LED has less effect on air conditioning load and that by removing the safety equipment or the internal circuits, the air conditioning load could be reduced by approximately 6-15%.