Simulation and Experimental Study of Light and Thermal Environment of Photovoltaic Greenhouse in Tropical Area Based on Design Builder

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript is interesting but needs improvements:

• The abstract should state the basic issue you investigate, short methodological information and basic findings. Please re-write accordingly.
• Split to two separate sections discussion and conclusions. The scope is different.
• Discuss the effect of different technologies like transparent or / and smart PVs.
• Add specific information for used shading system.
• Generally academic writing should be improved, for example in section discussion and conclusions, (1) appears without any previous text.
• Most figures are of low quality and fonts are very small.

The authors have undertaken an interesting research, but they should improve presentation and writing in order to become publishable their manuscript.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Abstract:

Lines 10-12: In order to study the distribution characteristics of light and thermal environment of photovoltaic greenhouse in tropical area, a photovoltaic greenhouse model (photovoltaic panel cover-age rate 76.9%) was designed, built and tested in this study being 1:1 based on the climatic conditions of tropical area.

Introduction:

Line 43-45: The third deployment has relatively small scale of photovoltaic modules with which it is hard to produce a scale effect of power generation.

From Line 52 onwards: do you really need the forenames of all the authors in the text?

Line 78 - spell out the CFD acronym here  fully (so at at least once in the text, where it is first used)

Materials and Methods:

Line 154-155: A Zigzag film greenhouse and a sunshelter near the experimental greenhouse were selected as the contrast group.

Results and Analysis:

Line 174: A Photovoltaic module has obvious effect on the illumination in a greenhouse, especially in winter when the light is weakest.

Line 180: The winter test time was Jan. 5, 2016. The weather was limited rain.

Lines 226-227: These results showed that weather conditions have an obvious impact on indoor light intensity ... 

Lines 232-234: This means that the distribution of summer light intensity in photovoltaic greenhouse is not even INSERT A COMMA HERE  mainly due to the larger direct light than scattered light in summer. 

Line 224: The results of the measure are shown as Fig. 5 and Fig. 6, respectively.

Line 248: ... winter and summer are shown as Table 3 and Table 4, respectively.

Line 256: According to Fig. 5 and Table 3, the outdoor environment had a larger impact on indoor temperature and humidity during morning and noon hours than in afternoon.

Line 227: According to Fig. 6 and Table 4, on summer thundershower to cloudy weather, the outdoor temperature was between 26.1~33.5℃, and the average indoor temperature was between 26.2~36.2℃.

Line 291-292: The test time May 9 WHICH YEAR?

Line 295-209: The photovoltaic greenhouse and sunshelter were newly built, and had been used for less than one year.

Line 312: The zigzag film greenhouse has a relatively high temperature ...

Line 344: To ascertain if weather has an affect on the light transmittance of specific moment, we adopted ...

Line 351-352: Regardless of winter or summer, the actually-measured value was smaller than the simulated value.

Line 361-362: The thermal environment simulation also selected the same two days as the light environment simulation (Jan. 5 YEAR? in winter and July 29 WHICH YEAR? in summer) to conduct ...

Line 379-384: The temperature change curve in photovoltaic greenhouse in winter (Fig. 10) shows that REMOVE THE COMMA the indoor and outdoor temperature difference reached the maximum at 13:00 (approx. 1℃), that the indoor relative humidity reduced with the increase of temperature, and that the highest temperature and lowest relative humidity appeared at about 15:00. 

Line 391-392: This is mainly because the prevailing wind direction of the local area in summer is southeastern.

Line 407: This has a certain relationship with the actual wind speed, weather condition and environment during the test day. 

Discussion and Conclusions:

Line 418-420: However, a large proportion or even a full proportion of photovoltaic modules may occupy the light resources rather than leave it for the crops in the greenhouse.

Line 441-444: When temperature is considered, especially in the daylight greenhouse for winter production, light is not only used for the photosynthesis of crops but can also be used as a heat resource for the wall and ground of greenhouse to ensure the requisite temperature in winter production. 

In this study, field measurement analysis was performed on the photovoltaic green-house in tropical area from the aspects of illuminance and temperature. (a) Illuminance: in winter (Jan. 5 WHICH YEAR?, limited rain): the distribution of indoor illuminance was relatively even.

Line 460-463: The average illuminance between 10:00~16:00 was 7.02kLux (the illuminance can even reach 9.35kLux during 13:30~15:30), and the average light transmittance was 25.77%; in summer (July 28 WHICH YEAR? -thundershower, July 29 WHICH YEAR? -thundershower to cloudy, July 31 WHICH YEAR?- cloudy and sunny), the distribution of indoor illuminance was not even.

References:

[1] ... J. Agricultural Engineering Technology

[2] ... J. Agricultural Engineering Technology

[3] ... J. Agricultural Engineering Technology

[4] ... J. Acta Agriculturae Zhejiangensis

[5] ... J. Solar Energy

[6] ...  J. Agricultural Engineering

[7] ... J. Renewable Energy

[8] ... J. Solar Energy

[9] ... DROP THE J. Proceedings of 2020 International Conference on Green Building and Building Energy Conservation

[10] ... J. Architectural Engineering Technology and Design

[11] ... J. Energy & Buildings

[12] ...  Journal of Hainan Normal University

[13] published by which organisation etc. ? -  just stating 'China' does not suffice

[15] ...  J. Agricultural Engineering Technology

[16] ...  J. Agricultural Engineering Technology

[17] ... Journal of Northwest Ag-F University

[18] ... J. China Vegetables

[19] ... J. Shanghai Vegetables

[20] ... J. Heilongjiang Agricultural Sciences

 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

The manuscript: Simulation and Experimental Study of Light and Thermal Environment of Photovoltaic Greenhouse in Tropical area Based on Design Builder by Jian Liu, Yini Chen, Baolong Wang, Xuyong Wu, Yi Na deals with the use of photovoltaic panels for power generation as greenhouse roof covering. The authors have conducted an experimental analysis to measure the indoor illuminance, temperature and humidity in different points inside the experimental photovoltaic greenhouse. Moreover, the same parameters are also evaluated through a DesignBuilder simulation.

The article is well organized and the authors clearly describe the objectives and methodology of their work.

I only suggest adding other information regarding the photovoltaic power and energy production such as a comparison between the experimental data and the simulated values. 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

accept