"Netherlands: "Nivolator with hole in screen”"

Patrick de Jong, manager at Jamuflor in De Kwakel, The Netherlands started a trial with the Nivolatoren and the Ventilation Jets and came to a surprising conclusion.

"The cultivation with Ventilation Jet and Nivolator is going very well. The plants are looking good and we’re saving energy. The latter is mainly because the upper tube is now often turned off. The lower tube is still needed to dry the pots after irrigation. This is necessary to keep the roots active. If that is really true, remains to be seen though.

The Ventilation Jets are currently turned off in order to assess the greenhouse climate and the energy savings by using the Nivolatoren only. It works out well. The energy saving is still good, but 2 percent less than when the Ventilation Jets are running.

The advantage of using only the Nivolatoren is the lower investment. The estimated payback period takes 2 years, whereas for an investment in both the Nivolatoren and Venletilation Jets, that period takes 5 years. Quite a difference. We do see a better temperature distribution with the Ventilation Jets, but because of the lower costs, we are still planning to purchase just the Nivolatoren for the rest of the greenhouse.

We have a double screen with holes for the Ventilation Jets. The holes are exactly above the Nivolatoren, which consequently sucks in air. Not as much as the Ventilation Jets, but enough to dehumidify the greenhouse.

With the fans, we grow at higher RH. Compared to other departments without fans, I can’t detect any differences in the crop. But I can imagine that the higher RH eventually turns out positive. The higher RH is possible by air movements, creating a better temperature distribution and preventing cold spots."

Source: Energiek2020

For more information:
Nivola BV
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2161 AC Lisse
tel: +31 (0)252 466400
fax: +31 (0)252 466406
nivola@nivola.nl
www.nivola.nl

Publication date: Thu 23 Apr 2015