Microprocessor Control of the Electric Drive of Variable Radiation Installation and Ensuring of Operation Reliability

Introduction. The introduction of energy-saving technologies has become particularly relevant in recent years, when energy prices have been constantly increasing. This is particularly important for greenhouse farms, where the main condition for growing plants indoors is the creation of artificial climatic conditions: temperature, humidity, and lighting.Problem Statement. Given the light and the dark stages of photosynthesis, it becomes possible to use a variable light field in the plant-growing photoculture, which is created by light installations with variable radiation. The development of an energy-saving electric drive and automated control systems for the parameters of artificial climatic conditions when growing plants indoors results in reducing energy consumption and increasing the reliability of the technological process in greenhouses of agro-industrial complex.Purpose. Implementation of energy-saving variable illumination irradiating systems with an automated control system for greenhouse farms.Materials and Methods. A lighting installation with rotation of the irradiator in the vertical and horizontal planes with a discrete electric drive and microprocessor control has been used.Results. The current state of variable irradiating systems with energy-saving radiation sources has been analyzed. The use of a discrete electric drive with an automated control system has been proposed. The installation with a DNAT-400 radiation source and a ZHO-01 reflector enables irradiating an area of up to 100 m2. The maximum exposure to photosynthetically active radiation is 30 W/m2, and the irradiation irregularity does not exceed 20%. At the same time, electricity savings reach about 10 thousand kWh per season. The yield and quality of products remain unchanged.Conclusions. The results of the research have confirmed the feasibility of practical implementation of variable irradiation system for energy efficiency of greenhouse operations.