In this episode of Quick HVAC Tips for Vertical Farming, we cover Sensible Heat Ratio (SHR), a crucial metric in ensuring efficient management of temperature and humidity for optimal plant growth in indoor environments.
Episode Transcription:
Hi everybody. I'm Jeff Baylis with AGronomic IQ, and today, I want to talk to you about sensible heat ratio.
Sensible heat ratio is a ratio between how much cooling you're doing and how much dehumidification you're doing. A low sensible heat ratio refers to a relatively higher dehumidification versus cooling and a high sensible heat ratio, and you're doing more cooling than dehumidification.
In a nursery, for example, you're going have immature plants that aren't transpiring much and a relatively high lighting load, meaning you will need a high sensible heat ratio.
When your plants get to be more mature / ready to harvest, you can have a much higher transpiration rate, which is going to create a larger evaporative cooling effect and a similar amount of lighting. So, you're going to have a lower sensible heat ratio.
Your air handler needs to be able to modulate to hit higher and lower sensible heat ratios to make sure your work is being done efficiently, and your room is controlled very tightly.
For help calculating your room loads, or any other questions, please reach out to us at AGronomicIQ.com.
Do you have a question or subject you'd like us to cover?
Send us a quick note, and we'll make sure to cover it in an upcoming episode!