🤖 Bachelor thesis: Climate Control System for a high-tech greenhouse

The Challenge

Kubo Greenhouses tasked me with making their Ultra-Clima greenhouse design more sustainable and efficient. During my research, I uncovered several key issues:

• Existing climate control systems are designed for standard Venlo greenhouses, making them suboptimal for Ultra-Clima greenhouses.
• Horticulturalists find current systems lacking in user-friendliness, automation, and essential features.
• Training new horticulturalists takes 2 to 5 years due to the complexity of climate control, with minimal tools available to assist them.
• Even experienced horticulturalists struggle to predict greenhouse climate due to numerous influencing factors, some of which are unexpected.

The Solution

Using an Industrial Design Engineering approach, I framed the problem, developed a design statement, collaborated with stakeholders in co-creation sessions, and iteratively built prototypes to test and refine my ideas. The result? A next-generation climate control system optimized for Ultra-Clima and adaptable to other greenhouses.

Key Features

✅ Smart Climate Control – Monitors and regulates the greenhouse environment using real-time sensor data, optimized specifically for Ultra-Clima greenhouses.

🤖 AI-Powered Insights & Automation

• Predicts future climate conditions, enabling horticulturalists to take proactive measures.
• Provides AI-driven recommendations to improve greenhouse conditions.
• Simulates the impact of different actions on the climate before implementation.
• Automates key decisions, such as closing windows before rain or adjusting heating before a cold night.

🎓 Training & Knowledge Transfer

• The AI explains its decisions, helping new horticulturalists learn faster and understand climate control strategies.
• Experienced horticulturalists can leverage AI predictions, allowing them to oversee multiple greenhouses with greater efficiency.

This system not only improves operational efficiency but also revolutionizes how greenhouse climate control is managed, making it more intuitive, predictive, and sustainable. The system itself is not created, but the design and research are ready for implementation.

Challenges and Learnings

• Data Complexity: Gathering reliable and accurate data from multiple sensors in the greenhouse posed a challenge. Variations in sensor calibration and environmental interference made data quality a concern.
• User Interface: Designing a user-friendly interface for horticulturalists with varying levels of experience proved to be a complex task. Balancing automation and manual control while ensuring usability was a continuous challenge.
• System Integration: Integrating the new climate control system into the existing greenhouse infrastructure without disrupting ongoing operations was a logistical challenge.
• User needs: Understanding the needs and expectations of horticulturalists, engineers, and other stakeholders required effective communication and collaboration.

💡 Want to learn more? Feel free to reach out!