Conceptual design of an automation-facilitating tomato greenhouse concept

Abstract

Automation in tomato greenhouses is lacking compared with some other crops. The efficiency and consistency of greenhouse operations can be boosted by implementing automation. Therefore, a new concept that facilitates the robotisation of crop-handling tasks is investigated. This concept combines the existing technology of a movable-gutter system with the cultivation concept of a limited-truss tomato. The combination of these two techniques has not been previously explored. For this paper, a generic conceptual design framework was developed which contains a simulation model and an evaluation protocol. In the evaluation protocol a sensitivity analysis and an optimal dimension analysis is performed. Case studies are conducted to evaluate the simulated performance, to examine the capacity of the transport system and crop-handling tasks and to assess the robustness. These case studies prove that the developed framework is generic and all-encompassing. The framework has proven its worth by eliminating erroneous design choices before significant resources were spent. The new concept is promising, as it facilitates automation and has a competitive simulated production. Therefore, it is advised to move on to the next design phase, which should mainly focus on validating the crop-growth model and the preliminary design of subsystems as the transport system and components as the movable-gutter itself. Furthermore, a cost analysis and economic assessment should be conducted.