Comparative Assessment of Sodium and LED Greenhouse Irradiators Main Characteristics

Abstract

The authors showed that traditional sodium greenhouse irradiators are being replaced by more efficient LED ones. (Research purpose) To conduct a comparative assessment of the main characteristics of sodium and LED greenhouse irradiators with an equal photosynthetic photon flux. (Materials and methods) The authors collected a database of 79 sodium irradiators (34 irradiators with electronic ballasts and 45 – with electromagnetic) and 118 – LED. A comparative assessment was carried out in two stages. At the first stage mathematical models of the power, mass, area and cost of irradiation facilities dependence on the photosynthetic photon flux generated by them were obtained. At the second stage the system of equations of sodium and LED greenhouse irradiators for each characteristic were solved. (Results and discussion) The consumed active power of LED irradiators is on average 33 percent less compared to sodium. The area of LED illuminators is 2.5 times larger than sodium irradiators with electronic ballast and 44 percent more than sodium irradiators with electromagnetic ballast. The LED irradiators mass is 3.5 times more than sodium with electronic ballast and 20 percent more than sodium with electromagnetic ballast. The cost of LED illuminators is 3.5 and 4.3 times higher. (Conclusions) LED irradiators are more energy efficient compared to sodium ones. However, due to the high cost, their implementation requires a feasibility study, including additional evaluation criteria: service life, operating costs, electricity price and others.