ISHS Acta Horticulturae 257: Energy Conservation and Solar Energy Utilization in Horticultural Engineering
MICROCOMPUTER USE FOR ENERGY AND LABOR SAVINGS IN JAPANESE PROTECTED CULTIVATION |
| Author: | T. Takakura |
| Abstract:
The early stage of computer use in Japanese protected cultivation, in the early 1970s, was characterised by the optimization of plant growth through use of minicomputers in research studies. At the end of the 1970s, the first microcomputer-based climate controller was developed and installed in a practical greenhouse for energy and labor savings. Now more than 800 microcomputers are in use in commercial greenhouses for the same purposes. Most of them are of the stand-alone type which can handle only one compartment. Supervisory computer control using personal computers is becoming popular in many agricultural experiment stations where several greenhouses are controlled separately. Further development are taking place in hydroponics, expert systems and rural network systems. | |
Download Adobe Acrobat Reader (free software to read PDF files) | |
