home Boilers How to make a device for greenhouses with your own hands? Selecting an automatic device for opening windows for ventilating greenhouses Automatic opening of a window in a greenhouse.

How to make a device for greenhouses with your own hands? Selecting an automatic device for opening windows for ventilating greenhouses Automatic opening of a window in a greenhouse.

How to make an automatic machine for ventilating greenhouses with your own hands? What is the best way to organize an automatic system in a greenhouse? How to make an automatic window for a polycarbonate greenhouse?

Thermal drive operating principle

Regardless of the design of the thermal drive, the essence of its operation is to open the window leaf when the temperature rises. When the air in the greenhouse cools down, the thermal drive automatically closes the window to its original position.

There are two main elements in the device:

sensor;
actuating mechanism.

Wherein design of the sensors and actuators themselves can be completely arbitrary. Additionally, the devices can be equipped with closers and locks that ensure tight closure of the transom.

There is also a division into volatile and non-volatile devices. Electric drives operating from the power supply network most often act as volatile drives.

To their merits include high power and extensive behavior programming capabilities.

To the disadvantages- if there is a loss of electricity supply, there is a risk of either chilling the plants due to the window being left open at night, or cooking them on a hot day with the ventilation not opened.

Scope of application

Where can you install a thermal drive for greenhouses with your own hands?

Installation of thermal drives (photo on the right) can be done absolutely for any greenhouse: film, polycarbonate and glass.

In the latter case, the choice of drive need to be approached especially carefully, since the glass window has a significant mass and working with it may require a fairly powerful device.

Besides, the size of the greenhouse matters. There is little point in installing such a device in a greenhouse with an area of one and a half square meters. m. There simply is not enough space here, and the frames of such structures are most often not able to bear the additional load.

In very large greenhouses some problems may also arise. This is due to the need to simultaneously open several windows at once, often also differing in considerable size. The power of a homemade thermal drive is simply not enough to do such hard work.

Most harmoniously thermal drives fit into the design of greenhouses made of cellular polycarbonate. Windows made from this material are light enough that even a homemade device can operate them. At the same time, polycarbonate is reliable enough to make a durable window suitable for repeated opening and closing cycles.

Execution options

By mechanism of action There are several main groups of thermal actuators. How to arrange automatic opening of vents in a greenhouse with your own hands?

Electrical

As the name suggests, in these devices the actuator is driven electric motor. The command to turn on the motor is given by the controller, which relies on information from the temperature sensor.

To the advantages electric drives include greater power and the ability to create programmable intelligent systems that include a wide variety of sensors and allow the most correct determination of the greenhouse ventilation mode.

Main disadvantages electric thermal drives - dependence on power supply and not the lowest cost for a simple gardener. In addition, the humid atmosphere of the greenhouse is not conducive to long-term operation of any electrical appliances.

Bimetallic

The principle of their operation is based on different coefficients of thermal expansion for different metals. If two plates of such metals are somehow fastened together, then when heated, one of them will certainly become larger in size than the other. The resulting distortion is used as a source of mechanical work when opening the window.

Dignity such a drive is its simplicity and autonomy, disadvantage- not always enough power.

Pneumatic

The operation of pneumatic thermal actuators is based on the supply of heated air from a sealed container to the drive piston. When the container heats up, the expanded air is fed through the tube into the piston, which moves and opens the transom. As the temperature drops, the air inside the system compresses and pulls the piston in the opposite direction, closing the window.

Despite the simplicity of this design, it is quite difficult to make it yourself. It will be necessary to provide a serious seal not only to the container, but also inside the piston. The problem is also complicated by the ability of air to be easily compressed, which leads to a loss in the efficiency of the entire system.

Hydraulic.

Hydraulic thermal drive mechanism driven by a change in the balance in the weight of a pair of containers, between which liquid moves. In turn, the liquid begins to move between the vessels due to changes in air pressure during heating and cooling.

The advantage of hydraulics is its relatively high power with complete energy independence. In addition, assembling such a structure with your own hands is much easier and cheaper than for other drives.

How to independently organize automatic ventilation of greenhouses (thermal drive, which one to choose)?

DIY making

How to make a device for ventilating greenhouses with your own hands? For self-production, the simplest and most effective thermal drive option for greenhouses is hydraulic.

To assemble it you will need:

2 glass jars (3 l and 800 g);
brass or copper tube 30 cm long and 5-7 mm in diameter;
plastic tube from a medical dropper 1 m long;
a piece of wooden beam equal to the width of the opening transom. The cross-section of the block is selected taking into account the weight of the window, since it will be used to make a counterweight;
rigid metal wire;
sealant;
two lids for jars: polyethylene and metal;
nails 100 mm - 2 pcs.

The assembly sequence will be like this:

800 g is poured into a three-liter jar;
The jar is tightly sealed with a metal lid using a seaming machine;
a hole is punched or drilled in the lid into which a brass tube is inserted. You need to lower the tube until 2-3 mm remains to the bottom;
the joint between the tube and the lid is sealed with sealant;
One end of the plastic tube is placed on the metal tube.

The final stage Place banks at work places. To do this, hang a three-liter bottle with a nail and a metal wire next to the rotating window so that, in any position of the window, the length of the plastic tube is enough to reach it.

A small jar is also attached to a nail and wire on the upper part of the frame of a horizontally rotating window. To balance the mass of the can, a counterweight block is nailed from the street side of the window to the lower part of its frame.

Now, if the temperature in the greenhouse rises, the air heated in the large jar will begin to squeeze water through the plastic tube into the small jar. As water is filled into the small jar, due to the increased weight of the upper part of the window, it will begin to rotate around its axis, i.e., it will begin to open.

As the air in the greenhouse cools, the air in the three-liter jar will begin to cool and compress. The resulting vacuum will draw water back from the small jar. The latter will lose weight and the window frame will lower to the “closed” position under the weight of the counterweight.

The not-so-intricate design of the hydraulic thermal drive allows you to independently assemble a device that greatly facilitates the care of the greenhouse. With its help, there is completely no need to control the air temperature in the greenhouse.

Useful video

We bring to your attention educational videos about thermal actuators for greenhouses.

And here is a video about a do-it-yourself thermal drive for greenhouses made from a shock absorber.

Read about other options for automating greenhouse care.

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.

Editor Greenhouses and greenhouses 16772

The main purpose of building a polycarbonate greenhouse with your own hands is to provide plants with heat, which allows them to be grown when the weather outside the walls of the structure is not favorable for this. Plants react poorly to both high and low temperatures. Timely opening of the windows in the polycarbonate greenhouse and basic ventilation will help protect them from such negativity. But the rhythm of modern life does not allow us to sit near the windows and wait until we need to open or close them.

Automation used for this purpose makes it possible not to constantly monitor these operations. For example, a thermal drive automatically opens the windows when the temperature rises and closes them when it drops. That is why home craftsmen are trying to figure out how to make ventilation in a polycarbonate greenhouse automatic. After all, it is enough to make and install the same thermal drive with your own hands only once in order to avoid many problems in the future, and even reduce watering of plants.

What to prefer: thermal drive or electronics?

It is worth noting that a conventional thermal drive has one significant drawback: it reacts too slowly to changes in temperature in the greenhouse. So, if there is a sudden change in temperature, you have to ventilate manually, and sometimes carry out urgent watering in order to save the plants from the heat. But using, for example, an electric thermal drive, you can open the transom within one minute. But this option also has a drawback, which is that when using it, it must be possible to connect such a thermal drive to the electrical network, and it is quite difficult to install such a system with your own hands without special skills.

But when choosing an acceptable automatic device for greenhouses built from polycarbonate, you need to take into account that although the oil thermal drive works too slowly, it is much more reliable than various types of electronics. And in order to speed up the heating of the oil poured into the thermal drive, you can, for example, think about how to reduce its thickness. This can be achieved if you decide to assemble a thermal drive yourself and use a car gas shock absorber or a cylinder from an office chair as a container.

How to assemble a simple hydraulic machine

To construct a window with your own hands that could function like a hydraulic machine, knowledge of physics acquired at school is sufficient. The simplest automatic machine that allows you to organize ventilation is a device that operates on the hydraulic principle. Making and assembling such a machine with your own hands is not difficult. The principle of its operation is as follows:

when the sun's rays begin to heat a hermetically sealed large container suspended in the upper part of the greenhouse, where, as a rule, it is especially hot, from its heat the liquid in it will also begin to heat up;
under the pressure that it creates by its expansion when heated, the liquid will flow into a smaller container;
under the weight of the heavy small container, the window will gradually open;
As soon as the air gradually cools inside the polycarbonate greenhouse after sufficient ventilation, everything will repeat in the reverse order.

The most pleasant thing about this business is that it is possible to manufacture such a device that provides an automatic method of ventilation at minimal cost. For example, a mechanism made by your crayfish from plastic bottles can serve as such a hydraulic system. This material can be found in every home in considerable quantities. Moreover, such a simple system will last for three years, without any diagnostics.

So, when creating a system that will allow automatic ventilation of the greenhouse, the following will be used:

a large five-liter plastic bottle, which can be wrapped in black plastic film to increase efficiency; thanks to this wrapping, the temperature in it can increase to about 80 degrees;
small plastic bottle 1.5 l;
rubber stoppers for sealing bottles;
It is more convenient to connect the bottles with a tube from a medical dropper, the ends of which can be easily inserted into rubber stoppers. For successful operation of the system, it is necessary to ensure its complete tightness, so the tubes should be secured with hot-melt adhesive, but on the condition that free communication is maintained between the bottles through the tube.

There are several ways to fix the window with your own hands: from the edge on the wall vertically or horizontally in the roof of a polycarbonate greenhouse. It is advisable to think about making the bottom of the window a little heavier than the rest of the structural elements, then it will slam shut under the weight of its own. A smaller plastic bottle must be secured to the lightweight part of the window so that with its increasing weight it provokes the opening of the window from the moment water begins to flow into it.

For suspended bottles, the necks should be at the bottom. To ensure the necessary ventilation using a bottle system, you need to try to correctly determine the temperature at which it will function properly, as well as the height of the large container, since the higher it can be hung, the sooner the automation will work and the sooner ventilation will begin. The proposed hydraulic mechanism will make it possible to automatically open a window in a greenhouse weighing 4-5 kg.

This kind of simple device has proven itself well in the greenhouses of many gardeners and is widely used by them in their garden plots.

A well-functioning greenhouse ventilation system is the key to a good harvest. With very strong ventilation or poor air exchange, plants may die. Therefore, the best option for uniform air circulation in the greenhouse would be to install an automatic device for ventilation and opening the windows.

When improving the greenhouse A reasonable question arises - how many vents are needed for proper air exchange. Experienced specialists advise installing one transom for two m/p. The size of the transom should be 900*600 mm. If the structure is three or four meters high, 2 of them are made. It is generally accepted that full ventilation of a greenhouse will be carried out if the total area of openings for air circulation is about 20–25% of the entire area of the greenhouse.

If the greenhouse design includes partitions that divide it into several parts, then for proper air circulation, vents and doors are installed in each section.

Correct location

The vents must be located at the top of the structure, since warm air rises to the top. They are mounted in the roof or openings are made, retreating 2/3 from the base of the structure in height.

If the greenhouse is installed on the sunny side in the direction along the ridge from east to west, then two or three opening transoms are sufficient for a structure six meters long. Although in regions where there is high humidity or in damp areas, it is advisable to provide a larger number of vents.

Even if you purchase a ready-made greenhouse, where all the elements are provided project and calculated by specialists, local conditions must be taken into account when installing it. In case of high humidity, additional vents should be installed.

DIY greenhouse made of plastic pipes

Windows on the greenhouse roof

Opening transoms, located at the top, reduce the likelihood of drafts. Experienced gardeners do not recommend placing opening elements in direct proximity to the front door in order to avoid drafts, as well as to prevent transoms from slamming shut when there is a gust of wind. Initially, the opening should be made in the middle of the building (lengthwise), and then the windows should be placed at an equidistant distance from it.

Advantages of an automatic opener

Automatic window opener, designed directly for greenhouses, allows you to efficiently ventilate the room without human intervention, thereby significantly facilitating the work of gardeners and freeing up valuable time for them. Even during the absence of a person, an automatic window opener allows you to protect greenhouse crops from variable weather conditions. This greatly reduces the risk of losing them, increasing the likelihood of a good harvest.

Main types of greenhouse ventilation systems

Ventilation machines and devices are of the following types:

Electrical. Such drives can be designed to open doors (automatic opening of the greenhouse, automatic door opening mechanism), as well as vents in the greenhouse. They are equipped with a thermal relay and a fan. If the temperature rises, the relay will automatically react to the fluctuation and turn on the fan. Electric openers vary in power.

This depends on the size and weight of the door or transom. Automatic vents in a greenhouse, which are powered by electricity, are most adapted to temperature fluctuations. This is due to the high sensitivity of the relay, which reacts even to small thermal changes in the environment as a kind of shock absorber.

If necessary, it is possible to program the device for any mode. Although you need to take care of backup power in advance. Otherwise, in the event of a power outage or other force majeure related to the supply of current, the electric drive and automation will become inoperable. Such a device is suitable for summer cottages, which are visited temporarily and short-term.

Hydraulic. This type of thermal drive for automatically opening greenhouse transoms is the most popular for ventilating closed ground. Hydraulic devices operate by expanding and contracting fluid under the influence of different temperatures. Such an automatic opener can be easily made with your own hands and without any special material costs.

Bimetallic mechanisms. The functioning of such devices is based on the physical properties of metals. When the temperature rises, one of the plates expands and bends in an arc, thanks to the rigid fixation at its ends. At the same time, it automatically opens the window. When the temperature decreases, the reverse process occurs. However, bimetallic devices are only suitable for lightweight structures and opening small openings. Since they do not have enough power to open massive transoms.

DIY polycarbonate greenhouse

DIY making

It’s easy to make a window in a polycarbonate greenhouse with your own hands. A simple example of how to do this:

Choose a location and cut a piece of polycarbonate to the size of the future window.
Cut out the base for the frame from a metal profile with sides smaller than the holes in the polycarbonate by 0.5 cm.
Secure the corners with mounting tape.
Paint the finished frame.
Screw a piece of polycarbonate to it so that it protrudes beyond the frame, and carefully trim the edges.
Cover the edges of the window with rubber.
Attach the lock, hinges and limiter to the window.
Then install the resulting structure in its place.

The technology for constructing an automatic window opener in a greenhouse is simple. Any greenhouse window opener consists of a sash, a counterweight, a fastening and a latch. Materials, which will be needed for its manufacture:

Glass jars with a capacity of 1 and 3 liters.
You can use plastic bottles with a capacity of 1.5 and 5 liters instead.
Hose.

Manufacturing process:

A small can is attached to the top section of the frame.
A block is attached to the lower part of the window for balance.
A large jar is suspended from the ceiling and filled with a liter of water.

Drawing:

Both cans are sealed with lids with holes for the connecting hose, which is inserted into them, not reaching 1 cm to the bottom of the cans.
If the temperature rises, water will flow through the hose from the large jar into the small one. In this case, the window will open. And if the temperature drops, the reverse process will occur.

Do-it-yourself hydraulic cylinder for a greenhouse: principle of operation, manufacturing

The jars must be installed in such a way that they do not end up in a shaded place. Otherwise, heating will slow down, which will delay the opening of the window. This can ultimately lead to overheating and harm the plants.

Greenhouse hydraulic cylinder

If it is not possible to purchase a hydraulic cylinder, this is not a problem. It is quite easy to build it yourself. And this can be done from a sheet of tin or polycarbonate. You will also need a plastic tube and a ball.

It would seem that such a trifle is an ordinary window for a greenhouse, but not everything is so simple. Properly adjusted ventilation plays an important role for the growth of greenhouse crops. Constant air circulation eliminates sudden changes in temperature, therefore creating favorable conditions for fruiting. Every experienced summer resident knows that when the temperature increases by just 10 °C, vegetables begin to grow quickly, but if you raise the temperature to 40 °C, the plant will wither and soon die. Only regular ventilation will have a beneficial effect on the development of crops.

How does automatic opening of windows in a polycarbonate greenhouse make life easier for a summer resident? It's useful in every way. Let us assume that the owners cannot constantly monitor the crops, are often absent or are busy with important matters. In this case, a well-thought-out automatic system of watering, lighting and ventilation will completely replace human labor. If the owners devote every day to working with plants and spend a lot of time on the site, an automatic transom will free them from total control over the plants at every temperature jump and will give them the opportunity to calmly do other things.

It is important to ensure good ventilation in a greenhouse.

So, according to the method of opening, greenhouse transoms and vents can be divided into 3 groups:

Hydraulic

This is a simple system of levers connected to the windows. The advantages of these devices are autonomy, reliability, simplicity and high power. What is the operating technology of this system? When the temperature changes, the weight acting on the lever changes, as a result the structure tilts in the desired direction and thus opens the window. If the temperature indicators change to the previous ones, the structure returns to its original position.

Each lever is two containers filled with liquid connected by a flexible hose, one of which is located indoors, the other outside. The inner container plays the role of a thermometer; it is completely sealed and partially filled with air. The external vessel is a kind of weighting agent. As the temperature inside the greenhouse rises, the laws of physics are activated: the air in the vessel heats up, expands and displaces the liquid, which flows through a flexible hose into the external container. Under the influence of its weight, the window opens. When the air cools, the reverse process occurs.

Vents should be installed in the upper part of the greenhouse so that cold air does not harm the plants

This device is quite simple to manufacture and install, and is great for creating a ventilation system in a small greenhouse or greenhouse. However, it does have its drawbacks. For example, it will take at least 20 minutes to cool the liquid, that is, in the event of a sharp cold snap, the window will not have time to close in time, as a result, the plants may suffer.