Engineers Canada Agricultural / Biosystems / Bioresource / Food Engineering examination syllabus · Canada · Provincial and territorial regulators (syllabus by Engineers Canada)
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersDesigning greenhouses and controlling the climate inside them, with the plastics and soilless systems that go with them.
In the exams: ICAR AICE subject 40 Unit 9 and subject 43 Unit 5; NCEES PE greenhouses; skill modules and electives in the ICAR 6th Deans' Committee B.Tech
How our questions for Engineers Canada Agricultural / Biosystems / Bioresource / Food Engineering examination syllabus spread across the units of Protected Cultivation & Greenhouse Engineering. Difficulty: 4 easy, 12 medium, 6 hard.
| Automation of climate control | 9 | |
| Greenhouse types and orientation | 4 | |
| Forced ventilation | 3 | |
| Glazing and cladding materials | 2 | |
| CO2 enrichment | 2 | |
| Fan-pad and fogging cooling | 1 | |
| Greenhouse heating | 1 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
A free-standing single-span greenhouse is to be built at 45° N for winter vegetable production. Which ridge orientation gives the most winter light under the classic North American guidance?
D. Ridge running east–west, so the long south roof faces the low winter sun
Above about 40° latitude the low winter sun is best intercepted by a long south-facing roof, which an east–west ridge gives a free-standing house. North–south ridges are chosen for gutter-connected houses so that gutter shadows move; wind direction governs vent placement, not light.
Further reading: Aldrich and Bartok, Greenhouse Engineering (NRAES-33); ASABE EP406
Taking air density as 1.2 kg/m³, what is the wind velocity pressure q = 0.5ρV² for a design wind speed of 35 m/s on a greenhouse?
D. 735 Pa
q = 0.5 × 1.2 × 35² = 0.5 × 1.2 × 1,225 = 735 Pa. Leaving out the 0.5 gives 1,470 Pa; forgetting to square V gives 21 Pa; 368 Pa halves twice. The code then multiplies q by pressure coefficients for each face.
Further reading: Aldrich and Bartok, Greenhouse Engineering (NRAES-33); ASABE EP406
Which statement about structural design codes for commercial greenhouses (for example EN 13031-1 in Europe and IS 14462 in India) is correct?
D. Codes allow film houses a shorter design life than permanent buildings, which lowers the design wind speed
A shorter reference period for light film structures reduces the characteristic wind speed used in design. Crop loads from hanging vine crops are a named load case, wind pressure depends on the site's wind climate, and anchorage against uplift is a central check.
Further reading: EN 13031-1; IS 14462
A film house has 600 m² of cover. Replacing single film (U = 6.8 W m⁻² K⁻¹) with inflated double film (U = 4.0 W m⁻² K⁻¹) at a design difference of 15 K reduces the conduction loss by how much?
B. 25.2 kW
Saving = (U₁ − U₂) A ΔT = (6.8 − 4.0) × 600 × 15 = 25,200 W = 25.2 kW. 61.2 kW is the whole single-film loss and 36.0 kW the remaining double-film loss; 1.7 kW forgets the temperature difference.
Further reading: Aldrich and Bartok, Greenhouse Engineering (NRAES-33); ASABE EP406
What is the purpose of horizontal air-flow (HAF) fans hung in the canopy of a closed greenhouse?
A. To stir the inside air so that temperature and humidity are even and leaves dry faster
HAF fans circulate air inside the house to remove warm and humid pockets and reduce disease; they do not exchange air with outside, so they cannot replace exhaust fans. They are not used to pressurise the house or to remove CO2.
Further reading: Aldrich and Bartok, Greenhouse Engineering (NRAES-33); ASABE EP406
What is the occupational exposure limit for CO₂, averaged over an eight-hour working day, used in many countries including the United States?
C. 5,000 ppm
The common 8-hour limit is 5,000 ppm (0.5%). Enrichment set points of roughly 700–1,000 ppm are far below it, but faulty dosing or a burst cylinder can exceed it, so alarms are fitted. 1,000 ppm is a typical enrichment set point, not a safety limit; 500 ppm is close to outdoor air. 50,000 ppm is a factor-of-ten slip (5%).
Further reading: Aldrich and Bartok, Greenhouse Engineering (NRAES-33); ASABE EP406
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