Modern agricultural smart glass greenhouses refer to advanced greenhouse systems introduced from the Netherlands. This type of greenhouse is mainly a hot-dip galvanized frame, covered with solar panels or glass on the top, and covered with insulating glass around it.

So what are the commonly used glasses in smart agricultural greenhouses? What are the characteristics? Next let’s learn more about it.

The main covering material on the top of modern agricultural greenhouses is coated glass. This kind of glass not only has high light transmittance and hardness, but also has a crystal clear appearance, making it easier for light to enter the greenhouse.

In addition, when it comes to the selection standards for the thickness of glass profiles in greenhouses, we first need to understand the several types of greenhouses. According to different uses, glass greenhouses are divided into planting greenhouses, seedling greenhouses, landscape greenhouses, tourism greenhouses, scientific research greenhouses, restaurant greenhouses, etc. The choice of glass on the top of the greenhouse mainly depends on the purpose of the greenhouse and the lighting requirements. Glass with different thicknesses should be selected.

Generally speaking, planting greenhouses, seedling greenhouses, and scientific research greenhouses have relatively high light requirements for these three types of greenhouses. Planting crops inside requires a lot of light. The thickness of the selected glass is generally 4mm.

Landscape greenhouses, tourism greenhouses, and restaurant greenhouses pay attention to aesthetics and comfort, and because there are often tourist activities inside, 5mm thickness is more suitable than 4mm from a safety perspective.

Planting greenhouses generally use flowers, fruits and vegetables: strawberries, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, etc. These are vegetables that require a lot of light, and high light transmittance can increase greenhouse yields. Every 1% of light transmittance can increase the total output by about 3%.

Compared with 5mm ultra-white scattering glass, 4mm ultra-white scattering glass is a few dollars cheaper than 5mm. Moreover, the light transmittance of 4mm is about 1% higher than that of 5mm. Starting from 2020, the thickness of the top glass of domestic glass greenhouses will gradually change from 5mm to 4mm. Market choices determine the use of different specifications of glass for different greenhouse types.

As early as 2013, agricultural glass greenhouses had just started, mainly using ordinary float glass. With the gradual development, compared with the planting test data of different greenhouse covering materials, greenhouse glass also changed from ordinary float glass to ultra-white float glass. French glass - ultra-white tempered glass - ultra-white scattering glass. During the planting period, we also realized that light transmittance is becoming more and more important for glass greenhouses.

This has also made 91.5% the standard light transmittance requirement for the glass transmittance of the greenhouse behind. For the light transmittance of scientific research greenhouses, 97.5% light transmittance is generally used, and 97.5% light transmittance is also the highest light transmittance standard that can be achieved in China.

In conclusion, the standard thickness of glass greenhouse glass is 4mm thickness. For special purpose greenhouses, a thickness of 5mm can be selected.