Swedes design fully automated roof washer for poly houses

Growers with Venlo greenhouses wash their roofs at least once per year. Growers with plastic greenhouses do not wash that often because they do not have automation available for it. Yet, if you have a plastic greenhouse with a dirty roof, you might be interested in the new greenhouse poly roof cleaner from Swedish manufacturer Inrha; they have developed a roof washer that is specially designed for arched greenhouses with double plastic films.

Cleaning a greenhouse roof with a washer is not something new. For many years, full automated greenhouse roof cleaners have been available for glass and Plexiglas Venlo structures. Inrha now developed a washer for plastic greenhouses. "It is known that growers who often clean the greenhouse roof, achieve better growing conditions inside. The clean plastic allows more light transmittance, and more light means more growth", said Bert Boye from INRHA, the developer of the new roof cleaner.

The new machine from Inrha can be designed for any design of double film greenhouse. "We designed the first cleaner especially for a Richel greenhouse structure", Boye said. it is automated; the machine is equipped with a smart computer that connects to the internet. After it is placed over the greenhouse truss it will drive through the gutters to wash the greenhouse with brushes with the help of electric motors. When is nears the end of the greenhouse, sensors will detect a point of return and the machines goes back to the begining of the greenhouse, washing it for the second time."

In order to transport the washer to the next bay, a rail system is designed so that it can be fixed to the gutters and sidewalls of the greenhouse. This is similar to the ones that are currently used for Venlo washers.

"This machine is now used at growers in Scandinavia; it is touring from Norway to Denmark and from Finland to Sweden to wash the roofs. These growers would like to use as much light as possible, hence it makes sense to them to wash their roofs in time. Some of them even wash the roofs up to twice a year.' Boye furthermore adds that the machine can also be used to remove diffuse and shading paint.

Boye expects to help many growers in Mexico with the washer. "The high tech growers in Mexico are very concerned about the light levels inside their greenhouses. As well as this we foresee chances with the machine in Azerbaijan, where they also have a lot of dust and dirt that is blocking the light."

For more information:
INRHA
Bert Boye
+46 735 245155
info@inrha.se
www.inrha.se