Climate control is a frontline factor that can significantly impact crop health and yield. While conventional HVAC systems may suffice in standard buildings, vertical farms benefit from purpose-built solutions that address 24/7 operations, multi-layer configurations, and fluctuating environmental loads.
This is the space where Desert Aire, a U.S.-based manufacturer of HVACD systems, has focused its efforts, developing equipment specifically for controlled environment agriculture.
What defines a purpose-built HVACD system?
"Purpose-built means specifically designed and built for indoor agriculture, which is a very rigorous application running 24/7 year-round," says Chip Seidel, technical specialist at Desert Aire.
The company says that its systems are designed to control temperature, humidity and airflow with precision to maintain optimal environmental conditions for plant growth. Unlike conventional units, they're calibrated to handle rapid fluctuations in moisture and heat associated with multi-tiered vertical farms.
VPDsync: Keeping temperature and humidity in sync
A key feature of Desert Aire's systems is VPDsync, a proprietary control system that synchronizes cooling and moisture removal to maintain stable vapor pressure deficit (VPD). "Our system can ramp up and down both cooling and moisture removal capacity to ensure that we don't overshoot setpoints but rather maintain stable, smooth control," Seidel explains.
Desert Aire describes VPDsync as a "plant-centric" system that manages temperature, humidity, airflow, and sensible heat ratio in an integrated manner. The company notes that VPDsync enables tight environmental control to support consistent plant growth throughout production cycles.
Managing moisture in multilayer environments
In vertical farms with multiple layers of crops, managing moisture levels becomes exponentially more complex. Each tier adds additional heat and humidity, increasing the risk of mold and fungal pathogens.
The company says that maintaining a stable VPD is important for plant transpiration and growth, and that the VPDsync system adjusts both temperature and humidity in tandem to minimize sudden spikes or drops that could stress plants.
The company also highlights the moisture-removal capacity of its systems, saying that its units can recover up to 347.1 lbs of water per hour. In a cannabis flower room, this translates to as much as 500 gallons of condensate per week during peak plant maturity.
Yield gains from tighter control
Seidel notes that customer feedback indicates significant yield improvements. "We frequently hear from customers who have recently upgraded their facility HVACD system with Desert Aire, with everything else left the same, experiencing 30 to 50 percent increased yields due to tighter VPD control," he says.
Green Sense Farms, an indoor producer of leafy greens, herbs, and lettuces, found that conventional air conditioning units and portable dehumidifiers weren't delivering the environmental stability required for consistent crop quality. The company turned to Desert Aire for a dedicated dehumidification solution tailored to indoor agriculture.
Desert Aire engineers collaborated directly with Green Sense Farms to implement VerticalAire-based systems across two indoor grow rooms totaling 20,000 square feet. The systems were calibrated to manage tight temperature and humidity setpoints, responding dynamically to daily shifts in environmental load. According to Desert Aire, the equipment was fine-tuned on-site and integrated with a building management system (BMS) that enabled real-time monitoring and control both on- and off-site.
"Through the Desert Aire system we control temperature and humidity and give the plants the perfect conditions they need to grow all year round," said Robert Colangelo, founding farmer and CEO of Green Sense Farms. "Desert Aire is fantastic at being able to size the equipment per the job and to be able to troubleshoot problems as they occur, and to help provide solutions for ongoing maintenance."
From system design to measurable results
As part of their performance review, Green Sense Farms conducted a chemical analysis of their crops, which showed that their indoor-grown produce matched or exceeded the nutritional value of field-grown or greenhouse-grown equivalents.
Desert Aire's approach to HVACD highlights the operational complexity of vertical farming and the need for consistent, responsive environmental control. Case studies like Green Sense Farms illustrate how equipment tailored to indoor agriculture helps support more stable growing conditions and improve process control at scale.
For more information:
Desert Aire
Paul Dybro, Marketing & Communications Specialist
[email protected]
https://www.desert-aire.com