SUN PAPA Solar Greenhouse
INTRODUCTION
SUN PAPA was a team project designed for the ENME 519.01 Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Renewable Energy course during the Shantou group study program.
“The world needs to produce at least 50% more food to feed 9 billion people by 2050. But climate change could cut crop yields by more than 25%.” (World Bank, 2016)
Food security is becoming a major issue, especially in China, where the population exceeds 1.4 billion and crop yields are reduced due to pollution and land redevelopment. SUN PAPA is a solar-powered smart greenhouse that automatically maintains optimal conditions for crop growth.
FEATURES
• Completely solar powered
• Automatically controls interior temperature, lighting, air quality, and humidity
• Modular structure, easily scalable
• Adaptable for different environments and crops
• Efficient use of materials, reliable electronics
TEAM
Our team consisted of six students from the University of Calgary and Shantou University. Our company was called Suntury.

Zeyu – Chief Executive Officer – Engineering and design of mechanical and electrical components.
Gavin – Chief Operating Officer – Day-to-day operations of Suntury. Assist in implementation of components.
Susan – Chief Financial Officer – Finances, market analysis, price estimations.
Elsa – Chief Production Officer – Assembling the product, programming of microcontrollers.
Ming – Project Manager – Assembling the product, price estimations and projections.
Dora – Chief Design Officer – Design of logos, design fair poster, and brochure. Marketing.
REQUIREMENTS
We had a total of one month to complete our design. This included preliminary analysis, documentation, working prototype, and marketing material. The time for building the prototype was restricted to one week and the budget for materials was 750RMB (CAD150).
The completed project included eight parts:
1. Reverse engineering of existing products
2. Preliminary designs
3. Patent search
4. Bill of materials and cost estimate
5. CAD drawings and circuit schematic
6. Breakeven analysis
7. Business plan
8. Poster and brochures
We started by researching existing solar technologies and learning DFA/DFM techniques. After a lot of brainstorming, we designed the mechanical structure and electrical control system, taking part selection, placement, and coherence into careful consideration.