Towards the Development of a SMART Photovoltaic-Powered Temperature Controlled Poultry Egg Incubator

Ronaldo C. MaanoDoctor in Information Technology

Technological Institute of the Philippines (Manila)

Farming in the Philippines

4/23/2018 RONALDO C. MAANO 2

Source: Research and Development, and Extension Agenda and Programs 2016-2022

RDEAP for Poultry and Livestock Industry 2016-2022

4/23/2018 RONALDO C. MAANO 3

Challenges and Solution in Poultry Industry

One of the problems

mentioned in the Research

and Development and

Extension Agenda and

Programs for Poultry and

Livestock Industry 2016-2022

is the high cost of poultry

egg incubation.

4/23/2018 RONALDO C. MAANO 4

For sustainability in poultry

chick production, there is a

need for sustainable and

environmentally friendly energy

supply resource that should be

attractive and easy to come by

or renewed by nature for

example the use of solar

energy (Okwonko et al., 2012).

The Egg Incubation

Poultry egg incubation is

an activity that requires

sustainable energy supply

for efficient performance,

operation and profitability

(Okonkwo et al., 2012).

4/23/2018 RONALDO C. MAANO 5

Stages of Egg Incubation

4/23/2018 RONALDO C. MAANO 6

Days Development

1-3 blood circulation, head, brain and trunk of the embryo and heartbeat

4-5 Increased in size of “C”-shaped embryo and front “limbs” fingers

5-7 Brains in skull cavity, formation of beak and visible neck in embryo; front limbs have formation of fingers

8-9 Upper and lower beak; wings and legs

10-11 Chick; eyelids; feather follicles on back; egg tooth

12-13 Claws and leg scales; eyelid covers the cornea

14-16 Cover in entire body; head movies in pipping position under the right wing

17-18 Albumin; egg is removed from hatcher

19 Beak is against the inner shell membrane below the air cell

20 Yolk is absorbed; umbilicus closed; chick pierces the inner shell membrane

21 Uses wings as guide and legs

Source: The Science of Incubation, April/May 2015Source: (Lane & Gallardo, 2015)

Temperature as a Crucial Factor in Incubation

A crucial factor for incubation is the

maintenance of a constant

environmental temperature of

37.5 or 38 degrees Celsius directly

associated with the egg

hatchability (Noiva, Menezes &

Peleteiro, 2014)

4/23/2018 RONALDO C. MAANO 7

Detection of Infertility in Egg

4/23/2018 RONALDO C. MAANO 8

Types of Poultry Egg Incubator

4/23/2018 RONALDO C. MAANO 9

STILL AIR INCUBATOR

• No Fan• With heating element• Uses a thermostat• With humidity or water pans at the bottom• The relative humidity is between 50% to 60%• Temperature ranges from 38.33 degree

Celsius to 38.89 degree Celsius

FORCED AIR INCUBATOR

• With Fan• Uses coil heating mechanism• With humidity pan• Relative Humidity is 50% - 60%• Draft free room with fresh air• Temperature ranges from 37.22 degree

Celsius to 37.78 degree Celsius

Objectives of the Study

The main focus of the research is on the development of a solar-powered temperature controlled poultry egg incubator.

4/23/2018 RONALDO C. MAANO 10

Methodology

The incremental development approach allows constructing working parts of the hardware and software in incremental stages where each step through the cycle incorporates a little more of the intended functionality.

4/23/2018 RONALDO C. MAANO 11

Embedded System

4/23/2018 RONALDO C. MAANO 12

The development of the prototype is an embedded system in nature that involves the process of transforming the requirements into a working system taking into consideration hardware and software components in a unified way.

(Source: https://embedded.technology/hardware-design/hardware-product-development-process/)

Hardware Product Development Process

Design of the System

4/23/2018 RONALDO C. MAANO 13

The solar-based poultry incubator is composed of the egg incubation chamber equipped with temperature control system and a power supply.

System Architecture

4/23/2018 RONALDO C. MAANO 14

Egg Incubation Chamber

4/23/2018 RONALDO C. MAANO 15

The egg incubation chamber of the study consists of trays, capable of handling 50 to 100 chicken eggs with each tray housing 25 to 50 eggs.

Egg trays with tilting mechanism will be placed on the first two-layer while the temperature control unit is on the top layer of the incubator.

Power Supply Unit

4/23/2018 RONALDO C. MAANO 16

Solar photovoltaic system technology will be utilized to convert the sunlight into an electric charge.

The collected charge from the solar panel is then transferred to an output terminal through wiring to produce between 6 to 24 DC voltage (Kisaalita et al., 2010)

Components in the temperature control system will be powered by the PV system and they are the heater, fan, and an electric motor and all are electrical components.

TotalPower=PHTH+PFTF+PMTM

Temperature and

Humidity Sensor

Temperature Control System

4/23/2018 RONALDO C. MAANO 17

Microcontroller

Relay

Heater

DC

Motor

Fan

Simulation Circuit of the Temperature Control System using Proteus

4/23/2018 RONALDO C. MAANO 18

Conclusion and Future Work

4/23/2018 RONALDO C. MAANO 19

The study is developed to assist the poultry farmers in technological perspective, to significantly increased their productivity.

A small scale embedded systems designed with a single microcontroller have simplified the construction of the temperature control circuit.

The prototype is realized in simulation using Proteus software.

The optimum incubation temperature is defined and identified between 370C and 380C respectively.

Sensors and actuators as part of the model made up the Sensing Actuation-Power Management Tier, all connected to the microcontroller unit.

A follow-up study is ongoing to incorporate an automatic egg detection unit using spectral analysis methodology.

4/23/2018 RONALDO C. MAANO 20