Priyanka V. Shingane et al. / International Journal of Engineering Science and Technology (IJEST)
Embedded System Controlled Artificial Environment for Effective and Perfect Commercial Egg Incubation Priyanka V. Shingane #1, Rohit S. Dhamal*2, Trupti H. Nagrare#3 #
Computer Science & Engineering, Nagpur University, G. H. R.C.E., Digdoh Hills,SPRF Gate No. 03 Hingana Rd, Nagpur, INDIA *
Department of Biomedical Technology, Amravati University, B.N.C.P.E., Waghapur Road, Yavatmal, INDIA
#
Computer Science & Engineering, Nagpur University, G. H. R.C.E., Digdoh Hills,SPRF Gate No. 03 Hingana Rd, Nagpur, INDIA
[email protected] *
[email protected] [email protected]
1
Abstract— Developing countries like India, Philippines and Malaysia have farmers who are able to breed small number of poultry, but unable to tap into the more production and profitable market of artificial breeding. Modern incubators have developed with the advent of temperature controlled thermostats and humidity. But, poor designs and inaccuracy in circuitry precision has led to decline in profits and increase in maintenance costs. This project aims at developing an embedded system based incubator to increase precision with error control and improving the design of present incubators. An important concern is also the cost of development and maintenance. Keywords Setter
— Incubation, Temperature, Humidity, Hatcher,
I.
INTRODUCTION
Incubators have been around for more than three thousand years in Egypt. In the 19th century, modern incubators developed with the advent of temperature controlled thermostats. Smilor and Gill (1986) defined the business incubator as a place that maintained and controlled conditions for the cultivation of a small or medium sized enterprise (SME). Wellmanaged incubators, not only make growth more affordable, they aid in establishing realistic milestones through graduated rent structures; they help in the creation of a polished professional image, they provide business consulting assistance and networking facilities [1] [2] [3]. Correct incubation conditions are important for proper developing and hatching of eggs. The required conditions vary considerably between species. Minor deviations in temperature may lead to changes in the incubation period, while greater changes may cause failure to develop or hatch, or result in weak chicks. Generally, breeding birds incubates only one or a few eggs,
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whereas many more eggs can be incubated in an artificial incubator. However very precise control and attention is necessary for best results. Accurate control of temperature and humidity are vitally important in artificial incubator. Cleanliness is also equally important [5]. Most modern incubators are electric, though oil and gas incubators do exist. Incubators vary greatly in size and may be still air or forced air type, and may or may not include automatic egg turning. All incubators also require added water to provide uniform humidity. This is provided in the form of water trays or soaked foam [6]. A. Temperature and Humidity Temperature is the most important factor when artificial incubation is carried out. The biological temperature demand is 370C, which is practically impossible to maintain in an incubator [6]. The temperature too high may be lethal and even a rise of 1-1.50C, may cause embryo death. Incorrect temperatures also affect hatching; with early hatching, if temperature is slightly high and late if temperature is slightly low [5]. Humidity is the second factor required to be monitored. Humidity levels needed for proper incubation lie between 80-90%, depending upon the age of the egg and the growth phase. Earlier stage up to 18th day requires 83-85% humidity. It has been observed that if the humidity is less than required, the development is poor and the embryo body sticks to the shell. When the humidity is high the newly born chicks seem to be wet [7]. This is not a problem but if the humidity falls too low then the chicks may die out, since the heat produced by their metabolism cannot be dissipated out properly [4]. In an
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electric incubator heating is done by single heating element. Heat distribution is a major problem of such system. Also the humidity is checked by dry bulb and wet bulb thermometer. This system is less accurate and moreover it requires a lot of maintenance. Water from such unit has to be replaced regularly and distilled water has to be used which is a costly issue for small breeders. Central heating causes a temperature gradient to be formed in the incubator which is harmful to the embryos. The embryos near the heating element receive more heat as compared to distant ones [6]. B. Egg Turning Egg tuning is done with hand or automatically by an egg turner. Turning ensures proper mixing of the albumin contents. Turning is to be done several times a day clockwise and anticlockwise alternatively. Continual rotation in the same direction may lead to problems such as twisting of chalazae, rupture of the yolk sac or rupture of blood vessels in the embryo. The automatic turner rotates all the eggs at one time but utilizes more energy [4] [8]. C. Ventilation
MATERIAL AND METHODS
A. Proposed Design The design proposed here is for a forced air incubator with a size of about 5000 eggs/week. The incubator is mounted in a well ventilated room whose temperature is also monitored. The temperature of the room is not allowed to rise too high or fall too low of the incubator temperature. The setter and the hatchers are separate compartments of a single incubator. A separate water tank is provided below the
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B. Temperature The temperature is maintained with the help of multiple heating elements and air blowers. The multiple heating elements are independent of each other and a central heating element is operated manually. This ensures that the eggs near the heating element do not receive intense heat. A central blower blows air throughout the working area. In case the temperature of the surrounding rises too high as in summer, cooling is achieved by cooling swamps placed in front of the ventilator. Water circulates slowly over the swamps. C. Humidity
Developing embryos require flow of air to provide oxygen and remove carbon dioxide. Rigid trays with open mesh are used for this purpose. This is problematic for commercial hatcheries where eggs are overcrowded. Hence large vents are used in some incubators but this causes heat loss and increase in the maintenance costs. II.
incubator to fulfill water requirements. A small square opening top is provided from the setter section to the tank, which is partially opened and closed to maintain humidity. The parameters of operation are controlled by multiple heaters, blowers, swamps and water pumps. Error control including reset and indicative alarms are provided for convenience. Some of the advantages of the proposed design over the traditionally used incubators are mentioned in the table.1.
Humidity is measured by capacitive type of humidity sensor. When the humidity falls below the threshold, water is circulated around the corners of the incubator and if the humidity falls too low, when the door is opened, then water is sprayed on the floor through very fine needles. This spraying is done by manual control. D. Egg Turning and ventilation Since turning of eggs is important eggs are turned a single half turn clockwise and counterclockwise alternatively every hour. The turning assemblies are the cylindrical egg holding trays mounted on a motor at one end. Individual motor is provided for each tray. This reduces the load on relays and enables the unit to be run on battery power. Ventilation is provided from the lower end as well as the upper end of both setter and hatchers to ensure a proper distribution of temperature and humidity. It is done with the help of small ventilation fans.
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Feature
Heating
Existing System Semi automatic Central
Proposed System Automatic / manual Distributed
Cooling
--
Multiple swamps
Power consumption Egg rotation
High
Low
Error control
Whole system simultaneous Absent
Individual system for each tray Software and alarm for each sensor and parameter
Troubleshooting
Absent
Easy
Emergency back-up power
Generator only
Generator, inverter, solar panels
System maintenance
Labor demanding
Minimal labor, easily serviceable
System size
Individual Setter and Hatcher
Single partitioned compartment for Setter and Hatcher
Cost
Very high initially and maintenance
Lower than existing systems and easily available serviceable parts
System Control
Table 1. Evaluative Comparison of the Existing and Proposed System
E. Circuitry and Programming AVR Atmega32 is the microcontroller used to control on board and off board peripherals.
ISSN : 0975-5462
Manual control for central motor and pump motor is provided. The whole unit is powered from AC mains and backup system can also be provided. The Program is coded in ‘C’ and ‘WinAVR’ is to be used for simulation. Appropriate relays are to be used wherever necessary.
III.
CONCLUSION
The proposed design is condensed model of the present day incubators. Present day incubators use different instruments for setting and hatching. This increases the costs of maintaining to different instruments. In the proposed design the Setter and Hatcher are two compartments of the same instrument. The setter is the upper part while the Hatcher is the lower part. This is because the lower ventilators provide cool air and more humidity as the water tank is situated below the Hatcher. The Hatcher also requires more oxygen and humidity as compared to the developing eggs. As the air gets depleted of oxygen it also gets heated and rises up towards the Hatcher. The upper ventilator provides fresh oxygen rich air, which is driven upwards by a fan into the setter chamber while heating it from a heater. This maintains humidity in the setter also. This reduces the maintenance cost and cost of operating two separate units. The height provided to the incubator maintains even temperature and since the air volume is high the temperature can be maintained for longer periods in case of power failure. The egg turners are removable steel trays, which makes it easy to clean the trays and equipment can be cleaned by fumigation with formaldehyde. The heaters, motors and pump used in the incubators are of low wattage so that the unit can be operated from emergency backup systems like inverters and UPS. Solar modules can also be used. The motors in the egg turner are low wattage and operated serially one after the other controlled by controller, which does not cause too much of power to be consumed at one time. There is error control and alarms for failure in the parts. There is also a manual override for emergencies. There is a separate provision for
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cooling in the incubator, which is required when the temperature of the surrounding is much higher than the incubator. Also humidity control is done to drain off the excess humidity. With all the modules made available due use of a microcontroller, the system is expected to provide optimum conditions and best results during all seasons. In future the instruments can be modified to run on inverters, solar or wind power since the power requirement of the instruments at one time is quite low. This is helpful for the rural breeders, where there is a frequent power cut. Also the equipment uses easily serviceable parts. This is very convenient for the rural areas. There is a special ease of use design for cleanliness. The material used here is stainless steel, which is suitable for steaming of the instrument. With all the features and facilities in the instrument, we expect that it overcomes the present day challenges of egg incubation and also be able to withstand future improvements in breeding Technology. IV.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
[4] S. S. Abiola, A. O. Afolabi2 and O. J. Dosunmu, “Hatchability of chicken eggs as influenced by turning frequency in hurricane lantern incubator” African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 7 (23), pp. 4310-4313, 3 December, 2008. [5] T.K. Hansen and I.B. Falk-PETERSEN “Effects of egg disinfection and incubation temperature on early life stages of spotted wolfish”, Aquaculture International 9: 333–344, 2002, Netherlands. [6] J. Murphy and A. Shekar, “Need-Based Product Development Targeted at Export Markets: Some Challenges and Lessons Learned”, by 1-4244-0148-8/06/$20.00c 2006 IEEE. [7] N. A. French, “Modeling Incubation Temperature: The Effects of Incubator Design, Embryonic Development, and Egg Size” United Kingdom. [8] R.K. Bhabra-Remedios, B. Cornelius “Cracks in the Egg: improving performance measures in business incubator research”, A paper for the Small Enterprise Association of Australia and New Zealand 16th annual Conference, Ballarat, 28 Sept-1 Oct, 2003. [9] B C Roy, H Ranvig, S D Chowdhury, M M Rashid and M R Faruque, “Production of day-old chicks from crossbred chicken eggs by broody hens, rice husk incubator and electric incubator, and their rearing up to 6 weeks”, Livestock Research for Rural Development 16 (3)2004. [10]Surehatchhttp://www.surehatch.com/egg-incubationinfo.htm #generalincubationtips, Aquaculture International 9: 333–344, 2001
Since the beginning of the project it was a big challenge to complete the project in time. We are very much thankful to Mr. Mardikar from Adroit industries and Mr. Kulkarni from Zero Systems, who guided us well regarding the hardware components and ‘C’ Programming for our controller. We are also very thankful to the egg hatchery center Nagpur, for their guidance on market scope of this project. Last but not the least we thank all those who have directly or indirectly helped us in making this project a success.
References [1]Schermerhorn.J.R, “Interfirm cooperation as a resource for small business development.” Journal of Small Business Management, 18 (2): 48-54. [2] Birley, S., “The role of networks in the entrepreneurial process.” Journal of Business Venturing, (1) 1: 107-118. [3] Merrifield, D.B. (1987). New Business Incubators, Journal of Business Venturing, 2: 277-284
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