Progress Report on USDA Special Grant
by Roberto Munilla, 12/17/2009
Poultry Production Simulation Laboratory Project Description
This project is directed towards the design and development of a 9 chamber laboratory complex that can,
on demand, accurately simulate conditions typical of those observed in commercial broiler production
environments. This will require simultaneous monitoring and closed-loop control of each chamber’s air
temperature, particulate and gaseous concentrations, relative humidity, flow rate and air speed over the
birds.
The chamber complex includes two, six-modular chamber systems (9 chambers total) where two minitunnel systems may be created. The chamber unit design is modular, light-weight, re-configurable, high
R-value, and easy to sterilize. Units can be ganged together into short tunnels or used singly. The
modular wall panels allow for repositioning of ventilation ducts to create different flow regimes. These
chambers will in effect be small scale, reconfigurable, wind tunnels that can provide small bird flocks
(80birds/unit) with a stable environment in spite of variations in outdoor conditions, bird size or behavior.
Depending upon ambient weather conditions and energy consumption required to operate the system
under the controlled conditions, the modular chamber system may easily be configured in either a flowthrough mode or recirculation mode. The designs of the modular chambers are illustrated in the figures
1&2.
The closed-loop control of this facility will require the selection, installation and maintenance of “state of
the art” air quality sensors and data acquisition and control equipment.
Figure 1. Broiler production environmental chamber schematic: flow-through mode
Figure 2. Broiler production environmental chamber schematic: recirculation mode
Project completion will require the design and fabrication of the following components
(please see figure above for definition of each component):
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9 Core Chambers
104 Core Chamber Wall Panels
9 Turnabout Ducts
14 Collimating Cabinets with 8 Filtering/Collimating Cassettes per cabinet
9 Conditioning Chambers with 2 Heat Exchangers and 1 Humidifier Stations per chamber
9 Feed and Water Delivery Arrays
Installation/programming/calibration of the following support components will also be required:
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9 Blowers (modify & install)
1 Water Heater (install)
1 Water Chiller (install)
208v three phase blower and chiller power line circuit
Coolant and water line plumbing layout
9 blower Variable frequency drives units
9 PLC controllers with actuator and sensor circuits
Accomplishments to date (Dec., 2009):
(Last six items in bold italics have been accomplished post 01July 09)
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Miscellaneous repairs and building maintenance, 10% of manpower ongoing
Installed fume hood, DI unit, and wireless system
Procured and stored all supplies & equipment for 6+ chambers
Procured, repaired & installed all tools & machinery needed for fabrication.
Designed and fabricated prototype core chamber.
Designed, fabricated & tested 4 prototype collimating screens
Designed & fabricated 1 prototype filter cassette (90% complete)
Implemented variable speed drive blower control
Designed & fabricated a 32 foot wind tunnel for testing filters & collimators.
Designed & fabricated 9 prototype wall panels for prototype core chamber
Designed & fabricated prototype turnaround duct unit (70% complete)
Comments:
Completion of the prototype filter cassette is pending delivery and installation of the filter media. The
variable speed blower control is currently in use with the wind tunnel and directly applicable to the
prototype chamber work.