DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF DIGITAL INCUBATOR
ABSTRACT
The digital incubator is a microcontroller based temperature control and monitoring system, it is a workable digital incubator expected to keep the se-mounding of chicken at a required temperature by decreasing the resistance on the temperature increases and increasing the resistance when the temperature has falling beyond reference voltage. The study was conducted to design and construct a digital egg incubator that will keep chicken and babies at a required temperature when they are delivered prematurely especially as it applies to babies. It is used to keep them warm. The system is designed to incubate different types of eggs, having a user-friendly interface to set the temperature range for its operation. The temperature is monitored by a digital thermometer DS1820 and controlled by a microcontroller AT89S52 embedded with a software program which toggles it between high and low temperature. The egg roller is a mechanical part needed to roll the eggs at intervals, to ensure proper development of embryos in the eggs. The incubator will help the agricultural industry to increase productivity in poultry production. It is automatic and user friendly; it reduces the stress of monitoring and ensures maximum productivity. It is able to incubate different types of eggs, thus reducing the cost of acquiring different types of incubator. The prototype incubator constructed has been able to achieve the aims and objectives of the research albeit with modifications. The incubator temperature does not have to be repeatedly adjusted by the staff. Therefore, the infant can be maintained at a constant temperature which results in the best possible weight gain.
CHAPTER ONE
1.1 Introduction
An incubator is a device simulating avian incubation by keeping eggs warm and in the correct humidity, and if needed to turn them, and to hatch them. Modern incubators are electrically heated with a thermostat. The temperature within an incubator must be precisely maintained within certain limits for optimum growth of the egg. Also the egg has to be periodically tilted every four hours to avoid the setting of the yolk. The need for hatching of poultry eggs in large quantity is rising very fast, thus posing a challenge to the technologist/engineers to design a very reliable device which can facilitate the rate of chick production. This is the basis for artificial incubation of eggs. Incubator has variety of applications but it has only one meaning, incubator is an apparatus consist of a box designed to maintain a constant temperature by the use of a thermoctal or thermictor; used for chicks or premature infants.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
Since the 1930s, the poultry industry has become one of the most efficient producers of protein for human consumption. It rapidly expanded during World War II because of the shortage of beef and pork, which require a much longer time to develop; only seven weeks are required to produce a broiler and five months to produce a laying hen (Singh, 1990). More recently, in response to public concern over dietary fat, poultry has however becomes a popular substitute for beef, pork and other dairies.
The most vital factors of incubation are constant temperature and humidity which has to be maintained over a period of days. Naturally, this process is carried out by the animal either by laying on it called brooding or burying it under the ground using geothermal heat or the heat generated from rotting vegetation, earth and other material, created to form a giant compost heap (Brinsea, 2014). The humidity around the egg is also critical; if the air is too dry the egg will lose too much water to the atmosphere, which can make hatching difficult or impossible. As incubation proceeds, the egg will normally become lighter, and the air space within the egg will normally become larger, owing to evaporation from the egg. In order to ensure proper hatching of the eggs, adequate humidity is necessary (Abiola et. al., 2008).
There are different kinds of egg incubation based on source of energy namely; charcoal, kerosene, electricity and solar. They can also be based on the capacity and mode of air circulation namely; still air incubator and forced air incubator, and cooling like trio cell, however, they can be classified into two distinct types in the market, namely the hot tank and the hot air machine. Each of these incubators has their peculiar problems which have actually limited their affordability, efficiency or reliability. The focus of this paper is the electric/ battery heated incubator, the essential factor which enhances hatchability of the egg. Thorough studies of the design, construction and operation of existing ones have been carried out, so that the inherent problems of the existing incubator are solved or greatly minimized.
With the development in agricultural sector and its commercialization, this natural incubation process cannot keep pace with the vast increase in the population of the world that has led to increased demand for food. In order to increase food production to sustain the growing population, devices and systems that can aid agricultural productions are of paramount importance. One of such devices is the Egg Incubator. An Egg Incubator is a device that provides constant temperature and humidity for the egg under incubation through hatching, invariably taking up the job of an animal over a specific period of days.
In the business world, an incubator is an enterprise that is set up to provide office space, equipment, and sometimes mentioning assistance and capital to new businesses that are just getting stated (the tem is familiar in poetry farming, where an incubator is a specially – equipped home for baby chickens) business incubators are set up by universities, non-profit groups, and increasingly by venture capitalists, especially for new web businesses.
Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to design and construct a digital egg incubator.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation revealed that there are different kinds of egg incubation based on source of energy namely; charcoal, kerosene, electricity and solar. They can also be based on the capacity and mode of air circulation namely; still air incubator and forced air incubator, and cooling like trio cell, however, they can be classified into two distinct types in the market, namely the hot tank and the hot air machine. Each of these incubators has their peculiar problems which have actually limited their affordability, efficiency or reliability.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to design and construct a digital egg incubator that will keep chicken and babies at a required temperature when they are delivered prematurely especially as it applies to babies. It is used to keep them warm. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To construct an egg incubator that will provide automatic temperature and humidity control.
- To design an incubator that will provide an input keyboard and LCD display, the input keypad will be used to input and select data when operating the device, whereas the LCD will display the output to ensure proper monitoring.
1.5 Significance of Study
The incubator temperature does not have to be repeatedly adjusted by the staff. Therefore, the infant can be maintained at a constant temperature which results in the best possible weight gain.
The relevance of Electronics as a unique branch of science cannot be over emphasized Electronic as its history might have it is divided into two periods. The first began with the invention of the vacuum tube, the second, occupying the later half of the twentieth century in based on the invention of the transistor.
This study will be of immense benefit to academic students and other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.6 Scope of Study
The scope of the research is focused on the design and construction of digital egg incubator. This work is a closed incubator in which air is warmed by an electrical heater and then circulated through the incubator by a fan to heat the infant by convection. The temperature of the circulating air in the incubator can be adjusted automatically.
1.7 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection.
1.8 Organisation of Research Work
The various stages involved in the development of this project have been properly put into five chapters to enhance comprehensive and concise reading. In this project thesis, the project is organized sequentially as follows:
Chapter one of this work is on the introduction to a digital incubator. In this chapter, the background, significance, objective limitation and problem of a digital incubator were discussed.
Chapter two is on literature review of a digital incubator. In this chapter, all the literature pertaining to this work was reviewed.
Chapter three is on design methodology. In this chapter all the method involved during the design and construction were discussed.
Chapter four is on testing analysis. All testing that result accurate functionality was analyzed.
Chapter five is on conclusion, recommendation and references.
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 Literature Review
2.1 Introduction
The review of relevant literature is the main topic of this chapter. A literature review covers theoretical and methodological contributions to a certain issue in addition to the state of knowledge at the time of writing. It provides information about the state of the art in relation to the subject you are writing about. It examines the body of work on the chosen subject. The literature evaluation in this study comprises the …
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