Thermal-acoustic comfort index for workers of poultry houses using fuzzy modeling

Abstract

Thermal-acoustic comfort is considered an essential factor for the performance of industrial activities. As well as harm the health of the workers, environments outside the adequate conditions provoke losses in productivity. The objective of this work was to develop a system capable of evaluating and classifying the working environment in poultry houses. A working regime of 8 hours per day in a poultry house was simulated and the results provide support for the classification of the comfort level based on different climate and noise conditions. Two input variables were used: wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) and noise level (dB), and the correspondent output variable was the human welfare index (HWI). The results indicate that the proposed methodology is a promising technique for the determination of the level of thermal comfort endured by poultry house workers, capable of assisting in making decisions on control of the working environment.