Laboratory proposal for studies on poultry environment

Abstract

The goal of the present work was the instrumentation and validation of a laboratory equipped with a control system for air temperature (tair), relative air humidity (RH) and air velocity (V) to study the environment for small animals. An experimental was equipped with two air conditioners to manage basic tair and RH in order to work. Four wind tunnels, with partial recirculation of air were installed in the room. Each tunnel features two electric heaters and two humidifiers divided into two operation stages. The air velocity is manually controlled by potentiometers connected to exhaust fans. A system to acquire data and control climatic variables was installed in the laboratory and it consisted of a datalogger, a multiplexer channel, a relay controller , tair and RH sensors, sensors for measuring water temperature and digital helix anemometer to measure air velocity. The results showed that the system presented deviations of ± 0.19 °C, ± 0.75% and ± 0.05 m s-1 for tair, RH and V, respectively, when comparing the values measured inside the tunnels to those previously established (setpoints).