Development and validation of a data logger for thermal characterization in laying hen facilities

Abstract

The environmental monitoring in animal facilities that includes collected data storage in a robust, practical and feasible way is a constant challenge. The aim of this study was to develop a reliable data logger for monitoring the air temperature and air relative humidity of aviaries and to assess the adequacy of the design using commercially available reference standard instruments. The experimental data logger was installed together with a commercial data logger, a mercury thermometer and a calibrated Vaisala HMP110 air relative humidity probe in a meteorological shelter. Linear regression analysis was performed with the collected air temperature and air relative humidity to develop calibration equations. The Nash-Sutcliffe Index and the relative error were calculated to validate the experimental data logger. The air temperature and the air relative humidity calibration equations presented Nash-Sutcliffe of 0.993 and -0.281 for the commercial data logger, and 0.913 and 0.932 for the experimental data. The mean relative error of the air temperature readings was 3 and 1% and for air relative humidity 5 and 20%, for the experimental and commercial logger, respectively. The experimental data logger reliably stored all collected data without error to the micro-SD card. The experimental data logger can be considered low-cost and sufficiently accurate for monitoring air temperature and air relative humidity in aviaries, presenting field performance very close to the commercial data logger for air temperature measurement, and better performance than the commercial data logger for the measurement of air relative humidity.

Air temperature, carbon dioxide, and ammonia assessment inside a commercial cage layer barn with manure-drying tunnels

“…This is due to the air flow coming from the evaporative cooling pads (tunnel ventilation inlet end), which were installed on the gable wall or/and both sidewalls in one end of the building, while fans were installed on the other end. Thus, continuous airflow from the evaporative cooling pads to the exhaust end was noted and provided air with uniform temperature along the width distribution of a poultry house ( Hui et al., 2016 , Freitas et al., 2018 , Freitas et al., 2019 ), with a linear increase from bird heat production ( Gates et al., 1992 ).…”

Mapping of the Thermal Microenvironment for Dairy Cows in an Open Compost-Bedded Pack Barn System with Positive-Pressure Ventilation

“…For processing and recording the collected data, the mesh was divided into 11 collection lines (CLs), composed of 5 sensors and a data collection and recording module. Each of the 11 data collection and recording modules consisted of an Arduino Uno R3 (ATmega328 microcontroller; 5.0 V supply voltage; 16 MHz clock speed; Atmel Corporation, San Jose, CA, USA) connected to a Data Logger Shield with RTC and SD Reader (SD card slot, integrated real-time clock DS1307; FAT16 or FAT32 card formatting; 3.3 V supply voltage; Dallas Semiconductor, Dallas, TX, USA) and a 16 × 2 LCD Display (I2C Backlight Blue, 5.0 V supply voltage; 4 or 8 bits communication; Beijing Qingyuan Innovation and Technology Development Co. Ltd., Shenzhen, China), according to the methodology adapted by Freitas et al [ 26 ]. The Data Logger Shield with RTC and SD Reader was used to control time and record data on an SD card, while the LCD display was used to visualize the date, time, t db , and RH data recorded.…”