Investigating Applicability of Evaporative Cooling Systems for Thermal Comfort of Poultry Birds in Pakistan

Abstract

In the 21st century, the poultry sector is a vital concern for the developing economies including Pakistan. The summer conditions of the city of Multan (Pakistan) are not comfortable for poultry birds. Conventionally, swamp coolers are used in the poultry sheds/houses of the city, which are not efficient enough, whereas compressor-based systems are not economical. Therefore, this study is aimed to explore a low-cost air-conditioning (AC) option from the viewpoint of heat stress in poultry birds. In this regard, the study investigates the applicability of three evaporative cooling (EC) options, i.e., direct EC (DEC), indirect EC (IEC), and Maisotsenko-cycle EC (MEC). Performance of the EC systems is investigated using wet-bulb effectiveness (WBE) for the climatic conditions of Multan. Heat stress is investigated as a function of poultry weight. Thermal comfort of the poultry birds is calculated in terms of temperature-humidity index (THI) corresponding to the ambient and output conditions. The heat production from the poultry birds is calculated using the Pederson model (available in the literature) at various temperatures. The results indicate a maximum temperature gradient of 10.2 °C (MEC system), 9 °C (DEC system), and 6.5 °C (IEC systems) is achieved. However, in the monsoon/rainfall season, the performance of the EC systems is significantly reduced due to higher relative humidity in ambient air.

Experiments on Energy-Efficient Evaporative Cooling Systems for Poultry Farm Application in Multan (Pakistan)

“…To achieve the desired conditions for poultry, many cooling systems have been developed and thus controlled air-conditioning has become necessary. Air conditioning systems specifically evaporative cooling pads alone, or in combination with nozzles are studied in literature [19,20,29,30]. Figure 4 illustrates the schematic of a typical EC-based poultry air-conditioning.…”

“…For poultry birds, thermal environment is of prime significance. The optimal mixture of temperature and relative humidity gives Air-conditioning happens to be an integrated process which transports the ambient air into the conditioned space with optimal parameters of thermal environment for the occupants [19,20,29,31]. In this way, it controls and maintains the temperature, relative humidity, and air movement, in the conditioned space within the predetermined limits either for thermal comfort or product processing.…”

“…Sustainability 2021, 13, x FOR PEER REVIEW 7 of 23 system is indicated by wet-bulb and dew-point effectiveness [31]. In this system, ambient air is directly brought in contact with water stream to lower down the temperature and increase relative humidity [19,20,29,31,42].…”

Study on Zero Energy Evaporative Cooling Chamber for Agricultural Products Storage

“…A large amount of the products, we are wasting every year because spoilage takes place immediately just after harvesting [7]. Moreover, various studies provided by the authors regarding low-cost evaporative cooling systems for various applications and food security challenges are available in literature [8][9][10][11][12]. Refrigeration is one of the preservation methods to provide cooling to agricultural products.…”

Temperature and Humidity Control for the Next Generation Greenhouses: Overview of Desiccant and Evaporative Cooling Systems

“…Figure 11.Experimental setup of the IEC and MEC systems, developed by the authors, reproduced from[17].…”