Graduation Year

2017

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Ph.D.

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Degree Granting Department

Mechanical Engineering

Major Professor

Rasim Guldiken, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Alfonso M. Gañan-Calvo, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Nathan Crane, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Jose Porteiro, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Aydin Sunol, Ph.D.

Keywords

Air Assisted Nozzle, Broiler, Evaporative, Spray, Humidity Control

Abstract

Increases in population as well as economic improvements in developing countries are generating a larger demand for animal protein products. Current animal growth processes inherently, require the use of water in many forms throughout the growth cycle. Water is the most important natural resource on earth to sustain life, and in many developing countries is a scarce resource that must be used wisely. Studies have revealed that poultry growth can take place with less water consumption, when compared with other sources of animal protein (e.g., cattle, pork). In this research, an evaporative Flow Blurring® cooling system was considered as an alternative method for cooling in a full scale poultry (e.g., chicken) farm located near Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA.

Flow Blurring® is a very efficient pneumatic atomization process, currently used in evaporative cooling consumer products, chemistry instrumentation/analysis equipment, and in combustion investigations. In this dissertation, the Flow Blurring® cooling system was designed, manufactured, installed, and experimentally investigated. A custom control system (i.e., controls logic) was developed to run the sequence of actions required during the operation. Experimental results from the Flow Blurring® cooling system were compared to an existing Cool-Pad evaporative system the current standard in the poultry industry.

The implementation of this new evaporative cooling system resulted in a reduction of approximately 78% in water consumption (10,443 gallons) used for cooling, while the Flow Blurring® cooling system and Cool-Pad systems were concurrently in operation. The Flow Blurring® cooling system maintained comparable and/or enhanced environmental conditions (i.e., temperature and humidity). Power consumption was higher by 13% when compared to the existing cooling system. The results demonstrate the potential application of a Flow Blurring® cooling system in the poultry agricultural field.

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