Experimental Study of Temperature and Humidity Variations in an Incubator Fitted with a Flat-Plate Collector

Abstract

In Burkina Faso, where livestock farming is widely practiced, particularly in rural areas without access to electricity, solar energy offers a viable alternative due to the country’s abundant sunshine. To support poultry farmers in increasing their production, we developed a solar-powered incubator equipped with a flat-plate collector, requiring no grid electricity. This is a new approach that we want to experiment with because the incubators on the global market operate either with the electricity grid, photovoltaic, gas or oil and not a solar thermal concentrator. This solar concentrator represents the heat source of the device during the day. We plan to look for rocks with high thermal inertia in order to heat them during the day using another flat solar concentrator and then introduce them into the incubator at night to continue the incubation process. In 2022, we conducted a simulation to study temperature variation inside the incubator. In this work, we built a prototype to experimentally evaluate key hydrothermal properties such as air temperature and humidity. Furthermore, we will not introduce rocks into the incubator overnight but will let the system run overnight to see how the hygrothermal properties vary. The findings revealed temperature fluctuations from 25˚C to 65˚C, instead of the desired 36˚C to 38˚C, and humidity levels ranging from 15% to 57%, instead of the target 55% to 75%. Solutions have been proposed to enhance the system’s performance.