We hereby declare that the work presented in this project is the outcome of the investigation and research work carried out by us under the guidance of Md. We also declare that no part of this project and thesis has been or is being submitted elsewhere for the award of any degree. We are also grateful to all our thesis and project work team from SU for their help in constructing the project work and giving their valuable knowledge and time to complete the experiment.
Finally, we would like to thank everyone who supported us in any way for the completion of the thesis. One of the main objectives of any government in any economy is to ensure food security for its citizens. This project AUTOMATIC EGG INCUBATOR focuses on improving the production of poultry birds by setting the required environmental condition for the development of the embryo and possible hatching of the eggs.
LIST OF PLATES
LIST OF TABLES
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
These factors are very difficult to maintain, this makes the process cumbersome and capable of lowering the farmer's morale and interest in the business. The use of manually or semi-automatically operated homemade incubator is not effective and efficient in overcoming this problem as most of the incubator used in Nigeria is manually operated which enables the farmer to place the eggs in a room with sufficient amount of natural sunlight and air is allowed to enter the room, which most often leads to high mortality. It can achieve automation of factors responsible for hatching the egg, with high hatching rate, which can serve as a means of self-employment in techno-entrepreneurship.
This system is designed to operate within a pre-defined temperature and humidity in a closed system, with this reading the system adjusts its operation by increasing or decreasing the fan speed, turning the bulb on and off, starting the water heater to generate water vapor and controlling how much water vapor needed in the surroundings, means to detect the water level and turn the egg tray either clockwise or counter-clockwise. However, this system is limited to hatching eggs only, it does not provide any chance of survival for the chick after the egg has hatched. Chapter three covers the project's methodology and the various component units used in the project.
CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW
Due to the inability of the Egyptians to develop a suitable model for the Europeans, this is now leading to the development of a more advanced incubator model that can provide the required temperature and humidity. This was due to the incubator incorporating electronic devices that are used for more accurate monitoring and control of the incubator system. 70.85%) for eggs turned twice a day, while late embryonic mortality was highest (66.65%) for eggs not turned at all, but hatched in all three zones of the egg.
6] did a research project on the performance evaluation of the egg incubation and hatching system with a view to developing a better incubation system that has the ability to hatch a large number of chicks at a time and at the same time achieve high hatchability. Depending on the desired time for hatching, the incubation time could be set according to the age and size of the eggs. The amount of water vapor present in the closed environment of the incubator system should not be so high as this can lead to piping.
The consequence of this is that the embryo sticks to the eggshell, as they tend to find a means of survival, thereby leading to the death of the underdeveloped embryo. Ventilation is achieved by making holes in the top of the incubator to allow outside air to enter the system. At the early stage of the incubation period, the egg is seen as an acidic environment as more and more oxygen flows into the environment and carbon dioxide is removed from the system. The pH of the egg rises.
The turning of the egg is of crucial importance for the development of the embryo inside the egg, this is because as the embryo develops they tend to stick to the egg shell and this can be prevented by periodic rotation of the egg tray. Each egg is placed in a cell designed not to allow complete rotation, as this would prevent a particular side of the egg from receiving sufficient heat than the other. General: generally this pin is usually connected to the ground of the source we use to power our circuit.
To convert stall torque to weight, we take the motor rating which is the stall torque in kilograms-centimeters and divide by the radius of the wheel in centimeters. The thickness of the foam is the same as that of the tray which is 0.5 cm and the bottom of the tray is perforated with small holes to allow proper passage of air into the egg cell. The Mega consists of more digital pins that help improve the capabilities of the board.
CHAPTER THREE
DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION
This is then passed to a capacitor configuration to improve the ripple factor effectively reducing the r.m.s ratio of the A.C component to the D.C component in the rectifier which is then passed to a voltage regulator (7812) and the output is used to drive the motor . The lighting unit contains 2 electric bulbs (60 watts) which are held firmly by a bulb holder on the wall of the incubator. Since there are 2 lamps we can achieve the 2N operation that can be, using both at the same time, or making one active and making the other inactive and vice versa depending on the area of the system we want to heat and finally , making two inactive [21].
A high-speed (48V) AC fan is located at the bottom of the incubator system to move water vapor upward throughout the system. The sensor unit is the heart of the system, as the success rate of the incubator depends on the incubation parameters, which must be monitored at regular intervals. The digital temperature and humidity sensor has two purposes, first it measures the ambient temperature.
This means that when the ambient temperature increases, the resistance of the thermistor decreases and based on this value, a relay is activated that controls other devices. Second, the DHT11 serves to measure the humidity of the environment, in this case the effective amount of water vapor circulating in the system. The ultrasonic sensor sends out a high-frequency sound wave and then calculates how long it takes for the echo of the sound to bounce back.
To measure the water level, the ultrasonic sensor emits a wave and detects the height of the water. The function of the insulation layer is to keep the indoor system at the desired temperature. This is the system's graphical user interface; It allows the user to check what is happening in the system without having to open the system.
After that, the output of the control section is then displayed on the LCD to display the internal activities of the system to the user. Two relays are used for the rotation of the motor, both clockwise and anti-clockwise, this is achieved by connecting the motor input to the common of the relay. The circuit diagram below illustrates the connections involved in actualizing the circuit.
CHAPTER FOUR
TESTING, RESULT AND DISCUSSION OF RESULT
Testing
This unit is the heart of the incubator system as it tells us about the internal activities of the system and the factors critical to our incubation depend on this unit. Connect the positive and negative of the DHT sensor to the 5V supply and ground while connecting the OUT pin to the digital pin of the microcontroller. Light a match and place close to the sensor to observe the rise in temperature, then dip a foam in water and place close to the sensor to observe any deviations in the humidity reading.
Place the ultrasonic sensor over a bowl filled with water, then take this distance measurement and initialize as the starting condition, then place half-filled and take the measurement, then place the most nearly empty or empty and record. Set the condition that the water is below half to warn the user that the water is almost empty by displaying “LOW WATER LEVEL” on the LCD. This unit is responsible for controlling the temperature and humidity of the system. It does this by varying the time the lamp and fan remain ON.
Connect two incandescent bulbs to one relay and two fans to the other relay. If the temperature is below the required temperature, the lamps are activated and left for some time until the temperature rises to the required temperature. When the temperature rises to the required temperature and above a tolerance, usually plus or minus 2 of the required temperature.
After testing all these different units individually, the full test was performed to determine the interoperability and performance of the system. From extensive research, data was obtained in the process of testing the incubator using two different set points which were during the day and during the night, tabulated as shown in the tables. It is important to note that the incubator system is programmed to maintain a temperature range of 36-37o C and humidity of 70-80%.
Discussion of result
CHAPTER FIVE
Conclusion
One of the major problems in implementing this in Nigeria is the fact that the electrical power supply is not stable. The incubator requires a constant power supply, so we strongly recommend integrating the system with an alternative power supply such as the solar system and/or a battery backup that can keep the incubator running for a few hours.
9] Stern, C D (1991), The sub-embryonic fluid of the domestic fowl and its relationship to the early development of the embryo.
