Description
The development of smart solar powered egg incubator based on IOT holds promise for sustainable agriculture and poultry farming, particularly in areas with limited access to reliable electricity, and the IOT ensures that human labour is drastically reduced. In this study, an incubator with an incandescent heat source for 4500 chicken eggs is developed and built. The incubator system’s Arduino microcontroller, through relays, manages the heaters, air circulation fans, and tray-turning mechanism. A 16×2 LCD panel shows the incubator’s current conditions, including temperature and humidity. The incubator system may be remotely monitored in real time with the help of the ESP32 CAM. The project aims to create an affordable, energy-efficient incubator that can be used in the hatchery process of eggs.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
COVER PAGE
TITLE PAGE
APPROVAL PAGE
DEDICATION
ACKNOWELDGEMENT
ABSTRACT
CHAPTER ONE
- INTRODUCTION
- BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT
- PROBLEM STATEMENT
- AIM AND OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT
- JUSTIFICATION/RELEVANCE OF THE PROJECT
- SCOPE OF THE WORK
- REPORT ORGANIZATION
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
- REVIEW OD THE STUDY
- HISTORITICAL BACKGROUND OF INCUBATOR
- INCUBATOR AND MEDICAL DISCOVERY OF THE PREMATURE INFANT
- REVIEW OF INCUBATOR (CULTURE)
- DIFFERENT CLASSES OF INCUBATOR
- RELATED WORKS
CHAPTER THREE
3.1 MATERIALS AND METHOD
CHAPTER FOUR
4.0 RESULTS AND TESTING
CHAPTER FIVE
- CONCLUSION
- RECOMMENDATION
REFERENCES
CHAPTER TWO
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Incubators have been in use for a very long period of which it has been used for numerous applications ranging from developing vaccines for deadly viruses to aiding in hatching chicken eggs. The Incubators have also been very helpful in molecular and cellular Biology experiments for medical advancements [1]. The Incubator has a chamber for regulating factors such as temperature, humidity, air renewal, egg turning, gas composition, and ventilation within that chamber [2]. The earliest incubators were used to keep chicken eggs warm and were discovered in Egypt and China.
As chicks could hatch from eggs without a hen sitting on them, the adoption of incubators changed food production and allowed chickens to produce more eggs faster [3]. Both early Egyptian and Chinese incubators were essentially large rooms heated by fires, where the operator turned the eggs at regular intervals to ensure even heat distribution. As time passed, other improvements were made to the incubator, like using wood stoves and a Reaumur thermometer to measure temperature [4]. The need for sustainable and environmentally friendly energy supply resources can never be overestimated for sustainability in poultry chick production. Such energy resource measures ought to be appealing, accessible, or replenished by nature, such as through the utilization of solar energy [5]. A special feature of solar-powered incubators is that they can harness solar energy using available materials and are adaptable to rural and urban poultry production [6]. Significant advantages of a solar- powered poultry egg incubator are that it could lead to a pollution-free environment, systems that are free from fire hazards, and the development of small, medium, to large- scale commercial incubators [7].
The available solar energy depends on the position of the sun, weather condition especially the clouds and location. Nigeria has significant biomass resources to meet both traditional and modern energy uses, including electricity generation. There has been a supply and demand gap as a result of the inadequate development and inefficient management of the energy sector. The supply of electricity, the country’s most used energy resource, has been erratic.
The rural areas, which are generally inaccessible due to the absence of good road networks, have little access to conventional energy such as electricity and petroleum products. The most suitable place for solar energy in Nigeria are the rural areas where there are difficult terrains, no easy access to fossil fuel energy source. Effective harnessing of solar radiation using solar energy technologies would enhance availability of energy for socio-economic activities and to improve the standard of livelihood of the people by harnessing it in the agricultural sector.
Although solar energy is available in abundance and free of charge, it is very discouraging to note that the initial capital cost of installing a solar powered system is very constraining. Such capital cost can only make sense if the running cost of the solar energy is so low as to lead to a high saving to repay the high initial capital cost in a reasonable period of time. This can only be achieved by having good knowledge of the amount of energy being tapped. This would help in deciding the location where the system should be installed to operate with the highest possible efficiency and lowest possible fabrication, installation and operation costs.
The IOT feature of this work ensures automatic control of the egg incubator ensuring that the system is controlled and monitored wirelessly.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
This work addresses the problem of the traditional incubator in that the operator is required to turn the eggs at regular time intervals and is also required to regulate the temperature of the incubator chamber. These actions require that an operator be always present to monitor the process, which might pose a problem. It seeks to construct an Automatic Egg Incubator, equipped with IoT capabilities for remote control and monitoring, thus, providing a means of checking the status of the eggs during the incubation period. In addition to improving the traditional incubator system, an alternative source of power (solar power) is provided for the system to solve the challenges of constant power supply.
1.3 AIM AND OBJECITVES OF THE STUDY
The aim of this work is to build a smart solar powered egg incubator based on IOT. The objectives of the work are:
The objectives of this project include to:
- Design a smart solar powered egg incubator based on IOT prototype.
- Fabricate a low cost incubator which is being monitored and controlled wirelessly
- Hatch eggs in a clean environment devoid of any energy related pollution
- Encourage the youth to venture into agriculture (poultry farm), small and large scale
1.4 JUSTIFICATION/RELEVANCE OF THE PROJECT
The purpose of this project mainly is to construct an incubator system that will be powered by energy from sunlight through the use of solar power equipment, and at the same time monitored and controlled wirelessly. Most important, with our project we intend improving the process of hatching egg and also create an environment that is free from pollution and good for incubating egg. This project will help to fast track meeting the protein needs of the country and the world using locally available materials. It will equally motivate youth’s t venture into agriculture (poultry farming) in small and large scale.
1.5 SCOPE OF THE WORK
The scope of this work covers building smart solar powered egg incubator based on IOT prototype. The device is built around Arduino microcontroller, through relays, manages the heaters, air circulation fans, and tray-turning mechanism. A 16×2 LCD panel shows the incubator’s current conditions, including temperature and humidity. The incubator system may be remotely monitored in real time with the help of the ESP32 CAM..
1.6 REPORT ORGANIZATION
This report presents the combination of various chapters that contain the introduction, literature review, methodology, result and discussion and the last chapter is a conclusion and recommendation of the project.
Chapter 1 is an introduction of the project. In this chapter, we will explain the background and objectives of the project. The concept of the project and the overall overview of the project also will be discussed in this chapter.
Chapter 2 focuses on the literature review of smart solar powered egg incubator based on IOT.
Chapter 3 will explain the methodologies of the project. The project development consists of three parts which are mechanical design, hardware design and software design.
Chapter 4 discusses all the results obtained and the discussion of the project. Chapter 5 captures the conclusion and recommendation of the project.
CHAPTER FIVE
5.1 CONCLUSION
In the construction of an automatic incubator, the heat transfer properties of an incubator cabinet were investigated. The materials, size, and other equipment were chosen after researching the incubator’s reference characteristics. Using a mercury thermometer and the reference value Testo 625, the accuracy of the measuring devices was evaluated [9]. Both the temperature sensor error and the humidity sensor error were less than 1.1% and 5.3%, respectively. This demonstrates the accuracy of the sensors utilized as reliable instruments and the effectiveness of the measurement strategy used in the incubator’s development. This study uses less energy and does not necessitate the constant presence of the operator. It was centred on the design, building, and performance evaluation of an autonomous turning egg incubator. If the device is successful, it will promote chicken farming nationwide and abroad.
5.2 RECOMMENDATIONS
The device has been designed, tested and system was able to respond to its operation. This work was built with quality wiring and contains many connections, I recommend that if failure occur, it should be troubleshoot by a qualify personnel along with the circuits diagram.
Working on this topic as my project is a good idea and it comes at the right time. I am suggesting that this particular topic should also be given to other students both in higher and lower class.
