Many domestic bird growers incubate eggs to help sustain
their flock over time. This user’s manual is designed to assist
those who wish to incubate small number of domestic poultry
eggs. The words "fertility" and "hatchability" are often used
incorrectly by small producers. A mother hen performs
hatching function at low efficiency [1]. And artificially, in an
incubator, a system which simulates the environmental
conditions required for such operation is used by poultry
farmers to do this operation within specified temperature and
relative humidity range. These ranges are between 36 – 39oC
and 50–70% respectively [2]. So as to maintain this
temperature range sustained heat supply is required.
In the most developing countries, the vast majority of poultry
farmers in the rural communities operate their farms on small
scale and/or even subsistence level. They often use a
collection of bush lamps and kerosene stoves to achieve the
heating requirements of the small hatcheries and brooders for
day-old chicks [3]. But the problems with these systems are
enormous. If we use fossil fuel, it produce toxic gases which
are harmful to eggs and poultry attendants. Electricity based
egg incubators are known to produce clean energy without
harmful effects on the environment but they are however
II. DESIGN OF POULTRY INCUBATOR
The block diagram of the proposed solar poultry incubator
is given below in figure 1. It consists of a PV panel which is
used to produce DC power from sunlight and the output
power from the panel is fed into the charge controller and
from there to the battery. The charge controller is used so as to
prevent the battery from getting overcharged and it has got a
blocking diode inside which prevents the flow of current from
battery to panel when the panel is not producing any power.
Relay is employed to interface the circuit with the grid. It is
essential to have grid supply so as to continue the incubation
process even when the panel is not able to produce power due
to lack of solar irradiation. Temperature controller is
employed so as to control the temperature inside the
incubator.
It is very essential to control the temperature inside the
incubator. If the temperature is less or more it will affect the
hatching efficiency. The temperature controller senses the
temperature inside the incubator and puts on the heater or the
fan according to the need.