GR1009594B - Unit for the automatic control of the environmental conditions in stables - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a unit destined for the automatic control of the environmental conditions required for the good living of animals in stables. Said unit regulates the movement of the continuous openings of the stables in order to preserve the optimal climatic conditions therein; it ensures the proper living environment for animals what leads to the dynamic yield of these last. The invented method allows the regulation to a nicety of the living conditions of animals.

Description

Automatic Control Unit for Stable Facility Environmental Conditions (MAEPSSSE)

Description

The MAEPSSE unit (Unit for Automatic Control of Environmental Conditions of Stable Facility) is an automatic control system, whose purpose is to control and maintain ideal living conditions for the animals inside the stable facility that has been installed (figure 2 & 3).

With the use of specialized electronic sensors, it performs measurements on various basic components of the air both inside and outside the facility. These measurements give the unit the ability to make decisions and perform actions in order to keep the atmosphere in the facility as close as possible to the specifications requested by the operator (figure 3 & 4).

Until now the way to achieve good indoor air quality in a stable was to manually control the windows and fans of the stable. The evaluation of the state of the atmosphere inside the stable is done empirically and the whole process of keeping the atmosphere clean requires the presence of an experienced person in the area with knowledge of both handling his equipment, as well as experience in understanding and predicting the situation that prevails in the area.

Advantages

The field of activity of the MAEPSSE unit is to control and maintain the atmosphere inside the stable in the desired state without the need for human presence and by measuring the pollutants in the space accurately and not with estimates, resulting in an increase in the yields of lives.

MAEPSSE, consisting of the central unit (brain) and the peripheral sensors, continuously measures the basic components of the air inside the room, temperature, humidity, concentration of carbon dioxide, ammonia and methane, and the external conditions, air speed, direction air, temperature and humidity and makes decisions about whether or not to open the windows and turn on the stable fans so that the indoor atmosphere of the space is maintained at the ideal desired levels.

Technical characteristics of the system.

The MAEPSSE unit consists of the following

• Power supply 220V AC to 12V DC 2 A or greater

• Central control unit

• Measurement sensors

• Input - output units

All individual parts of the installation are powered by 12V direct current to be safe for both humans and animals. For this reason, a 220V AC to 12V DC conversion power supply of 2A or greater is provided.

A MAEPSSE unit has exactly one central unit, which can accept a weather station unit, and 8 sensors of each type (Temperature - Humidity, Carbon Dioxide, Methane, Ammonia). The central unit and the input-output units are placed in an enclosed space protected from the weather, where animals do not have access and where there is a mains power supply. The meteorological station unit with its sensors (wind speedometer, wind direction and thermometer - hygrometer) are placed outside, the rest of the sensors are placed inside the animal stable where we are interested in taking the measurements. The entire installation is supplied with 12V DC from the aforementioned power supply through the central unit. Wiring is in order. All individual parts of the installation will be powered by the same 12V DC supply with a common ground.

The communication of all individual parts of the installation with the central unit is carried out via a four-wire network RS 485. RS 485 follows industry standards against noise and allows the use of up to 300 meters of cable from the unit to the terminating resistor.

The central control unit of the MAEPSSE unit is the brain of the entire installation. It consists of an ARM processor clocked at 1GHz with a single core and an Atmega328PB coprocessor. The circuit operates at 3.3V and for this reason it is equipped with a step-down converter from 12V to 3.3V. The head unit also has an integrated RTC circuit to keep time as well as a CR2032 battery. Finally, it is equipped with a Bluetooth connection for communication with a tablet.

The Temperature - Humidity, Carbon Dioxide, Ammonia and Methane sensors are implemented around the Atmel Atmega8 8-bit processor. Sensors for measuring chemical elements are from Figaro with codes (TGS2444, CDM7160, NGM2611-C13). The AM2302 digital sensor is used to measure temperature and humidity.

The weather station is also implemented with Atmel's Atmega8. It has a digital sensor measuring temperature - humidity and analog sensors measuring wind speed and direction as well as a cup measuring the amount of rain.

The input-output unit is also implemented with the Atmega8. Its job is to provide the contacts to be connected to the window motor board and to execute the opening and closing commands. For this purpose, it has 2 relays which are connected in parallel with the opening and closing switches of the windows of the installation. For every window installation we need an input - output unit.

MAEPSSE's operating logic is to try to maintain the atmosphere in the stable area as close as possible to the ideal conditions we have stated. The central unit, once a minute, gathers all the values from all the sensors and evaluates them in order to make a decision whether to open or close the windows. All values have a priority level. The priority level basically states how immediate the risk to the herd is from this value. This is very important for the correct judgment of the central unit, especially in case of conflicting conditions. E.g. The high price of the chemicals have a higher degree of priority than the low temperature. So if we get a chemical value above the limits which means opening the windows for ventilation and at the same time a low temperature value which means closing the windows for heat, the unit will open the windows because the danger from the chemicals is immediate from the cold not so much (figure 1 ).

Claims (4)

Claims 1. Unit for Automatic Control of Environmental Conditions of a Stable Facility consisting of a central control unit, Temperature-Humidity, Carbon Dioxide, Ammonia and Methane sensors, characterized by the fact that, receiving the data from the sensors, it can instruct the input-output unit whether to open the windows and turn on the stable fans or not. 2. Unit for Automatic Control of Environmental Conditions of a Stable Facility according to claim 1, characterized in that the data package from the sensors is transmitted wirelessly to the control unit. 3. Unit for Automatic Control of Environmental Conditions of a Stable Facility according to claim 1, characterized in that the data package from the sensors is transmitted by wire to the control unit. 4. Unit for Automatic Control of Environmental Conditions of a Stable Installation according to claim 1, characterized in that a led screen & mobile or tablet (application medium) is used as a mobile data projection element from the central unit.