Development of a Solar-Powered Incubator with an Automatic Control System

Abstract

Incubators provide enabling environment for egg hatching and their efficiency greatly depend on accurate monitoring and control of environmental conditions within the device. This monitoring and control require a stable supply of power. However, most rural communities are not connected to the national grid and where connections are established, epileptic supply is mostly experienced. This work develops a solar-powered incubator to guarantee stable power supply. The power-demanding components of the incubating system were selectively direct current (dc) biased to get rid of the inverter in order to lower the cost of production. The control unit which is essential for controlling the vital environmental and physical conditions consists of the temperature sensor, humidity sensor and also the dc motor speed controller that occasionally turns the eggs‟ tray. This turning is important to prevent the yolks from sticking to the shell. This work drifted from the orthodox tilting of the eggs‟ tray by exploiting tray shaker to achieve the turning effect. All these are coordinated by a microcontroller (Arduino Uno) programmmed in C language to enhance the process. Several tests were carried out. The results indicate that the time taken for the temperature and humidity to bounce back to the set values differ for different weather conditions. The average values of time taken for the temperature and humidity to bounce back to set values were respectively 0.37 minutes and 0.47 minutes for a dewy weather; 0.65 minutes and 0.49 minutes for a sunny weather; 0.28 minutes and 0.30 minutes for calm weather; 1.19 minutes and 1.64 minutes for a raining weather. The built system has also eliminated the challenge of epileptic power supply and a less complex and effect egg shaking mechanism achieved.