Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
International Electronic Machines Corp., a leader in the field of smart sensors and controls for health, maintenance, and other fields, will develop the Complete Autonomous Ventilation Environment System (CAVES), an intelligent, customizable, scalable, adaptable control and ventilation system that will directly monitor all the key parameters of barn environment - temperature, humidity, fan speed/wind velocity, vapors/gases such as ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, CO, and CO2, -- and combine them with knowledge of the barn size and configuration and the number and type of livestock to reliably ensure proper ventilation at minimal power usage by controlling both fans and inlet configuration. CAVES will be able to be retrofitted to existing ventilation fans and may be powered via line power or by a solar system with appropriate energy storage as the dramatic reduction in energy consumption would now allow for such a renewable energy system for ventilation to be affordable; one aspect of the project will be evaluating designs for extremely lightweight solar installations that can go on very low-weight-tolerance roofs, or that can be installed on-ground conveniently and with minimal space requirements. Overall, CAVES should reduce power demand by between 40 and 80 percent over standard ventilation operations while maintaining a completely safe and comfortable environment for the target livestock, offering a very quick ROI even on a small farm.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
International Electronic Machines Corp., a leader in the field of smart sensors and controls for health, maintenance, and other fields, will develop the Complete Autonomous Ventilation Environment System (CAVES), an intelligent, customizable, scalable, adaptable control and ventilation system that will directly monitor all the key parameters of barn environment - temperature, humidity, fan speed/wind velocity, vapors/gases such as ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, CO, and CO2, -- and combine them with knowledge of the barn size and configuration and the number and type of livestock to reliably ensure proper ventilation at minimal power usage by controlling both fans and inlet configuration. CAVES will be able to be retrofitted to existing ventilation fans and may be powered via line power or by a solar system with appropriate energy storage as the dramatic reduction in energy consumption would now allow for such a renewable energy system for ventilation to be affordable; one aspect of the project will be evaluating designs for extremely lightweight solar installations that can go on very low-weight-tolerance roofs, or that can be installed on-ground conveniently and with minimal space requirements. Overall, CAVES should reduce power demand by between 40 and 80 percent over standard ventilation operations while maintaining a completely safe and comfortable environment for the target livestock, offering a very quick ROI even on a small farm.Reduce ventilation energy costs by between forty and eighty percent (translating to a total energy savings of between 8-16% based on an average of 20% of a farm's energy used for ventilation); this produces a ROI of between 6 months and 2 years based on calculated cost of CAVES.This will be completed by incorporating gas sensors with variable speed fan control to maintain ambient conditions (temperature and gas concentrations) combined with processing to understand a particular barns exhaust attributes.Determine the ability to use renawable energy systems, specifically photovoltaic, based upon the reduced energy consumptionMaintain livestock comfort throughout the year. This is determined by maintaining temperature and background gas levels at a to be determined value through the use of the control of the exhaustReduce or eliminate discomfort and health impacts of irritant gases on both livestock and farm workersAs determined by comparing the pre and post background gas ambient concentrations and time durations
Project Methods
Work Plan1.1Task 1: Requirements and Specifications Finalization1.1.1Task DescriptionIEM will first assemble a preliminary requirements and specifications document,(with more details on proposed components, as described in the following Tasks) and a set of questions addressing issues that are currently unclear. This will include, though not be limited to, typical fan installations found in smaller farms (number, size, type), with considerations including proportion of farms with line power to barns, loading limits for various types of barns, and so on.1.2Task 2: Research and Select Sensors and Processing System1.2.1Task DescriptionIn this task, IEM will select the sensors for use in Phase I.The major sensor types expected for Phase I of CAVES include temperature, humidity, wind velocity (inlet air speed), and one or more gas sensors (ammonia, CO2, H2S, etc.). IEM has considerable experience in the selection of sensors for particular applications. Some of these, such as temperature and humidity, are so widely available that there are numerous selections of roughly equal quality. There are two general types of wind sensor: the venerable anemometerand the ultrasonic wind sensor, which present their own advantages and disadvantages. The primary advantage of the anemometer is that it is very inexpensive, while the ultrasonic sensors are much more costly but have no moving parts and tend to be much more reliable.1.3Task 3: Research and Design Retrofit Fan Control1.3.1Task DescriptionIn this task, IEM will research the necessary design and electronic elements necessary to retrofit existing types of barn fans to make them controllable variable speed fans.Fans as a class are some of the simplest of electronic devices: they consist of a motor (copper windings, magnets, and ferrous cores), a driving shaft spun by the motor, and blades attached to the shaft. The speed at which it turns depends on the specific design of the motor and the frequency and/or voltage of electricity supplied. Both of the latter may be easily changed by appropriate electronics. The key for CAVES is to ensure that any retrofit for existing fans is easily installed, inexpensive, reliable, safe, and efficient.1.4Task 4: Determine Key Parameters for Ventilation1.4.1Task DescriptionIn this task, IEM will determine all the key parameters to be used to direct and control the ventilation operations of CAVES.This task will proceed in parallel to the sensor selection tasks, as the determination of key parameters will of necessity influence the sensor selection. Some ventilation parameters are very basic to the industry, and are even covered by various industry directives (such as typical air volume replacements per hour), but CAVES will be performing intelligent demand and condition controlled ventilation and must evaluate the entire ventilation situation properly.Some parameters already known to be of interest include the following:Temperature and humidity.Type of livestock.Ammonia and H2SCO2/COInlet airspeedBarn configurationEnergy use1.5Task 5: Select/Design Power Subsystems1.5.1Task DescriptionIn this task, IEM will examine and select the power source/approach to be used for CAVES.Most barns are supplied with line power, making it simple to power the CAVES units. For this, IEM will design a line power supply converter to provide all the components of CAVES with appropriate types and voltages of power. IEM has performed similar work many times for multiple other projects, and would anticipate no particular difficulties in doing so for CAVES.CAVES' energy reduction approach makes solar power a potentially feasible source for full-barn ventilation, something which would be much more problematic with the more common and energy-intensive methods. Therefore, IEM will examine the feasibility of a solar-powered version of CAVES for use in areas where line power is unavailable, scarce, or unreliable.1.6Task 6: Create Phase I Ventilation Control and Communication Software1.6.1Task DescriptionIn this task, IEM will develop the Phase I version of CAVES' ventilation control and communication software.Currently, IEM assumes the communication between the CAVES nodes will be wireless, although with power connections comes the possibility of data transfer over power lines, which would eliminate the possible complications of wireless communication. However, for purposes of CAVES it will be assumed that wireless is required for data transfer and control, as this is the more challenging scenario and does not prevent CAVES from working in the wired situation.The more challenging software task is the designing of the actual ventilation decisionmaking code, as this will include both simple objective standards (maintain livestock comfort zone of X) and far more interesting learning and decisionmaking operations. For example, while it may be relatively straightforward (though perhaps not easy) to simulate airflow through an idealized barn such as that illustrated in Figure 2, airflow through a legacy barn with connected additionsis extremely complex. IEM would not expect, in fact, to model such airflow, but instead to learn it empirically - by having the connected CAVES nodes observe, record, and extrapolate the changes in temperature, humidity, and gas concentration as ventilation proceeds. This novel feature is what in particular will enable the largest cost savings across a wide variety of barn structure designs enabling the wide impact to the small farm community.?1.7Task 7: Assemble, Test, and Demonstrate Phase I CAVES1.7.1Task Description?The results of this task will be: initial prototypes of all CAVES components, test results of the individual subsystems, a list of Action Items from the test results, revised subsystem designs, final subsystem prototypes, a fully assembled Phase I CAVES Prototype, test results of the Prototype, demonstrations of the Phase I capabilities, and assembled data of performance results from the tests and demonstrations thereof.1.8Task 8: Project Management and ReportingThis task will be ongoing throughout the project, as it involves the coordination of all operations within the project and all interactions with outside parties, including arranging kickoff and other meetings with the USDA, preparing interim and final reports, monitoring progress of each task and solving potential scheduling conflicts, contacting vendors and consultants, and so on. A schedule of all tasks, assuming an 8-month duration and start date of 7/1/2021