Ventilation and Cooling Systems for Animal Housing


Table Of Contents

Introduction

Livestock production is significantly influenced by animal health and comfort. Ventilation of animal housing to remove moisture and odors and replacing them with fresh air is necessary for livestock productivity. Ventilation also provides air movement that promotes cooling and improves air quality for confined animals. While good ventilation contributes to profitability, if not properly designed, the energy used by a cooling and ventilation system can …

Selecting and Maintaining Greenhouse Thermostats

How would you like to reduce your annual energy costs $100 to $200 for a simple 15-minute maintenance procedure in your greenhouse? This is the potential fuel savings from properly heating a greenhouse by improving the accuracy of a heating thermostat. There are few minimum labor tasks that will give this large a return.

The above savings is based on a 30-foot-by-100-foot double covered greenhouse where the average winter temperature is 25 degrees F. and the fuel costs are $15…

Refrigeration Systems for Milk Cooling

Bulk Milk Cooling Tank. Photo courtesy of Charriau,

Milk must be cooled from 98 degrees F. (37 degrees C.) to storage temperature, typically about 38 degrees F., to preserve its quality. The cooling process involves removing 56 BTUs of energy from each pound of milk (27 kilojoule per kg). Typically, a refrigeration system does this by using a special refrigerant fluid to remove heat from the milk and “reject” the heat (usually) into the outside air.

The basic refrigeration …

Energy Efficiency of Electric Motors on the Farm

The efficiency of a motor depends on how well it converts electrical power into work. Efficient electric motors have good starting and running performance, and provide a high level of reliability. An electric motor’s efficiency is numerically calculated as the ratio of the output power of the motor shaft over the electrical power required to turn the motor shaft and can be calculated using power values measured in wattage or horsepower.

Optimizing Electric Motor Efficiency

An electric motor’s rated efficiency …