Investigating Applicability of Evaporative Cooling Systems for Thermal Comfort of Poultry Birds in Pakistan

Abstract

In the 21st century, the poultry sector is a vital concern for the developing economies including Pakistan. The summer conditions of the city of Multan (Pakistan) are not comfortable for poultry birds. Conventionally, swamp coolers are used in the poultry sheds/houses of the city, which are not efficient enough, whereas compressor-based systems are not economical. Therefore, this study is aimed to explore a low-cost air-conditioning (AC) option from the viewpoint of heat stress in poultry birds. In this regard, the study investigates the applicability of three evaporative cooling (EC) options, i.e., direct EC (DEC), indirect EC (IEC), and Maisotsenko-cycle EC (MEC). Performance of the EC systems is investigated using wet-bulb effectiveness (WBE) for the climatic conditions of Multan. Heat stress is investigated as a function of poultry weight. Thermal comfort of the poultry birds is calculated in terms of temperature-humidity index (THI) corresponding to the ambient and output conditions. The heat production from the poultry birds is calculated using the Pederson model (available in the literature) at various temperatures. The results indicate a maximum temperature gradient of 10.2 °C (MEC system), 9 °C (DEC system), and 6.5 °C (IEC systems) is achieved. However, in the monsoon/rainfall season, the performance of the EC systems is significantly reduced due to higher relative humidity in ambient air.