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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

A Robust Sensor For Monitoring The Operational Status Of Agricultural Ventilation Fans, Matthew J. Darr, Lingying Zhao, Ji-Qin Ni, Christopher Gecik Jan 2007

A Robust Sensor For Monitoring The Operational Status Of Agricultural Ventilation Fans, Matthew J. Darr, Lingying Zhao, Ji-Qin Ni, Christopher Gecik

Matthew J. Darr

A new vibration sensor for monitoring the operational status of exhaust fans in confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and other ventilated structures was developed and tested. The sensor utilizes integrated Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (iMEMS) technology to accurately and reliably detect the vibration of agricultural fans, an indicator of fan operating status. When coupled with a sensor to measure pressure drop across the fan and an appropriate fan performance curve, the vibration sensor can enable the collection of real-time building ventilation airflow data. The sensor integrated an iMEMS accelerometer along with signal conditioning components to convert the cyclic acceleration signal …


Implementation Of Controller Area Networks For Monitoring Of Animal Environments, Matthew J. Darr, Lingying Zhao, M. Reza Ehsani Jan 2007

Implementation Of Controller Area Networks For Monitoring Of Animal Environments, Matthew J. Darr, Lingying Zhao, M. Reza Ehsani

Matthew J. Darr

Livestock and poultry industries play an important role in the food supply and economy of US agriculture. To meet the growing demand for food and to be economically competitive, animal production over the past decade has grown toward confined, highly concentrated, and large-scale facilities. While structural development and facility mechanization have enabled housing the growing number of livestock, environmental sensing and control have not seen similar growth. Scientific data on indoor environment control, air emissions, and effectiveness of mitigation technologies are limited but urgently needed. Measurement technology has been a limiting factor in the acquisition of sufficient data. Research is …


A Prototype Acid Spray Scrubber For Absorbing Ammonia Emissions From Exhaust Fans Of Animal Buildings, Roderick B. Manuzon, Lingying Yang, Harold M. Keener, Matthew J. Darr Jan 2007

A Prototype Acid Spray Scrubber For Absorbing Ammonia Emissions From Exhaust Fans Of Animal Buildings, Roderick B. Manuzon, Lingying Yang, Harold M. Keener, Matthew J. Darr

Matthew J. Darr

Mitigation of ammonia (NH3) emissions from animal production buildings has been a challenge because of the large volume of low NH3 concentration laden air being released. Among emission mitigation technologies for concentrated animal feeding operations, acid spray scrubbers have the greatest potential for adaptation to the existing large animal facilities because of their lower fan airflow reduction, ability to simultaneously remove particulate and gaseous pollutants, and viability for zero or less waste generation by recycling effluents as liquid fertilizer. A multi-stage wet scrubber prototype that can be operated with a maximum of three stages was developed and optimized for reducing …