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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Mississippi State, Mississippi » Poultry Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #318988
Title: Improving commercial broiler attic inlet ventilation thorugh CFD analysis

Author
item OLSEN, J - Mississippi State University
item DAVIS, J - Mississippi State University
item Purswell, Joseph - Jody
item LUCK, B - Mississippi State University

Submitted to: Transactions of the ASABE
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/25/2013
Publication Date: 6/25/2013
Citation: Olsen, J.W., Davis, J.D., Purswell, J.L., Luck, B.D. 2013. Improving commercial broiler attic inlet ventilation thorugh CFD analysis. ASABE Paper No. ILE12-1382.

Interpretive Summary: Heating requirements for poultry housing remain a large expenditure for commercial poultry growers. Using passive solar heat to provide pre-heated air for ventilation during the brooding period could provide fuel savings given an efficient method of using warm air. A commercial broiler house with an attic inlet system was monitored to collect environmental and airflow data for verification of a computational fluid dynamics model. Field data showed that attic heating was asymmetric and placement of attic inlets may be exploited to maximize warm air capture. The resulting computational model revealed that elevating the inlet point near the roof surface significantly increased energy capture, and the addition of a ridge inlet diverter increased energy capture by 50%.

Technical Abstract: The use of solar heated attic air is an area of increasing interest in commercial poultry production. Attic inlets satisfy the demand for alternative heating while being simple to implement in an existing poultry house. A number of demonstration projects have suggested that attic inlets may decrease the amount of fuel required to raise minimum ventilation air to set point temperature by tempering the inlet air. However, little attention has been given to the configuration of the attic space and its influence on thermal energy extraction. The objectives of this study were as follows: 1) Collect data for the operation of attic inlets in a commercial broiler house, 2) develop a two-dimensional computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation model using experimental data, and 3) Use the simulation to investigate the efficiency of attic inlet system configurations. Field data collected during the operation of attic inlets in an east-west oriented broiler house illustrated the asymmetric heating and stratification of air temperature. A two dimensional CFD simulation model was developed for attic inlet system operation using field data to develop boundary conditions. The simulation demonstrated that the strategic placement of a simple 2.44 m ridge cap diverter and a central inlet riser (1.3 m high) may increase thermal energy extraction by 55% and 68% (30 s and 60 s fan runtimes, respectively) over the measured attic inlet system.