Research on the Energy Load During Incubation and the Energy-saving Potential of the Traditional Incubator

AbstractThe heating and cooling load of a single incubator box was investigated, with a capacity of 38400 eggs incubated at common incubation temperature. According to the fact that incubators always work in the form of modules in large-scale incubation plants, a module constituted of 15 incubation boxes and 3 hatching boxes is further studied, the energy demand of which is analyzed. The result of theoretical load calculation shows that in a single incubator box, there is a conversion from heating load to cooling load during the incubation period and both of heating load and cooling load exist at the same time in hatching process of the incubator module. The energy-saving potential of traditional incubator is then analyzed and the possibility of using other high efficiency methods is also discussed to substitute the electric heater in the poultry incubation equipment and achieve the goal of energy conservation