6S— Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 23, 197 S
Solar energy heats hen house
COLLEGE PARK, MD -
Researcher* at the
University of Maryland have
built what they believe is the
first solar energy in
stallation for heating
chicken brooder houses.
"This should not be con
sidered a practical brooding
set up,” says Kenneth
Felton, the agricultural
engineer in charge of the
project. “We are looking for
data that can answer some
questions so that we can
make recommendations
either for or against com
mercial installations."
“This project is not for
today, it is for tomorrow,”
said Jarvis Cain, associate
professor in the Department
of Agricultural and Resource
Economics. “The propane
gas used to heat poultry
houses comes from natural
gas, and that is becoming
one of our most limited
energy resources. Whether
we like it or not,-at current
usage rates, in 15 years there
just won’t be much natural
gas left. We must have a
workable alternative and we
OPEN
HOUSE
FRESHAIR DAIRY FARM
Simon Lehman and Son, P. Kenneth Lehman,
Owners
Mechanicsburg RDI, PA, Cumberland County
Located 10 Miles South of Harrisburg, 10
Miles North of Carlisle along U.S. Route 11.
FRIDAY, SEPT. 5,1975
10:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M
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are beginning to plan for It
now instead of when there
are severe limitations on
supplies of petroleum
products."
"We know that If this
system were installed on all
the brooder houses in the U.
S. it could replace 60 to 70
percent of the heat needed."
says James Merkel,
agricultural engineer. “This
would be the equivalent of
about 90 million gallons of
propane gas, worth about 26
million dollars on today’s
market.”
The University of
Maryland installation near
Salisbury on Maryland’s
eastern shore, is strictly a
prototype model. The solar
collector made of easily
available building materials
was constructed in sec
tions in the university’s
agricultural engineering
shop and transported to the
eastern shore for final
assembly. The collector is 32
feet by 16 feet and is free
standing. It could be con
structed as part of the
building in a new chicken
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Installing your own mfs drying
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house, Felton explained, but
since this project uses a
broiler house already in
existence, the collector was
built to stand alone.
Looking somewhat like a
giant mirror, the collector
tilts at 52 degrees from the
horizontal to take in as much
winter sun as possible. In
this model, the collector is
situated 15 degrees west of
due south to take advantage
of one hour more of sunlight
in the afternoon because
most of the mornings on
Maryland’s lower eastern
shore are hazy.
Felton explained that the
collector uses two layers of
double strength window pane
separated by Vz inch air
space. Under this glass,
which is solely for insulation
purposes, there is ap
proximately one inch of air
space above a layer of
aluminum roofing. This
aluminum roofing is painted
black on the upper side to
absorb more of the rays of
the sun. Underneath the
aluminum roofing is a two
inch air duct backed up by a
masonite board and five
inches of fiberglass in
sulation; the assembly is
held together by plywood.
A 12” x 12” duct made of
%” plywood on the outside
with a one inch polyurethane
insulation laminated to a
vinyl coating carries the
heated air from underneath
the aluminum roofing into
the heat exchanger inside
the building.
This heat exchanger works
just the opposite of your car
radiator, Felton explains. A
Van Hocker promoted
DEC International, Inc.
has announced the ap
pointment of Van G. Hocker,
Carlisle, Pennsylvania, as
midwest regional manager
for its Dairy Equipment
Company Division.
Hocker, who had served as
zone manager for the
company since 1972, will be
responsible for coordination
of dealer sales and service
for Bou-Matic milking
systems in a six state area.
A native of Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania, Hocker
owned and operated a dairy
farm near Carlisle and held
several sales management
positions with John Deere
Company.
DEC International, Inc.,
based in Madison, Wis., is a
multi-national manufacturer
of dairy farm, liquid tran
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fan draws the heated air
over the coils and circulating
water picks up the heat from
the air.
This heated water then
goes into a 1300 gallon in
sulated tank where it is
stored until needed in the
chicken house. The heated
water is circulated through a
standard convector in the
chicken pen when it is called
for by a thermostat.
The equipment does not
run continually. It takes
about a 10 degree tem
perature differential bet
ween the air and the water to
trigger the equipment into
action. When the sun goes
down, or when the air
temperature gets to within
five degrees of the water
temperature, the equipment
shuts down.
Felton explains that it is
not only the sun’s heat that is
being collected, but also the
sun’s radiation that creates
the high temperatures. For
this reason, some radiation
is collected each day even
when the sky is overcast.
However, very little heat is
collected on extremely
cloudy days. That is the
reason for the 1300 gallon
tank which will store enough
water to heat the chicken pen
for about three days in case
of bad weather.
“Right now, our solar
collector is only partly
operational. But it’s a start.”
Felton explains, and em
phasizes that at this stage it
is purely a supplemental
heating system. There is still
a propane gas heater in the
sport and food processing
equipment; custom stainless
products; residential and
commercial heating
equipment; store fixtures
and liquor dispensers; and
cheese, butter and dried
whey products.
This product and other
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supply dealers serviced
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brooder house.
Lewis Carr, the
agricultural engineer on the
site who is in charge of the
day-to-day conduct of the
project and Tom Carter,
poultry scientist, are
responsible for collections
and analysis of the
physiological data on the
chickens themselves. “We
are using the conventional
warm-room brooding
technique with 1,000 broilers
per pen." Thus far, there has
been no difference with this
heating system and with
conventional propane heat
since the temperature is
thermostatically controlled
and ventilation and humidity
are controlled also.
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Carr said the solar heating
unit ia actually in use now
but limited data are being
collected on this first (lock
since adjustments are still
being made in the system.
“The real test," he said,
"will come next winter."
Ail the researchers agree
that this installation is
strictly an experimental
one; however, since the
supply of fossil fuel is
growing shorter, the use of
solar energy to heat poultry
houses, green houses, hog
farrowing pens, and grain
dryers may come within the
next few years. The
University researchers want
to be ready with some
reliable data.
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