
In Barns, Measuring Air Movement Is a Breeze
With FANSBy Hank Becker July 15, 1999Ventilation fans in animal barns and
poultry houses are critical for delivering fresh air and removing heat,
moisture and dust. But measuring a fan's performance has been difficult. So,
Agricultural Research Service scientists
designed and built FANS, short for "fan assessment numeration
system." FANS combines a portable anemometer--an instrument to measure wind
speed--with a computer and software to record and analyze measurements. This
system helps solve measurement problems that until now had not been technically
feasible to fix. Traditional techniques are cumbersome, inaccurate by 8 to 10 percent, and
take 30 to 45 minutes. The anemometer in the FANS system can measure air-volume
flow with 99 percent accuracy in less than 4 minutes, according to John Simmons
and colleagues at ARS' Poultry Research Unit in
Mississippi State, Miss. ARS is USDA's chief
research agency. Simmons and ARS colleagues assembled and calibrated the anemometer in
cooperation with the Aerospace Engineering
Department at Mississippi State
University. It was validated by a major fan manufacturer in Bremen, Ala. FANS can pinpoint the best location for ventilation fans. For example, fans
placed at the end of a long poultry house are more efficient than fans along
the side walls at the end. The scientists have used FANS to study effects of fan shutters, exhaust
cones, belt guards and propeller deterioration. They plan studies of light
baffles, fan belt condition, dust and static pressure. While primarily a research tool, FANS has many applications. It saved an egg
company more than $200,000. The company had just installed belt guards on 1,100
fans in 115 poultry houses to protect employees from possible hand injuries.
FANS showed that ventilation remained adequate with the guards installed; the
company did not have to buy additional fans. A story about FANS appears in the July Agricultural Research magazine
and on the Internet at: http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/jul99/fans0799.htm Scientific contact: John Simmons,
ARS Poultry Research Unit, Mississippi State, Miss. phone (662) 320-7480, fax
(662) 323-3535, [email protected]. Story contacts Poultry Research U.S. Department of Agriculture | |