Henmulator

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Jacob Springs and Agronomo's prototype Henmulator arduino controlled incubator


The Henmulator (hen emulator) is Agronomo and Jacob Springs Farm's incubator for Jacob Springs poultry programs. It was the inaugural project to incorporate open source hardware and software into useful farm devices.

Earlier versions

Mike Soltys' engineering class at the University of Colorado created the first version of the henmulator - found here. It was a plywood box with an arduino system controlling temperature and turning off the egg turner after 18 days of incubation. The project was never entirely working but it was an important step in developing the henmulator.

Enclosure

drawing of freezer that became the henmulator

The henmulator enclosure is an old upright freezer that stopped working a few months before the henmulator project began. It's internal volume is around 16 cubic feet (450 li) It was modified by removing the built-in shelves, cutting a window and vents into the door and re-trimming the interior of the door, painting the door yellow and adding draw latches. The latches were added because the door failed to seal after it was modified. Andre recommends not removing the magnetic seal of freezers while modifying them because it's difficult to reinstall them exactly flat making a good seal difficult. (This particular freezer door, however, had prior issues with the seal being fully shut anyway.)

Working parts

Temperature controls

The henmulator heater is a bank of 5 light bulbs in a fixture that was salvaged from a dumpster in a demolition site. It was re-wired so that two sets of two bulbs function in series. Equipped with 100 watt incandescent bulbs the total wattage is 300 watts since four bulbs (the ones in series) are operating at half power and one at full power. If any one of the bulbs burns out the wattage is reduced to 200 watts and if any two burn out the wattage will be 100 watts. See also incubation#bulbs in series

Air circulation

Two 110v fans salvaged from microwave ovens circulate the air in the Henmulator, on at each end of a duct that pulls air from the (inside) top of the enclosure and pushes it out at the bottom across the heating element. Andre estimates that one fan would probably suffice.

Humidity controls

The Henmulator as originally built was equipped with a home humidifier purchased at a thrift store that was controlled by the arduino via a relay. Plans are in process to replace this with a USB powered floating humidifier purchased online for less than $10, the advantage of this is that it makes the relay unneeded, although there are concerns about longevity.

Rotation

Electrical wiring

Control system

The control system uses an arduino pro mini with a HTU21D humidity and temperature sensor and two relays. one relay controls the heater and the other controls the humidifier.

Arduino Code

The arduino code for the first working version of the henmulator can be found at the agronimo github page