AN ANDROID BASED POULTRY MANURE CLEANING SYSTEM

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MUKOOVA JUMA Mr. MATOVU DAVIS
Department of Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Busitema University
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this research is to clean poultry manure whenever it accumulates, it aims
at preventing human involvement in cleaning process due to the health problems caused
by ammonia compounds from poultry manure. Many kinds of approaches like literature
studies, research and consultations were conducted to develop the prototype of the system.
Arduino, ultrasonic sensor, conveyer belt, DC motor, electric bulb, and relay board are
the hardware tools that were used to monitor and control the power consumption. The
system is mainly built using Embedded systems Hardware. The result is a system
prototype that is capable of notifying the farmer at a far distance about the manure
quantity present, cleans and dries the poultry manure thus preventing human labor from
getting involved.
Key terms: Android-based, Poultry manure, Bluetooth, Poultry farming, Battery cages,
Arduino, Global System for mobile Communications (GSM).
I) INTRODUCTION tonnes (784,111 eggs) reported back in
The production poultry birds and eggs has 2011 [1].
been identified as one of the most Chicken production is the main type of
influential enterprises to be undertaken to poultry production in Uganda. Turkeys,
mitigate the increasing demand for food in guinea, fowls, ducks, pigeons, geese and
Ugandan urban areas and abroad[1]. The ostriches are also kept[1]. Poultry
population growth rate and increases in production in the country is categorized
urban migration and wealth have greatly into two namely; commercial or free-range.
pressurized the land and other resources for There are wide variations within these two
high food demands. The poultry industry systems in terms of numbers, types of birds,
majorly focuses on meat and egg bio-security and management[1]. The
production[1]. Currently, the poultry commercial system covers production with
industry is slowly growing, This is improved hybrid breeds (and recently also
observed when the Uganda Bureau of with local breeds) under intensive confined
Statistics(UBS) 2013 recently revealed management of uniform stocks and age-
that the Egg production increased to 27,057 groups primarily for commercial purposes
tonnes (807,634 eggs) compared to 26,269 than the free-range system.

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 Besides, other farmers wait droppings to
This system is convenient in a way that pile for so long on the floor before it is
greater number of birds is reared per unit cleaned[2]. Poultry droppings requires
area, Easy control of parasitic disease like cleaning on a daily basis to be less effective
coccidiosis and worm infestation, Prompt on the human life. Therefore, there is need
steps to control feed wastage and many to use improved technologies such as an
others[2]. android based poultry cleaning system that
The major challenge with it is the removal helps the farmer to solve the above-
process of poultry droppings wastes from mentioned problem.
the birds , this work tiresome and
unhygienic [2]. Poultry droppings contains II) LITERATURE REVIEW
excreta, bedding material, waste feed, dead a) Poultry
Poultry is defined as economically
birds, broken eggs, feathers and offal could
important birds used either for food or
cause flies and also emerge into major
show. This includes chickens, turkeys,
environmental pollutants[3]. Poultry
quail, ducks, geese, and guineas. Other
droppings begins to decompose
birds, such as pheasants, partridges and
immediately after excretion giving off
peafowl, can be classified as poultry as
ammonia which, in high concentrations and
defined in the below[7].
can have adverse effects on the health and
the productivity of birds as well as the Vocabulary Meaning
health of the farm workers and the
Pullet A young female chick.
environment[4]. The adverse reactions in
Hen A sexually mature female
people include; emotional stress,
chicken, usually more than
headaches, acedia, insomnia, vomiting,
10 months old, that has
irritation and depression[5]. Strong odours
started to lay eggs
also have been reported to intensify the
Chick A baby chick of either
symptoms of people with asthma or
gender
allergies.[5]
Capon A surgically unsexed male
However, farmers now are using methods
chicken, usually under 8
such as cage deep pits, cage shallow pit
months old, used for
systems and many others[6], to overcome
specialty markets.
this problem but these methods are costly to
Cockerel A male chick less than one
implement and still have human
year old.
involvement in doing most of the work.
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 Rooster A sexually mature male of osteoporosis[9]. They make it easy for
chick. the farmer to monitor individual health and
Poult A male or female baby production of the birds, the feeds supply
turkey.[8] and consumption is consistent and eggs
collection is easy[10].

b) Poultry Farming III) RELATED WORKS

This is the process of raising domesticated
birds such chickens, ducks, turkeys and ge
ese for the purpose of farming
meat or eggs for food. Poultry mostly
chickens are farmed in great numbers.
Farmers raise more than 50 billion chickens
annually as a source of food, both for their
meat and for their eggs. Chickens raised for
eggs are usually called layers while
chickens raised for meat are
called broilers[7].
c) Poultry Manure
Poultry manure or chicken manure is the
organic waste from poultry composed of
mainly feces and urine of chickens.
d) Battery Cages
Battery cages are housing systems used for
various animal production methods, but
primarily for egg-laying hens. The name
arises from the arrangement of rows and
columns of identical cages connected
together, in a unit, as in an artillery
battery[9].Battery cages are
predominant form of housing for laying
hens worldwide. They reduce aggression
and cannibalism among hens, but are
barren, restrict movement, prevent many
natural behaviours, and increase rates
a) Deep Pit Systems:
The deep pit offers operational advantages
over other systems. For example, a separate
droppings storage facility is not required. In
this system, droppings are allowed to drop
into a 1.5 m to 3.0m (5 to 10 feet) deep pit
under the cages where the droppings
undergo a natural composting drying
process[6].
This causes a biological degradation of the
often
wastes and reduces the weight and volume
of the droppings. Droppings is usually
removed from the storage twice each
year[6].
b) Shallow Pit Systems:
This system uses a concrete pit 15 cm to 20
cm (6 to 8 inches) deep to collect the
droppings from overhead cages. The
droppings are allowed to collect for a short
time, preferably not more than one week,
then it can be scraped into a holding facility
with a dragline or tractor mounted scraper.
the In cases where cleaning on a weekly basis
is not practical, the droppings may be
allowed to “cone-up” under the cages
c) Manual Labour
Human beings use hard scrapping brushes,
water and detergents to scrap off droppings

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from the floor to beneath the battery cages.
This is the poorest method employed in
most rural areas[2]. It has caused many
people to fall ill of droppings diseases due
to inhalation of ammonia components
contained in the droppings. This is a tiring
and lengthy process. Litter is to be cleaned
by manual labor only after the batch is
cleared[12].
IV) HARDWARE COMPONENTS
USED:
a) A load cell (weight sensor)
This is a force sensing module - a
carefully designed metal structure, with
small elements called strain gauges
mounted in precise locations on the
structure. Load cells are designed to
measure a specific force, and ignore other
forces being applied. The electrical signal
output by the load cell is very small and
requires specialized amplification.
b) Hx711 amplifier;
The Load Cell Amplifier is a small breakout
board for the HX711 IC that allows you to
easily read load cells to measure weight. By
connecting the amplifier to your
microcontroller, you will be able to read the
changes in the resistance of the load cell,
and with some calibration you’ll be able to
get very accurate weight measurements.
Figure 2: Weight sensor with its HX711
amplifier
c) Arduino Microcontroller
A microcontroller is a computer on a single
chip. The Arduino Uno is an AVR, a
modified Harvard architecture 8-bit RISC
single chip microcontroller which was
developed by Atmel in 1996. It is based on
the ATmega328 (datasheet).
d) Conveyer belt
Figure 1: Arduino Uno microcontroller
This is a continuous moving band of fabric,
rubber, or metal used for transporting
objects from one place to another. In this
project, the conveyer belt is used to move
the poultry manure to the drying chamber.
Figure 3: Conveyer Belt
e) GSM modem.
This is an interface between the mobile
phone and the micro controller unit at the
station and contains a SIM card. The
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wireless communication was used to
transmit the acquired critical values as
detected by the weight sensor and the light
dependent resistor. The module that was
utilised was SIM900 GSM modem[28].

Figure 6: Logical design of the system

The system Physical Design

Figure 4: GSM modem

f) DC motor
A DC motor is any of a class of rotary
electrical machines that converts direct
current electrical energy into mechanical
energy. The DC motor in this project was
connected to the conveyer belt so as to
rotate and move it.

Figure 7: The physical design of the

system

Figure 5: DC motor
Schematic diagram view of the system in
proteus.
Logical design of the system

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 managing large scale poultry farms as well
as environmental pollution.

VII) REFERENCES

[1] F. A. O. A. Production and H.

Division, “Poultry sector country
review Poultry sector country
review.”
Figure 8: Schematic view of the system [2] M. Krishnan, G. D. S. Dinesh, and K.
in proteus software M. Jayaprakash, “Automatic poultry
V) RESULTS waste management system,” vol. 4,

The system was tested carefully and results no. 1, pp. 14–16.
found. During the execution of the system [3] D. Thyagarajan, M. Barathi, and R.
as shown below. Sakthivadivu, “Scope of Poultry
Waste Utilization,” vol. 6, no. 5, pp.
29–35, 2013.
[4] A. Costa, S. Ferrari, and M. Guarino,
“Yearly emission factors of
ammonia and particulate matter from
three laying-hen housing systems,”
Anim. Prod. Sci., 2012.
[5] A. Nowak et al., “Cytotoxicity of
Figure 9: Finished project prototype.
Odorous Compounds from Poultry
Manure,” Int. J. Environ. Res. Public
VI) CONCLUSION
Health, vol. 13, no. 11, 2016.
My study ultimately led to the design and
[6] “Cage House, Deep Pit Systems:,”
construction of a cheap to install and
no. 2.
reliable to operate Android poultry manure
[7] P. Industry, “Overview of the Poultry
cleaning system for poultry farmers. It
Industry.”
begins with a baseline review and
[8] Compassion in World Farming -
comparison of the related cleaning systems.
Poultry - Higher welfare
It is an integration of the communication
alternatives. Ciwf.org.uk.
and cleaning modules. This gives the
[9] S. Shields, D. Ph, I. J. H. Duncan,
farmers less burden and worry about

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 and D. Ph, “An HSUS Report : A NIOSH Workplace Safety and
Comparison of the Welfare of Hens Health Topic,” www.cdc.gov.
in Battery Cages and Alternative [12] R. Prafulla, “Influence of housing
Systems,” pp. 1–28. systems on bone properties of laying
[10] “Battery cages pdf - Google Search.” hens,” ProQuest Diss. Theses, 2015.
[11] “CDC - Poultry Industry Workers -