“DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF SOLAR POWERED AUTOMATED GAMEFOWL

FEEDER”
 INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

A gamefowl is a type of rooster that is good at fighting and very common here in

the Philippines. There is a lot of gamefowl variety that introduced, and every variety has

its unique characteristics. It commonly uses in the cockpit was that people make a

bet/gamble their money to win, and it is considered as a national sport here in the

Philippines (Tacio, 2017).

Feeding a gamefowl is very crucial to their handler/owner; it needs to sustain the

right amount of nutrients to maintain its body weight and its top health condition to be

ready for its incoming fight. Every handle/owner has its way of feeding their gamefowl,

and it has many styles. The precise time of feeding helps the gamefowl eat properly, and

correct mixture and amount of feed help the gamefowl to achieve its necessary weight

and condition.

The current solution of feeding the gamefowl is that the handler/owner’s of the

gamefowl is they hire someone that a trustworthy man that has the knowledge and has

the sincerity to its work to take care their gamefowls and feeding daily. The problem is

when hiring someone not reliable; there is a chance that gamefowl was not supplied

correctly or overfed. There is a tendency of harming the gamefowl and lead to losses in

its game.
 There is a lot of automated feeding machine to any types of animal, including meat

type and layering chickens, but gamefowl is different from these chickens. The gamefowl

has a strict diet for their fight while broiler and layering are adlebetom feeding quality

products. Today's technologies for automated feeding machine only focus on broiler and

layering chickens.

The automated gamefowl feeder limits to gamefowl diet strategies and help it to

improve gamefowls health. Also, automated gamefowl feeder helps the handler/owner

that they can make sure that their gamefowl eats precisely and on time that the

handler/owner the way it wants. Furthermore, it reduces labour, and handler/owner can

focus on other things.

The use of solar panel to the automated gamefowl feeder is that it helps to be

mobile. Also, a solar panel reduces electric bills and much cheaper in the long run

compared to home electricity and helps to reduce climate change because the solar panel

is renewable energy.

The objective of the study

Main objective

 To design and fabricate of automated gamefowl feeder

Specific objective

 To determine the optimum pitch of the screw conveyor in terms of the

accuracy of discharging feeds of automated gamefowl feeder

  To determine the size of the solar panel and battery needed for the

automated gamefowl feeder

 To determine cost-benefit of automated gamefowl feeder

Definition of terms

 Gamefowl – also known here in the Philippines as panabong

 Rooster – adult male chicken

 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Gamefowl feeding technique

Every gamefowl player has his technique on how they handle their gamefowl and

know their gamefowl needs (Haribon, 2012). There are infinite techniques on how to feed

a gamefowl but there famous that everyone uses.

Dry feeding and wet feeding are two renowned feedings debated that was the best

type of feeding on their gamefowl. Each of these feedings is unique that it depends on

the climate of the location when it hot days/summer they usually use wet food and dry

food for winter/cold days (5SAINTS, 2008). Generally, in the Philippines uses wet feeding

for gamefowl because wet food makes it more digestible for the gamefowl than having

dry food (Espinosa, 2005).

Commercial feeds have different nutrients component so there will be a ratio of the

combination of feeds, and a good handler knows how to pick a good feed and the right

mixture. The ratio of feeding usually differs from weather changes (7_stings, 2007).

Feeding rate typically takes place from 35-40 grams twice a day, but some owner feeds

their gamefowl once a day (safiro, 2007) (RCR75, 2007) (BLAKE, 2015). Also, avoid

overdosing to supplement and suddenly changing the ratio/rate of feed it makes the

gamefowl sick and worsens their health (Naragansette, 2015).

Automated chicken feeder

Conventionally, the chickens need a presence of human resources to give the food

to the chicken manually. This advanced design enables an automatic, automated chicken

feeder according to time without the assistant of human resources every feeding time

(Soh, Ismail, Otthaman, Safie, & Zukri, 2017, p. 2).

Automated chicken feeder allows the users to make a responsible and financial

decision to make the user profitable. The automated chicken feeder utilizes and can

manage the weight of the food of chicken ( DOLOSO & BACUS, 2018). Also, it improved

the mechanical feeding system of the chicken and eliminated the stress that occurs on

the chicken by moving the feeding station (Umogbai, 2015).

Automated fish feeder

The Automated fish feeder with a web-based monitoring system is a self-feeding machine

that can automatically feed the fish regularly to feed automatically (Nuevo, 2019). This system is

trying to improve the efficiency and reliability of the previous available automatic fish feeder. The

amount of fish pellets during feeding system is the significant criteria (Premalatha, Maithili , &

Nandhini , 2017).

The automated fish feeder invented to the problem of not uniformly distributed for each

point of the pond. Also, it takes many labours to work for the farmer to feed the fish (Yusoff, et

al., 2018). Fish feeder framework structured as a mechanical and electrical gadget that

administers appropriate measure of nourishment to the fishes at a specific time interval as

planned by the farmer. A programmed fish feeder is essentially a component that delivers an
endorsed measure of feed to the fishes at wanted time interims (Osueke, Olayanju, Onokwai, &

Uzendu, 2018).

Screw conveyor

A screw conveyor consists of a circular or U-shaped tube which a helix rotates.

The grain is pushed along the bottom of the tube by the helix; thus, the tube does not fill.

The widely used for transporting and elevating particulates at controlled and steady rates

are screw conveyor. It commonly used in many bulk materials handling applications

ranging from agriculture (i.e., conveying grain from storage bins to transport vehicles,

mixing grain in storage, and moving grain in a bin to a central unloading point), chemicals,

pigments, and food processing (Olanrewaju, Jeremiah, & Onyeanula , 2017) (BOLAT &

BOĞOÇLU , 2012).
 METHODOLOGY

Materials and methods

I. Electrical component

Arduino nano - is the brain of this whole project as it is the essential

component needed for the automation required for the feeding operations. It is

programmable hardware which automatically turns on the motor at a given time

interval base on the program given to it.

Real-time clock module - is a computer clock (most often in the form of an

integrated circuit) that keeps track of the current time

GSM module - GSM supports outgoing and incoming voice calls, Simple

Message System (SMS or text messaging), and data communication (via

GPRS).

Step motor - are DC motors that move in discrete steps

LCD I2c - is the technology used for displays in notebook and other smaller

computers. Like light-emitting diode (LED) and gas-plasma technologies, LCDs

allow displays to be much thinner than cathode ray tube (CRT) technology.
Fig. 3 Circuit diagram
 II. Fabrication procedure

A. Design stage

In this stage, it considered all several parameters to acquire a successful

output. These factors incorporated the presentation of the design layout of the

machine. The concepts about the primary mechanism and significant components

of the machine were acquired using past studies. The proponents observed in the

traditional way of feeding. After comprehensive system considerations and

preparations, the data were ready for calculation. It considered the specific weight

of the selected commercial feeds, the diameter of screw conveyor, the strength of

the motor, the clock system, and type controls to use.

The design of the main components of the machine, such as the screw

conveyor and Arduino Uno, was based on the accepted theories and concepts.

Further, considering the needs and demands of the end-user as an essential factor

of the automated gamefowl feeder.

Fig. 1.1 Mechanical setup

Fig. 1.2 Mechanical setup
 Fig. 2 screw feed
Fig. 1.3 Mechanical setup

B. Simulation stage

At this stage was done, the simulation process of the designed automated

gamefowl feeder. To ensure that the designed machine is running on what it is

expected to be and also to know the possible modifications regarding its

performance on the simulation software — the mechanical design of the

machine performed at fusion 360.

C. Fabrication stage

In the 3D machine shop, the fabrication is made to have a perfect design.

The manufacturing stage was based on the design and material specifications

of the proposed for automated gamefowl feeder.

D. Preliminary testing stage

Preliminary testing was performed to establish the final design of the

automated gamefowl feeder. This stage was conducted to determine if all the
components of the machine are functioning correctly and to do modification and

calibration and to eliminate unnecessary element to optimize the design. Also,

to know how much power it consumes in a day to determine the size of the

solar panel and the battery.

For the performance of the prototype and to decide whether or not it is

functioning on what result is. It included evaluation of the amount of the feeds

discharge in its outlet and determined whether it is precise and accurate every

time it discharges the feeds.

1. Method of calculating the size of the pitch of the screw conveyor

To determine the size of the screw conveyor, the specific weight of

the feeds to be used were recorded using a calibrated balance scale.

Eq. 1 Q = (((π/4)D2)S)n)ρ)

Q = V. ρ

Where;

Q = capacity of a screw conveyor

V = Volumetric capacity in m3/Hr

ρ = Bulk density of the material, kg/m3

D = Nominal diameter of Screw in m

S = Screw pitch in m

n = RPM of screw
2. The method in determining the accuracy and precision of the

automated gamefowl feeder

To determine the accuracy and precision of the automated gamefowl

feeder is to gather the discharge weight data in the afternoon before

feeding it to the gamefowl. Also, the experiment follows 21 days of

gamefowl conditioning to analyze the data gathered.

3. The method in determining the size of the solar panel and the

battery for the automated gamefowl feeder

To determine the size of the solar panel and the battery for the

automated gamefowl feeder is to record the power consumption in a day

using wattmeter, to know the average days without sunlight in the area,

and the average number of hours of direct sunlight to the solar panel.

𝑃
Eq. 2 S = 𝐴 𝑥 𝐷

Where;

S = solar panel wattage in kW

P = power consumption in kWh/day

D = day

A = average direct sunlight in hours/day

(𝑉𝑥𝐴ℎ𝑥𝑂)
Eq. 3 B = 100

Where;

B = battery in watt hours

V = voltage of the solar panel

 Ah = amp hours of the solar panel

O = average days without sunlight

III. Location of the study

The study will be conducted at the University of southeastern

Philippines Tagum-Mabini campus.

IV. Experimental design

This study will follow the CRD method to know the accuracy and

precise discharge of the automated chicken feeder. Also, to identify the

optimum size of the pitch.

 A. Optimization of the screw pitch of the automated gamefowl feeder

StdOrder RunOrder pitch in inch hole in pitch

6 1 2.755906 samel length of the pitch

7 2 0.393731 1/2 of the pitch
1 3 0.393731 samel length of the pitch
4 4 2.755906 1/2 of the pitch
9 5 0.393731 samel length of the pitch
11 6 0.393731 1/2 of the pitch
3 7 0.393731 1/2 of the pitch
12 8 2.755906 1/2 of the pitch
8 9 2.755906 1/2 of the pitch
10 10 2.755906 samel length of the pitch
5 11 0.393731 samel length of the pitch
2 12 2.755906 samel length of the pitch

References
DOLOSO, M., & BACUS, A. (2018, May). AUTOMATED POULTRY FEEDER WITH SMS NOTIFICATION. 22.
5SAINTS. (2008, April). Dry feeds vs Wet feeds. Retrieved from sabong.net:
http://www.sabong.net.ph/forum/showthread.php?35990-Dry-feeds-vs-Wet-feeds

7_stings. (2007, September 17). Best feeding..... Retrieved from sabong.net:

http://www.sabong.net.ph/forum/showthread.php?27671-Best-feeding

BLAKE, V. (2015, April 2). whats the best time to feed ? Retrieved from sabong.net:
http://www.sabong.net.ph/forum/archive/index.php/t-86050.html

BOLAT , B., & and M. E. (2012). INCREASING OF SCREW CONVEYOR CAPACITY . 16th International
Research/Expert Conference ”Trends in the Development of Machinery and Associated
Technology” TMT 2012, Dubai, UAE, 10-12 September 2012 , 1.

Espinosa, b. (2005, March). Dry feeds vs Wet feeds. Retrieved from sabong.net:
http://www.sabong.net.ph/forum/showthread.php?35990-Dry-feeds-vs-Wet-feeds

Haribon. (2012, July). Feeding Methods of Today. Retrieved from sabong.net:

http://www.sabong.net.ph/forum/showthread.php?70107-Feeding-Methods-of-Today

Naragansette. (2015, August 21). Masang nagmamanok. Retrieved from rbsugbo.wixsite.com:

https://rbsugbo.wixsite.com/gamevitz-club/single-post/2015/08/21/The-great-secret-in-
feeding-game-fowl

Olanrewaju, T., Jeremiah, I., & Onyeanula , P. (2017). Design and fabrication of a screw conveyor.
AgricEngInt: CIGR Journal Open access at http://www.cigrjournal.org, Vol. 19, 156-162.

RCR75. (2007, September 17). Best feeding..... Retrieved from sabong.net:

http://www.sabong.net.ph/forum/showthread.php?27671-Best-feeding

and. (2007, September 19). Best feeding..... Retrieved from sabong.net:

http://www.sabong.net.ph/forum/showthread.php?27671-Best-feeding

Soh, Z., Ismail, M., Otthaman, F., Safie, M., & Zukri, M. (2017). Development of Automatic Chicken
Feeder using Arduino Uno. Conference: 2017 International Conference on Electrical, Electronics,
and System Engineering (ICEESE), (p. 2).

Umogbai, V. I. (2015). Development of a Mechanical Family Poultry Feeder . Journal of Emerging Trends
in Engineering and Applied Sciences (JETEAS) 4(6), 837-846 .