CFD Investigation on Combined Ventilation System for Multilayer-Caged-Laying Hen Houses

Abstract

Mechanical ventilation is an important means of environmental control in multitier laying hen cages. The mainstream ventilation mode currently in use, negative-pressure ventilation (NPV), has the drawbacks of a large temperature difference before and after adjustment and uneven air velocity distribution. To solve these problems, this study designed and analyzed a combined positive and negative-pressure ventilation system for laying hen cages. According to the principle of the conservation of mass to increase the inlet flow in the negative-pressure ventilation system on the basis of the addition of the pressure-wind body-built positive-and-negative-pressure-combined ventilation (PNCV) system, further, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation was performed to analyze the distribution of environmental parameters in the chicken cage zone (CZ) with inlet angles of positive-pressure fans set at 45°, 90°, and 30°. Simulation results showed that the PNCV system increased the average air velocity in the CZ from 0.94 m/s to 1.04 m/s, 1.28 m/s, and 0.99 m/s by actively blowing air into the cage. The maximum temperature difference in the CZ with the PNCV system was 2.91 °C, 1.80 °C, and 3.78 °C, which were all lower than 4.46 °C, the maximum temperature difference in the CZ with the NPV system. Moreover, the relative humidity remained below 80% for the PNCV system and between 80% and 85% for the NPV system. Compared with the NPV system, the PNCV system increased the vertical airflow movement, causing significant cooling and dehumidifying effects. Hence, the proposed system provides an effective new ventilation mode for achieving efficient and accurate environmental control in laying hen cages.