Water Supply Rates for Recirculating Evaporative Cooling Systems

Abstract

Abstract. Evaporative cooling (EC) is an important tool to reduce heat stress in animal housing systems. Expansion of ventilation capacity in tunnel ventilated poultry facilities has resulted in increased water demand for EC systems. As water resources become more limited and costly, proper planning and design of water supply systems is critical to ensure demand is met during periods of heat stress which increase EC use and bird water consumption. Few estimates of EC water use in animal housing applications are available in the literature and available estimates are geographically limited or rely on extreme weather events. The goal of this analysis was to provide guidance for EC water supply design to accommodate estimates of peak demand, rather than average consumption rates. Keywords: Ventilation, Broiler house, Water conservation, Housing design.