DEVELOPMENT OF A HATCHING MACHINE USING PID CONTROLLER

Abstract

In this research, a hatching machine using proportional, integral and derivative (PID) controller to regulate its temperature and the relative humidity was developed. This ensures that the eggs are kept at optimum conditions at all times, with appropriate ventilation. Extreme variations in incubation temperature and relative humidity will affect the embryo and ultimately, post hatch performance. In this work, a direct Current (DC) heater was used to give the suitable temperature to the egg which was in the range of 35 degree Celsius to 40 degree Celsius. Furthermore, water and controlling fan was used to ensure that humidity is kept at the range of 50 to 55 relative humidity for optimal hatching with the ventilation adequately regulated, the system allows an entry of a desired temperature in a prescribed range and to exhibit low overshoot and low steady-state temperature error, this being done using PID control. To ensure that all part of the eggs is heated by the DC heater, DC motor was used to rotate iron rod at the bottom side and automatically change position of the egg from time to time. Mathematical model of the hatching machine, actuator and PID controller will be developed. Controller design based on the models was developed using Matlab Simulink. The models were validated through simulation and the Zeigler-Nichol tuning method was adopted as the tuning technique for varying the temperature control parameters of the PID controller in order to achieve a desirable transient response of the system when subjected to a unit step input.