DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF SOLAR INCUBATOR

Abstract

Birds incubators enable large production of birds. Cost of this production is getting out of hands lately due to the energy crisis being experienced globally. This results in the increase in the cost of chicken production and unaffordable to common man. In order to surmount this challenge and even encourage the rural farmer to go into bird production that will guarantee protein supplement for him and his family, it is necessary to look at other ways of generating energy for egg incubation. Solar energy is chosen because it is free, abundant and clean and can be tapped anywhere in the country. The solar incubator has been designed and constructed. Test of its performance and modification will be reported in the part two of the paper. The solar incubator consists of a solar collector which heats water that in turn heats an incubating chamber for the process of fowl hatching. It is designed to work for 24 hours and it has a built-in heat storage facility that supplies heat to the incubating chamber during the period of the day that there is no solar energy.