COMPLETE AUTONOMOUS VENTILATION ENVIRONMENT SYSTEM (CAVES) FOR SMALL FARMS

International Electronic Machines Corp., a leader in the field of smart sensors and controls for health, maintenance, and other fields, will develop the Complete Autonomous Ventilation Environment System (CAVES), an intelligent, customizable, scalable, adaptable control and ventilation system that will directly monitor all the key parameters of barn environment - temperature, humidity, fan speed/wind velocity, vapors/gases such as ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, CO, and CO2, -- and combine them with knowledge of the barn size and configuration and the number and type of livestock to reliably ensure proper ventilation at minimal power usage by controlling both fans and inlet configuration. CAVES will be able to be retrofitted to existing ventilation fans and may be powered via line power or by a solar system with appropriate energy storage as the dramatic reduction in energy consumption would now allow for such a renewable energy system for ventilation to be affordable; one aspect of the project will be evaluating designs for extremely lightweight solar installations that can go on very low-weight-tolerance roofs, or that can be installed on-ground conveniently and with minimal space requirements. Overall, CAVES should reduce power demand by between 40 and 80 percent over standard ventilation operations while maintaining a completely safe and comfortable environment for the target livestock, offering a very quick ROI even on a small farm.Reduce ventilation energy costs by between forty and eighty percent (translating to a total energy savings of between 8-16% based on an average of 20% of a farm's energy used for ventilation); this produces a ROI of between 6 months and 2 years based on calculated cost of CAVES.This will be completed by incorporating gas sensors with variable speed fan control to maintain ambient conditions (temperature and gas concentrations) combined with processing to understand a particular barns exhaust attributes.Determine the ability to use renawable energy systems, specifically photovoltaic, based upon the reduced energy consumptionMaintain livestock comfort throughout the year. This is determined by maintaining temperature and background gas levels at a to be determined value through the use of the control of the exhaustReduce or eliminate discomfort and health impacts of irritant gases on both livestock and farm workersAs determined by comparing the pre and post background gas ambient concentrations and time durations