International Journal of Engineering and Science Vol. 2, No.

1, 2011
ISSN: 2086-3799
Available online at: www.ijes.co
2011 Universitas Malahayati Press

Corresponding Author: A. Murniwati, Department of Electrical and Electronic, University Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
France Institute, Section 14, Jalan Teras Jernang, 43650 Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor,
Malaysia, Tel: +603-8926-7349, Fax: +603-8925-8845, E-mail: murni@mfi.unikl.edu.my
Temperature Control Hatchery Incubator Using Microcontroller

,
1
Murniwati Anwar
2
Mohd Syahman Moktar Lotfy
1,2
Department of Industrial Automation
Universiti Kuala Lumpur Malaysia France Institute, 43650 Bandar Baru Bangi, Malaysia

___________________________________________________________________________
Abstract

This paper is to report of a prototype temperature control of hatchery incubator using microcontroller. The nature
of hatching process takes 21 days with a temperature of 99-102 F or 37 to 38.9 C , with proper humidity and
the egg must be moved several times for certain hour for optimum performance. The objective of the project is to
control one of the variables only which is the temperature with low overshoot which can maintain the
temperature for the hatchery incubator. The system will allow 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 proportional,
integral and derivative (PID) control. The design developed, based on a Microchip PIC 16F877A family
microcontroller.

KEYWORDS: Hatchery incubator, Temperature control, Microcontroller
________________________________________________________________________________________

1. Introduction

Poultry product is one of the most popular food product in Malaysia from the original tasty local food such as
satay, ayam percik or the western food such as sausage and chicken burger have become one of delightful food.
Chicken is also one of the cheapest protein bases in Malaysia. Chicken farming or breeding is run in a big scale
and also small size farm. In a commercial farm, all the eggs are collected from the farm and place in a hatchery
incubator to hatch the eggs. The nature of hatching process takes 21 days with a temperature of 99-102 F with
proper humidity and the egg must be moved several times at certain hour for optimum performance. Figure 1 and
Figure 2 show how the hatchery process is done.



Figure 1 : Eggs are mark after rotated

Figure 1 show eggs are mark to differentiate before and after rotating the eggs and Figure 2 shows how some of
the eggs have hatched in the incubator.



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Figure 2: hatched eggs
1.1 Temperature control

Temperature measurement and control are vital in many industrial processes. Accurate control of the temperature
is essential in nearly all chemical processes. In some applications, an accuracy of around 5-10C may be
acceptable. There are also some industrial applications which require better than 1C accuracy. The
temperature controller takes an input from a temperature sensor and has an output that is connected to a control
element such as a heater or cooling fan. To accurately control process temperature without extensive operator
involvement, a temperature control system relies upon a controller, which accepts a temperature sensor as input.
It compares the actual temperature to the desired control temperature, or set point, and provides an output to a
control element. There are three basic types of controllers: on-off, proportional and proportional, integral and
derivative (PID). Depending upon the system to be controlled, the operator will be able to use one type or
another to control the process.

1.2 Previous work

There are several patents on hatch incubator and some of these discussed here.

Robert W. Cannon have build up an apparatus design for incubating and hatching eggs. The design is about
positioning and moving tray of eggs at certain angle for optimum performance. [1]

One of the main concerns in hatchery process is to maintain the air temperature around inside the incubator
within 99-102 F but unfortunately living embryos produce heats which will interfere with the environment. For
optimum performance, Robert W. Cannon also have patent up heat removal and recovery system for incubators
and hatchers to overcome this situation. [2]

In 2008, Rafael S. Correa, Marco A.Quiroz, William D. Samson and Erich E. Bevense have build up automated
egg injection machine and method which can be use to inject eggs with substances such as vitamins, antibiotics
for disease prevention and thus no need to inject the hatched bird or chick.[3]


2.0 Temperature Control using Microcontroller

The objective of this project is to develop a prototype of PID temperature control system for hatchery incubator
using microcontroller. The system will continuously control the temperature based on the set point given by the
operator.

2.1 Hardware

This project developed using an acrylic box. The heat element is a 12V 60/55W bulb. For a measurement
and a system feedback, it uses a temperature sensor (LM35). Thermometer will be use to monitoring the
temperature. Figure 3 shows the sketch of this project.

Figure 3: Sketch of the system

Figure 4 shows the control block diagram of the system using PID controller. By using PID control, the result
has low overshot and low steady state error. The range of temperature of the incubator operation is between 99-
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102 F (100-101 F., if possible). User could set the temperature set point. The system will compare the desired
value with the actual value. The PID controller uses the feedback from the sensor and gives the suitable output
voltage based on the error. The error is the difference between the user-defined set point (the desired value) and
the measured process variable (the actual value).



Figure 4: Control block diagram of the temperature control



2.2 Temperature sensor ( LM35 )

Selecting the appropriate sensor is not always easy. This depends on factors such as the temperature range,
required accuracy, environment, time response, ease of use, less cost, and interchangeability. The type of
temperature sensor use in this project is temperature IC, LM35 from National Semiconductor Corporation. It is
precision integrated-circuit temperature sensor, which output voltage is linearly proportional to the Celsius
(Centigrade) temperature. This is an advantage over linear temperature sensors calibrated in K, as the user is not
required to subtract a large constant voltage from its output to obtain convenient centigrade scaling. It does not
require any external calibration or trimming to provide typical accuracy of 3/4C over a full 55C to +
150C temperature range. LM35 sensor is placed close to the thermometer and the output voltage is measured by
voltmeter. Table 1 shows the output voltage from the sensor corresponded with the temperature before tested to
the system.

Table 1: LM35 output voltage result

Temperature (C) LM 35 Output voltage (V)
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
0.30
0.31
0.32
0.33
0.34
0.35
0.36
0.37
0.38

2.3 The Controller: Microcontroller PIC 16F877A

Controller is a device that able to give instruction in sequence to control the device. Microcontrollers are general
purpose microprocessors which have additional parts that allow them to control external devices. PIC16F877A is
selected for this system because it is cheaper, adequate of analogue input and output and equipped with internal
ADC circuit. By using PIC16F877A, the whole design circuit can be simplified and easy for troubleshooting.
Figure 5 is the complete block diagram of the system. Figure 6, 7 8 and 9 is the input and output interface
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connection to the microcontroller. Pin A0 is connected to the temperature sensor and A1 is connected to a heater
which represented by a bulb. Figure 10 shows the flowchart program of the system.





Figure 5: Controller Schematic Diagram

Figure 6: Heater Driver Schematic Diagram

Figure 7: Heater Schematic Diagram
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Figure 8: Temperature Sensor LM35 Schematic Diagram

Figure 9: Input (Set point) Schematic Diagram

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Figure 10: System flowchart


3.0 Experiments and Results

Given value of gain as below:

Kp= 1.5, Ki= 0.5, Kd= 1.0

Measured sensor output voltage= 0.29v
Output Temperature (initial condition) = 32.4C
Set point given= 0.33v or 37 C

The data is taken for 600 seconds or 10 minutes and the result is in Figure 10. It shows from the graph diagram
temperature (C) versus time (s) that the system has an overshot of 1.2C before it settling down. At 600 second
the start to maintain at 37.0C and the settling time is about 320 seconds or 5.3 minutes.

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Figure 10 : Temperature vs time

4.0 Conclusion and Recommendation

This project uses PID controller using microcontroller to control temperature that suitable for egg hatchery
process. It gives better output result than an on-off control. The system achieves its target in about 10 minutes.
The important of this system is to reduce the overshoot as low as possible. The proper tuning is required to
improve the system. Humidity is another variable that need to be considered.

This project could be beneficial in the farm industries such as application for eggs hatchery. The output
result is important in hatch incubator operation for optimum performance. Overheating the embryo is much more
damaging than is under heating it; overheating speeds up embryo development, lowers the percentage of
hatchability, and causes abnormal embryos. Although a short cooling period may not be harmful, longer periods
of low temperatures will reduce the rate of embryo development. Excessively low temperatures will kill the
embryos. The main advantages of using PIC as a controller are low cost and easy to use.

References
[1] Robert W. Cannon (1993), Method and Apparatus Design for incubating and hatching eggs, United States
Patent.

[2] Robert W. Cannon (1993), Heat Removal and Recovery System For Incubators and Hatchers, United States
Patent.

[3] Rafael S. Correa, Marco A.Quiroz, William D. Samson and Erich E. Bevense (2008), Automated Egg
Injection Machine and Method, United States Patent.

[4] James S. McDonald, (1997), Temperature Control Using a Microcontroller: An Interdisciplinary
Undergraduate Engineering Design Project.

[5] http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/661/
malaysia-poultry-and-products-annual-2006
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