Design modification of a cost-efficient microcontroller-based egg incubator

Abstract

Objectives: This study is geared towards the design modification of a costefficient automated egg incubator. Methods: To meet the objectives, the researchers conducted several document analyses relative to the study to establish further the requirements needed to design a microcontroller-based incubator. Interviews with the farmers from the Northern Luzon Philippines also contributed to the design modification’s success. The researchers gathered information on temperature, humidity, cost-efficiency, advantages and disadvantages of the existing incubators, and the farmers’ feedback before designing. The incubator designed in this study uses modern methods such as the automated controllable device, which maintains humidity & temperature and enables automatic tray switching; The study has also discussed the hatching efficiency and hatching capacity; a financial review between the previous egg incubator and the proposed microcontroller egg incubator has been done. Findings: The study showed that the designed incubator’s hatching efficiency ranges from 80-93% and with an average of 86.5% with the number of hatched eggs was 56 (93%) duck eggs and 48 (80%) chicken eggs. It also shows that duck eggs have the most number of hatching compared to chicken eggs. It also showed higher net income for the farmers. Further, the Modified technology is cost-efficient than the manual, which indicates a lower cost per chicken and ducks egg incubation of Php 20.07 and Php 17.2. Novelty/Improvement: The study demonstrated that the microcontrollerbased egg incubator is commendable for small-scale poultry producers. Keywords: Incubator; Microcontroller; Eggs