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Design and Performance Evaluation of Upgraded Portable Monitoring Units for Barn Air Quality

Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org

Citation:  2015 ASABE Annual International Meeting  152180739.(doi:10.13031/aim.20152180739)
Authors:   Boyu Ji, Richard S Gates, Weichao Zheng, Tony E Grift, Angela R. Green, Kenneth W. Koelkebeck
Keywords:   emission, concentration, ammonia, carbon dioxide, air quality

Abstract. The Portable Monitoring Unit (PMU) was originally developed and used for measuring ammonia (NH3) and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations and emissions from poultry facilities. Its use entailed a substantial degree of manual setup and data processing, making deployment of multiple PMUs in field measurements a logistic challenge. The original commercial electrochemical (EC) sensor for NH3 is obsolete and no longer available. Thus, an effort to upgrade the PMU design was undertaken. A substantial redesign of the PMU system is reported in this paper, and includes an upgraded data acquisition and control system (DACS), wireless data transfer capability, and a new commercial NH3 EC sensor. An evaluation of existing EC sensors was performed, a sample of potential sensors was evaluated, and the selected sensor was further tested to characterize its accuracy and limitations. The performance of the upgraded PMU during field measurement in a commercial laying hen house and subsequent laboratory reassessment was evaluated and is reported here. Results demonstrate the feasibility of new system, termed the iPMU (Intelligent Portable Monitoring Unit).

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