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Cost-effective heating and cooling for agriculture, powered by nature.
Our Approach
The ventilation systems used today in nearly all livestock barns cannot produce a climate that optimizes animal health and productivity. As a result, productivity is reduced due to animal heat stress, virus outbreaks, poor air quality, high filter maintenance costs, and building deterioration from high humidity.
The following graphic demonstrates how frequently heat stress conditions occur in sow barns with today's "state of the art" ventilation systems in southern Minnesota. It assumes that 300cfm per animal is delivered through a evaporative cooling wall/pad. Air entering the barn is cooled (by evaporative cooler) to within 2 degrees of the outdoor wetbulb temperature as the humidity is raised to near 100%. Within the barn sensible and latent energy from the animals is added to the air; the resultant in-barn conditions (temp and humidity) are then evaluated using the "Temperature and Humidity Index" (THI) calculation, which is correlated with animal heat stress. By correlating the outdoor air conditions with the indoor air conditions we correlate outdoor air conditions with heat stress (mild, moderate and severe), as shown on the lines in the chart below. Overlaying the heat stress lines are actual hourly temperature and humidity readings for May 15 - Sept 15 at the MSP airport, which is used as a proxy for most of southern Minnesota.
Less than ideal ventilation systems are utilized because the cost to install and operate ideal systems have been prohibitively expensive for all but the most valuable animals.
North Breeze Solutions provides the ideal-climate, cost-effective solution for new and existing barns by utilizing the energy of the sun to power heating and cooling. Solar thermal energy greatly reduces the operating cost of air conditioning. This enables us to provide a much healthier climate while delivering a fraction of the airflow that is delivered by ventilation systems today.
In the graphic below we show the performance of the North Breeze HVAC (Heating Ventilating and Air Conditioning) system. With much lower airflow (50cfm per animal vs 300cfm per animal) we greatly reduce, if not eliminate, the effects of heat-stress.
By greatly reducing airflow we greatly reduce filter maintenance costs. With reduced airflow and a positive-pressure approach, we prevent deadly airborne viruses from entering barns. By reducing humidity we improve building longevity. By using a push-pull fans approach, airflow is uniform (no dead air) within the barn, regardless of wind conditions outside of a barn.
