Development of a Solar-Powered Barley Sprouting Room

Abstract

The study aims to develop a sprouting room for barley powered by solar energy instead of traditional alternating-current rooms to suit remote areas. The cooling, lighting, and irrigation systems were developed and replaced with another that operates on 12 V DC. An air cooling device based on the Peltier module has been developed as an alternative to air conditioning devices. Four cooling units of the air cooler were tested with three lighting durations of 6, 9, and 12 h and three irrigation rates of 1.7, 1.85, and 2 m3 ton-1. The measurements included evaluating the performance of the developed air cooler device. The vegetative and quality characteristics and a chemical analysis of sprouted barley for the solar-powered room compared to the room before the modification were estimated. The solar room's productivity and electrical energy consumption rates were estimated, and an economic evaluation of the development was conducted. The maximum electrical power consumption for the solar-powered sprouting room was 63.275 kWh ton-1, compared with 117.19 kWh ton-1 for the alternating current-managed room before modification. The interaction between the utilized developing DC air cooling, lighting, and irrigation achieved standard rates for the produced barley vegetative and quality characteristics. The maximal productivity from sprouted barley was 1.22 tons, per 7 days with an increment ratio over control of 31.97%. The net earnings for the developed sprouting room were maximized relative to the significant decrease in electrical production costs. The developed room fits the livestock sector by providing good economic alternative fodder sources.

Keywords

• Arduino
• Controller
• Cooler
• Panel
• Remote
• Strips

Supporting Institution

Agricultural Engineering Research Institute (AENRI), Agricultural Research Center (ARC), Dokki, Giza, EGYPT

Project Number

None

Ethical Statement

There is no conflict of interest between authors.

Thanks

Many Thanks

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