Name: Thermal imaging camera
Cost: around $1100
Intended use
Thermal imaging cameras are valuable managerial and educational tools in poultry production. Intended use of the cameras include but not limited to
- analyze heat loss and gain from poultry barns
- evaluate radiant heating systems
- measure temperature stratification
- evaluate air inlet flow patterns and evaporative cooling system efficiency
- measure egg temperatures in incubators
How does it work?
Thermal cameras detect temperature by recognizing and capturing different levels of infrared light.
Difference between infrared thermometer and thermal imaging camera?
A non-contact thermometer only measures the temperature of a single point on floor, bird surface, feeder, etc., providing the user an average of everything within its field of view. However, thermal imaging cameras do tens of thousands of temperature measurements that they convert the temperatures to a color spectrum to provide a visible picture of thermal environment within poultry houses.
Are two barns with the same temperature have the same thermal image?
Not necessarily. Two barns with the same temperature might have different air circulation, which cannot be illustrated by a simple thermometer but with a thermal imaging camera. Figure 1 compares two turkey barns with the same temperature but a different air movement. Look at the thermal condition of the birds in the picture to figure out the importance of a good air movement pattern in a barn. The thermal images aid us to evaluate the effectiveness of a ventilation system in keeping the flock in the comfortable temperature zone.
Figure 2 shows how a thermal image can be used to detect insulation damages to a ceiling of a poultry house.
Figure 3 shows the application of thermal images in evaluation of inlet performance and ventilation system in a poultry house.
References
- Czarick, M. 2007. Thermal Imaging in the Poultry Industry. InfraMation 2007 Proceedings.
- Animal and Food Sciences. University of Kentucky. http://afs.ca.uky.edu/poultry/chapter-1-recommendations-based-thermal-imaging
Mohammad was the PIP team Research Associate (2021-2024) with extensive experience in poultry nutrition. He wrote science articles for newsletters and worked on developing adaptations and recommendations to support the adoption of new managerial tools, products, services, and practices by the poultry industry.
Looking at his poultry industry perspective, Mohammad has been serving the poultry industry through his extensive experience in feed formulation as an animal nutritionist over the past ten years. He was also a university lecturer for 10 years. Mohammad was a member of the Animal Care and Use Committee (ACUC) at the U of A. Mohammad graduated with a Ph.D. degree in Animal Science from the University of Alberta with a Postdoctoral fellowship before moving to his Research Associate position with the PIP team. Serving the poultry industry as an animal nutritionist for more than a decade, Mohammad loves teaching and worked as a university lecturer in Iran and a teaching assistant at the U of A. Mohammad was inspired by Dr. Frank Robinson, practicing the inquiry-based learning method when working as a TA in his “Principles of Animal Agriculture” class. “I have a strong passion on poultry nutrition and have always loved to help poultry producers with optimizing the poultry systems. The challenging part of working with live animals is that you need to be on call even as a nutritionist. However, the joy of seeing healthy animals and help with their welfare overcome the challenging part.”
