Accumulated dust on the plastic shuttle of the ventilation fans will definitely affect the air flow of the tunnel ventilation poultry house. But to what extent?
We have made a study by leaving the plastic shuttle unattended for 36days. Dust accumulated about 3 to 5mm thick on the edges of the shuttles. The shuttles were no long able to open fully as its used to be. The wind speed measured before flock placement was average 2.9 m/s. Whereas after 36days of the unattended condition, the wind speed reading was dropped to 2.2 m/s. The average wind flow was dropped by 25%. To confirm the dust effect on wind speed, we cleaned all the plastic shuttle and measured the reading again. The outcome is, the wind speed immediately back to normal that was 2.9 m/s.
Therefore, in order to have a consistent air flow for your tunnel ventilation house, weekly cleaning of plastic shuttles must not be omitted!
Typical worst example of dust full plastic shuttle. |
After cleaning condition. |