Design and validation of a mobile air filter testing laboratory for animal agricultural applications

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2019-10-01
Authors
Hoff, Steven
Harmon, Jay
Stinn, John
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Harmon, Jay
Associate Dean
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Ramirez, Brett
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Hoff, Steven
Professor Emeritus
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Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering

Since 1905, the Department of Agricultural Engineering, now the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (ABE), has been a leader in providing engineering solutions to agricultural problems in the United States and the world. The department’s original mission was to mechanize agriculture. That mission has evolved to encompass a global view of the entire food production system–the wise management of natural resources in the production, processing, storage, handling, and use of food fiber and other biological products.

History
In 1905 Agricultural Engineering was recognized as a subdivision of the Department of Agronomy, and in 1907 it was recognized as a unique department. It was renamed the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering in 1990. The department merged with the Department of Industrial Education and Technology in 2004.

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1905–present

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  • Department of Agricultural Engineering (1907–1990)

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Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
Abstract

The US swine industry is shifting towards filtered fresh-air ventilation systems that use pleated filters to improve breeding herd health and reduce airborne disease outbreak frequency. Loaded filters reduce airflow causing a poor environment and elevated energy use. Typical axial fans cannot efficiently maintain the rated differential pressure (DP; 100 Pa) for pleated filters; hence, a lower design filter DP (37 Pa) is used and consequently, more filters are required to achieve design maximum ventilation. Large, common filter banks for multiple staged fans presents significant challenges in using continuous DP measurement to assess filter life, making it impossible to separate filter loading DP from overall airflow DP. A mobile air filter testing (MAFT) laboratory is needed to provide timely farm-to-farm testing of on-site filters by accurately measuring airflow at given DPs to identify filter end-of-life and enable research on spatiotemporal filter loading characteristics. The MAFT laboratory consisted of a 4.6 m long acrylic test duct mounted in an enclosed trailer capable of operating at 37 Pa DP across primary and secondary filter combinations for 2,820 to 28,200 L min-1 airflows. Test duct calibration (R squared>0.99; RMSE=1.40 x 102 L min-1) at BESS Labs and validation against a third-party laboratory (34 loaded filters from commercial swine facilities) showed good agreement (p-1). The MAFT laboratory provides a unique approach for testing agricultural filter performance directly on-farm to eliminate the time and cost to test filters at third-party laboratories.

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This article is published as Smith, Benjamin C., Brett C. Ramirez, Steven J. Hoff, Jay D. Harmon, and John P. Stinn. "Design and validation of a mobile air filter testing laboratory for animal agricultural applications." Agricultural Engineering International: CIGR Journal 21, no. 3 (2019): 39-50. Posted with permission.

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Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 UTC 2019
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