Details of the Research

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The result of the study will provide benefits for chicks’ comfort and health as they are not
compromised during delivery and before the preparation for meat products. It extends the wellness
to the community for having cheaper market price of poultry products and more supply for further
demands in the future.
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Proline Industries, a local company located in Mandaue, approached the DMME to improve their
chick transport vehicle design which prioritizes chick welfare in terms of improvement of the
interior conditions for comfort and minimization of mortality rate.
STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM
According to the Chicken Situation Report from the Philippines Statistics Authority, there was an
increase of 13% in chicken meat importation from 2017 to 2018. The worst mortality rate
witnessed amounted to 30% of the total number of chicks. The study aims to help in reducing this
value through attaining the correct conditions and design of the vehicle to be set for the
minimization of chick mortality during transport here in the Philippines.
OBJECTIVES
[1] Assess the aerodynamic, ventilation and vibration characteristics of the chick transport vehicle
with respect to the chicks’ condition (e.g. surface temperature and noise) and mortality rate during
transportation from the hatchery to the farm through three-dimensional mapping of the parameters
considered, such as temperature, humidity, velocity and pressure, and measurement of CO
concentration and vibration.
a. For the aerodynamic characteristics assessment, a simulation will be done to determine the
flow regimes and the exterior flow field surrounding the chick transport vehicle. The actual
exterior flow field will be obtained by measuring the temperature, pressure and velocity
distribution through temperature, pressure and velocity sensors which will be uniformly
distributed on the external surface of the trailer. Then, wind tunnel tests will be conducted to
visualize the actual flow regimes around the vehicle.
b. For the ventilation characteristics assessment, the actual exterior flow field values on the
trailer surface obtained from the aerodynamic characteristics assessment will be used as
boundary conditions for the simulation that will determine the interior flow field. The interior
flow field will be obtained by measuring the temperature, humidity, pressure and velocity
distribution through temperature, humidity, pressure and velocity sensors which will be
uniformly distributed on the interior of the trailer. Then, the interior temperature and humidity
distribution will be correlated with the chicks’ condition (e.g. body weight, surface
temperature and noise).
c. For vibration characteristics assessment, the data of vibration (acceleration) with respect to
time during the duration of the trip will be obtained using an accelerometer. Then, the
vibration (acceleration) with respect to time will be correlated with the chicks’ condition (e.g.
body weight, surface temperature and noise).
[2] Investigate the effect of design parameters such as fresh air input variation, chiller temperature
setting variation, crate positioning variation and design geometry on the attainment of uniform
distribution of the interior flow field and the effect of the application of a crate damping material
such as foam (polyurethane) on minimizing vibrations.
DISCUSSION OF LITERATURE RELATED TO THE FIELD
A. Chick (Gallus domesticus) Required Conditions and Stress Responses
With the continuous growth of the world population and food demand, the production of
chicken meat and eggs continues to grow. The chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) that we are
accustomed today has been domesticated or habituated to survive in the company of humans over
3000 years ago.1 According to the data accumulated from 2001 to 2018 of the Department of
Agriculture and the Philippine Statistics Authority, chicken production has always been increasing
but chicken meat importation increased by 13% on 2018.2 The whole poultry industry is
subdivided into different parts namely hatcheries, meat production, and egg production. Thousands
of chicks from these hatcheries will be delivered to the farms where they will grow into broilers
or layers. Ethics and welfare of this chicks during transportation should be top priority.3,4 Animal
care guidelines from the Department of Agriculture should be followed in this study.
B. Aerodynamic characteristics
First to be considered is the aerodynamic characteristics analysis. It describes the exterior
flow field around the vehicle as well as the interior flow field. It will tell us how the flow field
around the truck and trailer chick transport vehicle behaves. The data gathered from the analysis
of this part of the study will be used as boundary conditions for the ventilation characteristics
analysis. The environment in the Philippines is different from the studies done from previous
literatures thus obtaining the aerodynamic characteristics of the truck with louvres on its walls will
be performed. This is the research gap that will be considered on this part of the study. There was
a series of studies done on 1996 which investigates the aerodynamic and ventilation characteristics
of a certain chick transport vehicle.55–57 The research gap that this part of the study will supply is
to determine the effect of the exterior flow field on the interior flow field of a chick vehicle trailer
with louver walls.
C. Ventilation characteristics
Next to be considered is the ventilation characteristics analysis. It describes the interior flow
field of the vehicle. Since the environment in the Philippines is different from the studies done
from previous literature, the aerodynamic characteristics and its effect on the ventilation
characteristics of the truck with louvres on its walls will be done. A data of the effects of the
ambient conditions in a tropical country on the thermal environment of the trailer or container with
louvres on its walls is non-existent. This was useful for the attainment of thermal comfort inside
the trailer. And upon reviewing almost all the literature, no data is available for the combined
effects of ambient temperature, humidity, air velocity and pressure on the attainment of thermal
comfort. Attainment of thermal comfort while maintaining the open environment in the trailer is
another research gap.23,103–105The research gap that this part of the study will supply is to determine
the effect of the air flow rate input, chiller temperature variation and crate positioning variation on
the interior flow field of a chick vehicle trailer with louver walls. The correlation of this interior
flow field (temperature and humidity distribution) data on chick response such as surface
temperature and noise will also be determined which is another research gap.
D. Vibration characteristics
The main theme of this study is the attainment of comfort during transport. Last to be
considered is the effects of the vibration characteristics on comfort as perceived by the chicks. The
vibration considered during transport is random vibration. On humans, random vibration produced
slightly greater discomfort than sinusoidal vibration but with the same frequency dependence.151
Significant treatment effects in plasma CK activity, glucose and corticosterone concentrations
indicate induction of physiological stress by exposure to vibration (2Hz, 5Hz and 10Hz), resulting
in muscle damage, hypoglycemia and activation of the pituitary-adrenocortical axis.18,152 The
aversion of broiler chickens to concurrent vibrational stressors would result to the pursuant of
further study about this topic.15,153 Measurement of resonances of transporters showed that bird
welfare is compromised due to vibration and motion during transport.19 The correlation of this
vibration data on chick response such as surface temperature and noise will also be determined.
The current advances of this field of study are is about gyroscopic stabilization. But this study
would employ only damping materials to reduce vibration. The data of the vibration (acceleration)
with respect to the chick condition and response such as body weight, surface temperature and
noise would suffice to supply the necessary objectives.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
 Figure 1. Information Flow Diagram
Figure 1 shows the information flow diagram. After obtaining the interior flow field
through three-dimensional mapping, the apparent equivalent temperature will be calculated on
each specified point. A statistical analysis will then be done to obtain the correlation between the
interior environment parameters with respect to the chicks’ surface temperature and noise
produced. Chicks’ surface temperature and noise produced will also be correlated with the
vibration data.
METHODOLOGY
The study will assess the aerodynamic, ventilation and vibration characteristics of the chick
transport vehicle with respect to the chicks’ condition (e.g. body weight, surface temperature and
noise) and mortality rate during transportation from the hatchery to the farm through three-
dimensional mapping of the parameters considered, such as temperature, humidity, velocity and
pressure, and measurement of CO concentration and vibration. This study will follow an
experiment procedure as shown below to get the desired data from the existing design, verify the
theories being presented and give conclusion based on the scope of the study.
A preliminary full-scale test will be done to assess the condition of the chicks with respect
to the parameters focused on the study such as, air temperature, humidity, velocity, pressure, CO2
concentration and vibration inside the trailer during a full trip from the hatchery to the broiler
poultry farm. For the aerodynamic and ventilation characteristics tests, the data that will be
obtained from the initial full-scale tests will be used in the design of the modifications. It will also
serve as boundary conditions for the modelling and simulation of the internal flow field inside the
trailer along and inside the crates. It will also be used as boundary conditions for the external flow
field around the vehicle during transportation. The wind tunnel tests will then verify the flow
visualization of the internal and external flow field modelling and simulation. For the vibration
characteristics tests, the vibration with respect to time will be recorded throughout the journey and
it will be correlated with the chick conditions data. Implementation of the modifications will then
be done. The research process flow is presented in Figure 2.
 Figure 2. Process flow of the study
Lastly, another full-scale tests will be performed to test the modifications done through
measurement of the said parameters, such as air temperature, humidity, velocity, pressure, CO2
concentration and vibration, with respect to the chicks’ condition and mortality rate to verify the
effect of the modifications. If time permits, another set of the research process will be done until
the goal is attained of optimum minimization of chick mortality rate.
The chick transport vehicle is of a rigid type with a standard cab, solid headboard and roof,
and open sides and back. The dimensions of the vehicle are given below Figure 3. The chicks were
housed inside the crates in the trailer. Food and water will be provided ad libitum and light was
continuous.6 Each crate contains 100 chicks.

4.75 2.0
0

2.0 2.25
5.5

Figure 3. Vehicle dimensions (All dimensions are in meters)

Quotations
Thermal imaging camera

Temperature and humidity data loggers

Air velocity data loggers
CO and CO2 concentration
Noise measurement
Vibration analysis software and instruments
Wind tunnel materials