Electronic Environmental Monitoring

The health risks of exposure to a wide variety of hazardous gases to animals and swine productionworkers in the confinement unit has emerged as a major concern for the future of the U.S. hogindustry. The major gases and several of the more significant environmental parameters necessary forhuman and swine health include: air temperature, relative humidity, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide,hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, methane, dust, noise, and air velocity. The objective of this proposedwork is to study the feasibility of developing an integrated electronic instrument which can measurethese parameters at a reasonable cost. This will be accomplished by: determining the required sensorperformance specifications; identifying commercially available sensing elements that meet theperformance requirements; conducting laboratory evaluations of the sensing elements performance; andanalyzing the feasibility of incorporating the sensors into a single package that will have electronicdisplay and data acquisition capabilities.