CONSTRUÇÃO DE TÚNEL DE VENTO REDUZIDO, VISANDO A AVALIAÇÃO DE ARGILA EXPANDIDA EM SISTEMAS DE RESFRIAMENTO ADIABÁTICO EVAPORATIVO PARA ARREFECIMENTO TÉRMICO EM GALPÕES DE PRODUÇÃO ANIMAL

Construction of a reduced-scale wind tunnel to evaluate expanded clay as pad material on evaporative air systems for thermal cooling of animal sheds Cellulose pads have been commonly used to cool poultry sheds, despite high cost and low durability. Therefore, this study was done to explore the possibility of using expanded clay as an alternative, which required constructing a prototype of reduced-scale wind tunnel to evaluate the evaporative air cooling of the pads made from it and compare with the standard cellulose pads. Static pressure and evaporative cooling efficiency values of expanded clay pads of four different thicknesses were compared with the corresponding values of cellulose pads. It was concluded that the reduced-scale wind tunnel prototype was efficient for characterization of the pads and the expanded clay appears to be an efficient and appropriate pad material that can substitute cellulose pads for thermal air cooling of animal's facilities.