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US 6,810,832 B2Granted
Automated animal house
AssigneeKairos, L.L.C.
InventorJoe Ford
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An efficient economical automated animal house is provided to increase the health and longevity of animals, such as poultry, and swine. The automated poultry house provides for automatic removal of contaminated bedding and replacement with fresh or recycled bedding. The automated animal house also greatly reduces concentration of dust and noxious gases to provide for a cleaner and healthier environment for the animals and workers.
Claims31
An animal house for raising animals, comprising:
- a facility comprising a dwelling for housing animals, said facility having a substantially upright annular wall, a roof extending above said annular wall, flooring comprising a substructure extending laterally across a bottom portion of said annular wall, an upper compartment below said roof, a lower compartment above said flooring, and an intermediate compartment providing a fixed non-rotating animal housing for supporting the animals between said upper and lower compartments;
- a removable bed of removable bedding material in said intermediate compartment for supporting said animals;
- an annular animal feeder above said bedding material for dispensing animal feed to feed dispensers in proximity to said animals;
- an annular water line above said bedding material and said annular animal feeder for dispensing water to water dispensers in proximity to said animals;
- an array of interconnected modules comprising ionizers in said upper compartment for emitting ions to charge particulates of dust and noxious gases in the air in said animal house so as to help purify the air in the animal house, each of said ionizers having a set of ion-emitting needles;
- a blower system comprising electrically powered fans in said upper compartment for drawing heat upwardly from the lower compartment about the animals in winter, for blowing cooler air downwardly on the animals in summer, for circulating ions and air in the animal house, for drawing influent ambient air into the animal house, and for discharging effluent air out of the animal house;
- a rotatable cleaning arm for rotating laterally through said bedding material to loosen and help clean said bedding material and hold carcasses of dead animals;
- ozone generators in said lower compartment for generating ozone to help eliminate bacteria and sanitize the animal house;
- heaters or heat source in said lower compartment for heating the animal house;
- and
- at least one lower conveyor in said lower compartment, said conveyor being operatively associated with said cleaning arm, said lower conveyor including a feed conveyor portion in a refurbishing chamber for conveying and feeding fresh or recycled bedding material to said bed, and a discharge conveyor portion in a recycling chamber for conveying and discharging used bedding material from said bed.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.