incubator

These units communicate over one of two protocols to a central PC, where an easy to use Windows interface allows the user to monitor and control the incubators remotely.

The PC also logs data for all incubators connected once a minute, allowing the user to view historical graphs of incubator operation, including setpoints, temperatures and I/O conditions.

This is a design example of an incubator control for time, temperature, and humidity, with a full user interface and network.

This unit is used to control and monitor large scale poultry incubation systems (100,000 eggs/machine, 50 machines/plant). The use of plug in daughter boards for signal conditioners meant that the unit can be easily and cheaply re-configured to use different types of sensors on all of the analog inputs.

IDC designed the hardware, software, and prototypes for the customer. This unit has been installed in dozens of countries world-wide and has an excellent service record. Complete test systems were built as part of this project, including software and fixtures for board and system level testing.

This system was designed exactly to the customer's specifications, which included; 11 analog inputs, 36 24vdc logic I/O, two RS232 ports, an RS485 network port, and non-volatile storage of critical data. All I/O was expandable for future functional additions.

All run-time code is located in EEPROM and program upgrades can be downloaded via local or remote communication ports. This feature makes the unit completely re-configurable through the front panel or from the network.