Animal Relocation Lighting Control Using Perceived Space Matching
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Solution Overview
Problem
Animals experience stress due to disruptions in their lifecycle, particularly during relocation, which can impact productivity, mortality, and meat quality, and existing methods like using the smell of a mother sow's cloth are cumbersome in modern, automated farming.
Innovation Solution
A lighting system controller that adjusts illumination settings in the first and second spaces based on their environmental characteristics to reduce the perceived difference between them, using projections and light patterns to make the second space appear larger or smaller relative to the first space.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If manual methods like hanging cloth with mother sow's smell are used to reduce animal stress, then animal welfare is improved, but labor intensity and operational complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical methods (hanging cloth, manual intervention) with an automated lighting control system. The system uses sensors to detect animal presence and lighting controllers to automatically adjust illumination settings, eliminating the need for manual labor while reducing animal stress through optimized lighting conditions that simulate natural daylight cycles.
Solution Approach 2:
The lighting system operates autonomously by detecting animal presence through sensors and automatically adjusting lighting parameters without human intervention. The system serves itself by using environmental data from sensors to control lighting, thereby reducing labor intensity while maintaining animal welfare benefits.
2Ease of operation
If automated lighting control is implemented to reduce animal stress, then labor intensity is reduced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The lighting control system serves multiple functions: it provides illumination, reduces animal stress through optimized lighting patterns, and operates as an automated presence-detecting system. By combining these functions into a single integrated system, the patent manages device complexity while achieving labor reduction and animal welfare improvement simultaneously.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If lighting is used to reduce perceived difference between spaces, then animal stress is reduced, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The lighting system operates periodically based on detected animal presence and predefined lighting patterns. Instead of continuous operation, the system activates lighting only when animals are present or during scheduled periods, adjusting illumination to reduce perceived spatial differences while minimizing energy consumption through intermittent rather than continuous operation.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention provides a lighting system controller for mitigating stress of at least one animal intended to move from a first space to a second space, wherein said stress is caused by a perceived difference, as perceived by the at least one animal, between the first space and the second space; wherein the lighting system controller is configured to: obtain a first input indicative of an environmental characteristic of the first space; obtain a second input indicative of an environmental characteristic of the second space; determine a difference feature between the environmental characteristic of the first space and the environmental characteristic of the second space; determine a first light setting for illuminating the first space and/or a second light setting for illuminating the second space based on said difference feature to reduce said perceived difference between the environmental characteristic of the first space and the environmental characteristic of the second space; control at least one first light source to illuminate the first space according to the determined first light setting during a first time period, and/or control at least one second light source to illuminate the second space according to the determined second light setting during a second time period; wherein the environmental characteristic is a geometric dimension of a respective space, AND/OR wherein the environmental characteristic is a dynamic state of a respective space.