Animal Shelter Wall Temperature Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing animal shelters, such as calf igloos, are poorly insulated, leading to risks of hypothermia in spring and autumn, and attempts to address this with heated floor surfaces create germ breeding grounds due to soiled litter, negatively affecting animal health.
Innovation Solution
An animal shelter with a temperature control device integrated into or on the wall, using a heating or cooling medium to maintain comfortable temperatures, which can be infrared radiators, mats, or conventional heaters, allowing for year-round outdoor housing without overheating or hypothermia risks, and can be retrofitted or embedded in the wall for efficient temperature distribution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If heated floor surfaces are used to prevent hypothermia, then the temperature comfort of animals is improved, but germ breeding grounds are created due to soiled litter
Solution Approach 1:
The heating function is extracted from the floor surface and relocated to the wall structure. The patent implements temperature control devices integrated into the walls, separating the heating function from the soiled floor area, thereby maintaining temperature comfort without creating germ breeding grounds on heated surfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The wall structure serves as an intermediary medium for heat transfer. Instead of directly heating the soiled floor and litter, the patent uses the wall as an intermediate surface to provide thermal comfort to animals, indirectly achieving temperature regulation without contaminating the heating surface.
2Ease of manufacture
If animal shelters are poorly insulated to simplify construction, then manufacturing ease is improved, but hypothermia risk increases during transitional seasons
Solution Approach 1:
Temperature control devices are pre-integrated into the wall structure during manufacturing or installation. This preliminary integration of heating/cooling capability into the shelter walls provides temperature stability from the outset, preventing hypothermia risk without requiring complex post-construction modifications.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the thermal parameters of the shelter by integrating active temperature control devices into the wall structure. This modifies the thermal characteristics of the shelter from poorly insulated to thermally regulated, maintaining temperature stability while preserving construction simplicity through integrated design.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If temperature control devices are integrated into the wall rather than the floor, then germ growth is prevented, but the complexity of wall integration increases
Solution Approach 1:
The temperature control devices are merged with the wall structure, combining the functions of wall enclosure and temperature regulation into a single integrated system. This merging approach provides temperature control while avoiding germ growth on floor surfaces, with the wall serving dual purposes.
Solution Approach 2:
The wall structure is given multiple functions: it serves as both the enclosing structure and the temperature control medium. By making the wall multi-functional, the patent achieves germ prevention while managing integration complexity through the universal use of the wall structure for both structural and thermal purposes.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution provides a safe and healthy environment for young animals by maintaining comfortable temperatures within the shelter, preventing hypothermia and germ growth, while avoiding the issues of heated floor surfaces, allowing for all-year outdoor housing.
Implementation Method 1
The temperature control device serves to create a comfortable temperature for the animal inside the shelter. The term 'temperature control' is used for both heating and cooling the animal shelter.
Implementation Method 2
the temperature control device is designed as a radiator or heating mat through which a cooling and/or heating medium flows
Implementation Method 3
the temperature control device is designed as an infrared radiator, infrared surface heater, or infrared heating mat
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~4
Figure 5a~6b
AI summary
The invention relates to an animal accommodation (1), in particular a calf igloo, with a wall (4) at least partially enclosing an accommodation space (3) for at least one animal, wherein at least one temperature control device (6) for the animal accommodation is provided in or on the wall, and to an arrangement comprising several such animal accommodations.