APPLICATIONS OF THE THERMOGRAPHY IN THE ANIMAL PRODUCTION

摘要

Infrared thermography is a working technology for over decades, which have been applied mainly in the buildings. We want to move this use to the animal production in order to help us to detect problems of energy efficiency in the facilities preventing, for example, the animal's welfare. In animal production it is necessary to provide a suitable microclimate according to age and production stage of the animals. This microclimate is achieved in the facilities through the environment modification artificially, providing an appropriate comfort for the animals. Many of the problems detected in farms are related to a poor environmental management and control. This is where infrared thermography becomes an essential diagnostic tool to detect failures in the facilities that will be related with health and performance of the animals. The use of this technology in energy audits for buildings, facilities, etc. is becoming more frequent, enabling the technician to easily detect and assess the temperature and energy losses, and it can be used as a support to draft reports and to transmit the situation to the owner in a visual format In this way, both will be able to decide what improvements are required. Until now, there was not an appropriate technology with affordable prices and easy to manage enough in order to allow the use of the thermography like a routine tool for the diagnostic of these problems, but currently there are some solutions which are starting to appear on the market to meet the requirements needed by the industry.