Carbon dioxide (CO2)
With a clear understanding of the project requirements and a strong team in place, we moved into the next phase of the Daffodil journey. Bringing the concept to life through design, feasibility studies and the physical build of our first prototype.
The system has been designed to measure five key gases including:
All of which are released from a cow’s eructation while feeding and will be measured using a pump to draw samples to the sensors via a feeding hood. The system also has a Sample Acquisition Module (SAM) which collects the sample in a tedlar bag and allows it to be stored and processed through the sensors when ready. This is to allow for multipoint sampling in the future.
To assess the technical feasibility of the system we are collaborating closely with Newcastle University and Scotland Rural College (SRUC) to conduct on-farm trials. Site surveys have also played a key role in influencing our design decisions and understanding real-world integration. Due to our extensive experience in gas sensing and team of professionals, we were well positioned to tackle the technical challenges head-on.
As we moved into the physical build of prototype one, we opted for a redesign from plastic to metal enclosures. This enhanced the system’s resilience during radiated immunity testing. This change marks a major step in developing both a reliable and robust solution which is capable of performing in varying farm environments.