Poultry production in Côte d'Ivoire is an essential link in the livestock production system. According to estimates, 75% of poultry numbers come from the family sector, in rural areas, and 60% of this production is carried out by women, who include it in their domestic activities and constitute an important source of income 1,2. Research has shown that eggs are an important source of protein and lipids, which contain vitamins and minerals essential for human growth and nutritional balance 2. According to F. L. S. Castro et al. (2023) 3, livestock farming contributes to improving food security for both rural and urban populations, as it provides income and quality food. Despite a high contribution rate from rural poultry farming, many children suffer from stunted growth 1. However, the natural process of producing chicken meat and eggs by hand does not meet the needs of rural areas. Today, modern, ultra-modern commercial incubators equipped with automated systems 4 and greedy for polluting energy are not accessible to the rural world. To meet the growing needs of small-scale poultry farmers who have no access to conventional electricity, and with a view to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the study and optimization of the thermal behavior of a solar incubator using a phase-change material for its operation in an isolated site was initiated. The incubator designed and heated with water by natural convection proved to function normally, and the incubation chamber was maintained throughout the incubation period within a temperature range of 36.62°C to 37.59°C and relative humidity averaging 49.4% to 68.5%. The main components for operating the incubator were the 50-eggs capacity incubation unit incorporating a spiral heat exchanger and sensitive heat storage device (encapsulated organic PCM) for operation when the sun is hidden, a thermosiphon vacuum U-tube solar water heater and an automatic environmental data acquisition system. The experiment was carried out with a load of 30 eggs purchased locally for fertility and hatching. 28 eggs were fertile, i.e. a fertility rate of 93%, and among the fertile eggs 26 eggs hatched successfully, i.e. a hatching rate of 93% for an efficiency rate of the designed solar incubator estimated at nearly 87%. During the 21 days of incubation, a maximum temperature of 95°C was achieved on day 18, and the minimum was 50°C on day 6 at the collector outlet, for solar radiation intensities at 2pm of 912 W/m² and 503 W/m², respectively.
THIO et al. (2026) studied this question.