Portable Heating System with Carbon Fiber to Reduce the Mortality of Alpacas in the High Andean Areas

Abstract

Recently, climate change has been the cause of the massive mortality of alpacas in the high Andean regions of Peru, since, when conducting a study on a group of young alpacas, it was diagnosed that they had pneumonia due to cold, which caused their death. In addition, this camelid that is found at more than 3000 meters above sea level is very important for the economy due to its high fiber productivity, with a great demand for international export. For this reason, this work develops a heating system to prevent the death of alpacas, which is automatic, portable, and based on carbon fiber. The system is ergonomic for alpacas, which allows it to be adapted according to its size, in addition to having adequate components with a minimum size so as not to disturb the alpacas, it has a waterproof coating for rainy seasons and is scalable. The system provides an optimal solution to reduce the loss of camelids since it allows temperatures reading from -40° C to 125° C, and the range that alpacas can withstand is from -20° C to 30° C to avoid stress in these camelids. The ambient temperatures showed a range of - 6° C and 8° C, while the body temperature of 25° C and 30° C. Finally, it gives the alpacas in the high Andean areas a better quality of life, compared to other heating systems that are just statically implemented in the sheds.