Implementação de um conversor CC-CC de 850W aplicado a um sistema de eletroestimulação post-mortem em carcaças de frango

Abstract

The demand for chicken meat has been increasing in both domestic and international markets. Its more affordable price, versatility in preparation, and the perception of being healthier than red meat are among the factors that lead consumers to choose this product. The heated market results in internal competition among slaughterhouses, which seek to meet customer satisfaction criteria, one of which is meat tenderness. Currently, there are techniques aimed at improving this characteristic, such as post-mortem electrical stimulation applied to the chicken carcass. An electrical stimulation device developed in a previous study employs an uncontrolled three-phase AC–DC converter operating in open loop, with voltage adjustment performed through a variac transformer and without output voltage control. In this work, a capacitive filter is designed for the output of the existing rectifier, in addition to the design and implementation of a DC–DC Buck converter with a digital control system. The developed DC–DC Buck converter uses the output of the AC–DC converter as its input, enabling a wider output voltage control range for the electrical stimulation treatment. The converter design includes component sizing based on theoretical calculations, followed by validation through simulation. The implementation consists of assembling the DC–DC converter on printed circuit boards, as well as implementing its control system, which is digitally executed using a DSP. Experimental results are presented and demonstrate that the control system operated properly for different voltage and load power levels. The improvements incorporated into the existing prototype, such as closed-loop output voltage control and amplitude control of the applied voltage, enable the development of further studies on the effects of electrical stimulation in poultry.