Mister to Cool A Large Outdoor Area

I thought this was a pretty interesting idea to cool a large outdoor area. Its is intended to cool cows, but would probably be appreciated by other hot mammals as well -- including two legged ones.

I'm sure a PV powered version could be designed.

It is from Owenlea Holsteins -- Pasture Water Systems

http://www.bright.net/~fwo/sub09.html

A Pasture Mist Generator - Essential Part of the Water System

Last summer we were visiting dairy farms in southern Ohio where the temperature was 106F or 41.1C with 100% humidity. We drove by at least six dairy farms with dead cows pulled out in front of the barn. Presumably, a few farmers would have had the common sense to pull them out behind the barn, so there were probably many more.

Back at Owenlea Farm, on the same day, son Blake was in charge of our herd. He had 104F that day but managed to keep our cows fairly cool. Our cows were outside all day with no shade but he was able to keep them moist and there was some breeze. The crude drawing below may give you some idea of how our mist generator operates. With the help of the breeze, we were able to mist an area about 30 feet X 200 feet.

                   ......
                 ................
           ...... ..... ..........    height at nozzle
        ....... .. .. ......     \\   12-14 feet
    ..................            \\
   .... ..mist... ...              \\
   .. ..............                \\
  .......... .. .. .....             \\ 10 foot plastic
 ........................             \\     pipe
                                       \\
                                        \\
 <-----------------------                \\
    Up to 200 foot drift                  \\
    in a light breeze.                //\\ \\
                                     //  \\ \\
                                    //    \  \\
                                   //      \\ \\
                                  //        \\ \\
                                 //==========\\  S
                                //  6 foot    \\  S   water
                               //   step       \\  S  hose
                              //    ladder      \\   S S S S S S S S S

Instructions to Build and Operate a Mist Generator

Start with a 10 ft section of 3/4" rigid plastic pipe.
Glue a plastic cap on one end and a hose fitting on the other end.
Twist drill 2 or 3 very tiny holes in the plastic cap by twisting in the tip of a sharp knife. Your smallest drill bit will be much too large.
Get a solid six foot step ladder.
Fasten the 10 ft plastic pipe to the top half of the step ladder with 2 or 3 rubber canvas stretchers.
Set the ladder just over the fence away from the cows and attach it to your water system.
In the absence of a breeze, the mist will cover an area big enough for 30 cows. The mist area will be much larger if there is even a tiny breeze. In a slight breeze mist will carry up to 200 ft.
The cows will soon establish a circular pattern of drinking, then grazing, then standing in the mist, then drinking and so forth. Only a few of the cows will be under the mist at any point in time.
Move the ladder 2 or 3 times on hot afternoons to spread the manure.
-FWO

Gary 10/9/2006