Animal house climate control system and method for automatic configuration and equipment substitution in the system

1. A method for operating a climate control system for use with an animal house, the climate control system configured to operate in an automatic setting for the number and type of animals contained within the animal house, the climate control system having a plurality of climate control input devices to measure a temperature of a location within the animal house, the climate control system also having a plurality of ventilation fans, and the climate control system having a control unit configured to receive temperature input from the input devices and operate the plurality of ventilation fans, the method comprising:

determining a minimum ventilation requirement comprising required minimum ventilation for the animals contained within the animal house;

identifying the plurality of input devices and plurality of ventilating fans in the climate control system to the control unit;

determining a plurality of ventilation stages based on the minimum ventilation requirement and the plurality of ventilation fans in the climate control system, wherein each stage provides a desired percentage of the minimum required ventilation, wherein determining the plurality of ventilation stages comprises:

prioritizing the plurality of ventilation fans to create a selection hierarchy, wherein the selection hierarchy prioritizes the plurality of ventilation fans based on fan type and an airflow capacity for each of the ventilation fans, wherein the plurality of ventilation fans includes at least two different types of fans from the group consisting of variable pit fans, on-off pit fans, variable sidewall fans, on-off sidewall fans, variable tunnel fans, and on-off tunnel fans;

determining a minimum stage ventilation and a maximum stage ventilation for each ventilation stage;

determining a group of ventilation fans from said plurality of ventilation fans following the selection hierarchy that provides the desired percentage of the minimum required ventilation;

defining an increment between a maximum stage ventilation one of said plurality of ventilation stages and a minimum stage ventilation for a next higher ventilation stage of said plurality of ventilation stages, wherein the minimum capacity level is a function of the minimum capacity of the group of ventilation fans added to the next higher stage, and the maximum capacity for the next higher stage is determined based on the increment;

continuing to define the plurality of ventilation stages until all of the plurality of ventilation fans are used in a group of fans for a ventilation stage;

determining a start and stop temperature for each of the plurality of stages;

advancing from a lower stage of said plurality of stages to a higher stage based on ventilation requirements as determined by temperatures received by the control unit from the input devices;

determining that one of said ventilation fans in the group of ventilation fans for the current selected ventilation stage is not operating; and

starting at least one substitute ventilation fan, wherein the substitute ventilation fan is selected using the selection hierarchy for the climate control system wherein the substitute ventilation fan started is a ventilation fan selected for a lower ventilation stage if the substitute ventilation fan is not selected for the higher ventilation stage.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the selection hierarchy of the plurality of ventilation fans includes a smallest diameter variable pit fan, a largest diameter variable pit fan, a smallest diameter on-off pit fan, a largest diameter on-off pit fan, a smallest diameter variable sidewall fan, a largest diameter variable sidewall fan, a smallest diameter on-off sidewall fan, a largest diameter on-off sidewall fan, a smallest diameter variable tunnel fan, a largest diameter variable tunnel fan, a smallest diameter on-off tunnel fan, and largest diameter on-off tunnel fan.