Wireless Temperature Monitoring in Commercial Kitchens
Accsense Monitoring Systems Come Complete with Voice Alerts
CHESTERLAND OH - CAS DataLoggers recently supplied the wireless datalogging solution for a commercial kitchen the size of a large restaurant which handled proprietary ingredients for its corporate clients. The kitchens comprised several large 40 x 15 ft. walk-in freezers, deli freezers, and meatlockers which often fluctuated in temperature due to uneven cooling and staff frequently coming and going. This extensive facility contracted out to high-profile brands to develop recipes and blends including coffee, frozen foods, salads, and more. These ingredients were costly and troublesome to replace, so staff worked constantly to minimize product loss due to negligence. After creating these original recipes, the kitchens then shipped material to tasters and obtained feedback to report to their clients. Since the kitchens distributed a great deal of frozen product to tasters, proper cold chain management was crucial, both in storing and packaging. Staff realized the need for a high-accuracy wireless temperature monitoring solution with advanced alarm capabilities, including voice messages via phone calls in the event of freezer failures occurring outside of work hours.
The kitchens installed 5 Accsense A1-13 Wireless Temperature Data Loggers and an Accsense B1-06 Wireless Gateway in their walk-in freezers and meat lockers using the included wall mountings and brackets. Each wireless pod was connected to 3 RTD inputs monitoring the freezers, significantly reducing the kitchen's cost per measurement. As soon as they were connected to the gateway, the temperature pods began monitoring and logging the temperature data, allowing personnel to view and remotely access this data in real-time. The pods measured ambient temperature within a wide temperature range of -40°C to +70°C (-40°F to 158°F) with an accuracy of ±1.4°C. Installation was quick and trouble-free--all the system required was an RJ45 Ethernet connection with open internet access to start recording, thus replacing the need for troublesome wiring.
Operating on either battery or AC power, these sophisticated dataloggers bridged the connection between the kitchen's temperature data and the Internet. The B1-06 gateway supported up to 16 sensor pods and featured built-in 10/100BaseT Ethernet with a wireless range of 250 feet unobstructed and 90 feet indoors, providing coverage over all five freezers. A 1900-point sample buffer automatically backed up the data in case of emergencies, and each pod's memory could store up to 32,000 samples with a user-settable sampling frequency anywhere from every 30 seconds to every 24 hrs.
Additionally, the Accsense temperature alarm system came complete with email, pager, and phone alert capabilities so that management could choose to receive an automated phone call whenever freezer temperatures suddenly went out of specification, giving peace of mind. Configurable alarms constantly monitored incoming data, and the same alarm could even be sent to multiple receivers to further safeguard the kitchen's expensive products.
The wireless gateway also included free software and feature upgrades, and supported online graphing and configuration features. Additionally, the A1-13 wireless dataloggers automatically sent their recorded data to Rackspace, the manufacturer's completely secure cloud server, where it was immediately stored and available using a backed-up online Accsense Account. Using a standard web browser, management could sign in to access graphs or modify the system configuration from anywhere an internet connection was available. The online account gave instant access to charts showing all measurement history, with ranges as narrow as 5 minutes or as wide as 90 days, and also offered a customizable interface featuring a dashboard showing the most recent measurements from all sensor pods.
The kitchen's operations benefited in several key ways from installing the Accsense temperature monitoring system, especially the advantage of sending management phone alarms whenever freezer temperatures suddenly went out of specification. In this way, management ensured that their clients' proprietary ingredients were stored safely throughout recipe development all the way through to taste testing. The Accsense installation was just a simple matter of plugging the data loggers in and letting them work, while their intuitive operation was easy for new staff to learn. The wireless pods also completely eliminated the need for time-wasting manual measurements and recorded the data for instant real-time viewing and graphs. Overall, Accsense automated monitoring proved to be both reliable and convenient at a cost-effective price.
For more information on the Accsense A1-13 Wireless Temperature Data Loggers, the B1-06 Gateway for use with Accsense pods, or to find the ideal solution for your application-specific needs, contact a CAS Data Logger Applications Specialist at (800) 956-4437 or visit the website at www.DataLoggerInc.com.
Contact Information:
CAS DataLoggers, Inc.
12628 Chillicothe Road
Chesterland, Ohio 44026
(440) 729-2570
(800) 956-4437
sales@dataloggerinc.com
http://www.dataloggerinc.com
