CAS DataLoggers recently provided its LOG-IC360BT temperature and humidity data loggers to a shipper exporting its fruit and vegetables to remote distribution centers and markets. Most of these products are temperature-sensitive and easily spoil. Therefore, it’s essential to track the refrigerated shipments throughout the shipper’s cold chain to avoid deterioration and ensure shelf life, the company said.
In the event of spoilage, the shipper must mark the product as a loss, reducing credibility with the receiver. With this in mind, the shipper opted for a data logger with enough memory to store temperature and humidity recordings for verification upon receipt as proof of product quality and best practices.
Installation
The customer installed the LOG-IC-360BT data loggers inside each of its shipping containers, securing the recorders to the front of crates. During transit, the two-channel data loggers record relative humidity and temperatures using built-in sensors. Providing standalone operation, the loggers run on a built-in lithium battery with a one-year life. Each data logger’s memory stores up to 16,000 readings on the non-volatile flash memory and samples the inventory’s temperature and humidity every 30 minutes, allowing over 300 days’ worth of record, CAS said.
The data loggers are designed with an IP67 rating to stand up to the environment found in typical cold chain applications.
Usage
Users can configure up to four alarm settings to match a shipment’s particular produce and storage conditions. Using the free LOG-IC 360 app, users can connect to the logger via Bluetooth from a mobile device to configure the alarm setpoints.
After each delivery is completed, users can immediately look at the display. A “ü” indicates the shipment was OK an “X” indicates an alarm was triggered. In this case, they could connect to the loggers via Bluetooth from a smartphone or tablet and download the stored data, which then can be printed and saved as a CSV file or a PDF report. Using this data, they can determine when and for how long the device was in alarm. Logged data also can be uploaded to the CAVU hub cloud via the app and shared with other users.
Benefits
Warehouse personnel also find the LOG-IC 360 app easy to use for configuration and download, CAS maintained. Configuration profiles with all the settings can be created and quickly deployed to multiple devices. The ability for receivers to quickly confirm safe temperature and humidity levels were maintained throughout the journey by looking at the display simplifies the receiving process.
The LOG-IC-360BT is low-cost solution for this shipper customer’s perishable product consignments and is affordable compared with other data loggers on the market, the company added. Now the customer is notified whenever their product’s temperature and humidity goes out of specification and knows who is responsible.
All relevant data can be printed to show compliance. Additionally, the RH and temperature data can be analyzed to fine-tune the customer’s own product and delivery quality.
