Greenhouse Climate Control Using Wireless Data Loggers

T&D Automates Data Collection to Improve Product Quality

CAS DataLoggers provided the wireless temperature monitoring solution for a Northeast Ohio greenhouse growing lettuce and other high-demand produce. To ensure the highest quality product the greenhouse ‘micro-climate’ has to be evenly maintained at an ideal temperature. The greenhouse climate control system is slow to respond leaving several cool zones outside the immediate heater coverage area. Staff members were manually checking glass thermometers, but these were impossible to read at a distance and rarely reflected the actual temperature. Wanting to automate his setup, the owner called CAS DataLoggers looking for a wireless temperature monitoring system that could identify these cool zones and automatically download their data to a local computer.

Installation

The owner placed 3 wireless T&D data loggers at distributed points in the greenhouse and one T&D USB connected data collector to automatically gather and aggregate the temperature data. Placement in the greenhouse was easy due to the small size of the data loggers. The data loggers use an external temperature sensor to take readings in real time from -60°C to 155°C (-76°F to 311°F) and can record in either Celsius or Fahrenheit. Current readings are visible from a distance on the data logger’s built-in LCD display. T&D data loggers are constructed with a compact water-resistant casing, have a battery life of about 10 months, and record to a large 16,000 point memory.

Usage

Wireless communication between the data logger units and the data collector is a maximum of 500 feet unobstructed. There are data collectors designed to communicate the data via USB, GSM cellular technology, Ethernet or Wi-Fi. To increase the transmission distance the USB data collector can be added to the system as a repeater. The data collectors are capable of downloading one data logger with a full memory in about 2 minutes. Equally importantly, it’s easy for the owner to make settings and changes remotely over the network without the need to drive back out to the greenhouse.

After setting the loggers’ sample rates to automatically take a reading every 15 minutes, the owner is provided with accurate temperature data and allows the owner to tune the greenhouse temperature control system. The wireless data loggers allow them to be located almost anywhere in the greenhouse space. This is helpful to identify locations in the space where the greenhouse temperature and humidity control system is not hitting the mark. Each data logger has high and low-temperature threshold set points. If the temperature reading is outside of the upper or lower alarm threshold the data collector will generate an email alert notifying the desired team members so they can adjust the greenhouse climate control system or even add additional heaters where needed.

Benefits

The T&D wireless data logging system can be directed to save the data locally or have it sent to the FREE T&D Web Storage Service. After analyzing the data the proprietor can find the optimal settings for the climate system and the best areas to place heaters. The T&D RTR-500 wireless data logging system automates all monitoring and alarming so the proprietor is free to spend time identifying how to respond to temperature variations leading to lower amounts of produce being rejected and increased profits.

For further information on T&D Wireless Data Loggers, T&D USB Data Loggers, greenhouse climate control monitoring, or to find the ideal solution for your application-specific needs, contact a CAS Data Logger Application Specialist at (800) 956-4437 or visit www.dataloggerinc.com

Computer Aided Solutions, LLC. dba CAS DataLoggers is a distributor of data loggers, paperless recorders and data acquisition equipment.

We have the industry’s most complete selection of data logging equipment, with hundreds of different models from more than 18 manufacturers. With data loggers from 1 to 300 channels we can record temperature, humidity, force/strain, pressure, flow, voltage, current, resistance, vibration and other digital signals, in connection with serial (RS-232/RS-485), CAN/OBD or SDI-12 devices. We sell directly to end users and also work through a network of distributors and resellers throughout the United States, Canada, Central and South America.

CAS DataLoggers
8437 Mayfield Rd Unit 104
Chesterland, OH 44026

This release was published on openPR.