Temperature Monitoring for Cold Storage

Overview

HID’s Temperature Monitoring products provide a robust and autonomous solution for temperature monitoring of cold food storage. Wireless beacon transmitters measure and record the temperatures of assets, like walk-in refrigerators and walk-in freezers, then send the data to gateways that are connected to WiFi, where data is sent to Bluzone cloud for secure storage and further analytics. This end-to-end solution provides flexibility for a variety of environments that have historically been challenging for wireless solutions. HID tackles this problem by providing:

• High-gain antenna options for both the beacon transmitters and the gateways, making it easier to get a signal out of RF-blocking environments, such as walk-in refrigerators and walk-in freezers placed within walk-in refrigerators

• New temperature readings every minute, accessible through the cloud in real-time

• 24-hour temperature data back-up on the beacons, broadcast once every hour. This means that in the event of a WiFi outage or connectivity challenges, any missing data from the last 24-hours will be restored within an hour of re-connection

• Flexible integration into third-party applications, like those used for food safety and regulatory compliance, through REST APIs and remote storage

Solution Components

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There are three components to the HID Temperature Monitoring solution:

1) Beacon Temperature Transmitters

These are placed on or in the asset to be monitored (like in a refrigerator or in a freezer) and are powered by internal batteries (included). They collect temperature readings, store them locally, then transmit the readings via Bluetooth. There are two options for beacon transmitters:

2) BluFi Gateways

These collect the temperature readings from the beacons (via Bluetooth) and send the data to Bluzone Cloud (via 2.4 GHz WiFi). They are typically placed away from the assets being monitored (outside the refrigerator or freezer) and are used to collect readings from multiple beacons. There are two options for BluFi gateways:

3) Bluzone Cloud

Bluzone Cloud Status Monitoring SaaS (BVCM) receives temperature data readings from the BluFi gateways and stores the data securely. The user interface allows data trend visualization, and the configurable threshold levels for alert generation.

Setup Instructions

Once you have your beacons, BluFi, and Bluzone SaaS package, you are ready to begin. Perform the following steps, in order, to get setup.

1. Initial Setup

The following steps walk you through setting up a Bluzone account and provisioning hardware to a new project. It is recommended that you setup all hardware on the project and ensure connectivity and data flow before proceeding to the physical installation of hardware (covered later in: 2. Beacon and BluFi Installation).

1.1 Account setup

Visit bluzone.io and register a new account. Verify your email by clicking on the link emailed to you.

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1.2 Project setup

Use the dropdown menu in the top right portion of the screen to create a new project.

Go to Settings and send a Product Activation request for Temperature Logging. Your product features will be activated within 24 hours.

1.3 Bluzone mobile app setup

Download the Bluzone mobile app from Google Play or the iOS App Store.

Login to your account with your Bluzone credentials.

1.4 BluFi provisioning

Plug the BluFi into a power source for initial set up.

In the Bluzone app, tap Provision > BluFi.

Hold the mobile device close to the BluFi and select the device with highest signal strength (swipe down to refresh the list).

Follow each step within Bluzone app as instructed to define location and picture of the installation place (optional).

When prompted for Template, create a new Template with your WiFi SSID and password.

1.5 Beacon provisioning

Place the BEEK close to the BluFi (don’t install on assets yet).

For each beacon, hold the mobile device close to the BEEK and select device with highest signal strength (swipe down to refresh list). Continue the steps for each BEEK.

When prompted for a Template, select the template “Default Beacon Template - Temperature Logging”

Assign the beacon a name that coincides with the asset on which it is installed. It is also good practice to use a label-maker to place a label on the beacon that matches this name.

1.6 Configuration and connectivity check

Once your BluFi have been setup on your WiFi network and your beacons have been configured to produce temperature data, you should check to make sure that everything is working properly by viewing the temperature data charts in Bluzone. To do this, first click on “Beacons” in the left panel:

Select a beacon from the grid view, and then click on the “Statistics” tab at the top. Then, click the “Chart” button in the top right:

A chart will display. In the “Metric” drop down select “Temperature”, and in the “Interval” drop down select “1 minute”. If the beacon and BluFi have been configured properly, you will see the chart populate with data points.

Do a quick check to make sure that Bluzone cloud is receiving temperature data from all of the beacons. Once this is complete, you are ready for the physical installation of hardware.

2. Beacon and BluFi Installation

Once you have verified that the beacons and BluFi have been properly configured and connected to Bluzone cloud, you are ready for the physical installation of the hardware. The following steps will walk you through this.

2.1 BluFi Installation

BluFi should be installed in a location close to the beacons, such as right outside the door of a freezer/ refrigerator. While the BluFi are capable of receiving a signal from the beacons for long distances in open air, it should be understood that installation of beacons inside of metal enclosure substantially attenuates the RF signal. Therefore

AC BluFi Option:

DC BluFi Option: