About 3 years ago, an Australian State Government research facility which focuses on post-harvest ripening and storage of fruit and vegetables, required a ripening controller which monitored ripening and other gas levels, as well as room and pulp temperatures. The facility aims to define best practice for the horticulture industry and part of its research involves the assessment of technologies for storage and ripening.
According to Phil Horton*, the leading researcher at the facility, the old system was adequate, but had shortcomings such as ‘unreliable data logging and remote access.’
‘Cost could be significant’
For Horton, the biggest issue was the risk of relay settings being changed in error by unskilled staff.
This had occurred more than once when he was off-site, and coldrooms had been rendered inoperable and produce spoiled. As Horton puts it: ‘If that happened in a commercial setting, the costs could be significant.’
In his opinion, the problem was due to both view and configuration settings being on the main control display, and differences between this display and what remote users viewed via the user interface.
Specific requirements
Apart from resolving these shortcomings, the replacement system had to meet very specific requirements. It needed to be able to:
• Log and control ethylene and air temperature across 7 cold rooms
• Monitor relative humidity and pulp temperature
• Monitor and control oxygen and carbon dioxide for Controlled Atmosphere Storage
• Enable reliable remote access by 3G to view, upload data and control the system
• Send alerts by SMS if pre-set control limits were exceeded, or compressed air lines were compromised.
Not a single incident
After just a few months, Horton saw a big difference with the FreshView EC12: not a single incident of accidental relay changes - which cause coldroom failures - had occurred.
He puts it down to stronger security controls, better control panel layout,
easier remote access and virtually no difference between the control panel display and the remote user interface.
Horton sums up the EC12 with these words: ‘The EC12 is reliable, accessible and easy to operate, even for non-technical staff.’
Improved research and development efficiency
The FreshView EC12’s improved trouble-shooting and alarm systems, as well as enhanced control and monitoring capabilities go well beyond the facility’s minimum requirements.
Horton concludes that this combination has had a positive impact on the facility’s research & development efficiency—which must be good news for the horticulture industry.
‘Very happy with performance’
Although Horton is currently looking at technologies for other applications, he says: ‘We’re not looking at other ripening and storage systems at the moment. We’re very happy with the performance of the EC12.’
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