Patent Application
20070255163
This invention relates to apparatus for monitoring and recording physical parameters and events, especially but not exclusively, during the transportation of products, such as by containerised ship transport.
It is well known to provide apparatus and methods for monitoring and recording events during a journey, a good example being the “black box” flight recorder fitted to most aircraft, which constantly monitors in-flight events both Within and without the aircraft, generally from inputs such as speed, altitude, temperature, pressure and so on, as well as engine performance, fuel capacity, structural integrity and so on. However, such journey logging systems are extremely complicated and expensive to both make and install such that they are inappropriate for adaptation to general use for monitoring and recording events during e.g. a sea voyage of a single container carried by a container ship. On the other hand, for some products such as food it is often desirable to know what temperature extremes have been experienced at sea or during transportation over land, and for delicate products, such as electro-optical apparatus, it is often convenient to know what G-forces the container has been subjected to during such a journey, each for the purposes of showing how badly or well the container was treated, or for the purposes of obtaining evidence for claiming on insurance against damage.
The present invention is derived from the realization that there is a need for a portable, lightweight journey monitoring apparatus to be provided which is relatively inexpensive, preferably highly visible, so as to alert those involved in the handling of e.g. a shipping container that journey events are being monitored and recorded, and which can be easily interrogated during and/or after completion of the journey.
According to the invention there is provided a portable electric event monitoring recording and display (“MRD”) apparatus comprising: a housing, monitor means within the housing to continuously or sequentially monitor events selected from a group consisting of the measurement of one or more of temperature, pressure, humidity and physical shock, recording means to record the or each event, interrogator means to interrogate the record and visual display means for displaying one or more such event records over time.
Conveniently, the MRD apparatus includes a warning device, such as audible warning means, upon the happening of an event requiring attention, such as an unacceptably high rise in temperature indicative of potential melt down of the product in transit, whereafter remedial action may be taken to restore refrigeration.
Conveniently, the MRD apparatus includes one or more sensors, which may preferably protrude from the housing, to sense events such as temperature and humidity, and there may also be one or more remote sensors communicable directly or indirectly to the recording means of the apparatus to thereby sense events remote from the housing, a particularly useful feature when covering large areas such as the inside of containers.
Preferably, the housing is disposed within an airtight container during use.
Preferably, the housing is completely surrounded by said container with no physical connections to the housing being accessible from outside the container.
One illustrative embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the drawings, wherein:
The housing 10 is contained within a transparent acrylic tube-shaped protective container 30. The container 30 has a resilient removable bung 32 at one end to form an airtight seal and thereby protect the MRD apparatus from the ingress of water or other contaminants during monitoring. The container 30 encloses also a temperature probe 12 which projects from the housing 10, and thereby completely surrounds the apparatus so that it is hermetically sealed within the container. The bung 32 can be removed to inspect the apparatus.
Display in numeric format maximum or minimum temperatures, based on the maximum or minimum temperature over a selected recording period, and the time and/or date at which that maximum or minimum occurred;
Scroll back and forth through temperature data displayed on display bar graph elements 22, as well as on numeric display elements 27;
Select a temperature threshold in order to display the difference between a temperature threshold and the measured temperature (i.e. the relative temperature difference);
Select a recording mode e.g. the last 100 events, or recording of a fixed number of events e.g. the first 100 events;
Select the recording period e.g. every minute, hour, day or week; and
Reset the apparatus.
In this embodiment no protective container 30 is necessary because the housing 10 is waterproof. However, for hostile environments a protective container 30 may still be used.
In operation the apparatus of
In addition to the visual display an audible alarm 26 can be activated when a predetermined threshold is crossed. In this instance the audible alarm is a thaw alarm to warn of impending thaw of frozen products adjacent the apparatus, or adjacent sensor 13 if this sensor is located remotely from the housing 10. The time of activation of the thaw alarm can be recorded also. In this embodiment the alarm is activated only if the measured temperature has risen above a threshold temperature and that temperature is sustained for a predetermined period (e.g. 2 to 4 hours). If the measured temperature drops below the threshold before the end of the time period then the alarm is not activated and the time period will start again should the temperature rise above the threshold once more.
The PIC 40 can be programmed to allow display of the measurement units to be selected from a choice of metric or imperial. Additionally, Celsius or Fahrenheit temperatures can be displayed on the display. As well as or instead of the display the apparatus may have a physical connection 23 or wireless connection 25 to a data acquisition device such as a PC, PDA or similar device. Such a wireless connection 25 could be via an infrared USB type link, an RF Bluetooth type link or a temporary connecting wire plugged into a socket in the housing 10. The data acquired from the PIC 40 can be stored for use for quality control purposes or the like. The connection can be a two-way link providing re-programming or re-setting information to the PIC 40.
In order to provide a tamper proof apparatus it is envisaged that the programming of the PIC 40 will be encrypted, to prevent manipulation of the data recorded in the register of the PIC. This prevents unauthorized alteration of the recorded data. The PIC can also include a re-set function, which allows the data to be cleared so that the apparatus can be re-used.
Although the invention described above is particularly useful for monitoring, recording and displaying journey event information it will be apparent that such MRD apparatus may also be used in normally stationary surroundings such as the inside of a freezer where, typically, the “journey event” may simply be continuous monitoring, recording and displaying information about the temperature over a continuous period, such as a 100 day period. This is a particularly useful feature in circumstances where there may be disruptions to electric power supply due to weather conditions including hurricanes where it may not be possible or convenient to otherwise ascertain the thermal history of frozen goods within the freezer to see if the food is still safe for consumption.
The MRD apparatus may be used in other applications such as laboratory testing, industrial plant commissioning, workshop projects, agriculture, horticulture, aquiculture, animal husbandry, and the brewing industry.
Another particularly useful feature of the invention is a continuously operable display which advertises the fact that journey events are being monitored and recorded, thereby making it less likely that goods in transit will be mistreated either through neglect or incorrect handling.
The apparatus may be supplemented with a visible warning means external to the goods in transit, such as on the outside of a shipping container, in order to alert the carrier of the goods that recording of treatment in transit is taking place. The visible warning means may take the form of a brightly colored label adhesively affixed to packaged or containerised goods having pre-printed warnings thereon.
Two embodiments of the invention only have been described and illustrated. However, it will be apparent to the skilled addressee that further modifications, variants, equivalents and adaptations are possible without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. For example, the circuit shown in
