Cold storage environmental control and product tracking
Methods and Apparatus relating to environmental monitoring and control systems are discussed. More specifically, the present invention relates to methods and systems for monitoring temperature and other environmental conditions in a cold storage facility and tracking the locations and environmental conditions of a product throughout its cold storage life cycle using the environmental control system and smart devices in logical communication therewith. Tracked interactions with personnel in relationship to products in cold storage are also discussed.
1. A method of monitoring a cold storage structure comprising:
(a) generating a representation of a surface topography within a specified area within a structure;
(b) wirelessly communicating between a transceiver collocated with an item in the specified area and one or more reference point transceivers;
(c) based upon the wirelessly communicating between a transceiver collocated with an item in the specified area and one or more reference point transceivers, generating positional coordinates for the items with the specified area with the structure;
(d) with a thermal energy detection apparatus, quantifying amounts of thermal energy at disparate positions included in the specified area within the structure;
(e) generating a user interface comprising a 3D temperature profile of the items within a specified area within the structure, the user interface comprising at least portions of the representation of the surface topography and the quantified amounts of thermal energy at disparate positions included in the specified area within the structure;
(f) at selected time intervals repeat the step of quantifying amounts of thermal energy at disparate positions included in the specified area within the structure;
(g) with a controller monitoring the thermal energy at disparate positions included in the specified area within the structure for an increase or a decrease in thermal energy outside a predetermined temperature range; and
(h) if an amount of thermal energy at the disparate positions included in the specified area within the structure fall outside the predetermined temperature range, with a controller initiate one or both of: an influx of air to a predetermined position in the structure or initiate an extraction of air from a predetermined position in the structure.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of quantifying an amount of thermal energy comprises quantifying infrared energy as a digital value using a microbolometer.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the sensor quantifying a thermal state comprises operation of an electronic temperature sensing device comprising at least one of: a thermocouple, a thermistor, and a resistance based sensor.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein if a amounts of thermal energy quantified comprises a temperatures greater than the predetermined temperature range, initiating with the controller one or both of: an influx of air with a lower amount of thermal energy than the amount quantified; and extracting air with an amount of thermal energy higher than the predetermined temperature range.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the influx of air is provided to a location of the increase in temperature.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein an influx of air is provided to an airflow vent above a location comprising thermal energy higher than the predetermined temperature range, as determined by the step of quantifying amounts of thermal energy.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein if the thermal energy at a location is less than the predetermined temperature range, initiating with the controller one or both of: an influx of air with a higher amount of thermal energy than the amount quantified; and extracting air with an amount of thermal energy lower than the predetermined temperature range.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the influx of air is provided to the location of the increase in temperature.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the controller further identifies action events related to the cold storage structure and the controller correlates the action events with an increase or decrease in temperature outside of the predetermined temperature range.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the action event is one or both of: an opening of a door and a closing of the door in the cold storage structure.
11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the action event is one of a heating cycle and a cooling cycle by a HVAC unit.
12. The method of claim 1 , additionally comprising the steps of: with a LIDAR unit in electronic communication with the controller, generating positional data points of items in the area of the structure; and with the controller creating a 3D position map of the cold storage structure at selected intervals to identify objects in the cold storage structure.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of quantifying amounts of thermal energy includes measuring a temperature of an item in the specified area within the structure.
14. The method of claim 13 , additionally comprising the step of: with the controller correlating a change in temperature of the item in the specified area within the structure.
15. The method of claim 14 additionally comprising the step of with the controller determining at least one of: a change in a position of the item in the specified area within the structure; and removal of the item from the specified area within the structure.
16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the item is a worker in the cold storage structure.
17. The method of claim 1 , additionally comprising the step of measuring an amount of moisture in the specified area with a humidity detection apparatus in electronic communication with the controller.
18. The method of claim 17 , additionally comprising the step of initiating an alarm if the amount of moisture in the specified area is outside a predetermined humidity range.
19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the wirelessly communicating between a transceiver collocated with an item in the specified area and one or more reference point transceivers comprises a Ultra-Wideband transceiving.
20. The method of claim 18 , wherein the wirelessly communicating between a transceiver collocated with an item in the specified area and one or more reference point transceivers comprises a bluetooth transceiving.