National:Online temperature monitoring of super-chilled food using EPCIS
From TraceFood
This project is a part of the KMB Competitive Processing project.
Objectives: Develop an on-line temperature monitoring system for super-chilled product temperature and ambient temperature during loading, transport and unloading of the product.
Materials and Method
Chilled legs of lamb were used as test products. The products where sent from [Fatland Ølen] to a distribution terminal in Trondheim.
9 ambient temperature sensors and 4 sensor probes for product core temperature where placed at point of packaging. The RFID tags with internal and external temperature sensors were inserted in the 4 legs of lamb as shown in the pictures below:
RFID tags
EPC Gen 2 tags and 2D Barcodes were used
Sensors
The RFID based temperature sensors were used. This included tags with internal and external sensor and tags with only internal sensors as shown in the pictures below:
Antennas and Communication unit
RFID and GPS antennas and a GSM based communication unit were used to read the temperature data and transmit it online to the EPCIS based online temperature montiroing system. The RFID antenna and communication unit is shown below:
Set Up
The final setup of temperature sensors in the truck and the product is shown below. In total, 13 sensors were used - 4 (with internal and external temperature sensors) were inserted in 4 legs of lamb product - two of which were 2 cm inside the product and the other two just under the surface (1-2 mm inside the product). The other 9 tags with internal temperature sensors were fixed inside the truck (4 in each side wall and 1 in the ceiling). This setup is shown in the pictures below:
Results
Preliminary tests
Preliminary test where made in cooperation with HRAFN, the suppliers of sensors, antennas and communication unit.
Final Test during Transport of lamb legs from Ølen to Trondheim
The final test was conducted on 23rd November during the transport of lamb legs from Fatland, Ølen to the distribution terminal in Trondheim. The equipment was setup as described above and the truck left the Fatland facility at 12:30, arriving in Trondheim at 3:00 on 24th November. The equipment was retrieved from the truck at 7:00 and brought to the lab at SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture.
EPCIS - Web based monitoring
The Web-based monitoring system provided by HRAFN was used for online temperature monitoring. The RFID based temperature sensors communicated with the main unit and transmitted the data to an EPCIS based system for temperature monitoring connected to event types.
Data transmission
Only 3 of the 13 tags that were placed in the truck and the product transmitted the data online during the transport. The GPS functionality of the equipment did not work throughout the entire transportation period.
Data Retrieval
Once the equipment and the sensors were removed from the truck at the distribution terminal in Trondheim, the equipment was set-up again at the SINTEF lab to retrieve all the temperature data. All sensors were programmed to record temperature every 10 minutes during transportation. The picture below shows the setup at the SINTEF lab.
For more information contact Maitri Thakur or Eskil Forås
