Terminal de Servicios Portuarios Patagonia Norte S.A., among other activities, is one of the largest logistic suppliers for fresh fruit exporters. The quality of the fresh products it handles and transports is one of the top concerns of Patagonia Norte. The temperature of the refrigerated transports and containers is paramount for the fruit quality. The Thermochron® iButton data logger was selected to handle the task of monitoring temperatures along the entire cold chain under their responsibility.
It all starts in the producer’s field when the fruit crates are loaded into refrigerated trucks. Because Argentina is such a vast territory, trucks can travel up to 1200 km before delivering their cargo in one of the 5 ports Patagonia Norte manages in logistics coordination. Three Thermochrons are placed inside each truck at specific locations to monitor the temperature along the journey. Upon reaching the port, the fruit is palletized and put into cold storage or moved into refrigerated containers. The containers are loaded into cargo ships or the pallets are loaded into ships refrigerated rooms, where they travel across the ocean until they are delivered to the costumer’s facilities. Thermochrons are placed into selected boxes of fruit and also placed in the refrigerated areas so that temperature is monitored during the 8000 miles sea voyage.
Patagonia Norte requirements include correlating the temperature logs with the shipping and handling information, such as move dates, truck identification, producer, shipping manifest, destination contact, etc. In a typical fruit export season, records are created for 16,000 truck routes, 360,000 pallets of fruit, 5000 shipping reefer containers and 140 ship voyages. All this dictates the needs for a very specific software tool.
Patagonia Norte’s cold chain solution supplier – Termometría Argentina – established a partnership with Eclo to develop and supply the software tool that could meet all of their requirements. Thermologistics Pro software was designed and developed to manage the huge amount of information generated by such a system. A central MS SQL database stores all information and a mirrored database on a web server makes the data available for outside clients. Using software applications installed at multiple company locations, the shipping and handling personal are able to access the system on-line and off-line. These applications are used to enter data for all moves, program the Thermochron data loggers, download logger data, correlate information with fruit stocks and financial information, manage exceptions and create reports. Powerful data-mining capabilities empower the management staff with up to date, accurate and detailed information. This gives them total control over the system and the required information to make judicious decisions. A key part of the system is the web browser toolbar that the fruit importers use to receive all cargo. This toolbar is used to download the temperature data from the data loggers they receive, upload it to the web server and search for cargo information.
Last, but not the least, is the web application that gives visibility for all data in the system. A powerful, yet very simple, application accessible through a standard web browser allows the system players, such as quality managers, logistics managers, surveyors and exporters, to search and view the information pertaining to their role. For instance - a fruit exporter is able to see the information about all trucks, ships and containers that have carried their fruit, the temperature conditions during transport and generate reports. Full traceability of all fruit through out the cold chain, from the producer’s fields to the buyer, is accomplished.
The Thermologistics Pro system was installed in 2006 and has exceeded all expectations. Recently, almost all fruit importers in Europe where visited by an Argentinean mission to provide training to the operating personal and gather feedback for future upgrades to the system. For the handling personal, it is a breeze to enter and manage all the information and carry out all operations. The managing staff can readily have all the required data at their finger tips with a few clicks. Exporters can check the system anytime for information about their fruit cargo and associated moves. All this makes the system very transparent, giving the user a reassurance that they can always know what is happening.
KOOLTRAK’s Thermochron software is used worldwide by various pharmaceutical companies; many specializing in stem cell treatment. One of KOOLTRAK’s largest customers is VITA 34 which has their head office in Leipzig / Germany.
VITA 34 is involved in the individual storage of umbilical cord blood. Umbilical cord blood contains stem cells in increased concentration, which can be used for future therapies and in the field of renewable medicine. In order to ensure the quality of the stem cells, compliance of the approved transport temperature is vital along with fast transportation of the umbilical cord blood from the delivery clinic to VITA 34. For this reason VITA 34 has developed a special transport container for umbilical cord blood which holds the temperature constant for many hours.
During transportation the temperature is electronically recorded with Thermochron iButtons and is evaluated by staff at VITA 34. KOOLTRAK’s user-friendly software allows the customer to transfer the collected data from Thermochrons into many different programs, where the data may be stored, displayed in graphs or posted onto web pages. If any deviations outside the permitted temperature range (22°C +/-4°C) occur, additional quality investigations will be done. The recording of temperature and time enables quality standards and logistics to be optimized. The result is a demonstrably high-value preparation: In International comparison, after the freezing and thawing of umbilical cord blood, the average amount of usable stem cells is extremely high with VITA 34, thanks in part to Thermochrons and KOOLTRAK software.
Headquartered at Cornell University, Golondrinas de las Americas is a
community of biologists dedicated to studying swallows in the genus
Tachycineta from Alaska to Argentina, combining detailed studies of the
breeding biology of the birds with standardized sampling of the
swallows’ aerial insect prey. This network allows us to monitor the
effects of weather and insect density on avian breeding on both short
and long time scales at a hierarchy of spatial scales across the entire
Western Hemisphere. iButton Thermochron data loggers are placed
in nests during the breeding season to monitor activity patterns during
incubation.
This long-term, correlative monitoring has obvious merit for studies of:
global change
differences between tropical and temperate ecosystems
tropical-temperate life history difference in birds and insects
The University of Texas’ Center for Transportation Research has just completed Project 1700, a five year multimillion dollar study funded by the Texas Department of Transportation to improve construction quality for concrete pavements. Dallas Semiconductor Thermochrons and Hygrochrons were used extensively in this research, which began in 1999. TxDOT has funded a follow up implementation study (5-1700-3) which is currently working toward a specification for use of Thermochrons in hot weather paving.
Engineers have known for some time the detrimental effects of high temperatures and excessive moisture loss during curing, but have not been able to monitor them in an acceptable fashion. The Thermochron (temperature) and Hygrochron (moisture) data loggers provide the engineer a cost effective way to extensively monitor the pavement during construction, potentially saving millions of dollars as well as keeping the goodwill of the traveling public.
The assembled Thermochron probe is shown in the upper photo. The lower photo shows concrete humidity dropping dangerously low in an El Paso paving project, as detected by an embedded Hygrochron device. In addition, the researchers have used Thermochrons to measure minimum temperatures at various pavement depths over three winters. This data indicates that mid depth temperatures in thick pavements are not as low as expected, which means steel designs can be optimized by region at considerable savings. For their work in this area, the researchers received a TxDOT Top Innovation Award.
Residents of Campo Grande, Brazil use iButtons for parking on their busy streets. Over 1000 iButton based parking meters are installed in the city. The parking meters are designed with two iButton reader probes and two LCD screens so that each meter can service two parking spaces; one on the left and one on the right.
Users simply touch their iButton to the parking meter to upload credits from their iButton in 30 minutes increments. When the user returns to their vehicle, they touch their iButton to the parking meter to credit their iButton with any unused minutes. Each parking meter has directions to the closest kiosk where users can buy additional credits for their iButton.
By using iButton parking meters the city avoids theft and vandalism of meters since no currency is kept in the meter. iButton meters also have long battery life and durability that meters using other technologies such as RFID and smartcards fail to provide.
The system, developed by FlexPark, has solved many parking problems and generated significant revenue for the city.
