Refrigerator

With IoT, fixed inspection rounds are no longer needed: sensors measure continuously, and in the ifm solution the transmission interval can be set freely, from every 10 seconds to once every 24 hours. Regardless of the interval, alarms for excessive temperature or a door left open too long arrive immediately by email or SMS. Staff only check the refrigerator when an alarm goes off, for example because of a door not closed properly, a wrong setting or a faulty compressor.

The sensors transmit the temperature curve to the cloud automatically, so nobody has to read values on site and enter them in lists. In the ifm solution, the data appears in a dashboard in real time. A reporting function makes temperature curves traceable retrospectively and over long periods, for example when a quality problem turns up later. The solution example is assigned to the audits and reporting use case.

An industrial refrigerator for sensitive materials needs a temperature sensor and a sensor for the door status. ifm fits each refrigerator for industrial adhesives with an IO-Link temperature sensor and an inductive sensor. TURCK monitors the solder paste in its SMT production with temperature sensors, while distance sensors check that the doors are closed. For the closed paste containers, temperature is sufficient; in the printing process at 23 to 27 °C, TURCK also measures humidity.

In commercial kitchens, refrigerators and freezers are connected to a cloud together with ovens and dishwashers. Together with Materna, Hobart transmits data from the factory-fitted sensors via a network gateway and the operator's Wi-Fi to an application on Microsoft Azure. Operators receive status data, automatic error messages with direct contact to a service partner and proof of compliance with hygiene regulations.