Silo Bags Monitoring System
General
For the past 20+ years, Silo Bags have been the cheapest and cleanest way to store almost any agricultural commodity. The Silo Bag can reach up to 120 meters long and store up to 300 tons of grain. That is all good, but what happens if the silo bag is damaged? How can it be monitored?
According to grain storage specialists, storing grain in silo bags for more than three months after harvest will increase the risk of losing grain quality and value – and the chances of damage to the polymer membrane (GRDC). Therefore, it is recommended to have weekly monitoring procedure to ensure the membrane is free of holes that would allow water to infiltrate and cause spoilage.
Per research that was conducted in Argentina to learn about the grain condition within the Silo Bags (made by Bartosik R.), a strong correlation was found between the grain storage condition and the CO2 level. RF-Networks Silo Bags Monitoring System continuously monitors the CO2/Temp/Humidity levels and alerts when identifying changes that can indicate the beginning of irregular conditions. The solution includes specially designed probes, inserted into the Silo bags to collect the data. These probes utilize the RFN-Tags to transmit the information to a central RFN-GW that sends the info to an application in the cloud for further analysis and alerts generation.
How it Operates
- Components: RFN Tags, RFN Gateway, RFN Solar module, RFN Probes, and three types of sensors: CO2, Temperature, and Humidity.
- The RFN Probe was specially designed to address the requirements of this solution. It has a hollow infrastructure, which enables the connection of the sensors located at the lower part to the RFN Tag attached to the upper part.
- The tags send the collected information to the Gateway, which sends it to the application on the cloud.
- Based on the defined rules, the application identifies abnormality and sends alerts to the property owner. The alerts include information about the probe location and the sensors’ data.
- One GW can serve several about 12 Silo bags.
- The probe also includes special glue tape to prevent any substance from entering the bag.
- The property owner can view the real time CO2/Temp/Humid information, per each Silo-bag using the solution application.
- All the solution components are reusables
- The solution can work with the “Theft early warning” system – described below, utilizing the same RFN GW.
