PORTABLE SELF-CONTAINED MINI MEASURING AND RECORDING DEVICE TO BE USED IN CONNECTION WITH THE STORAGE AND TRANSPORT OF CONDITIONED GOODS

Abstract: A portable self-contained mini recording device to be used in connection with the storage, and/or the transport of goods of various shapes and dimensions, such as food products or conditioned products, automatically recording variations of a physical nature to which such goods/products may be subjected continuously or intermittently, such as an ambient temperature changes, as a continous function of time or as an intermittent function of predetermined time intervals, said device having two preferably cup-shaped housing portions which are detachably connected to each other, the bottom portion of the housing at least being of a spherical or polygonal external shape, said device integrally including a power source, a sensor device for sensoring a quantity of physical nature, a data storing memory device being adapted for presetting an identification data signal, a general timing data signal and a time interval data signal, said recording device further being provided with interconnector means for external connection to an interface device for presetting and take off respectively data of said memory device, an on/off switch being connected to the power source and adapted to be actuated upon connection of the housing portions in order to put the recording device into operation.

Description: • Portable self-contained mini measuring and recording device to be used in connection with the storage and transport of conditioned goods. The invention relates to measuring and recording devices of the type for use e.g. in large areas for the storage of conditioned products, which condition is generally related to the constantness of one or more quantities of definite physical nature. A very important application for such devices is appreciated in the storage and/or transportation of ail conditioned consumer food product, either in a fresh condition or in a partly or a deep frozen condition. Another applica¬ tion may be found where food products are stored in bulk during the winter time, such as fruit products, under prescribed temperature conditions and humidity conditions and/or in a prescribed gaseous environment. Still another special application could be seen in transport e.g. by special air delivery, of live parts or organisms, such as e.g. human organs for transplantation purposes. The application of the new mini device may prevent and thereby avoid the usual claims filed with insurance companies concerning product decay during their storage and/or transport as a result of such unexpected changes of prescribed ambient conditions. Often, an insurance policy necessitates moreover the burden of a reliable proof of failure of such unexpected changes in transport/storage conditions in order eventually to hold someone legally responsible for refund of damages suffered. Serious damage claims may be expected from e.g. transportation of banana's which could easily become subject to any decay when environmen¬ tal storage conditions have not been ri gorously maintained during its transport. Presently known measuring and recording devices are obviously not capable for measuring and recording very short lasting deviations of physical nature, particularly not when time intervals for measurement are preset and during an interval of time a sudden rise or drop of a constant e.g. ambient tempera¬ ture condition has occurred. Moreover, known devices are prevented from being easily installed amidst stored products and/or bulk loads of stored products.If quantities of a physical nature of products in bulk are to be measured and recorded, there may also easily occur substantial differences of measurable quantities throughout the various locations of taking such measurements. Such may possibly result in an unreliable proof of evidence once damage claims are to be supported thereby. Another actual application for the newly invented device would more specifically be its use during the transport of conditioned human organs for surgical purposes. According to the invention there is provided a portable self-contained mini recording device to be used in connection with the storage and/or the trans¬ port of goods of various shapes and dimensions, such as food products or conditioned products, automatically recording variations of a physical nature to which such goods/products may be subjected continuously or intermittently, such as an ambient temperature changes, as a continuous function of time or as an intermittent function of predetermined time intervals, said device having two preferably cup-shaped housing portions which are detachably connected to each other, the bottom portion of the housing at least being of a spherical or polygonal external shape, said device integrally including a power source, a sensor device for sensoring a quantity of physical nature, a data storing memory device being adapted for presetting an identification data signal, a general timing data signal and a time interval data signal, said recording device further being provided with interconnector means for external connection to an interface device for presetting and take off respecti¬ vely data of said memory device, an on/off switch being connected to the power source and adapted to be actuated upon connection of the housing portions in order to put the recording device into operation. In the sub-claims other preferred embodiments of the invention are given. Therein it is amongst others suggested that during operation, when the storing memory device is saturated or full, or when the power supply is insufficient to run the recording device, that it will become operated under a "stand-by" power mode, in which mode the stored physical quantity/time data are kept safe and the timing data signals keep running. A preferred embodiment of a portable self-contained mini measuring and recording device according to the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the attached drawing in which Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of the device and Fig. 2 is a plan view of the device shown in Fig. 1. The portable self-contained mini measuring and recording device is shown in Fig. 1 almost in its actual size and it has two cup shaped housing portions 1 and 2 which detachably are connected to each other by means of two central boit parts 3 ana A- F ig. 2 shows tnat the bottom parts of the portions 1 and 2 are of a conically rounded configuration whereas the skirt portions of the housing portions are of an orthogonal configuration. The purpose of such a configuration of course is to obtain a relatively large surface to be exposed to changes in ambient conditions. The greater variations to be measu¬ red are expected, the less the configuration will require an angular shape sothat an almost spherical shape may than be chosen, greatly depending on the kind of goods amidst which the device is placed in storage or in bulk. According to certain requirements, the device could be given the dimension and the shape of a tennis ball in order to create a minimum of resistance for a flowing medium. If the device is used for recording temperatures, it is evident that the housing portions 1 and 2 are made from a material which have good heat conductivity characteristics, such as aluminium. The measuring and recording device contains also a power source, such as a battery pack 5, a sensor device 6 for sensoring a physical quantity, e.g. the ambient temperature, and a data storing memory device 7 being adapted for presetting an identification signal, a general timing data signal, and a time interval. The device is further provided with interconnector means 8, for external connection to an interface device for presetting and take off respectively data from the memory device 7. A micro-switch 9 is further connected to the battery pack 5 and it can be actuated upon connection of the housing portions 1 and 2 in order to put the device into operation. Thereto a sleeve 10 is fastened to the bolt part 3. The lower side of the sleeve is bevelled to provide for a sloping face which, on turning the bolt part 3 through the last half turn, is able to actuate the micro-switch 9. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1 , the sensor device 6 is arranged onto and within respectively the bolt part 4 having a bore 11 , opening into the outside of the measuring and recording device. This bore 1 1 can be sealed by means of a sealing plug (not shown here), e.g. for insurance requirements, that is to say, fraud can easily be excluded. A waterproof construction in the assembly of the components can be achieved by the application of O-ring seals 12 and 13 on the bolt parts 3 and 4 and an aluminium ring 14 is also provided with two O-ring seals 15 and 16. All electronic component parts, the temperature transducer, an analog signal -conditioner, an 8 bits APC, a timer, a microprocessor, a clock/calendar and a central memory are all mounted upon two printed circuit boards 17 and 18, and are protected y means of an aluminium plate 19. Connections between the two printed circuit boards 17, 18 are achieved through a plug-in construction which facilitates the servicing of the device. The plug connector 8 for the interface unit and the battery pack 5 are both located in the top half portion 1 for easy access and sturdiness on the aluminium plate 19. By unscrewing the bolt part 3 in the top half portion 1 of the device, the top half can be removed, giving access to the plug connector 8 and the batte- ry pack 5. Trie recording device can be connected to an interface unit by means of a special cable connector. The device can be programmed externally by the interface unit, presetting e.g. parameters like: identification code number, data and absolute time (year, month, day, hour, minute, second) and the rate of sampling (time interval between two consecutive readings). The device will automatically be switched into a "stand-by" power mode when either the memory is full or the battery voltage is getting too low for proper operation of the device. In this "stand-by" mode, the stored informa¬ tion is safely retained and the calendar/clock keeps running. Through the interface unit the stored temperature and time information becomes available and it can be displayed in various manners, e.g. by printing or plotting. The stored data can be processed by the application of different criteria under software control: the printing of all temperature values with their times between two absolute times or printing only the temperature values together with the related absolute times at such occurrences where temperature was e.g. above or below a conditioned temperature value, etc. The invented device can be used to register physical data and conditions of frozen foods, food products, such as cereals, fruits, e.g. banana's during shipment, to register the conditioned state of human organs during their transport, to test refrigerator systems, to be put in coolboxes which are e.g. located in supermarkets, and at such places which are not easily accessi¬ ble and where e.g. temperatures have to be monitored for proponged periods. It may be apparent, that instead of temperatures, discussed above, also other physical quantities are measurable and recordable respectively, e.g. pressure, relative humidity etc., by the invented device. Various and numerous applica¬ tions can be realized. At least two reliable devices for reference purposes are to be made comparable when physical data are collected and measured in order to satisfy requirements in conjunction with insurance policies, in order to avoid legal disputes about the reliability of such measurements. Another advantage of the device according to the .invention is that a simple way to put the device into operation is provided for. The actuating means for energization of the device could be switched on e.g. after effecting 180° turning movements of the housing portions 1 and 2 -relative to each other. Under such easily operable conditions, the lack of difficult installation and other preparatory steps increases the applicability of the devices from whatever location because no particular skill is required. The housing moreo¬ ver being of a strong construction, no failures can be expected and usual disputes and inherent claims can be avoided absolutely. Claims:

Claims: * -i 1. Portable self-contained mini recording device to be used in connec¬ tion with the storage and/or the transport of goods of various shapes and dimensions, such as food products or conditioned products, automatically Q recording variations of a physical nature to which such goods/products may be subjected continuously or intermittently, such as an ambient temperature change , as a continuous function of time or as an intermittent function of predetermined time intervals, said device having two preferably cup-shaped housing portions which are detachably connected to each other, the bottom ' 0 portion of the housing at least being of a spherical or polygonal external shape, said device integrally including a power source, a sensor device for sensoring a quantity of physical nature, a data storing memory device being adapted for presetting an identification data signal, a general timing data signal and a time interval data signal, said recording device further being " provided with interconnector means for external connection to an interface device for presetting and take off respectively data of said memory device, an on/off switch being connected to the power source and adapted to be actuated upon connection of the housing portions in order to put the recording device into operation. 20 2. Device according to claim 1 , characterized in that the housing portions are interconnected by means of a central bolt element which is provided with actuating means for actuating the on/off switch. 25 3. Device according to claim 2, characterized in that the actuating means are energized by a rotating movement of the housing portions with respect to each other. 4. Device according to claim 3, characterized in that the actuating - 5 - **1 means contain adjustable control means which are presettable for energization of the device at a relative turn of 180° of the housing portions. 5. Device according to claim 2, in which the central bolt element is provided with the sensor device, said bolt having a bore opening into the 35 outside of the recording device and being adapted to be sealed by means of a sealing plug. 6. Device according to any one of the preceding claims, in which each of the two housing portions is of semi-spherical shape. OMPI -?- 7. Device according to any one of the preceding claims, characteri¬ zed in that during operation, when the storing memory device is saturated or full, or when the power supply is insufficient to run the recording device, the latter will become operated under a "stand-by" power mode, in which 05 mode the stored physical quantity/time data are kept safe and the time and the timing data signals keep running. 8. Device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the recording device contains a temperature transducer, an analog signal 10 conditioner, an 8 bits APC, a timer, a microprocessor, a clock/calendar and a central memory. 9. A portable self-contained mini-recording device, substantially as described in the foregoing description and as shown in the accompanying drawing. 5 0 U»

Inventors: DE GRAAF GERRIT JAN DANIEL, SCHUNSELAAR JOHANNES STEFANUS, DE GRAAF, GERRIT, JAN, DANIEL, SCHUNSELAAR, JOHANNES, STEFANUS, MARIA
Applicants: THERMO ELECTRIC INT, THERMO ELECTRIC INTERNATIONAL B.V.
Application year: 1983
Main classification: G06F15
IPC codes: G06F17