Beyond the vineyard itself, IoT can be used in wine cellars to monitor the environment of the wine cellar. For short to medium term storage, this is primarily temperature and humidity. For aging over the years, detecting and therefore minimizing exposure to UV spectrum (dimable LED lighting) also make a difference, but that is a separate discussion altogether.
Temperature is particularly important as even slight fluctuations impact the oxidation of the wine, which strongly affects the quality.
The level of humidity also has a significant effect on their longevity. Your wines cork closures will keep their elasticity after bottling when kept at a controlled humidity at all times. A consistent relative humidity in the range of 65-75 % and temperature of 6°-16°C depending on cépages / varietals are ideal for your collection.
WINE CELLAR MONITORING
Cellar Monitoring x Lightspeed continuously keeps track of temperature and humidity levels inside your cellar and notifies you if it falls outside the acceptable range for each area (reds, whites, bubbly)
CM sensors regularly measure humidity and temperature and sends the data every 2.5 seconds via the sensor gateway which then consolidates the temperature and humidity data into the cloud for presentation and analytics
The information from each individual sensor is then collected once every few seconds by a CM gateway, which translates the Bluetooth Low Energy data into normal Internet compatible IP packets and transmitted via either WiFi or Ethernet into the CM Dashboard.
Sensors
Our sensors have an accuracy of +/- 1% Relative Humidty, and +/- 0.1°C. Our high-quality CM sensors are manufactured in Switzerland and meet the highest demands of sustainability, technology and design. The components are then assembled in China with specially tuned firmware, and every sensor is then individually calibrated and tested in Singapore prior to deployment.
A unique (in cellar monitoring, at least) per-device display enables an app-free visual confirmation of sensor readings. ABS encased for longevity, sensors can be mounted on any flat vertical surface.
Bluetooth® Scan Types
Active Scanning binds to and queries each sensor MAC address from the gateway, with a limit of between 5 to 9 concurrent devices. By comparison, the Cellar Monitor design monitors for encrypted BLE advertisements from the sensors, and scales to over 100 sensors per gateway for 100% DRR (Data Receiving Rate) and well over 200 for 99.9% DRR. For best performance, multiple overlapping gateways can be used for redundant data collection which will be de-duplicated in the CM cloud.
Passive BLE Advertisements (as opposed to actively querying each sensor) increases the number of sensors that can be connected to each gateway from 50 to well over 200 (each sensor should be within an unobstructed airspace of 50 meters of at least one gateway)
Technical Specifications
Operating relative humidity range 0 – 100 %RH
Typ. relative humidity accuracy 1 %RH
Operating temperature range -40 – 125 °C
Typ. temperature accuracy 0.1 °C
Battery Type: CR2032
Battery Life: one (1) year (when placed in temperatures 10-35°C)
Gateway
Gateways are similarly with one flat surface for wall mounting, and the other as a passive heat sink for noise free operation. Small in size, these can be placed discreetly near a power source. We often find them sitting on top of a wine fridge for optimal Wi-Fi connectivity. So long as the gateways are powered up and connected, they will be invisible on a day to day basis.
Dashboard
Your primary interaction will be with the dashboard. You can opt to see some/all of the following parameters from each sensor:
1. Temperature (Celsius/Farenheit)
2. Relative Humidity
3. Signal Strength (for you geeks out there)
4. Battery left (so you know when to replace the battery)
A graphical view is also available. Here, we show temperature over a 12 hour period. The big change at 5pm was when the sensor was relocated from a home-use (+/- 1 °C) wine fridge to a commercial (+/- 0.5 )fridge.
Compliance
The CM as a whole (sensor, gateway and cloud combined) conforms to FDA Code of Federal Regulations Title 21 – Part 11 (Electronic Records)