Data loggers are everywhere these days. You can find them on shipping containers in the middle of the ocean, in operating rooms, in massive refrigeration units, even on your wrist.
Data loggers have made significant changes in business and manufacturing. From assessing the temperature of a cold storage unit to monitoring the pressure of an oil pipeline, data loggers are keeping the world of business moving faster and more efficiently.
What is a data logger?
Data loggers, as defined by KSU The Sentinel Newspaper, are electronic devices that continuously record the environment around them. Temperature, humidity, air pressure, and much more are all automatically recorded and logged. The information is sent, via WiFi, cellular service, or other connection, to a computer that analyzes the information.
Physically, a data logger is a small device that can be placed in a box, a shipping container, a warehouse, an autoclave, anywhere that you need to gather environmental data. The device measures the environment and uses Wi-Fi, cellular technology, or satellite linkage to send that data to the cloud where it can be interpreted by a computer program and turned into usable information for decision makers.
What Are Data Loggers Used For?
Data loggers track specific environmental factors. Most data loggers track more than one element of an environment. The device can track temperature, pressure, light exposure, voltage, pressure, and more.
Its purpose is to provide the user with a steady stream of information that can help an individual or a company make decisions or take action. A data logger and its accompanying dashboard often have alarms that will notify the correct people in case an environmental factor has gone outside of preset parameters.
Data loggers each contain a sensor that detects the conditions the logger is designed for, according to Easy Reader News. As the article points, over the last few years, technology has improved significantly, making loggers more accurate and precise than ever before.
Here are a few different data logger types frequently used in a variety of industries:
- Temperature
- Humidity
- Pressure
- Voltage
- Shock
- Light exposure
- Drop
What Are Some Industries That Use Data Loggers?
Data loggers are used in almost every industry. Some of the more prominent ones include:
- Logistics – Data loggers are used to track temperature, humidity, and more as goods are shipped around the world. This helps to guarantee that food, for example, arrives fresh and on time. The loggers are often put into the boxes, shipping containers, or simply tossed right into the foodstuffs.
- Food service – Maintaining proper temperatures is essential for food safety. Where restaurants and distributors used to have to log temperatures manually, data loggers can now track that information and deliver it to a computer dashboard. Alarms are set to notify the proper people if there’s a problem with a refrigerator, for example.
- Oil and gas – Pressure data loggers can be placed along a pipeline to deliver constant updates to a central control panel. This allows one person to monitor thousands of miles of pipeline from a single location, preventing blowouts or clogs.
- Pharmaceutical – The pharma industry’s use of data loggers came to the forefront with the COVID-19 vaccines. Two of three need to be stored at very cold temperatures. Using data loggers, manufacturers and shippers could assure end-users that the vaccines were safe and hadn’t been allowed to warm up and spoil.
- Facilities management – As the climate changes, there will be new challenges in heating and cooling buildings. Already in Australia, researchers are looking for ways to change the design of school grounds to provide children with a safer, more pleasant playground experience. As the world heats up, it will become increasingly important to understand how the outside heat affects the cooling of spaces in the building.
What Are the Benefits of Data Loggers?
Because they provide a constant stream of information, data loggers enable a business to protect their goods from spoilage, theft, and damage due to environmental factors.
Most can simply be installed or placed where they’re needed and don’t require a lot of installation.
They eliminate the need to send someone to gather the data. This, in turn, reduces the potential for human error and allows a more detailed data profile from which to make decisions.
Because data loggers constantly monitor the environment, they can notify users of problems before there’s irreparable damage to a process or a product.
Do Data Loggers Need Maintenance?
In many cases, data loggers require very little more than a new battery occasionally. The frequency that the battery needs to be replaced is usually based on how much the data logger is doing and communicating.
Some data loggers are hard-wired for long-term service. These will usually need to be inspected for potential damage from items in the room, such as boxes or forklifts. Hard-wired units will also need to be grounded. That ground wire needs to be maintained well.
When Do Data Loggers Need to Be Replaced?
Data loggers can last for years. Today’s data loggers have been built to last. The manufacturers recognize their devices must be durable to be useful. As a result, they’re designed to be tough enough to handle almost anything you can throw at them.
You might need to replace data loggers if you rearrange a space or add a new piece of equipment. Changing your space around may require a different configuration for the data loggers.
And while replacement is rare, it may still be necessary on occasion.
The Power of Data Loggers
Data loggers have made it so much easier for business and industry to track important data. Being able to track and instantly receive data on temperature, humidity, moisture, voltage, shock, and more can help to reduce loss of product, immediately be notified of issues and concerns, and provide updated shipping data to customers 24 hours a day.
Using data loggers, industry is able to save billions of dollars per year by preventing downtime, loss of product, and injuries.