The invention relates to system and device when used for the remote monitoring of a refrigeration installation, and more particularly for monitoring operating parameters across a plurality of refrigeration installations.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

Commercial chillers and refrigeration installations such as those used in supermarkets use a significant amount of power to operate and require significant maintenance due to their typically larger sizes, heavy duty use, long operating hours, and the frequent opening and closing of doors by customers. While the chillers and refrigeration installations may themselves have individual controllers, each supermarket store for example typically stocks a large number of such installations, which means store operators would need to check and monitor each installation individually on a regular basis. This approach is time consuming, prone to operator error and not effective at identifying and rectifying any problems as they occur. This results in increased wasteful power usage and/or costly repairs if any operating issues with installations are not resolved in a timely manner. Conventional installations also do not provide their store operators with useful information about their use patterns or customer behaviours or tools to monitor and minimise energy use of refrigeration installations while maximising the performance and longevity of the installations.

The applicant has determined that it would be advantageous to provide an improved system and device for remotely monitoring a plurality of refrigeration installations. The present invention, in its preferred embodiments, seeks to at least in part alleviate some of the aboveidentified problems. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a refrigeration network monitoring system, comprising: a remote server in communication with at least one sensor device provided at a respective refrigeration installation, wherein the remote server is configured to: monitor operation of the respective refrigeration installation based on output data received from the at least one sensor device; determine the value of at least one monitored parameter of the refrigeration installation based on the output data received from the at least one sensor device; and send a notification message to the refrigeration installation and/or a user when the at least one monitored parameter of exceeds one or more predetermined threshold values.

In one embodiment, the remote server is further configured to be in communication with a controller provided at the respective refrigeration installation, and the remote server is configured to send one or more commands to the controller so as to alter one or more operating parameters of the refrigeration installation based on the output data and/or the at least one monitored parameter.

In one embodiment, the refrigeration network comprises a plurality of refrigeration installations and the network of refrigeration installations are configured in real-time communication with the remote server.

In one embodiment, the output data received from the at least one sensor device relate to a temperature of the refrigeration installation or a product temperature simulator of the refrigeration installation.

In one embodiment, the output data received from the at least one sensor device relate to a fan performance of a cooling device of the refrigeration installation.

In one embodiment, the output data received from the at least one sensor device relate to proximity of a user in relation to the refrigeration installation. In one embodiment, the output data received from the at least one sensor device relate to airflow of an air inlet and/or outlet of the refrigeration installation.

In one embodiment, the output data received from the at least one sensor device relate to a fluid level of a drainage of the refrigeration installation.

In one embodiment, the output data received from the at least one sensor device relate to an open or closed status of a door or night blind of the refrigeration installation.

In one embodiment, the at least one monitored parameter of the refrigeration installation relates to whether a door of the refrigeration installation has been left open.

In one embodiment, the at least one monitored parameter of the refrigeration installation relates to standard operating hours of a store.

In one embodiment, the at least one monitored parameter of the refrigeration installation relates to blockages of airflow within the refrigeration installation.

In one embodiment, the at least one monitored parameter of the refrigeration installation relates to blockage of a drain of the refrigeration installation.

In one embodiment, the at least one monitored parameter of the refrigeration installation relates to defrosting requirement of the refrigeration installation.

In one embodiment, the at least one monitored parameter of the refrigeration installation relates to foot traffic volume in proximity to the refrigeration installation.

In one embodiment, the remote server is further configured to record the output data and monitored parameter(s), and provide such information to a user-accessible web portal. According a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sensor device when used with a refrigeration installation of the refrigeration network monitoring system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, the device comprising: one or more sensors configured to output data in relation to a monitored parameter of the refrigeration installation; and data transmitter configured for sending and receiving data between the sensor device and a remote server.

In one embodiment, the sensor device further comprises a controller configured to communicate with a control system of the refrigeration installation so as to alter one or more operating parameters of the refrigeration installation.

Aspects of the present invention and embodiments of the aspects described in the preceding paragraphs will become apparent from the following description.

In the description and drawings of this embodiment, same reference numerals are used as have been used in respect of the first embodiment, to denote and refer to corresponding features.

While components of the system and device will be described below for use in combination with each other in the preferred embodiments of the present invention, it is to be understood by a skilled person that some aspects of the present invention are equally suitable to be used interchangeably between one or more embodiments of the present invention and/or suitable for use as standalone inventions that can be individually incorporated into other methods and systems not described herein.

The word “about” or “approximately” when used in relation to a stated reference point for a quality, level, value, number, frequency, percentage, dimension, location, size, amount, weight or length may be understood to indicate that the reference point is capable of variation, and that the term may encompass proximal qualities on either side of the reference point. As used herein, the word "substantially" may be used merely to indicate an intention that the term it qualifies should not be read too literally and that the word could mean “sufficiently”, “mostly” or "near enough” for the patentee's purposes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying Figure 1, which is a schematic illustration of a refrigeration network monitoring system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to Figure 1, preferred embodiments of the present invention relate to a system 10 specifically designed for monitoring a plurality of refrigeration installations 12, which for example could include any commercial or non-commercial chillers, refrigerators and freezers. A sensor device 20 in the form of a hub is provided with each of the refrigeration installations 12 for obtaining sensed data using one or more connected sensors with respect to each refrigeration installation 12 and for communicating with a remote server 30. The remote server 30 is configured to receive output data from the sensor device 20, process the data received and provide notifications to the store operator. In some embodiments, the system 10 is also configured such that the remote server 30 is able to provide command instructions to a controller 22 of the sensor device 20 to run diagnostics and/or adjust one or more operating parameters of the relevant refrigeration installation 12. It is to be understood that the sensor device 20 of the present invention may be built into new refrigeration installations 12 or retrofitted into existing refrigeration installations 12. Details of the system 10 will now be described below.

In one embodiment, the sensor device 20 comprises a computing device 24 in a housing 21 and the computing device 24 is connected with a network transmitter 25 and one or more sensors 28. The computing device 24 can be in the form of any suitable microcontroller or field programmable device (such as an H3 Cortex- A7) with on-board and/or external storage memory (for example, eMMC flash storage). A range of sensors 28 or sensor systems may be used with the present invention, a non-limiting list of examples used in some the preferred embodiments are provided:

• Capacitance/Capsense ice mesh sensor (detects defrost)

• Infra-red sensor (detects airflow blockage, also used as a blinds sensor)

• Proximity (Hall) sensor (detects door)

• Waterproof digital temperature sensor

• Capacitance/Capsense water sensor (drain sensor)

• Current sensor (fan status sensor)

• Lidar sensor (customer counter sensor)

The one or more sensors 28 are connected to the computing device 24 to provide output data to the computing device 24, which is stored in the memory and/or sent via the network transmitter 25 to the remote server 30 for further processing. The network transmitter 25 may be configured to have Ethernet and/or Wi-Fi connectivity capability for connecting to the internet or a local network. In some embodiments, the network transmitter 25 may also be provided with other capabilities such as cellular signal access via 4G, LTE, 5G for example for network connection. It is to be understood that the monitoring system 10 could be used for monitoring a single refrigeration installation 12 or a plurality of such refrigeration installations 12 remotely and in real-time. The remote server 30 could take into account proximity of the refrigeration installations 12 with respect to one another to allow for efficient monitoring of like-installations 12 (for example, monitoring all chillers in a single supermarket store or monitoring installations 12 based on location).

It is to be understood that sensor device 20 of the monitoring system 10 in accordance with preferred embodiments of the present invention may comprise other sensors 28 and perform functions for use with refrigeration installations 12 not specifically described herein.

In some embodiments, the computing device 24 may also act as a controller 26 which is connected to operating circuits of the refrigeration installation 12 such that power and/or other operating parameters of the installation may be altered by commands as instructed by the remote server 30. In other configurations, the controller 26 may consist of a device separate from the computing device 24.

Depending on the type and nature of sensors 28 installed in the sensor device 20, the sensor device and remote server 30 could work together to perform a number of useful monitoring functions. The types of functions will now be described below for preferred embodiments of the invention. The system may include one or a combination of the following functions or features: a temperature sensor; a customer detecting sensor according to embodiments of the invention; an inlet blockage sensor; a door sensor; a defrost sensor according to an embodiment of the invention; a drain sensor and drain calibration; a blinds sensor and blinds sensor calibration; a fan sensor and fan calibration. It is to be understood that the sensors described can be modular in nature and may be used in combination or isolation as part of the sensor device 20 in the spirit of the invention. For example, in some embodiments all the sensed functions and sensors described below are deployed, while in other embodiments only one or some of the sensors and functions are present.

Sensing functions

One sensed function of the monitoring system 10 is automatic detection of when refrigeration doors are left ajar or open for an extended period of time. A proximity sensor (such as a Hall effect sensor) may be used when installing the sensor device 20 to the refrigeration installation 12 such that the status of the door will be monitored by the proximity sensor and subsequently conveyed to the computing device 24 for transmission via the network transmitter 25 to the remote server 30.

When the remote server 30 received output data from the sensor that indicates the door of the refrigeration installation 12 as monitored has been in the open status beyond a predetermined threshold value (for example time in seconds), then an alert notification is sent by the remote server 30 to the store operator and/or to a display connected to the sensor device 20. This feature allows the store operator to react promptly to refrigeration installation 12 doors left open inadvertently so as to reduce the risk of too much warm air entering the refrigeration space which increases energy use to cool the space and risk of food spoilage. It is to be understood that the predetermined threshold values to be used by the remote server 30 can be configured by the store operator via an online website portal to which is configured to be associated with the remote server 30.

Another function of the monitoring system 10 is the detection of the night blinds of the refrigeration installation 12 (when applicable) by the sensor device 20 using an infra-red sensor connected to the computing device 24. The infra-red sensor is installed and calibrated such that the sensor is able to detect when the night blinds are positioned in use and when the blinds are open. In one configuration, the monitoring system 10 has a controller 26 capable of interfacing with the refrigeration installation 12 so that when the night blinds are detected to be in use, the speed and performance of the evaporator fan of the installation 12 for example is reduced to lower energy use. Other ways to reduce energy use may also be employed. This feature usefully aligns energy use of the refrigeration installations 12 with a store's operating hours in an effective manner while maintaining safe operating temperatures overnight. Instructions to reduce energy use of the installation 12 may be sent by the sensor device 20 or by the remote server 30.

In some embodiments, the monitoring system 10 also comprises an infra-red sensor to monitor airflow in the air inlet and return air inlet of the refrigeration installation 12. If the remote server 30 detects from the sensor output data the presence of deflected airflow in the refrigeration installation 12 then a notification will be sent to the store operator to check whether the return air inlet of the installation 12 is inadvertently blocked by any products. Promptly removing any airflow blockages will improve refrigeration efficiency and reduce energy consumption. Infra-red sensors may also be used to detect if important airflow corridors inside the refrigeration space are obstructed by products.

The monitoring system 10 may also comprise one or more capsense sensors to detect the water level of refrigeration installation 12 drainages. A sensor output indicating consistently high water level when compared with a predetermined threshold could be a sign of water flow blockage in the drain. In such cases, the remote server 30 can be configured to detect instances of high water level or prolonged high water levels and send appropriate notifications to the store operator for maintenance action. Identifying and resolving drain blockage issues promptly reduces the risk of water overflow causing damage to the store, long-term damages to the refrigeration installation 12 and expensive repair costs. Detecting drainage issues early also reduces the need for expensive chemical drain clearance when the blockage has become a significant issue, which involves time-consuming process of unloading goods from the installation 12 and disruption of sales from the time required to clear the blockage.

Another sensor that could be included with the monitoring system 10 is a capsense ice mesh sensor calibrated in the refrigeration installation 12 to detect when the evaporator coil requires defrosting. Frosting of the evaporator coil reduces effectiveness of the installation 12, leads to temperature fluctuations inside the refrigerated space (which could cause microbe growth in the products) and occurs more frequently in high humidity environments. As defrosting involves a time-based cycle, detecting the optimal time to undertake defrosting of the refrigeration installations 12 will reduce time required to complete defrosting cycles, improve refrigeration performance and reduce energy consumption.

Performance of refrigeration installations 12 is determined by the effectiveness of the evaporator fan motors providing optimal air circulation. Sensors such as current sensor and/or airflow sensors can be used by the remote server 30 to automatically monitor fan motor operations to detect any drop of air pressure below a predetermined threshold. For example, the remote server 30 can be configured such that if air pressure, as detected by the output data of the sensors, drops below a certain threshold for a prolonged period of time then a relevant notification is sent to the store operator for investigation. Servicing refrigeration installations 12 on early signs of maintenance reduce the risk of significant and prolonged equipment failure, reduces the risk of having products stored in unsafe refrigeration temperatures and maximises equipment uptime.

Furthermore, the monitoring system 10 may be provided with a temperature sensor to monitor the temperature inside the refrigeration space for compliance. Output data from the temperature sensor will be sent to the remote server 30 and then made available to the store operator in the form of a report so that manual temperature checks will not be required. This not only saves significant time when compared with manual temperature checks of each installation, but if the output data indicates that temperatures are outside of normal operating ranges then the remote server 30 can be configured to send an alert to the store operator for prompt action.

In a preferred embodiment, the monitoring system 10 is provided with sensors to detect foot traffic and count the number of customers that walk past the refrigeration installation 12 and/or record the amount of time customers linger around the installation 12. Sensors such as LIDAR, sonar, infra-red or other suitable detection mechanisms may be used. In one example, LIDAR sensors may be installed on the left and right sides of the refrigeration installation and provide time-stamped output data to the remote server indicative of when someone has walked past the sensors and the time elapsed between the left and right sensors. This can be used by the remote server 30 to determine if customers have simply walked past the refrigeration installation 12 or stayed between the sensors (likely examining the products within) if the time a customer stayed between the sensors is above a certain threshold value. This information are highly useful metrics for a store operator to assist with the optimisation of product allocation and marketing activities.

It is to be understood that in the preferred embodiment, the remote server 30 and the output data from the sensor device 20 as received by the remote server 30, analytical data processed by the remote server 30 as well as controller and notification settings can be accessed by a user (such as a store operator) via website interfaces.

It could be said that preferred embodiments of the present invention relates to an Internet of Things (loT) system that interfaces with a remote computing platform (a "cloud network") that can be used for detecting and capturing data in a refrigeration case (for example, a unit or installation) for monitoring, sending alarms, optimising operating parameters, as well as other commercial uses such as sending sales and marketing messages across a plurality of refrigeration cases. In one configuration, the loT system uses plug and play microcomputer controllers capable of interfacing with a cloud network or a designated remote server. The remote server is in communication with at least one loT sensor device provided at a respective refrigeration installation, wherein the loT device captures the data and passed through the microcontroller to the Cloud remote server which is configured to: monitoring, analysing on actioning notification message to the refrigeration installation and/or a user when the at least one monitored parameter triggers based on one or more predetermined threshold values.

Throughout this specification and the claims which follow, unless the context requires otherwise, the word "comprise", and variations such as "comprises" and "comprising", will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated integer or step or group of integers or steps but not the exclusion of any other integer or step or group of integers or steps.

The reference in this specification to any prior publication (or information derived from it), or to any matter which is known, is not, and should not be taken as an acknowledgment or admission or any form of suggestion that that prior publication (or information derived from it) or known matter forms part of the common general knowledge in the field of endeavour to which this specification relates.

While various embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not by way of limitation. It will be apparent to a person skilled in the relevant art that various changes in form and detail can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention should not be limited by any of the above described exemplary embodiments.