Environmental & Facility Monitoring
Location: Minnesota, USA
Project Introduction:
In the mid 1980's while negotiating a joint venture with English insect breeders, one breeder realized the great untapped potential of the U.S. pet market. Believing the industry was ready for change, he began the process of redefining his business. By combining his passion for success with a retailer's eye, he conceived the next great innovation for insect eating pets: pre-packaged live crickets. With this idea, Bugco was born.
System Requirements:
When Bugco outgrew its location and prepared to move its operations to a larger facility, they saw an opportunity to increase efficiency through automated control of the environment. The goal of the project was to improve on the temperature variation of the old system and add humidity-control capability.
The Bugco cricket production process is superficially very simple. The crickets enter the world in the hatchery, a small room with a constant temperature of 78 degrees and humidity at a sticky 80-90%. After several weeks in the hatchery, the bugs are transferred to the main room, a large open space with a 13-foot ceiling. Rows of plastic bins about the size of laundry baskets are stacked 5-7 high on shelves. Each open-topped bin is teaming with crickets; the room contains millions of them at various stages of the growth. Interestingly, the oppressive environment of the hatchery would rapidly kill the crickets if they were not moved to the main room, where it is also 78 degrees, but humidity runs a much more comfortable 40-50%.
Project Implementation:
- TPC-1570H 15" XGA Pentium® M/Celeron® M Touch Panel Computer
System Diagram:
System Description:
The team divided the Bugco facility into two zones based on environmental requirements. At the heart of the system are Advantech's TPC-1570H touchscreen monitor and Advantech Studio working in conjunction with a PLC and expansion modules. The PLC monitors conditions in the zones and, as needed, adjusts each zone independently based on parameters set via the TPC-1570H screen. The system uses a network of overhead heaters, intake and exhaust vents, dampers, circulating fans, and miles of copper piping to sustain the optimum conditions. All temperature and relative humidity information is logged, allowing historical data to be used for planning as well as evaluating the system's affect on cricket growth and overall yield. In the event of a breakdown in the process, an auto-dialer/alarm function notifies the appropriate people, alerting them to the nature of the problem. The entire system is web enabled to allow monitoring from anywhere in the world.
Conclusion:
The results have been impressive. The new system is able to hold the temperature, with variations inside the room of less than one degree from floor to ceiling and humidity is stable as set.
Says the Project Manager, "We were able to easily identify and track the return on this investment. Stocking density doubled. Production resource requirements dropped, and the climatic seesaw caused by the seasonal changes was totally eliminated. The ideal environment allows us to grow bigger, more nutritious crickets, and that makes everyone happy,"After a pause he adds, "Except the crickets, of course."
