WO2021187979A1

WO2021187979A1 - Temperature monitoring system

Info

Publication number: WO2021187979A1
Application number: PCT/NL2021/050179
Authority: WO
Inventors: Petrus Joannes Wilhelmus Van Herp; Johannes Hermanus Petrus Maria Oonk
Original assignee: Mobuyou B.V.
Priority date: 2020-03-16
Filing date: 2021-03-16
Publication date: 2021-09-23
Also published as: NL2025141B1

Abstract

The present application relates generally to a temperature monitoring system, and in particular to a temperature monitoring system for a store refrigeration or freezer shelving system. The invention therefore provides in a first aspect a temperature monitoring system for monitoring the temperature of products in a refrigerator or freezer of a store, the temperature system comprising: an electronic shelf label which is arranged for providing product information about a product on a shelf, of a store shelf system, the electrical shelf label comprising: a housing having a front and a back; a display unit, which is accommodated in the front of the housing and is adapted to display the product information; a control unit, which is arranged for controlling the screen; a temperature sensor, which is adapted to measure an instantaneous temperature, wherein the control unit is adapted to compare the instantaneous temperature with a threshold temperature and wherein the control unit is further arranged to signal a warning signal if the instantaneous temperature exceeds the threshold temperature.

Description

Title: Temperature monitoring system Description

The present application relates generally to a temperature monitoring system, and in particular to a temperature monitoring system for a store refrigeration or freezer shelving system.

Today many products sold in stores such as supermarkets are temperature sensitive. These products must therefore be refrigerated and kept refrigerated in the store pending the moment of purchase. Examples of such products are all perishable products such as meat products, dairy, fish products and frozen products.

In order to ensure that these products reach the consumer's possession in a corrected condition, the shopping facilities must be taken to monitor the temperature of the products. If the temperature of the products becomes too high, the products can spoil and the correct condition of the product can no longer be guaranteed.

Because products that are spoiled or show signs of deterioration can have serious health consequences, there are strict regulations to monitor this. These regulations prescribe that the temperature must be measured at regular times to determine whether it is too high or possibly too low. If that is the case, those products will be removed from stock and thus from sales.

The temperature is thus usually controlled manually at fixed times. This temperature data is generally collected manually by store employees who periodically check the temperature with a thermometer or other temperature sensor in the refrigerated or cooled racks. The measured temperature is then recorded, as prescribed by the guidelines, on a list that is kept in the refrigerator or freezer. If the temperature is too high, the manager should not only check the refrigerator or freezer, but also take the products out of the refrigerator or freezer.

The problem with this way of working is that the response time is often too long. This is because there is a health risk in the time between the moment when the product has reached too high or too low a temperature, and the moment when this is detected and then acted upon. With just a few moments of control per day, this is a non-negligible time frame. To reduce the risk of this, the warning temperature or handling temperature can be adjusted and, for example, if 1 or 2 degrees are exceeded, it is decided to remove the products from the shelves. This only partially helps. Moreover, it appears that in practice many products are removed from the shelves as a result of an incorrect temperature being detected. This is often justified, but it also often happens that these products are unjustly removed from the shelf. For example, because these products can withstand a brief increase in temperature and are therefore not spoiled yet. However, these products must be withdrawn from sale as a result of the guidelines.

Manual control therefore appears to have many disadvantages. However, many of the refrigerators used in stores are equipped with a built-in temperature sensor by the manufacturer or installer. Temperature sensors available to retailers include simple thermometers, battery-powered sensors, and wired sensors that are standard connected to the mains. These sensors therefore have various drawbacks. The battery-powered sensors are particularly problematic because of their limited battery life, limited capacity, and high personnel and material costs to replace the batteries. The wired sensors are expensive to install, are often incompatible with used wiring, and can bring additional safety risks, such as the need to electrically isolate them.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved temperature monitoring system for a store in which at least one of the above drawbacks is overcome.

The invention therefore provides in a first aspect a temperature monitoring system for monitoring the temperature of products in a refrigerator or freezer of a store, the temperature system comprising:

- an electronic shelf label which is arranged for providing product information about a product on a shelf of a shelf rack system of a store, the electrical shelf label comprising:

- a housing with a front and a back;

- a display unit, which is accommodated in the front of the housing and is adapted to display the product information;

- a control unit, which is arranged for controlling the screen;

- a temperature sensor, which is arranged to measure an instantaneous temperature, wherein the control unit is adapted to compare the instantaneous temperature with a threshold temperature and wherein the control unit is further arranged to signal a warning signal if the current temperature exceeds the threshold temperature exceeds.

The invention is based on the fact that, on the one hand, the manual way of controlling the temperature of products is too time-consuming to accurately monitor and act accordingly. That is, it is desirable that checks are carried out frequently, so that, for example, a defective freezer or refrigerator is detected early and products are placed in another refrigerator or freezer before they exceed the critical temperature. On the other hand, the fate of many products is linked to a single measurement, which can result in the most critical temperature determining all products in the refrigerator or freezer. It often turns out that some products may well be exposed to a limited temperature exceedance for a longer period of time, while with current manual or automatic measurements they still have to be removed from the sale. In addition, a local temperature problem affects all products in the refrigerator, while many products may not have reached and certainly not exceeded the critical limit.

The invention therefore relates to an Electronic Shelf Label, ESL, which is provided with a temperature sensor. Because there is a separate ESL for all the different products in the refrigerator or freezer, the temperature can be monitored per product or product group. As a result, on the basis of the determined value, in accordance with the guidelines, only those products can be removed from the refrigerator or freezer for which the temperature has actually been exceeded. Because each ESL is designed to signal a warning signal, it is easy to determine whether 1 , an entire group of products or all products must be removed from the refrigerator or freezer. In this way, unnecessary withdrawals from the sale are significantly reduced.

In addition, a much more accurate measurement can be provided with an ESL. The ESL can be equipped with an accurate digital temperature sensor. This sensor or the control unit can also be set to carry out a measurement at short intervals so that the time between exceeding the critical temperature and signaling is minimized. In addition, the control unit can observe a trend and determine that as the temperature increases (or decreases), the temperature of the product will exceed the critical temperature at any point in time. Even before this moment takes place, the ESL can signal this, so that the products can be saved if they are placed in another refrigerator or freezer in time.

In one example, the electrical shelf label further includes:

- a communication unit, which is arranged for wireless communication with a remote central server.

In one example, the electrical shelf label further includes:

- a communication unit, which is arranged for wireless communication with a nearby further electronic shelf label.

In one example, the electrical shelf label further includes: - a memory unit, which is arranged for storing one or more instantaneous temperature measurements.

In a second aspect, electronic shelf tag is provided according to one or more of the foregoing descriptions, and comprising:

- a housing with a front and a back;

- a control unit, which is arranged for controlling the screen;

In a third aspect, there is provided a refrigerated shelf system for a store such as a supermarket or drugstore, comprising one or more shelves for displaying a plurality of refrigerated products, wherein an electronic shelf label is provided for each of the plurality of products according to one or more of the foregoing descriptions.

In a third aspect, there is provided a freezer shelf system for a store such as a supermarket or drugstore comprising one or more shelves for displaying a plurality of frozen products, wherein an electronic shelf label is provided for each of the plurality of products according to one or more of the foregoing descriptions.

The invention will be further elucidated on the basis of non-limiting examples shown in the figures. The figures show in:

Figure 1 shows an embodiment of Electronic Shelf Label, ESL, which according to the invention is provided with a temperature sensor;

Figure 2 shows an embodiment of a shelf system with several ESLs according to the invention.

Many shops such as supermarkets and the like sell a wide variety of products. It is not uncommon for thousands of different products to be sold. Usually these products are exhibited on a shelf of a shelf rack system. In the shop, many of these shelving units are arranged in rows according to a predetermined plan. Usually the shelf racks are made in standard sizes such as 80cm, 90cm, 100cm, 110cm, 120cm, 130cm, 140cm or 150cm. A price label can be attached to the front of a shelf, and in particular to the free end of the shelf facing the customer. Above all, the price is made known with the price label. In addition, additional information is often displayed such as a barcode with an article number, a price per unit such as weight in kg, nutritional value, etc.

Electronic labels, also referred to as electronic product labels or electronic price labels or Electronic Shelf Labels, ESLs, can dynamically display this type of information. This makes it easy to implement price changes or to adjust the additional product information. These adjustments can be realized either wirelessly or with the help of a dedicated handheld device. To this end, the ESL can be provided with near field communication modules or other means to enable wireless or wired communication with the handheld device or with a central server.

In Figure 1 illustratively shows an ESL 11 according to an example of the invention. The ESL consists of a housing 11 in which the electronics 14, 15, 16 are housed. In addition, the ESL contains a display 13 with which information can be presented to the consumer in the shop, as well as shop staff. To this end, the ESL can be configured for various operational states. For example, a first use state in which the ESL shows information relevant to sales such as price, unit, identification code, nutritional values, diet properties, etc. In the second use state, the ESL can display information relevant to the management of the associated products, such as a unique identification code (which may deviate from the identification code shown in the first state), stock quantities, order codes, etc.

The ESL 11 contains various electronic components such as a computing unit 15 and a storage unit 14. The ESL may further comprise even more components not shown in figure 1. The ESL 11 is designed for wired and / or wireless communication, which is preferably included in the computing unit 15. It can also be designed separately as a separate module (not shown). Using electrical terminals 12, the ESL 11 can communicate with a communication bus. Moreover, the ESL can also be supplied with power via this bus.

The ESL can not only be used as a replacement for the traditional product labels in standard shop shelves, but can also be used according to the invention for indicating product information for products that are offered in refrigerators, refrigerators, freezers and freezers. For these products, other and further provisions must be made than for non-cooled and frozen products. In order to ensure that the products reach the consumer in a safe and correct condition, measures must therefore be taken. These relate in particular to monitoring the temperature. To this end, retailers must carry out measurements at fixed times in the refrigerator, freezer, etc. When the temperature falls below or above a threshold value, the products will no longer be allowed to be sold and they will have to be removed from the store. With an ESL according to the invention, waste of throwing away products can be reduced. For this purpose the ESL contains a temperature sensor 16. This is communicatively connected to the processor 15 so that temperature measurements can be registered by the processor and stored in a storage module 14. The processor is thus able to compare the instantaneous temperature, also known as the measured temperature with the stored temperature and / or historical temperature. A temperature profile or trend line can be drawn up from this. This can be used by the processor 15 to determine whether there is a deviation from the desired value. Because the processor can be designed to determine a trend line, it can already proactively respond to a temperature trend and thus give an alarm before the temperature of the products concerned falls below the established standard. Waste of such goods can thus be significantly reduced.

This is as before, products that would normally have to be discarded because it has been determined that they have exceeded a temperature threshold, can now be retained. To this end, the processor can be equipped with a memory in which temperature profiles of the various products are stored. These profiles may include one or more temperature data of the product, such as a first maximum temperature, a second maximum temperature, a further maximum temperature, a first minimum temperature, second minimum temperature, further minimum temperature, first temperature range, second temperature range, which is preferably wider than the first, further temperature range, etc. Thus, one or more data may apply per product. In practice, this can mean that a more durable product can have a wider temperature range and / or only a warning temperature without a temperature at which the product must also be regarded as unsaleable. Another product that is more sensitive to spoilage or food poisoning, such as fresh fish or poultry, can have a very limited temperature range and also a temperature that serves as a warning and a temperature that indicates that if it is exceeded, the product should no longer be consumed. Preferably these and other variables are available to the processor through a local storage, but in an alternative embodiment this data is centrally processed and made available, for example by a central management or management application running on a central server.

Preferably, the system is arranged to include or obtain temperature information for each individual type of product, this information comprising not only temperature variables, but also corresponding time variables. Thus, the combination thereof can be used by the processor to determine whether a product should be removed, and communicate this as such, or whether the product may still be sold. To this end, various combinations of temperature and time can lead to the same conclusion, which is to say that a short-term but relatively far exceeding of a minimum or maximum temperature of that product can mean, for example, that the product does not have to be regarded as lost, but a longer but relatively minimal temperature exceedances may mean that the product must nevertheless be removed and indicated as such by the system. For certain products, the duration of the temperature being exceeded is more important than the degree of exceedance, while for other products this may be the other way around. Such information can be included in a product-temperature profile, which can thus include temperatures as well as corresponding times of exceedance, so that the optimum can be determined for each product and waste is kept to a minimum.

In order to prevent waste of products, the system further preferably provides for establishing, recording or obtaining a temperature profile for each product, wherein the temperature profile is composed of a plurality of temperature measurements and corresponding time snapshots, whereby the processor is arranged to perform an extrapolation on this data so that it can be determined how long it takes before a set warning or alarm temperature is reached, and wherein the processor communicates this time period to the remote central server. In this way, a problem can be identified in good time, for example in the cooling capacity of the cold store. This makes it possible to move the products to another cold store or to secure them in some other way, so that the products are not lost. More in particular, the processor is arranged to extract a temperature trend from the determined time data and temperature data, which is expressed as a function of time and temperature, with which this function can be used to extrapolate the data and obtain a moment of time at which an entered (the warning or alarm temperature) temperature is reached. More preferably, a linear, 2nd order, 3rd order, 4th order polynomial, or an exponential function is used to determine the moment in time at which a temperature is reached.

In Figure 2, a shelf racking system 20 is shown for a retail store such as a supermarket or drugstore. This shelf rack system is designed (not shown) for placement in a refrigerator or in a freezer compartment, chest, etc. To this end, the shelf rack 20 comprises a number of shelves, in this case three. These shelves with the products are often closed off from the environment by doors or other movable closing elements (not shown). The products 22 in this case are, for example, dairy products such as cartons of fresh milk, cartons of pudding, custard, cream, etc. The properties of each product are stored in the ESL 10a-10f or at least made available via the ESLs, for example by a back- up device end server. These properties include information about a minimum temperature, maximum temperature, preferably in combination with a time period. For example, a carton of fresh milk can handle higher temperatures better, but worse at lower temperatures compared to a carton of pudding. Therefore, the temperature-related product properties may differ to a greater or lesser extent from product to product. Because each product contains a corresponding ESL 10a-10f, the temperature of the products can be monitored per product type. That is to say, it can be established, for example, that the temperature in the entire freezer has dropped below a desired temperature. However, this instantaneous temperature is harmful to one product and not yet another product. A user, preferably an employee (in which case the ESL is preferably working in the second above-mentioned operating state), can be informed as such that only those products in question have to be removed from the freezer. Compared to the currently known method of temperature monitoring, in which the freezer is measured, in this case many products will be saved, while with such known temperature monitoring the distinction cannot be made. As a result, all products from the freezer would have to be disposed of in accordance with regulations.

Claims

1. A temperature monitoring system for monitoring the temperature of products in a refrigerator or freezer of a store, the temperature system comprising: an electronic shelf label which is arranged for providing product information about a product on a shelf of a shelf rack system of a store, the electrical shelf label comprising:

- a housing with a front and a back;

- a control unit, which is arranged for controlling the screen;

2. The temperature monitoring system of claim 1, the electrical shelf label further comprising: a communication unit, which is arranged for wireless communication with a remote central server.

3. The temperature monitoring system of claim 1 or 2, the electrical shelf label further comprising: a communication unit, which is arranged for wireless communication with a nearby further electronic shelf label.

4. A temperature monitoring system according to any of the preceding claims, the electrical shelf label further comprising: a memory unit, which is arranged for storing one or more instantaneous temperature measurements.

5. Electronic shelf label according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising: a housing with a front and a back; a display unit, which is accommodated in the front of the housing and is adapted to display the product information; a control unit, which is arranged for controlling the screen; a temperature sensor, which is arranged to measure an instantaneous temperature, wherein the control unit is adapted to compare the instantaneous temperature with a threshold temperature and wherein the control unit is further arranged to signal a warning signal if the current temperature exceeds the threshold temperature exceeds.

6. A refrigerated shelf system for a shop such as a supermarket or drugstore, comprising one or more shelves for displaying a plurality of refrigerated products, wherein an electronic shelf label according to claim 5 is provided for each of the plurality of products.

7. Freezer shelf system for a store such as a supermarket or drugstore, comprising one or more shelves for displaying a plurality of frozen products, wherein an electronic shelf label according to claim 5 is provided for each of the plurality of products.