Power Metering and Temperature Control in a Vegetable Factory

Okinawa Cellular uses the GX20 Paperless Recorder in their vegetable factory to monitor power, temperature, and CO₂.

Okinawa Cellular Telephone Company has launched an experimental vegetable factory to encourage farmers in the prefecture to enter into that business. The 80 square meter vegetable factory engages in hydroponics, and uses 100% artificial lighting. Located at Nanjo City in the southern part of Okinawa island, the facility holds six levels of beds dedicated to raising greens like romaine and leaf lettuce.

We spoke with a representative from Okinawa Cellular: "We control the artificial lighting, air conditioning, and other systems in the vegetable factory to make the environment optimal for cultivation. To grow vegetables safely and efficiently, we have to maintain a constant temperature and CO₂ level."

By optimizing the environment, they can raise delicious, highly nutritious vegetables at approximately two times the normal growth rate. As a proof-of-concept business, they need to accumulate watt hours and other kinds of data related to cultivation control in order to develop a profitable business model.

OC: "To acquire data from energy saving testing and verification testing, we need to record power consumption and various other kinds of data in the factory. Aside from just recording, we were looking for a recorder that could provide real time remote monitoring and the ability to generate reports when abnormalities occur."

The GX20 has a wealth of Web and other networking functions, plus alarm functions that provide on-screen and e-mail notifications. These features apparently convinced them to make the purchase. The GX20 records various types of power data, room temperature, and CO₂ concentrations, and offers MATH functions that can display integral power values.

OC: "The GX20's screen is large and very easy to read, so we can check measured data at a glance. Also, if I'm at the main office or otherwise away from the factory, I can use a PC or even my mobile phone to monitor conditions in the factory, and that is very helpful. It notifies me by e-mail if anything is wrong, so I can rush over right away."

The GX20 comes with a 12.1-inch TFT color LCD. Human factors design concepts guided us in everything from screen colors and button sizes to navigation between screens: the result is an intuitive and easy-viewing experience. Also, it enables you to monitor remotely on a smartphone or tablet using the Web function. The GX20 includes alarm functions, and you can set alarms on upper or lower limit values. In addition to displaying alarms on screen when an abnormality occurs, it can provide notification through e-mails or audible alarms. Additionally, it has many networking features such as an FTP function or direct output to printer.

Okinawa Cellular Telephone Company uses the PR300 Powermeter for monitoring overall power in the factory.

OC: "We use the PR300 to monitor power consumption in the factory. We can view the data and analyze it to determine when we use the most power, and what power saving measures work best."

OC: "We raise our vegetables in the factory organically, so consumers can trust them. Plus, the people at the company cafeterias and restaurants where we ship the vegetables are giving us great reviews: they say our vegetables are delicious! We plan to increase our output while simultaneously working toward saving power by focusing on using LEDs and shifting more activities to the midnight hours. To increase the number of measurement channels all we have to do is add modules, so that seems easy."

The SMARTDAC+ series has a variety of I/O modules available to meet a wide range of measuring needs. And the inputs and outputs are modular for easy expandability.

Customer Introduction

Okinawa Cellular Telephone Company
http://www.au.kddi.com/english/okinawa_cellular/

Takeshi Kaga, Assistant Manager
Business Development Division

Masahito Ikeshima, Assistant Manager
Business Development Division