What is Temperature Mapping?
16 February 2017Temperature mapping is a procedure that forms a dynamic, thermally-active picture of what’s taking place within a cooling unit. Generally speaking, we accomplish this process by placing special monitoring devices throughout the cooling enclosure. Then, as the data is collated, a mapped thermal image is produced, one that illustrates the location of any warm spots. Remedial action is the next step. Before that, though, we need our monitoring devices.
Installing Data Logging Monitors
Electronic monitors are first on our agenda. These devices measure localized temperature variances while creating a time-based log. Hours and days of data are recorded, with the temperature spikes and dips generating a real-time graph of the overall conditions inside the freezer. The temperature probes are handy, in an of themselves, but their true purpose only comes to light when their results are combined.
Real-Time Mapping
Spikes in the temperature axis begin to make sense as we pair results with the time the event took place. A door, for example, may have been left open during the midnight shift, but the incautious practice hasn’t escaped the attention of the time mapping apparatus. Let’s put the time domain to the side for a moment, though, while we consider the spatial aspects. Remember, there’s a group of strategically positioned temperature probes in use here, and they’re all adding their input to the map. If a particularly nasty spike is generated on one of these monitors, well, the location of that unit needs to be checked out on the coolroom map. In this case, it’s likely that an insulating panel is faulty and energy losses are taking place.
Decoding the Coolroom Image
The various drops and ramps on the temperature mapping scale look like an inky sprawl to the casual observer, but an expert refrigeration engineer sees the whole picture as he studies the progressing line. Convection currents are possibly being hampered by a wall of poorly arranged storage materials for example. Fortunately, corrective action strikes swiftly when the problem is located. In this example, full cooling distribution is restored when the airflow problem is fixed.
Regular temperature probes are handy, certainly, but their output only provides a limited thermal profile. Electronic data logging monitors (EDLMs), on the other hand, collate the thermal data and add a time axis to the plotted graph. Finally, a spatial element ties into the recording procedure as the intelligently located probes provide positional information, data that flows from every nook and cranny within the insulated storage unit.
Mark Connelly
C&M Coolroom Services
E-mail: markconnelly@cmcoolrooms.com.au
Mobile: 0412 536 315
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