Thermochrons

The new DS1921 Thermochron iButton is a Web-addressable, dedicated tracker that can go wherever thermally vulnerable products go, monitoring time and temperature and storing the data. The iButton easily attaches to containers of frozen or fresh foods, blood products, and chemicals or drug reagents, recording time and temperature during transport and storage. By logging the thermal experience of temperature-sensitive material, you can pinpoint responsibility for spoilage and take corrective action. The iButton's embedded computer chip integrates a 1-Wire transmitter/receiver, a globally unique address, a thermometer, a clock/calendar, a thermal history log, and 512 bytes of additional memory to store a shipping manifest. The thermometer measures temperature from -40°C to +85°C in 0.5° increments, while the clock keeps time accurately to +1 minute per month from 0°C to 45°C. The recyclable iButton logs data for more than 10 years or up to 1 million temperature measurements.

Rugged iButton Attaches to Anything
About the size of 5 dimes, the 16mm Thermochron is so small you can attach it unobtrusively to any container surface or wall—on bottles, totes, boxes, crates, pallets, air cargo containers, refrigerators, semi trailers, railroad freight cars, and archival storage rooms. The iButton's stainless steel armor withstands dirt, water and rough treatment. You can step on it, splatter it with fish entrails, or drop it into an ice water bath—it continues to log effortlessly. Underneath the armor, a single silicon chip integrates a digital thermometer, clock/calendar and protected memory. The stored data is designed to be resistant to tampering from unscrupulous intermediaries. Attempts to alter the logged thermal history will be detected electronically.

Versatile Data Storage: Log and Histogram Formats
The Thermochron stores data in two different ways that serve different application needs. First, it can wake up to take 2048 time– and date–stamped temperature readings at equal intervals between 1 and 255 minutes, then store the data in a time–temperature log format.

To fully utilize the recording mission, the user chooses the time to begin temperature taking, sets a sampling rate, sets high and low alarm thresholds, and determines whether to rollover when 2048 time and temperature readings are completed or to simply stop logging. This method of data storage records when a critical thermal exposure occurred and helps you assign accountability for any resulting loss of product quality.

Meanwhile, the Thermochron also simultaneously stores each temperature sample in a histogram. The histogram memory consists of 56 bins in 2–degree increments; each bin holds 65,500 temperature readings for up to 10 years. The histogram method of data storage serves applications requiring either long–term monitoring or the ability to instantly assess thermal compromise. When storing blood or other biomedical products, it's critical to know that thermal exposure occurred; when it happened is not. The histogram instantly reveals whether user-defined high or low temperature thresholds have been exceeded, and for how long.

Missioning the Thermochron
You can mission the Thermochron iButton with a PC or handheld. You touch the button to the PC or handheld's Blue Dot receptor to set start time, sampling rate, and alarm threshold.

Viewing and Tracking Thermochron Data on the Web
As the iButton roams, its recordings can be viewed on the spot by touching a hand-held computer or pen-style probe. The handheld can also instantly download the Thermochron data to a Web page when it's convenient to connect to the Internet. The chip's factory-lasered registration number serves as a unique address that points to a specific Web page, which can report the thermal experience of a shipment. This network address can become the means of determining where a Thermochron was last seen, much like a package tracking service.

How to set up a time and temperature logging mission.
Once you have plugged in the Blue Dot receptor and snapped the Thermochron into the Blue Dot, open the program and choose iButton Viewer to locate your Thermochron's serial number. Next, click on the number to bring up a program wizard that will guide you through the steps to set up a time and temperature logging mission.

Briefly, the steps include:

1. Set the clock.
2. Set the time alarm.
3. Set the sample rate.
4. Set the temperature alarm.
5. Set the mission start delay (time to start).
6. Check when mission will end; select data rollover or not.
7. Finish.

Now for the really good news
You can set up a thermochron temperature data logging system for only $70.00 and extra thermochrons are only $20.00 each. The initial thermochron system consists of your computer interface hardware ( DS9097U-P ) and one standard thermochron. You can mission and read as many thermochrons as you need. Reuse your thermochrons over and over again. Easily document the temperatures of food or biological products during shipping. Use thermochrons to fine tune heating and air conditioning systems. Thermochrons are used extensively for animal, insect and crop research. Any place you used to use a big and bulky stip chart recorder would be an ideal place to use a thermochron. The stainless steel construction, extremely small size and economical price of the thermochron allows you to record temperatures from many locations that have been unfeasible until now.
Order your thermochron starter kit today!

*note: Thermochron is a registered trademark of  Dallas Semiconductor

In-Touch Temperature Satellite System Applications

In-Touch Temperature Satellite System Overview

Pro-Vent (monitoring and environmental control products)

Link to other In-Touch products (Access Monitoring, Time Clocks, Electronic Vending)

Contact Information
In-Touch Solutions
212 North Sturgis Street
Mankato, MN 56001
Telephone 507-388-9153
Fax 507-388-3730

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