萝莉影视

CO2 sensorCase study: Effectiveness of CO2 application and concentration management in agricultural IoT

Summary

Adopter:?SERAKU Co.,Ltd.

Industry/line of business Internet software / data processing
Business description (1) Design, construction, operation, and maintenance of IT systems
(2) Establishment and support of cloud systems
(3) Smart agriculture
(4) Machine design engineering
Equipment adopted CO2 sensors

Background

Midori Cloud is an agricultural IT platform being rolled out by SERAKU. This platform achieves visualization and labor saving in agricultural production by digitizing agriculture. Furthermore, it realizes highly profitable agriculture by building a high value-added food and agricultural value chain.
The Midori Monitor field monitoring service in Midori Cloud involves installing sensors and cameras in fields to measure the temperature, humidity, CO2 concentration, intensity of solar radiation, soil electrical conductivity value, and other elements to enable remote monitoring and control from PCs, smartphones, Apple Watches, and similar devices. This reduces the burden on production sites. At the same time, it supports an improvement in productivity and a good-quality product rate by utilizing the data acquired.
Of the numerous measurement items, CO2 concentration is an especially important control indicator to promote photosynthesis in crops and thereby raise their quality and yield. Efficient and waste-free CO2 application is sought by accurately sensing the CO2 concentration in plastic greenhouses and then injecting the right amount of CO2 at the right time.

Image of Midori Cloud
Image of Midori Monitor

The customer's problems

The problems with CO2 sensors in environmental monitoring are measurement accuracy, durability, and drift in the measured values due to long-term use and storage. The CO2 concentration in a plastic greenhouse falls to approximately 400 ppm or less of the atmosphere due to the promotion of photosynthesis. Therefore, in terms of the measurement accuracy, it is necessary to have a sensor which can measure a CO2 concentration of 400 ppm or less at a good precision. Durability is sought in the sensor so that it does not fail under the harsh high-temperature and high-humidity environment in an agricultural plastic greenhouse.
The third issue of drift in the measured values due to long-term use and storage was a particular problems for SERAKU. The CO2 sensor SERAKU adopted for environmental monitoring was one that was widely used for agricultural applications at that time in 2014 when it was in the midst of developing the service. It was a type equipped with an automatic calibration function. However, it was not possible to use this function in agricultural plastic greenhouses in which the CO2 concentration is controlled. Accordingly, drift became a problem. In particular, there was a tendency for the measured values to drift significantly when the CO2 sensors were removed and stored after the harvest and then reinstalled. There were also cases in which moisture or dust in the surrounding area caused the issue. These problems resulted in many inquiries and replacement requests from end customers. That led to a human and financial burden.

Purpose for adopting 萝莉影视 CO2 sensors

The purpose of adopting the sensor was to improve the quality and yield of crops by managing the CO2 concentration to suit crop cultivation in agricultural plastic greenhouses.
CO2 sensors need to be able to accurately measure the concentration. In addition, they require a durability so they do not fail even when used for a long time in a harsh usage environment. Furthermore, the stability of measurements and the reduction in the time and man-hours involved in maintenance and management are also important considerations when adopting CO2 sensors.

Value provided by 萝莉影视

萝莉影视's CO2 sensors adopt the NDIR method. These sensors incorporate the principle to measure a CO2 concentration of 400 ppm or less at a good precision. The CO2 sensor mechanism uses one light source, optical path and photodetector, and two filters that switch between a wavelength that reacts to CO2 and one that does not. This mechanism adopts the one-beam NDIR method, which compensates for the deterioration of the light source, optical path, and photodetector by switching filters.
Moreover, these sensors have adopted a unique measured value correction algorithm to compensate for the deterioration of the temperature and mechanical components (light source, optical path, and photodetector). As a result, maintenance-free operation has been achieved with a technique to automatically calibrate the measured values in the installation environment. Absolutely no correction due to the outside air is necessary. We have designed these sensors to incorporate an improvement in durability with the selection of various electronic components, the application of a moisture-proof coating, and the adoption of other measures to ensure their durability.

Image of CO2 Sensor

萝莉影视adopted by the customer

CO2 Sensor IMG Series

Our CO2 sensors are NDIR sensors and thus have outstanding consistency over the long term, and they are equipped with our patented reference beam-based automatic calibration feature.

Image of CO2 Sensor

Reasons for selection

萝莉影视's CO2 sensor have been adopted because they can be used without maintenance, as they come with an automatic calibration function that responds to changes in the temperature, humidity, and other elements in the environment and because it is also possible to expect an improvement in environmental resistance, as they are also equipped with an air filter.

Customer's assessment on 萝莉影视's CO2 sensors

There were about 20 to 30 inquiries per year at that time with the existing sensors. However, recently, the number of inquiries has reduced by 70% to about six per year. Accordingly, the human and financial burden has been considerably reduced.
In addition, these sensors are less susceptible to contamination by foreign substances because they are equipped with an air filter and because of their shape. As a result, they are also being introduced into a livestock-related application (Farm Cloud).

Download CO2 sensor introductory materials and datasheets

Here, you can download information about 萝莉影视's CO2 sensors.
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