C02 is an early indicator of biological activity that can damage your grain
Temperature and moisture sensors on cables placed with-in stored grain are routinely used to monitor for ‘hot spots’ or grain spoilage. The Grain Quality Sensor (installed in the storage headspace and plenum) monitors carbon dioxide, an early indicator of ‘real-time’ spoilage due to biological activity from molds and insects, alerting you to take action to mitigate losses.
The Grain Quality Sensor can take your grain management to the next level.
Normal background CO2 is
400 – 600 ppm.
OPI Grain Quality Sensors have 50
ppm accuracy up to 2000 ppm.
Compliments a comprehensive monitoring
and control system with cables.
Given that CO2 moves with air currents much faster than heat conducts in grain, CO2 sensing overcomes the limitations of temperature cables and can give a more “real-time” indicator of the onset of grain spoilage.
Peace of mind while storing your grain comes from having complete visibility of the grain condition and quality. To achieve this level of visibility, a storage facility should supplement the temperature and moisture cables with CO2 sensors. By having both temperature and moisture cables along with CO2 sensing, you will have the most comprehensive data set available. This enables not only early detection of spoilage from the CO2 data, but also critical information, like the grain temperature and moisture, ensuring your grain is in optimal condition when it is time to sell.
For a monitoring only cable based system, the Grain Quality Sensor would be installed on the storage structure roof with the sensor protruding down into the headspace above the grain. The Grain Quality Sensor would be connected into an updated Cable Node. If you have an automated fan control system, the Grain Quality Sensor would be installed in the plenum and connected into an updated Fan Node. To achieve the most comprehensive CO2 monitoring, an additional Grain Quality Sensor should be added to the headspace of your storage.