Industries that routinely transport expensive, sensitive, or dangerous liquids require accurate tank level measurement with complete traceability to ensure nothing lost, spilled, or stolen during shipment. DMC designed a solar-powered embedded IoT solution with Bluetooth low energy for measuring and tracking liquid in tanker trucks. The system uses IO-Link level sensors to measure the tanker liquid level. This data is fed to a BLE enabled main processor that maintains a log of the tank level during transport and storage. When the truck reaches the destination, the data is automatically retrieved via an encrypted Bluetooth link. Any discrepancies or anomalies in the liquid level will trigger system alerts to the appropriate personnel.
The system is solar powered with battery backup, ensuring continuous operation. In order to maximize the performance of the solar charger in changing light conditions, a Maximum Power Point Tracking strategy was employed which dynamically adjusts the current drawn from the solar cells to maximize power sent to the batteries. Since the system is compatible with IO-Link, a wide variety of sensors can be used, providing a flexible platform for numerous custom applications.
