Detection Systen Door Open Fridge.Food Safe/Energy efficient

Category Contest

ARTIK Cloud & Arduino mashup

What Happend

On several occasions I have encountered the door open fridge ( maybe 10 minutes or more ). My children to eat foods from refrigerator as milk, drink, eggs, etc do not bother to check the door closed properly . Also they keep the door open fridge when choosing what to eat.

Currently there is a lot of fridge connected in our homes that do not have an alarm system when the door is open for a period of safe time.

Note : Keeping the fridge door open while you decide what you want to eat may not seem like a big deal, but that open door accounts for 7% of the appliance's total energy use, according to Home Energy Magazine..

Rationale

My Project is simple but very useful. Is a Detection Systen Door Open Fridge it allows us to save energy, money , keep fridge temperature safe so as food care and planet.

I built a device to check the status of opening door the fridge, warning to user with a beep and warning sending alarm by email.

This device sounds an alarm (beep) when :

First : The fridge remains more than 10 seconds with the door open

Next : Send an email (using the Artik Cloud Services) to parents when the refrigerator remains more than 5 minutes with the door open.

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Fridge History

A refrigerator is one of the most important pieces of equipment in the kitchen for keeping foods safe. These electric units are so commonplace today, we forget a refrigerator was once little more than a box with a block of ice used to supply a rather undependable source of cold air.

Safe Refrigerator Temperature

For safety, it is important to verify the temperature of the refrigerator. Refrigerators should be set to maintain a temperature of 40 °F or below. Some refrigerators have built-in thermometers to measure their internal temperature. For those refrigerators without this feature, keep an appliance thermometer in the refrigerator to monitor the temperature. This can be critical in the event of a power outage. When the power goes back on, if the refrigerator is still 40 °F, the food is safe. Foods held at temperatures above 40 °F for more than 2 hours should not be consumed. Appliance thermometers are specifically designed to provide accuracy at cold temperatures. Be sure refrigerator/freezer doors are closed tightly at all times. Don't open refrigerator/freezer/fridge doors more often than necessary and close them as soon as possible.

Source : http://www.fsis.usda.gov/

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Recommendations

Power Outages: Food safety inside fridge

When the Power Goes Out . . .

Here are basic tips for keeping food safe:

• Keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible to maintain the cold temperature.

• The refrigerator will keep food cold for about 4 hours if it is unopened.

• A full freezer will keep the temperature for approximately 48 hours (24 hours if it is half full) if the door remains closed.

• Buy dry or block ice to keep the refrigerator as cold as possible if the power is going to be out for a prolonged period of time. Fifty pounds of dry ice should keep an 18 cubic foot, fully stocked freezer cold for two days.

• If you plan to eat refrigerated or frozen meat, poultry, fish, or eggs while they are still at safe temperatures, it is important that each item is thoroughly cooked to a safe minimum internal temperature to ensure that any foodborne bacteria that may be present are destroyed. However, if at any point the food was above 40º F for 2 hours or more (or 1 hour if temperatures are above 90 º F) — discard it.

Once Power is Restored . . .

Determine the safety of your food:

• If an appliance thermometer was kept in the freezer, check the temperature when the power comes back on. If the freezer thermometer reads 40° F or below, the food is safe and may be refrozen.

• If a thermometer has not been kept in the freezer, check each package of food to determine its safety. You can’t rely on appearance or odor. If the food still contains ice crystals or is 40° F or below, it is safe to refreeze or cook.

• Refrigerated food should be safe as long as the power was out for no more than 4 hours and the refrigerator door was kept shut. Discard any perishable food (such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs, or leftovers) that has been at temperatures above 40° F for 2 hours or more (or 1 hour if temperatures are above 90º F).

Perishable food such as meat, poultry, seafood, milk, and eggs that are not kept adequately refrigerated or frozen may cause illness if consumed, even when they are thoroughly cooked.

Source ; http://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm076881.htm

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Architecture

The diagram below shows the high-level architecture:

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Expected Outcomes

When the door of the Firdge is opened the Sensor Obstacle will detect it. Next a Arduino program which will be able to detect or not detect a obstacle between the sensor (located to one side of fridge, view figure 1 - S1 ) and white plastic piece (located to one side the door. view figure 1 - S2) . If the sensor does not detect obstacle it means Opened Door Fridge. When the door open of the Fridge is detected by 25 seconds (default 25 seconds , change "value var intervalBEEP" in the sketch program by other value ) the Arduino program will sound audible (BEEP) will warning to user . If persist the door open fridge by more five minutes ( default 5 minutes , change "value var IntervalSendAlert" in the sketch program by other value ), the Arduino Program will send data to the Artik Cloud , next using Artik Cloud Rule send mail to the user . When the door is closed, stop sound audible (BEEP) and stop email.

S1 => Sensor Obstacle Infrared Signal

S2 => Plastic Part White

Procedures:

First an Buzzer and Obstacle Sensor using cables with diferent color (red=Vcc, black=Gnd, gray,violet=Data) will be connected to MKR1000.

Optional: A Battery LiPo 3.7v could be connected to MKR1000 by emergencies Power Outages.

Optional Component Power Outages

Conection Battery Diagram -> MKR1000.

Diagram of operation

The device will attached a magnet base so it can be any placed place and attached to the fridge easily and pretty appearance.

The system works by emitting an Infrared signal ( view Figure 1 - S1 ) that bounces off the surface front (white plastic piece, view Figure 1 - S2 ) below and then the code that will later be uploaded on to the Arduino MKR1000 , detects or not detect obstacle (close door or door open respectively) .

Component Used - real appearance

Artik Cloud Config

Please refer https://developer.artik.cloud/documentation/tutorials/your-first-iot-device.html for more informations how to Create Device, Rule, etc..

Create FIelds name OpenDoor type integer:

Create Artik Cloud Rule:

Monitor Data Sensor

Monitor data when Door Open Fridge ( greater than 5 minutes elapsed time ) .

Message Received ( Mail Message )

The message is send by Artik Cloud when Rule is met.