A full smart silo system consists of:
Quality monitoring smart sensors that are installed on silo walls (will be covered with product).
Wireless repeaters that will be installed outside the silos.
An IoT gateway that will communicate with the sensors, the controllers (aeration fans) and the internet.
Aeration controller (PLCs) that will coordinate fill level radars and turn aeration relays on and off.
Wi-Fi access points/repeaters that can be used to wirelessly interconnect the PLCs among the bins.
Inside the silo, you install:
The wireless quality monitoring sensors.
The fill level radars.
The wireless quality monitoring sensors are installed on the silo wall using the existing bolts and nuts. Use the steel silo wall mount attach the sensor(s).
Important notice: Activate all the sensors, the repeaters and the gateways, and make sure they appear on https://cloud.centaur.ag BEFORE installing them in the silo.
In each bin, you will choose one side to install the quality monitoring sensors, vertically, one over the other. If there is a ladder inside the bin, choose this side as it will be easier to climb up and down.
Important notice: Keep notes of each sensor’s ID (see the silver sticker on the device) and its position inside the bin (e.g. Bin 1 P1 – lowest, Bin 1 P2, … , Bin 1 P5 – top).
Use the side wall of the bin to install the sensors vertically. In most cases there is no need for drilling as the sensor wall mounts are designed to be installed using the existing bolts and nuts.
The fill level radar is installed on the highest point of the cylinder (eve top) or on the roof close to the eve. Electrical cable should run inside steel spiral and/or steel tube for its whole running length.
The Aeration Controller (PLC) comes with the following components:
See in the graphic bellow how to configure the fill level radar silo mount:
One important thing about the fill level radar is that it must be set to target towards the bottom of the silo – and – no further than the center of it (i.e. within the half of the bin that is on the side of the sensor):
If there are more than one bins installed with fill level radars, Wi-Fi access points/repeaters will be used to interconnect the PLCs among the bins. One access point will be the coordinator and the other two will be the clients. Stickers will be added on them to denote their role.
The topology of an installation with 3 bins should look like the following:
It is suggested that you install the gateway inside an electrical box along with the PLC. See below an example of gateway/PLC installation. Decide the size of the electrical boxes to have enough space to accommodate the equipment:
