Cremation Technology Updated With Paperless Chart Recording

For years, many companies have continued to use outdated technology such as paper chart recorders for measuring and recording all of their data. In particular, a crematorium was still using hard copy to record the temperatures and oxygen levels inside its crematory. Eventually, management came to CAS DataLoggers looking for a way to integrate newer, more innovative technology featuring the same functionality into their existing systems to improve both accuracy and data accessibility.

Meeting emissions standards was also a priority concern. The Clean Air Act (CAA) was enforced in 1990 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to protect and improve the air quality and stratospheric ozone layer - resulting in crematories being forced to comply with the CAA since they used large ovens that emitted pollutants into the atmosphere. Using the older paper chart recorder technology made locating this information on the hard copy tedious and difficult to organize. After CAS reviewed the client's application and realized they were still relying on an old paper chart recorder, solution analysts showed them a more advanced device to meet their monitoring needs. CAS DataLoggers configured and installed a Brainchild Paperless Chart Recorder in the crematory itself, using the recorder's benchtop/portable configurations and panel mount. This allowed operators to monitor the key temperature range from 1500°F – 2000°F and the oxygen levels, giving their process additional functionality. Paperless chart recording served as a more user-friendly solution with its interactive dialogue simplifying setup and operation procedures. Easily accessible function keys also allowed the user to scroll backward to review historical trends. Management made use of the recorder's programmable alarms and messages to get instant notification of high levels of pollutants or other critical events.

The Brainchild's built-in display allowed for clear review of the measured data on the 6.4'' VGA Color LCD display with flexible screen configuration. The recorder offered a fast sampling rate within 200msec for all channels and high accuracy with up to 18 input channels for voltage, current, thermocouple or RTD. Six plug and play I/O card slots were standard features included in the data monitoring equipment. All readings were saved on the removable Compact Flash memory card's 128MB standard storage space for archiving or transfer to a PC. Data retention was no longer a concern, specified at a minimum of 10 years with zero power data retention. Additionally, the Brainchild's standard Ethernet and optional RS-232/RS-422/RS485 communication enabled operators to access data on-site from a remote place via the RS serial interface or Ethernet networking.

The customer reported immediate benefits after installation of the Brainchild. Over the 2-3-hour process necessary in cremating a body, they now possessed the ability to monitor the live data and store the information on the Brainchild itself or on any connected PC. From there, they could insure the process was completed at the correct parameters and alerts would be sent out if the data collected exceeded unsafe emission levels. The Brainchild also entirely eliminated the need to search through large amounts of hard copy

records to find earlier data to monitor when they had to seize operation due to high pollution rates. Paperless chart recording proved to be an effective stand alone solution for data monitoring, recording and evaluating all of the crematorium's processes.