Complex solutions in the food industry

PARTNER

As a wholly Hungarian-owned company, KITE Zrt. has a recognized social role and economic strength. Their aim is to convey agricultural innovation to farmers, thereby promoting competitiveness, technical, technological and market development, as well as to contribute responsibly to economic, environmental and social sustainability. KITE’s commercial and service network, organized into 5 regions and 20 sub-centers, covers the entire territory of the country. According to the 2021 list of Figyelő TOP200, KITE is the 27th most profitable company in Hungary.

 

CHALLENGE

Fuel theft caused significant financial damage to the company, so the primary purpose of the cooperation was to detect and prevent fuel theft. On one occasion, after a certain amount of diesel was stolen, nearly 40 times more of it flowed onto the ground, which not only resulted in a significant financial loss, but also caused a great deal of environmental damage. The contaminated land could no longer be used for agricultural purposes, so soil replacement had to be carried out, which also required a large financial outlay. In order to prevent such and similar events, a service that can display to the remote monitoring station if fuel theft is in progress at the linear irrigation system operated by the farm became necessary.

 

TELL SOLUTION

TELL devices were combined with the easyTRACK's fleet management service, and the following was implemented within the framework of the project:

1. Fuel measurement in a custom-made 1,500-liter cylindrical tank
2. Fuel alarm
3. Transmission of the fuel alarm to the TMS remote monitoring software

After the technical consultations, we started with the assessment of the irrigation equipment. On the spot, we learned that although there is no breakwater in the tank, the equipment is usually stationary or moving at a very slow speed (3-5 km/h), teherfore its absence does not affect the measurement.

In the first phase, the capacitive sensor and the easyTRACK device were installed, followed by the adjustment of the capacitive sensor. As part of this, we filled the tank every 100 liters and recorded the measurement points.

In the second phase of the project, we carried out control measurements in different weather conditions, using a variety of tools. During the control measurements, we examined which method (draining, electric pump, etc.) and at what quantity the installed device gives an alarm.
After the measurements followed by fine-tuning, we found that the system can operate with an accuracy of 3.3% with the current settings. If this measurement accuracy appears to be low, the previous calibration performed with 100-liter divisions must be repeated with measuring points of 20-50 liters.

In the third phase, we connected one of the outputs of the easyTRACK device to the TELL Pager4 contact-controlled communicator (which also functions as an alarm system) installed on the irrigation tool, and we set the Pager4 and the TMS software to be suitable for receiving fuel alarms. In addition to reacting to a drop in fuel level, Pager4 is also equipped with a motion sensor and tamper protection. We also connected a remote control to it, allowing employees to arm and disarm it. After intense testing, the system sent the alarm to the remote monitoring station as expected.

 

PRODUCTS:

• ecoLINE PRO
• Gate Control
• Pager8