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Case Studies

Keg:Monitor® - Wireless Sensor Systems for In-situ Weighing of Beer Barrels

Project Description

In this project, a prototype wireless weighing scales designed to provide accurate, real-time data on the weight of tapped beer kegs has been developed. The platform is capable of communicating relevant weight data to a base station using ZigBee wireless communications technology.

The base station operates a user interface designed to collect and represent the monitored data in an appropriate format. The proposed Keg:Monitor® system is scalable and allows relevant beer-pour information to be accessed and managed through any Wi-Fi enabled device, PDA or smart phone and via the Internet.

Project Rationale

Draught beer loss is a long-standing problem
In a busy bar, losses of 200 pints of beer per week are not unusual
Existing systems for monitoring of beer-pour:
- use commercial flow-meter technology thus requiring a physical integration with the beer dispenser
- are expensive
- lack basic remote monitoring capability
- lack data storage
- often necessitate complex calibration
A more effective method is to accurately monitor beer-pour through weighing the beer kegs.