US 12,460,975 B2
Temperature measurement device and quality control system
Kazunori Nagasawa, Tokyo (JP)
Assigned to MEDIPAL HOLDINGS CORPORATION, Tokyo (JP)
Appl. No. 17/310,947
Filed by MEDIPAL HOLDINGS CORPORATION, Tokyo (JP)
PCT Filed Feb. 25, 2020, PCT No. PCT/JP2020/007517
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Sep. 1, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/184171, PCT Pub. Date Sep. 17, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 2019-042752 (JP), filed on Mar. 8, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0042854 A1, Feb. 10, 2022
Int. Cl. G01K 3/00 (2006.01); G01K 1/024 (2021.01); G01K 1/14 (2021.01); G06K 19/07 (2006.01)
CPC G01K 3/005 (2013.01) [G01K 1/024 (2013.01); G01K 1/14 (2013.01); G06K 19/0723 (2013.01)] 2 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A quality control system comprising a container used by a courier for delivering an article, the container containing the article, a temperature measurement device that includes a temperature sensor and that is accommodated in the container along with the article, and a refrigerator provided in a delivery destination that keeps a temperature of the container accommodating both the temperature measurement device and the article in a predetermined temperature range between a temperature upper limit and a temperature lower limit while the container is accommodated in the refrigerator, wherein the container, the temperature measurement device, and the refrigerator are separate from each other, and the container is a delivery container which is portable that can be moved in and out of the refrigerator, the temperature measurement device accommodated in the container in the refrigerator comprising:
a memory,
a CPU connected to the memory, and
an LED,
wherein the CPU
obtaining a temperature data of the article in the container from the temperature sensor at a predetermined measurement interval;
determining whether the temperature data has deviated from the predetermined temperature range between the temperature upper limit and the temperature lower limit;
setting a temperature deviation flag as enabled in the memory when number of times the temperature data has consecutively deviated from the predetermined temperature range exceeds a reference number as a result of the determination; and
controlling the LED to be turned on and notify a user at the outside of the refrigerator that a surrounding environment temperature of the article has been in an abnormal state when the temperature deviation flag read from the memory is enabled,
wherein the quality control system comprises an RFID reader,
the temperature measurement device comprising an RFID tag includes a resonant circuit for communicating with the RFID reader via an antenna using a frequency in a UHF band and includes a communication unit for inputting and outputting communication signals between the RFID tag and the CPU, and
wherein the temperature measuring device which is in a state of being accommodated inside the refrigerator transmits a temperature deviation flag and a tag ID to the RFID reader via the RFID tag.