Deploying power monitoring for asset utilization in a lab
Q 
Ever wish someone had told you about all the gotchas before you decided to pilot a new technology or solution? We recently published a blog on Top 4 Considerations for Asset Management & Utilization and in this blog, we’re sharing some of our lessons learned during deploying a power monitoring solution for asset utilization and condition monitoring in lab environments. Labs have many different environments that can affect deployment; Clean Rooms, Freezer Farms, Bench top clusters, and so on, all with varying levels of RF interference and accessibility to power that can impact the performance and maintenance of your IoT deployment. Below are a few things to keep in mind when evaluating the use of power monitoring to determine utilization and condition of equipment.
- Range of power – We see devices with a pretty broad range of power requirements and sensitivity (change in power level between idle and in-use). On the lower end, a 10X Genomics DNA sequencer, has an idle power of 0.1W and a change in power from warmup to utilization is as small as 5W to 16W. On the higher end, a Beckman Coulter Allegra X-12R can go as high as 1700W.
- Equipment density – Quite often we see as many as 4000 devices over 4 floors, requiring the solution to take very minimal real estate and not be impacted by the high RF interference from all the devices. Our smart sockets had to be designed to not block a second wall outlet or require additional power sources
- Powering off Procedures – Lab instruments vary in the amount of preparation required when performing a shut down and restarting, this may require a calibration procedure or a cleaning of fluids. Having a non-intrusive solution where the equipment just has to be plugged in without additional downtime minimizes interruption to lab operations.
- Access to data – The importance of being able to monitor the progress of an installment can’t be stressed enough. As each device is “plugged” in and “connected”, the customers are able to see the power data immediately and can even see periods of data gaps if the device is unplugged. The health of the deployment is constantly monitored to ensure data completeness and customers have clear visibility to the overall health of the system.
We learn something new on every deployment and we are very fortunate to have customers who are very collaborative. Stay tuned to “Q” for more insights.
Q
