Dexter Research Announces an Advanced IR Environmental Control System to Help Offset Growing World Food Shortages

ROSEMONT, Ill., June 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Donald E. Stephens Convention Center -- A fully integrated, infrared Detect and Manage environmental control system to multiply greenhouse productivity was unveiled today at Sensors Expo and Conference by Dexter Research.

Supporting the trend toward greenhouse automation, the Dexter Research IR Detect and Manage™ (DRD&M™) system monitors and optimizes plant root and leaf temperatures separately to accelerate maturation while helping to thwart disease and parasites.  The system, as demoed today, permits a maximum deviation of 2.5 degrees Celsius between roots and leaves.

Typically, today's US greenhouses grow tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and peppers. Watercress, herbs, melons, and strawberries are also cultivated. But as climate change disrupts food production around the world, and as the price of energy rises, the business model of growing a wider variety of vegetables improves significantly.

Adoption of Dexter Research's innovation could help relieve food shortages and rising prices caused by a string of worldwide harvest failures. As a fully integrated, closed-loop system, the DRD&M system supports the development of local enclosed high-yield crop horticulture centers to replace global sourcing while also enabling year-round favorite product availability. The DRD&M system also supports the local cultivation of ornamental flowers and plants, a once thriving US industry that has increasingly moved offshore.

Dexter Research's methodology of tight control of temperature deviation between ground roots and plant leaves helps eradicate the onset of disease and parasites. The DRD&M system also facilitates precise management of quadrants of plants within a single greenhouse building for optimum growing temperatures. The DRD&M system can be integrated with just-in-time watering schedules to optimize transpiration and to reduce plant fertilizer and fungicide costs and pollutant run-off.

Previously, varieties of plants with significantly varying optimal growing temperatures were distributed in a single greenhouse structure -- resulting in longer growth cycles, lower yields, and ongoing challenges from disease and parasites. The traditional growing venue was also labor intensive and resulted in growing pollution control challenges and rising costs.

The DRD&M system can be fully automated but also can provide wireless notification to monitoring stations. Notifications can be in the form of data streams, email and text messaging and may be received by cell phones and computer tablets, as well as by desktop and laptop computer monitoring stations.

The result: a DRD&M greenhouse acquires new automation to become a flexible production facility with shorter growing cycles, higher yields, and quick changeover of species. The DRD&M system concept was inspired by best manufacturing practices for high quality cost reduction and response to market demand.

Dexter Research's new temperature sensor module, or TSM, is supported by software integration and provides non-contact temperature monitoring of plants. Separate sensors are deployed to continuously measure soil and leaf temperatures, respectively, to determine any need for intervention.

To maintain the proper root-leaf relationship, the DRD&M system activates thermoelectric modules, heaters, fans or other devices, to warm or cool the roots, as necessary, to optimize the thermal relationship with the plant leaves. Dexter Research can provide software design and support for seamless integration with existing HVAC systems, watering systems, and other greenhouse infrastructure.

"We chose greenhouse automation as a launch strategy because they have a need and provide an excellent example of what can be accomplished with Dexter Research's new DRD&M environmental controls," explained Robert Toth, Jr., president of Dexter Research. "Our new products have wide applications across horticulture, industrial, safety and comfort applications."

Since 1977, Dexter Research has been the preferred provider of infrared thermopile detectors for science and industry. Today, the company offers the world's largest selection of thermopile-based solutions including high quality, high-output Bismuth-Antimony thin film and silicon-based infrared-sensing thermopile detectors. Its products detect temperature change in precise 0.1 degrees C increments. Dexter Research also offers standard detectors in high volumes and customizes detectors for specific needs. Integrated modules serve as complete sensing subsystems. Customers in scientific research, automotive, aerospace, home appliances, security systems, medical equipment, and horticulture now rely on Dexter Research for the highest-performance detectors.

Dexter Research was awarded a Michigan Top 50 Companies To Watch in 2008 and featured on television's Economic Report in 2009. At the 2010 Sensors Expo and Conference, Dexter Research introduced a wireless Deploy and Forget Sensor that generated 6.5 straight pages of Google reports when the product category was searched after the show.  

"We choose Sensors Expo and Conference as our product launch venue because of excellent attendance and also because this trade show has shown itself to be a powerful forum that draws coverage from agriculture, scientific, engineering, and news and social media," Mr. Toth continued.

"We were very pleased by last year's customer response," Dexter's president said. "And now that we have a portfolio of detect and manage integrated environmental control system capabilities, with applications that reach across fire safety, cold chain supply management, environmental controls, and consumer convenience, we think that we have a winning product that will help the world thrive and prosper in the 21st Century."

FOR MORE INFORMATION: call Rob Toth or Kurt Hochrein at +1.734.426.3921 or email [email protected] or visit www.dexterresearch.com.

SOURCE Dexter Research