Location Jessup, MD

Client Class Produce Group

Category Produce Wholesaler

Gross Sq. Ft. 257,000

The Class Produce Group (CPG) is a 78 year old, 4th-generation, family-owned and operated produce wholesale distributor of fresh fruits and vegetables over a 500-mile radius including, but not limited to, Baltimore/Washington, North and South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee. During this time, CPG has built an excellent reputation for quality, service and dependability. CPG offers over 500 fresh, conventional produce items, hundreds of fresh organic items, a 77,000 sq. ft. fresh-cut processing facility and an 180,000 sq. ft. warehouse, including ripening rooms, to insure produce is ripened to their customers exact specifications.

CPG presented Smart Building Technologies the opportunity to tighten control and real-time visibility into their fruit ripening process. For the ripening process, which uses ethylene gas and requires strict temperature controls, SmartBT proposed an integrated solution that would provide significant improvements in managing the precise level of ethylene gas and controlling the ripening room temperatures.

Our Solution

Smart Building Technologies designed and installed an integrated system consisting of the Niagara JACE® 8100, Niagara 4 Supervisor, Danfoss refrigeration controllers, Distech Controls Controllers, Veris Industries Temperature Probes, Custom Graphics, and logging of histories for current trends and future Niagara analytic options. The total hardware and software points equaled 16,000 and was implemented using the Modbus protocol. All 3rd party controls, sensors and custom graphics are tied to the JACE® 8100 and the JACE® 8100 is tied to a Niagara 4 Supervisor.

The Niagara 4 Supervisor allows multiple Niagara-based JACE® controllers, along with other IP-based controllers and field devices, to be networked together. It serves real-time graphical information to standard Web-browser clients and provides server-level functions. These functions include centralized data logging/trending, archiving to external databases, alarming, dashboarding, system navigation, master scheduling, database management, and integration with other enterprise software applications through an XML interface (oBIX standard). Also, it provides a comprehensive graphical engineering toolset for application development.

Smart Building Technologies received the "Innovator of Year Award" at a Tridium Niagara Summit for work completed on the Class Produce Group project.

Project Details: CPG Ripening Room Controls

• Furnish and install (1) new Tridium JACE® 8100 Controller with extended memory and embedded workbench.

• Furnish and install (1) new JACE® 8000 Modbus driver.

• Furnish and install (1) new PC for end user.

• Furnish and install (1) new cabinet for JACE® 8100 Controller.

• Furnish and install (1) new power supply for JACE® 8100 Controller.

• Furnish and install new control cabinets for controllers.

• Furnish and install (26) AKCC-210 Danfoss Controllers for banana ripening rooms.

• Furnish and install (4) AKCC-210 Danfoss Controllers for storage rooms.

• Furnish and install (30) new Modbus Cards.

• Furnish and install (188) IDEC 12VDC relays. Relays for Liquid Line, Evap Fans, Tower Fans, Humidity enable and ripening gas enable.

• Furnish and install (30) new mounting brackets for Danfoss Controllers.

• Furnish and install (30) new 18” probes for return temperature.

• Furnish and install (26) new humidity sensors.

• Furnish and install (30) new amperage CTs.

• Furnish and install (26) new Veris Industries TCCH1 probes for product temperature.

• Furnish and install (26) new retractable reels for product probes.

• Furnish and install (8) new AKS 11 sensors for storage coolers.

• Furnish and install (1) new Distech Controls ECY-1000 controller with ECY HOA and ECY 8UI expansion modules for integration of amperage CTs, humidity sensors and product probe sensors.

• Furnish and install Distech Controls ECY to control ripening gas levels.

• Furnish and install Modbus and sensor wire.

• Furnish and install new power from main panel to new contactor panel.

• Furnish and install new power lines to tower fans and evaporative fans in rooms 13-24 and evaporative fans for (2) storage coolers.

• Furnish and install new panel and contactors for tower fans and evaporative fans in rooms 13-24 and evaporative fans for (2) storage coolers.

• Furnish and install new fast-acting fuses for tower fans and evaporative fans.

• Utilize existing contactors, relays, etc., on banana storage room 1-12.

• Program and develop graphics for new system.

• Develop custom installation drawings.

• Start and test after installation.

• Provide up to 3 days of commissioning with refrigeration mechanic.

• Provide up to 4 hours of onsite training after completion.