Butano24 will use LoRa to monitor butane cylinders
For fifty years, consumers and businesses in Spain have been buying orange butane cylinders to heat their water and their homes. When users wait until the tanks are empty before requesting a refill, almost every call to the suppliers can become an urgent one. That’s why Butano24 has developed monitors that attach to the tanks and use ultrasound technology to measure the gas inside.
Now that the tanks can be monitored, the next step is sending information to the tank distributors so that they know when and where butane will be needed. For that, Butano24 will use LoRa, the long range radio platform developed by chipmaker Semtech.
Semtech said the LoRa-connected devices will be able to run for more than 10 years on a single battery, while automating data transmission and enabling cloud storage for real-time data.
“LoRa technology is a key platform in our solution, which streamlines tank level monitoring operations,” said Antonio Martín, co-founder and CEO of Butano24. “LoRa technology’s long-range, low-power connectivity is ideal for logistics applications and provides us with a robust, accurate solution that our customers need.” In addition, LoRa enables location tracking without GPS or incremental power consumption.
Butano 24 will start producing its LoRa-enabled sensors during the last quarter of this year. The company said the sensors can be adapted to measure other liquids, fluids, liquefied gas or combustibles in portable or fixed vessels.