Monitor humidity with a humidty data logger
For those businesses that need to monitor and document humidity
there are several choices. Hygrometers, specifically hair
hygrometers were invented almost three hundred years ago. These
humidity indicating instruments, once in place and allowed to
adopt, give an indication of the humidity but can't really
monitor or document the humidity. They do show what the current
humidity is but have no mechanism to show what it has been over
a period of time.
Monitoring humidity
To actually monitory humidity in the sense that a record is kept
of the changes in humidity a humidity data logger or a
ThermaViewer is needed. A humidity data logger samples and
records humidity on an ongoing basis. It can be programmed with
a computer to collect and store humidity readings every minute,
or every 10 minutes or once an hour, etc... The resultant
readings are stored in RAM memory and eventually downloaded to a
computer where a graph can be viewed or printed out. The printed
chart is the documentation of humidity over a period of time.
Some humidity data loggers can store as much as five years of
readings which makes them ideal for collecting humidity changes
in remote locations.
ThermaViewer
A ThermaViewer is a type of humidity data logger that displays
humidity changes on a self-contained display. It draws a chart
of the humidity on an LCD display screen as it is collected.
Because it is a stand-alone instrument it does not need a
computer to program or to download the collected data before it
can be viewed. The ThermaViewer is particularly useful in
situations where the user needs to not only collect the humidity
information over a long period of time but also needs to
periodically review it or at least look at the last few hours of
data. The user can scroll through months of humidity data with
the keypad. He can also zoom-out to view months of data at once
or zoom-in to highlight a particular area of interest. This
zoom-out feature is particularly useful for spotting repeating
trends.
The ThermaViewer is not well suited for gathering data in harsh
environments but it does work well in office, laboratory,
computer rooms or manufacturing plant environments.