The latest trends and forces driving temperature monitoring development

All in all, the global market for temperature monitors is looking up. According to marketsandmarkets.com, in 2016 the market was valued at USD 5.14 billion and is projected to grow between 4.5 – 7% by 2022. This creates multiple opportunities for the distribution of quality temperature monitors which were not available before.

There are several forces driving the development of new trends in temperature monitoring, and they span across the entire range of industries including medical, pharmaceutical, food and beverage sectors and logistics, automotive, chemical and mining.

In this article, we have summarised a few of the most influential occurrences and trends which could change temperature monitoring forever:

 

1: Temperature sensors in smartphones 

Mobile phone companies have integrated temperature sensors into their products. Both Samsung and Motorola have temperature sensors in their smartphones for the purpose of monitoring the temperature of the CPU and battery. Due to the volume-driven nature of the smartphone industry, this is contributing significantly to the major growth in the temperature monitoring industry.

 

2: Increasingly stringent regulation and legislation

This particularly pertains to safety standards in food, beverages and the pharmaceutical sectors. The new regulation for the Governing of General Hygiene Requirements for Food Premises and the Transport of Food and related Matters has recently been published R638 which replaces R962 of 2012. There is one significant change to this regulation which relates specifically to temperature monitoring and that is that the regulation clarifies that the core temperature of food must be evaluated. This positively impacts the growth of the temperature monitoring industry by forcing all companies to monitor their offerings carefully.

 

3: Increase in the adaption of HVAC modules

The demand for temperature monitors has grown among the many industrial end users. Heating, ventilation and air conditioning modules in the automotive industry are being updated to make engines more efficient. Temperature monitors serve as a key component of the engine coolant system. Our

Maintaining an optimum temperature also protects the environment from hydrocarbon emissions from the fuel tank. Alternative options like electronic vehicles present a long-term growth opportunity by partnering temperature monitors with power management chips. German technology company, Heraeus, ensure reliable and accurate temperature monitoring—of the batteries, charging plugs, motors and power electronics in electric cars currently in the market.

 

4: Increased focus on security and surveillance

Security has increased across the globe, especially distributed temperature sensing – DTS, developed for fire detection applications. This system is expected to grow at the highest rate during the period to 2022 to stay aligned with industry standards. Increasing industrialization and construction activities mainly in technologically advancing countries such as China, India, and Brazil, has caused an increase in the application of DTS systems for fire detection.

 

5: Technological developments

We spoke a little about these in a previous blog post, but would like to add to our list the emergence of micro-electro mechanical systems (MEMS). We also acknowledge near field communication technologies, which involve communication between two electronic devices within 4cm of each other. These are adding greatly to the plethora of new trends in temperature monitoring because of new technology.

 

6: Power generation

Many of the coal-fired power plants are being replaced by compressed natural gas (NG) turbines, and this will generate enormous demand for temperature monitoring. Gas can be highly explosive if not monitored correctly, and there is too much money and countless lives at stake to risk not having secure solutions in place.

Taking all of these points into consideration, the type of temperature monitors which are expected to show the fastest growth are integrated circuit temperature monitors. These are expected to be utilised more at 6.8% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). These will be followed by resistance thermometers, thermistors, and thermocouples.

Our Timestrip, Tempsen and Berlinger ranges of products are keeping in step with the latest trends particularly with regards to the increasingly stringent regulations in the pharmaceutical industry. We will continue to distribute quality temperature monitors to the continent of Africa while keeping up with global trends, please do join us for the journey of discovery and innovation ahead.