Barry Finnegan of LVLogics, demonstrating SiloSpy, a unique self-cleaning silo monitor at the National Ploughing Championships, Ratheniska, Co Laois. Picture Dan Linehan

Serial inventor Barry Finnegan’s ultrasonic level monitor SiloSpy, on display at this year’s National Ploughing Championships, can give farmers insight into what’s going on inside their silos.

“Traditionally, it’s very difficult to know what’s going on inside a silo, so this now brings it to an app on a phone,” Mr Finnegan, who is the founder and CEO of LVLogics, said. “SiloSpy shows you in percentage and tonnage what’s happening inside. It sends you text messages when the silo runs low.” 

Mr Finnegan explained he came up with the idea following on from one of his previous inventions, which uses similar technology to monitor oil tanks.

However, the silo environment brought new challenges, such as the dusty environment caused by meal and grain.

Mr Finnegan’s solution was to invent a sensor that knows when it’s dusty and is able to clean itself with a puff of air, ensuring it can continue to monitor what’s happening inside the silo.

“You can’t put any sensor in a silo if it doesn’t have self-cleaning,” he said. “That’s the novel part – that’s really why it works.” A further benefit is that each of the monitor boxes also includes a QR code.

“It means the lorry driver or farmer can scan the code and see exactly what’s inside,” Mr Finnegan said. “You can see who delivered, when did they deliver – the whole usage profile.” 

In three years, the firm already has around 450 devices across 12 countries with local buyers including Dairygold.

“They are taking trucks off the road as a result of it, which is helping reduce their carbon footprint. Because they know exactly when farmers need feed deliveries it also saves the farmer from ever running out,” he said.

more farming - agtech articles

Keep up-to-date with all the latest developments in Farming with our weekly newsletter, direct to your inbox every Thursday

Keep up-to-date with all the latest developments in Farming with our weekly newsletter

PLAY THE WEEKLY FARMING CROSSWORD

The interactive version of the crossword that appears in Thursday’s Farming supplement. No cheating.

Some of the best bits from irishexaminer.com direct to your inbox every Monday.

A lunchtime summary of content highlights on the Irish Examiner website. Delivered at 1pm each day.

© Irish Examiner Ltd, Linn Dubh, Assumption Road, Blackpool, Cork. Registered in Ireland: 523712.