FreezFiler ALFI

A reliable and always up­-to­-date inventory of Ultra Low Temperature (ULT) freezers is an ambitious goal. Lab personal have to be disciplined and take time to manually update an electronic or paper-­based database of box locations.

FreezFiler Automated Lab Freezer Inventory (ALFI) is a complete solution for automated lab freezer inventory. After an initial acquisition of a sample box, the system tracks automatically its location in any freezer based on visual detection of QR coded box and QR coded rack movements.

The FreezFiler solution can be installed on any upright freezer and is economic starting from the first freezer it is installed on.

FreezFiler Eye installed on a freezer

The mission of FreezFiler is to simplify the life of the user by tracking the location of sample boxes automatically. Manual work is reduced to a one-time registration of a box in the database. Reoccurring, tedious and error-prone manual work – like checking in and checking out a box – is eliminated.

FreezFiler ALFI consists of:

  • a QR code on top of each sample box and on each rack
  • a FreezFiler Eye on each freezer
  • Human Label Printer
  • the FreezFiler Server
  • the Freez Filer Web App.

Standard sample boxes are labeled with a QR code. A camera on top of the freezer tracks boxes and updates their location on the FreezFiler Server. The location of boxes can be found via a webapp (PC, iOS and Android) without opening the freezer door.

FreezFiler Eye is a camera system with a patent-pending computer vision algorithm installed on top of a freezer. It tracks boxes, detects insertion and removal of boxes, and sends the new location of boxes to the FreezFiler Server. The success of the detection is indicated to the user via audio and visual feedback. The FreezFiler Eye only outputs the recognized actions to the server, it needs a very low bandwidth connection to the FreezFiler Server and can be connected via copper wires for alarm, often already
found in labs.

Human Label Printer produces labels with the box metadata, such as owner, box label and registration date, as stored on the FreezFiler Server. The labels can be either sticked to the side of the box, as mandated in many laboratories, or on a paper lab-book. The labels also contains a QR code, to allow quick retrieval of the box metadata using the FreezFiler App.

Scanning the human label printer allows to enter the box location

FreezFiler App is the user interface to retrieve and edit box metadata, and
especially the box location, as tracked by the FreezFiler Eye. The App is web based and runs on mobile terminals and desktop computers.

FreezFiler Server is a server that hosts the database and the FreezFiler App. All meta data of each Box never leaves the server, hence allowing FreezFiler ALFI to be used even in environments with very strict security and compliance requirements.