Graincare: Grain spoilage reduction using advanced analytics and sensors
Background
Rice is the second most produced food grain in the world with a world production of nearly 500 million tons of rice per year. Once harvested, the grains present in most cases a water level content higher than that required for its optimum conservation. Drying is intended to sufficiently reduce the moisture content of the grains to ensure favourable conditions of storage or subsequent processing of the product. If the moisture level is not correct during storage and production, it could lead economic losses due to germination, mold development, proliferation of insects and other.
Objective
The main objective of this project is the design and development of a robust, low-cost, simple and automated paddy monitoring system to estimate moisture level inside the grains during storage phase. The moisture content of paddy is to be estimated by correlating it to the ambient moisture and temperature level provided by the units.
Benefits
The technology developed is based on the use of wireless sensor nodes to measure humidity and temperature around the warehouse and report continuously to the cloud, and predict moisture content. This avoids human intervention, improve the storage process and reduce the spoilage of paddy. The system meets the need of precision farming allowing continuous and detailed monitoring of crops.
Brunel Innovation Centre's Role
- Sensors suite development
- Encapsulations design and prototyping
- Moisture determination algorithms
- Sensors locations optimization
- Assistance in field deployment
Project Partners
Meet the Principal Investigator(s) for the project
Professor Tat-Hean Gan - Professional Qualifications CEng. IntPE (UK), Eur Ing BEng (Hons) Electrical and Electronics Engg (Uni of Nottingham) MSc in Advanced Mechanical Engineering (University of Warwick) MBA in International Business (University of Birmingham) PhD in Engineering (University of Warwick) Languages English, Malaysian, Mandarin, Cantonese Professional Bodies Fellow of the British Institute of NDT Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology Tat-Hean Gan has 10 years of experience in Non-Destructive Testing (NDT), Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) and Condition Monitoring of rotating machineries in various industries namely nuclear, renewable energy (eg Wind, Wave ad Tidal), Oil and Gas, Petrochemical, Construction and Infrastructure, Aerospace and Automotive. He is the Director of BIC, leading activities varying from Research and development to commercialisation in the areas of novel technique development, sensor applications, signal and image processing, numerical modelling and electronics hardware. His experience is also in Collaborative funding (EC FP7 and UK TSB), project management and technology commercialisation.
Related Research Group(s)
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Project last modified 12/10/2023