Selective Plant Item Coating for Shelf Life Extension
Solution Overview
Problem
Food spoilage is a significant global issue, particularly with fresh fruits and vegetables, leading to substantial waste and environmental impacts, as natural protective skins can be damaged during the supply chain, causing rapid degradation and requiring costly and environmentally unfriendly refrigeration methods.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for selectively treating and coating plant items using sensors and computing devices to assess properties like ripeness and applying tailored treatments, such as coatings or washes, to extend shelf life and freshness, including the use of machine learning models to determine optimal treatments based on assessed properties.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Duration of action of stationary object
If refrigeration methods are used to prevent spoilage, then shelf life is extended, but energy consumption increases and environmental impact worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies coatings to plant items before they enter the supply chain, creating a protective barrier that prevents spoilage in advance. This preliminary protective action reduces or eliminates the need for subsequent refrigeration, thereby extending shelf life without the continuous energy consumption associated with cold storage.
2Ease of manufacture
If uniform treatment is applied to all plant items, then processing is simplified, but treatment effectiveness decreases due to varying ripeness levels
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs sensors to assess individual plant items and applies treatments selectively based on their specific properties such as ripeness level. This localized approach ensures that each item receives the appropriate treatment intensity and type, maximizing treatment effectiveness while maintaining processing efficiency through automation.
3Ease of operation
If natural protective skins are damaged, then handling becomes easier, but degradation rate increases rapidly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies composite coating formulations that combine multiple functional components to create a protective layer on plant items. This composite coating reinforces the natural protective skin, providing enhanced barrier properties against degradation while allowing for easier handling during the supply chain without compromising freshness duration.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems for selectively applying a treatment to a plant item and/or managing a plant item supply chain are provided. The method may include conveying, in an industrial processing line, at least one plant item in the batch of plant items to a sensing region having one or more sensors, assessing, with the one or more sensors and a computing device, one or more properties of the at least one plant item associated with ripeness and/or another attribute, optionally conveying the at least one plant item to a treatment region, optionally determining a treatment to apply to the at least one plant item based on the assessed one or more properties; and optionally applying, in the treatment region, the treatment to the at least one plant item.