Zero-Power IR Crop Sensor for Battery-Free Water Stress Monitoring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current agricultural sensors for monitoring crop water stress are limited by high power consumption, leading to frequent battery depletion and the need for maintenance, making them unsuitable for large-scale, long-term deployment in crop fields, and existing IR-based methods are costly, bulky, and lack spatial resolution.
Innovation Solution
Development of zero-power infrared sensors that utilize IR radiation to activate switches, eliminating the need for batteries and enabling continuous monitoring of crop water content and stress conditions, with the ability to transmit signals for irrigation activation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If active electronics sensors are used to monitor crop water content, then measurement precision is improved, but use of energy deteriorates due to continuous power consumption
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the battery power source from the sensor system, creating a passive sensor that derives all operational energy from the IR radiation it detects. This removes the energy consumption problem while maintaining measurement capability through pure passive detection of thermal radiation from plants.
Solution Approach 2:
The sensor serves itself by using the IR radiation from the plant as the energy source for its operation. The detected thermal radiation is converted into electrical energy that powers the measurement and transmission functions, eliminating the need for external power sources and enabling self-sustaining operation.
2Productivity
If active electronics sensors are deployed in large numbers, then productivity is improved through comprehensive monitoring, but reliability deteriorates due to frequent battery depletion
Solution Approach 1:
By removing the battery component entirely from each sensor unit, the patent eliminates the reliability issue of battery depletion. The passive design with energy harvesting from IR radiation ensures continuous operation without maintenance, enabling reliable large-scale deployment across extensive agricultural areas.
Solution Approach 2:
The sensor maintains continuous monitoring capability by constantly harvesting energy from the ever-present IR radiation emitted by plants. This continuous energy availability ensures uninterrupted operation and data collection, maintaining productivity across the entire sensor network without gaps from battery replacement.
3Measurement precision
If IR-based water content monitoring is implemented, then measurement precision is improved for crop stress detection, but device complexity deteriorates due to bulky equipment requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces bulky mechanical IR detection systems with a miniaturized microelectromechanical system (MEMS) that can be fabricated on a chip scale. This substitution of the physical detection mechanism enables precise IR measurement while reducing device size from handheld/bulky dimensions to small, deployable sensor units.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the operational parameters of the IR sensor by operating at room temperature without active cooling systems and using ambient IR radiation rather than requiring controlled laboratory conditions. This enables simplified, compact device design while maintaining measurement precision for crop stress detection.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The zero-power sensors provide cost-effective, maintenance-free monitoring of crop water stress over large areas with high spatial resolution, allowing for efficient irrigation management and increased crop yields without battery replacement for extended periods.
Implementation Method 1
a first plasmonic absorber tuned to a selected wavelength range of IR radiation
Implementation Method 2
using only energy of IR radiation absorbed by the plasmonic absorber
Data Source
AI summary
Zero power wireless sensors, devices, and systems are used for crop water content monitoring. The sensors consume no power while monitoring for the presence of dry crop conditions. Infrared reflectance from plants is measured and when selected spectral conditions are met, a circuit is closed, activating an alarm, an RFID tag, or a radio transmitter. The deployed sensors consume no power while monitoring, reducing or eliminating the need to change batteries.