Tech Briefs Magazine - October 2023 - Comsol-7A

DEMOCRATIZING SIMULATION
FIGURE 2 Empa's COMSOL app running on a desktop computer, which generates many indicators related to
produce freshness.
P » SIMULATION-BASED
REDICTIONS TO OPTIMIZE
FOOD STORAGE
The Coldtivate mobile app provides
data-driven forecasts on the freshness of
produce in a cold room. These forecasts
are relayed from a simulation app
(Figure 2), which Empa built with the
COMSOL Multiphysics®
software and its
built-in Application Builder.
Simulation apps are easy-to-use
interfaces that are made from existing
COMSOL Multiphysics models, where
the app designer decides which inputs
and outputs to display. Simulation apps
are ready-to-use as is, but Empa and
BASE wanted to relay their simulation
app's data in a way that would be most
familiar to their end users, primarily
farmers. Since mobile apps are widely
used in modern agricultural practices,
they developed Coldtivate to act as the
user interface for their end users.
" Our COMSOL app runs on the same
headless server that hosts the mobile
app, " explained Joaquin Gajardo,
data scientist at Empa and technical
colead for the Coldtivate project. This is
what enables both the simulation app
and mobile app to relay information
back and forth between one another.
" We've used the Application Builder to
automate the updating of simulations
based on changing input parameters
[in the mobile app], " said Gajardo. This
combines the capabilities of Empa's
multiphysics model with the convenience
of a purpose-built mobile app. For their
simulation app to be used in such a way,
they first compiled it into a standalone
executable using COMSOL Compiler™.
" Without the Application Builder,
it would have been impossible to roll
out the digital twins into a mobile app
and democratize these multiphysics
simulations, and their results, to a
broader audience of beneficiaries, like
smallholder farmers, " said Thijs Defraeye,
senior scientist at Empa and professor at
Wageningen University & Research.
T » THE MODEL BEHIND
HE SIMULATION APP
Ambient temperatures directly influence
the shelf life of fresh produce. But while
thermometers are found inside most
refrigerated storage units, the data they
provide is insufficient for predicting how
long fruits and vegetables will last.
" We cannot establish the expected
lifespan of produce with a single
temperature or humidity curve from
a cold room, " said Defraeye. " The
COMSOL model of each crate receives
actual temperature and humidity data
from the cold storage rooms, enabling
frequent recalculation of remaining
shelf life. " This model is what Empa's
simulation app is based on.
In addition, a sensor in one section of
the storage space does not necessarily
reflect the temperature on the surface
of an apple buried inside a crate,
especially if that crate was only recently
brought indoors.
COMSOL NEWS 7a

Tech Briefs Magazine - October 2023

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