Tech Briefs Magazine - October 2023 - Comsol-8A

DEMOCRATIZING SIMULATION
containing this information. The values in
this text file serve as input arguments for
the COMSOL app, which then calculates
the expected shelf life. This calculation is
then written into an output file, and the
remaining quality and number of days
are subsequently displayed in the mobile
app's user interface. "
Every six hours, the values shown
on the Coldtivate app are recalculated
with updated forecasts based on the
latest cold room temperature data
(Figure 4). Farmers can directly check
the remaining shelf life of their crates
in the mobile app. If they do not have
a smartphone, " warehouse operators
can notify them of how long their
produce will remain fresh in the cold
room, " said Gajardo. Ultimately,
this information will help farmers
avoid distress selling and unnecessary
disposal of unsold produce.
T » TEAM EFFORT LEADS
FIGURE 3 Results of Empa's
COMSOL model of an apple,
showing how surface temperatures
will affect internal temperature
distribution over time.
To provide a fuller picture of how each
shipment of produce may be affected
by varying storage conditions, Empa is
currently expanding the models to model
entire shipments of various fruits and
vegetables using COMSOL Multiphysics
(Figure 3). " For this, we need to use a
porous media modeling approach to
generate actionable metrics from sensor
readings, " said Defraeye.
» THE APP IN ACTION
" Let's say a new shipment arrives at a
cold room, " Gajardo proposed. " The
operator opens the Coldtivate app on
their phone and enters the type of
produce, current temperature, days since
harvest, and other relevant values. The
mobile app then generates a text file
8a COMSOL NEWS
O TRUSTWORTHY DATA
Defraeye and his team at Empa have
devoted years to building their datagathering
and modeling process. " In
early 2021, we were already making
models [for analyzing produce freshness],
but they were not yet rolled out in actual
supply chains, " Defraeye said. Inquiries
from nonprofit global development
organizations sparked the effort that led
to the creation of the Coldtivate mobile
app (Figure 5).
" We were contacted by BASE, which
develops innovative business models
to help farmers make better use of
available resources, " Defraeye said.
" The idea was to combine a pay-per-use
business model with intelligence that
could improve access to cooling. To do
that, we needed other partners with
close links to the people we wanted to
help. " These partners included cooling
companies and other stakeholders in the
Indian states of Bihar, Himachal Pradesh,
and Odisha, who joined BASE and Empa
in an initiative called Your Virtual Cold
Chain Assistant (Your VCCA).
" Trust is the key ingredient, " said
Defraeye. " The simulations allow us to
peek inside what happens to produce
over time, and the smartphone app puts
that info into the hands of people who
can use it, such as cold room managers or
farmers. The goal is to add transparency
at the point of sale, where it can make
FIGURE 4 The Coldtivate app
showing relevant information about
a farmer's crate in storage, including
the remaining quality and expected
shelf life.
Tech Briefs Magazine - October 2023

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