The ultimate aim of ORGEVINE is to reduce water and phytosanitary chemicals usage as well as enhancing production yield in the wine industry by developing a network of wireless autonomous sensors that can provide real time images of key field parameters such as temperature and humidity. Our goal is to produce sensors that are self-powered, thus avoiding a major bottleneck in the Internet of Things, i.e. the costly battery replacement. To do this, we propose to use thermoelectric generators that harvest the ubiquitous renewable energy source that is the temperature difference between soil and air.
During the project, we have made several key achievements. In terms of the generator, we have optimized the performance and stability of polymer and carbon nanotube based materials, leading to power factors in excess of 100s of micro W per meter and per Kelvin, and stabilities of hundreds of hours in accelerated tests (equivalent to years at operational temperatures). Moreover, we have developed an upscaling method that enables the fabrication of large area and thick carbon nanotube films, which we then assembled into thermoelectric generators about 20% more efficient than the prototypes we had before the project, and 10 times more stable.
On the other hand, we have built several IoT sensors and installed them in the vineyards of a wine cooperative in the Penedes area of Spain. The devices wireless transmitted sun irradiation, soil humidity and temperatures at different depths to the gateway that was installed several kilometres away in the cellar. The sensors collected data during months, and could be visualized in a mobile phone application, demonstrating good performance in real environment.
While the project clearly proved the viability of the technology in different aspects, a re-evaluation of the business model following interviews with stakeholders revealed that a service based company would be in a better position to enter the market, making our current value proposition (based on IoT networks) weak. Finally, we have investigated the freedom to operate, and are currently evaluating the patentability of the upscaling fabrication method.
