Juan Pablo Pena Arenales.et.al. Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applicationwww.ijera.

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ISSN: 2248-9622, Vol. 7, Issue 9, (Part -9) September 2017, pp.01-09

RESEARCH ARTICLE OPEN ACCESS

Innovation in coffee post-harvest: development of an automation

system for the drying process.
Juan Pablo Pena Arenales.1, HeimarHernan Coronado Hernandez.2,
John Jairo Serrato Gonzalez.3
1
(Research and Development, Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje SENA, Colombia)
2
(Research and Development, Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje SENA, Colombia)
3
(Research and Development, Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje SENA, Colombia)

ABSTRACT
Innovation is one of themost important elements in order to obtain success in any business. In this paper, firstly
we will show the importance of innovation and then its application with technological development, based on a
mechatronic system for automation in the drying step of thecoffee post-harvest process. This implements a
design methodology in real environments with real coffee producers, in order to generate innovation and help to
obtain quality in the final product. Every step of the methodology applied is explained including designs,
implementation and validation phases.
Keywords: Agriculture Innovation, Coffee Automation, Coffee drying, Specialty coffee, Technological
Development.

I. INTRODUCTION improve, bearing in mind the afore-mentioned and

“One of the stages in generation of other aspects such as the metabolic activity that
innovation is development, where a discovery moves occurs during the drying process, and the potential of
from laboratory to field and is scaled up, some proteins to be highlighted as taste makers and
commercialized and integrated with other elements of drink aromas, the quality control which is necessary
the production process”[1]. This concept may be for after-harvesting processes and the abundance of
called application. To be able to include an protein in the bean after drying [4]. The present
application piece in a technological development, it is article seeks to be understood as an innovation
appropriate to study its needs, which vary depending suggestion and consists of the development of an
on specific geographical situations. With the afore- automatic system for monitoring and control of the
mentioned item we seek to add innovation to coffee drying process.
processes which aim to improve production systems. To develop such a system, we took drying
Analysis of social networks indicates that they are an experiences from agricultural products such as
example of how to suggest linear detail in search of coffee, tea, tobacco, fruits, cocoa, rice, walnut and
the information existing in farmer’s networks and wood, which all require a consistent but relatively
service extensions. In the same way, it is low heat exposure while drying. This process
recommended that the agricultural innovation traditionally is done by wood fire or fossil fuels in
catalyzation programs should consider interaction ovens which have the disadvantage of causing
and know how to exist among farmers [2]. environmental pollution; another current method is
As an example we want to discuss an free air drying under sunlight which is sensitive to
experience from the Mexican agricultural sector. In climatic changes [5], requires extensive open spaces,
an association for coffee producers, a social project and leaves the product susceptible to becoming
has been developed concerning problems which infested with polluting elements such as dust and
occur during the production process. In this project, garbage, as well asto exposure to fungi, birds, insects
organic fertilizer and fuel production based on waste and rodents [6].
recycling with farmer participation have been Another common technique is sun drying,
provided [3]. for which various designs have been developed, for
In addition to the innovation processes in example the use of environmental air heated by sun
agricultural production, after-harvesting processes collectors through drying air recycling [7]; sun dryers
should also be analyzed. In the specific case of coffee which include a sun collector, a drying chamber and
culture it is necessary to understand the changes the a centrifugal blower, enclosed in polystyrene
coffee bean is subject to until it has achieved its taste laminate where the hot air is driven to the drying
characteristics, to develop technological alternatives tunnel by a conductor pipe in U-form [8]; in the same
that allow the coffee’s tasting characteristics to way the solar dryer is used; the sun drying approach

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Juan Pablo Pena Arenales.et.al. Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applicationwww.ijera.com
ISSN: 2248-9622, Vol. 7, Issue 9, (Part -I) September 2017, pp.00-00

is based on heat recovery, a mode which works A mechatronics system design requires
following the principle of a hothouse catching the multidisciplinary collaboration equipment; in order to
energy by condensation. For the latter a mathematical organize this collaboration, there are several design
model has been built which is based on heat and mass methodologies such as waterfall model, spiral model
transfer, fluid flow and maximum working or V-model, all of them applied in systems
achievement by limit analysis [9]. engineering to establish the steps to transform
In order to apply innovation components to customer needs into a product or prototype [11].
the after-harvesting process of coffee, we suggest a Those methodologies help engineers from different
monitoring and control approach for coffee drying, disciplines to enable their collaboration for complex
consisting of a mechatronic system that supports the tasks in design engineering. However there is not a
final product’s quality improvement. design methodology specially adapted for
Mechatronic systems integrate mechanical mechatronic projects; they are approach-based or
systems with electronics and information derived from methods such as traditional sequential
technologies [10], most new products for different design, concurrent engineering or recent lean product
fields of application: industrial, business or home, are development [12].
designed as mechatronic systems. Agriculture also Based on the v-model, a methodology is
includes mechatronic devices for optimizing defined that includes integrated design process and
resources and increasing efficiency. concurrent engineering that implement a life cycle
project as shown in Figure 1.

Fig. 1. V-Model for a mechatronic system develop [12].

II. DEVELOPMENT OF AN coffee layer, and layer mixing 3 or 4 times per day
AUTOMATION SYSTEM FOR [13].
COFFEE DRYING PROCESS
The V-Model was implemented as a 2.2 System requirements
methodology to develop a coffee drying process Requirements were taken from three
control and monitoring system. principal sources: coffee growers, a coffee quality
specialist tester, and designers of speciality coffee
2.1 Concept of operations trade support software, who all seek to integrate their
In the concept of operation phase, the advice own subsystem into the system information.
from the Coffee National Research Center Functional and non-functional requirements were
CENICAFÉ about a drying process using solar described and documented, including:
parabolic dryer method was taken into account. This - Easy access and operation for coffee growers.
method includes a drying time of 7 to 15 days to - Temperature (T), and Relative Humidity (RH)
obtain humidity about 12% or 10%, using a 35 mm measurement.
- Capacity to store up to 1 million samples.

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Juan Pablo Pena Arenales.et.al. Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applicationwww.ijera.com
ISSN: 2248-9622, Vol. 7, Issue 9, (Part -I) September 2017, pp.00-00

- Real time capabilities. detects these variables in the coffee dryer, the real
- Power: rechargeable batteries. time clock takes a time stamp (time and date) for
- T and RH displayed on screen. measurements, the storing unit saves data for
- Outputs for air extractor control. subsequent analysis, and the visualization block
allows users to know variables’ status inside the
2.3 High level design drier. Actuators for temperature controlling (air
Block diagram shown in Figure 2 represents extractors) are connected to relay output, battery
high-level design of main components comprising the charge allows uninterrupted power for the whole
Temperature (T), and Relative Humidity (RH), system, and a microcontroller component controls all
measuring and control system. The T and RH Sensor other block functionality.

Fig 2. Block system diagram.

2.4Detailed design compensated crystal oscillator (TCXO); a 12mm
In detailed design each block of the high coin-cell battery backup is also included.
level design is explained in terms of parts, 2.4.2 Data storing
components and their integration for a single T and RH data obtained by sensors is stored
functionality. in a microSD card connected to microcontroller
2.4.1 Real time clock trough SPI. Data is stored in a plain text file as
Real Time Clock (RTC), provides time comma separated valued (*.csv) in order to integrate
stamps for T and RH data storing. A Maxim with other information systems and subsequent
Integrated DS3234 is used, this component is a high analysis in a spreadsheet; Figure 3 shows a fraction
precision SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface), of a “Software for helping specialty coffee trade”
communicated with integrated temperature- design diagram and its integration with the data
storing subsystem.

Fig. 3, Data storing explained, and its integration with systems information software.

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Juan Pablo Pena Arenales.et.al. Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applicationwww.ijera.com
ISSN: 2248-9622, Vol. 7, Issue 9, (Part -9) September 2017, pp.01-09

2.4.3 Visualization inside the dryer, for example heat extractors that
The T and RH state inside the coffee dryer increment cold air flow and reduce T and RH.
and time and date information are published in a 2 X
16 Liquid Cristal Display (LCD), that can be 2.4.5 Microcontroller
consulted by growers at any moment, allowing The microcontroller manages other sub-
decisions like whether or not air flow should be systems mentioned, requesting sensor and RTC for T,
allowed in order to obtain an optimum grain RH data and date and time respectively, storing data
humidity. onto an SD card and making an on/off control in
relay output; information managing is explained with
2.4.4 Relay output interface a flow diagram show in Figure 8; An ATMEL AVR
Relay output allows the connection of ATMEGA 328® microcontroller was used, some
optional controllers to change the state of variables characteristic of this device are 16K flash memory
and 2 SPI ports as shown in Figure 4 block diagram.

Fig. 4. Atmel AVR ATMEGA 328P block diagram [14].

2.4.6 Battery charger system open-source electronics platform based on easy-to-

A battery charging system and a long life Li- use hardware and software. Arduino 1 is one of the
Ion battery pack are integrated in order to power the more basics boards in the family, it is based on an
whole system; it is needed because dryers are often Atmel Atmega 328 microcontroller, it has 14 digital
far from AC electricity sources and a 15 day power I/O ports, 6 analog inputs, a 16 MHz quartz crystal, a
autonomy is needed. A MCP73833 Li-Ion / Li – USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header and a
Polymer charger manager from Microchip reset button. It also has the option to use shields;
Technology Inc®. Company was used. boards that can be plugged in on top of the Arduino
PCB extending its capabilities; a micro-SD card in
2.5 System integration the Ethernet Arduino shield V1 was used to store T
Based on a fast prototyping approach and and RH data; also based on Arduino modularity it
detailed design, it was established that an ARDUINO was designed as a proprietary compatible shield used
1 development board would be used as a strategy to to attach T and HR sensor and the real time clock
integrate components, with quick validating and with its backup battery as shown in Figure 6.
adjusting to obtain a final product. Arduino is an

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Juan Pablo Pena Arenales.et.al. Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applicationwww.ijera.com
ISSN: 2248-9622, Vol. 7, Issue 9, (Part -9) September 2017, pp.01-09

Fig. 6. Arduino 1, Ethernet shield and custom shield for sensor and RTC integration.

2.6 Essential consideration for temperature

measuring 2.7 Radiation shield design and construction
Solar radiation causes important temperature A home-made anti- radiation shield based on
measuring errors [15], for this reason it is crucial to the GILL model and [Tara &Hoheisel, 2007] work,
use radiation shields that minimize this effect in was designed and constructed using five (5) 240 mm
instruments’ sensors. Although radiation shielding is diameter rounded white polypropylene layers,
most important for measuring air in the open, it also separated from each other by 20 mm and 140 mm
should be considered for any temperature sensor that total in height as shown in Figure 7. For ventilation,
is not completely shaded during measurement periods 4 mm holes were made in the layers underneath.
[15]. There are several types of radiation shields for An RHT03 sensor was placed in the shield’s second
temperature, sensors of aspirated air or fan based; in layer using a PCB coupled with a RJ45 jack to
the first group we found three most commonly used facilitate connection to datalogger using an
types in weather stations across United States: CRS unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cable.
(Cotton Region Shelter), MMTS (Maximum -
Minimum Temperature System) and Gill Shields [16]

Fig. 7. Anti-Radiation Shield design and dimensions.

2.8 Firmware programming for temperature control using relay enable or disable
A firmware code was designed for and data storage with RTC time stamp; a flow
subsystem management; it was in charge of RHT03 diagram design is shown in f Figure 8.
data requesting, validation and displaying, and also of
comparing it with maximum and minimum set points

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Juan Pablo Pena Arenales.et.al. Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applicationwww.ijera.com
ISSN: 2248-9622, Vol. 7, Issue 9, (Part -I) September 2017, pp.00-00

Fig. 8. Firmware design flow chart.

2.9 Deploy and test display and relay modules; all of them comply with
Following V-model methodology, individual system requirements established in earlier steps.
and subsystems testing was carried out for Tests were developed using testing firmware and a
microcontroller management of the real time clock, checklist; a final design model is shown in Figure 9.
temperature sensor, SD memory card, liquid crystal

Fig. 9. Final design model with sensor shield detail.

System validation was applied on three coffee farms Colombia, for testing the total operation concept
-“Mamola”, “Villa Eilyn” and “Lucitania”-, placed according to the V-model; see Figure 10.
in rural area of the municipality of La Plata –

Fig. 10. La Plata – Colombia localization. Dark Gray shows urban and rural areas.

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ISSN: 2248-9622, Vol. 7, Issue 9, (Part -9) September 2017, pp.01-09

The mechatronic system was installed in a parabolic days average-, T and HR data were collected and
solar dryer of each coffee farm, as shown in Figures registered while temperature was controlled
11, 12 and 13; during the coffee drying process -15 according to users’ configurations.

Fig. 11. System installed in “Mamola” coffee farm’s solar dryer.

Fig. 12. Installing the radiation shield’s sensor.

Fig. 13. Installing the whole system.

In order to analyze T and RH behavior before and dryers, data collected was plotted on graphs as shown
after the implementation of heat extractors in test in Figures 14 and 15.

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Juan Pablo Pena Arenales.et.al. Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applicationwww.ijera.com
ISSN: 2248-9622, Vol. 7, Issue 9, (Part -I) September 2017, pp.00-00

Fig. 14. Temperature and Relative Humidity behavior in parabolic solar dryers without the use of heat
extractors.

Fig. 15. Temperature and Relative Humidity behavior with heat extractors’ activation at 40 °C.

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