PORTABLE ELECTROCHEMICAL NUTRIENT TESTING DEVICE FOR SOIL HEALTH MONITORING

Abstract

The present disclosure proposes a portable, battery operated, calibration free, soil independent electrochemical nutrient testing device for soil health monitoring that is designed for in-field nutrient analysis and aids to monitor soil health accurately on a regular basis. The portable electrochemical nutrient testing device for soil health monitoring, comprises a function generator block, at least one screen-printed electrochemical sensor, working electrode, counter electrode, reference electrode, plurality of contact pads, voltage control module, data acquisition module, micro-controller unit, display unit, a processing module, and a location intelligence module. The portable electrochemical nutrient testing device doesn't require prior conditioning and calibration of the electrodes and does not require complex sample preparation using multiple reagents.

Claims

1. A portable electrochemical nutrient testing device, comprising: a function generator block attached to said electrochemical nutrient testing device configured to produce a change in voltage or current signal; at least one screen-printed electrochemical sensor configured to test analytes from nutrients derived from sample, comprises: a working electrode positioned inside insulating area appropriately chemically modified to perform electrochemical reaction when said sample comes in contact; a counter electrode placed in between said working electrode and a paper substrate configured to complete the circuit; a reference electrode positioned in said screen-printed electrochemical sensor configured to provide a stable reference potential; plurality of contact pads connected to said working electrode, said counter electrode and said reference electrode; wherein input waveform is applied between said working electrode said reference electrode and the current flows between said working electrode and said counter electrode; a voltage control module connected to said function generator block by said screen-printed electrochemical sensor configured to maintain potential generated by said function generator block at said working electrode; a data acquisition module connected to said voltage difference controller configured to receive voltage signal from said voltage difference controller and filter out the higher-order harmonics; a micro-controller unit connected to said data acquisition module and configured with an analog-to-digital converter configured to receive, store and process said voltage signal as a sample value from said data acquisition module to obtain nutrient content of said sample; a display unit connected to said microcontroller configured to display obtain nutrient content of said sample, wherein a portable liquid crystal display (LCD) is used to display said soil, water or plant health; and a processing module configured with location intelligence module and stores geographical conditions of a respective location and said processing module analyse the location intelligence data and said sample nutrient data to generate nutrient map, whereby said electrochemical nutrient testing device for soil, water and plant health monitoring is designed for in-field nutrient analysis and aids to monitor soil, water and plant health accurately on a regular basis within less time.

2. The electrochemical nutrient testing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said voltage control module is a potentiostat.

3. The electrochemical nutrient testing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said voltage control module maintains potential at the working electrode with respect to said reference electrode of said screen-printed modified electrochemical sensor.

4. The electrochemical nutrient testing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said micro-controller unit captures faradaic portion by neglecting the capacitive current and qualifies and quantifies the analyte present in the sample.

5. The electrochemical nutrient testing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said electrochemical nutrient testing device is independent of type of said sample and calibration free.

6. The electrochemical nutrient testing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said screen-printed electrochemical sensor is fabricated using variety of conducting pastes appropriately chemically modified for said analyte according to the requirement of the user.

7. The electrochemical nutrient testing device as claimed in claim 6, wherein said fabrication is performed using silver or silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) and carbon paste and is chemically modified to make it selective to pH, phosphate, nitrate, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, boron, sulphur, manganese, calcium carbonate, copper, soil pathogens.

8. The electrochemical nutrient testing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said sample nutrient data includes information regarding quality of soil, water and plants thereof.

9. A method to analyse sample using electrochemical nutrient testing device, comprising; collecting sample from at least 20 cm deep; sieving said collected sample using filter to prepare fine and filtered sample; adding reagent to said filtered sample in a test tube to prepare a homogenous mixture; gathering few drops of said homogenous mixture onto a test strip and connecting said test strip to said electrochemical nutrient testing device; waiting for approximately 30 seconds to obtain nutrient parameters and connecting said electrochemical nutrient testing device to a mobile application; enabling 2-way communication between said electrochemical nutrient testing device and mobile application and uploading said parameters from said mobile application into a cloud server; and identifying and processing recommendations using artificial intelligence and machine learning wherein said processing employs artificial intelligence and machine learning computational methods to analyse the soil health, recommendations are given to user in the form of soil health card using said parameters in the cloud server.

10. The method to analyse sample using electrochemical nutrient testing device as claimed in claim 9, wherein said sample is either collected from soil, water, and plant or the like.

11. The method to analyse sample using electrochemical nutrient testing device as claimed in claim 9, wherein said cloud server include either cloud network, processing system or the like.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0021] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate an embodiment of the invention, and, together with the description, explain the principles of the invention.

[0022] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary portable electrochemical nutrient testing device for soil, water and plant health monitoring in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

[0023] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary method to analyse sample using electrochemical nutrient testing device in accordance to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

[0024] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary flowchart of working principle of portable electrochemical nutrient testing device in accordance to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

[0025] FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary line diagram of portable electrochemical nutrient testing device for soil health monitoring in accordance to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

[0026] FIG. 5 illustrates various exemplary parts of portable electrochemical nutrient testing device for soil health monitoring in accordance to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

[0027] FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary prototype of portable electrochemical nutrient testing device for soil health monitoring in accordance to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

[0028] FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary portable electrochemical nutrient testing device for soil health monitoring connected to a mobile device in accordance to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

[0029] FIG. 8 illustrates an alternate design of electrochemical nutrient testing device and mobile device in accordance to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0030] Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numerals are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.

[0031] Disclosed herein is a portable electrochemical nutrient testing device for soil, water and plant health monitoring is provided. The electrochemical nutrient testing device for soil, water and plant health monitoring is designed for in-field nutrient analysis and aids to monitor soil health accurately on a regular basis.

[0032] FIG. 1 refers to an exemplary portable electrochemical nutrient testing device for soil, water and plant health monitoring. The portable electrochemical nutrient testing device 100, comprises a function generator block 102, at least one screen-printed electrochemical sensor 104, a working electrode 106, a counter electrode 108, a reference electrode 110, plurality of contact pads 112, a voltage control module 114, a data acquisition module 116, a micro-controller unit 118, a display unit 120, processing module 122, and a location intelligence module 124. The electrochemical nutrient testing device 100 is independent of type of the sample and calibration free.

[0033] In one embodiment herein, the function generator block 102 attached to the electrochemical nutrient testing device 100 configured to produce a change in voltage or current signal. At least one screen-printed electrochemical sensor 104 configured to test analytes from nutrients derived from sample, comprising, the working electrode 106 positioned inside insulating area configured to perform electrochemical reaction when the sample comes in contact.

[0034] In one embodiment herein, the counter electrode 108 placed in between the working electrode 106 and a paper substrate configured to complete the circuit. In specific, the screen-printed electrochemical sensor 104 is fabricated using variety of conducting pastes according to the requirement of the user. The fabrication is performed using silver or silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) and carbon paste and is modified to make it selective to analyte under test according to the user requirements.

[0035] In one embodiment herein, the reference electrode 110 positioned in the screen-printed electrochemical sensor 104 configured to provide a stable reference potential. In specific, plurality of contact pads 112 connected to the working electrode 106, the counter electrode 108 and the reference electrode 110. In specific, input waveform is applied between the working electrode 106 the reference electrode 110 and the current flows between the working electrode 106 and the counter electrode 108.

[0036] In one embodiment herein, the voltage control module 114 connected to the function generator block 102 by the screen-printed electrochemical sensor 104 configured to maintain potential generated by the function generator block 102 at the working electrode 106. In specific, the voltage control module 114 is a potentiostat. The voltage control module 114 maintains potential at the working electrode 106 with respect to the reference electrode 110 of the screen-printed electrochemical sensor 104. The data acquisition module 116 connected to the voltage difference controller configured to receive voltage signal from the voltage difference controller and filter out the higher-order harmonics.

[0037] In one embodiment herein, the micro-controller unit 118 connected to the data acquisition module 116 and configured with an analog-to-digital converter configured to receive, store and process the voltage signal as a sample value from the data acquisition module 116 to obtain nutrient content of the sample. In specific, the micro-controller unit 118 captures faradaic portion by neglecting the capacitive current and qualifies and quantifies the analyte present in the sample.

[0038] In one embodiment herein, the display unit 120 connected to the microcontroller unit 118 configured to display obtain nutrient content of the sample, wherein a portable liquid crystal display (LCD) is used to display the soil, water or plant health parameters. The processing module 122 configured with location intelligence module 124 and stores geographical conditions of a respective location and the processing module analyze the location intelligence data and the sample nutrient data to generate nutrient map. In specific, sample nutrient data includes information regarding quality of soil, water and plants or the like.

[0039] FIG. 2 refers to a flowchart of a method 200 to analyse sample using electrochemical nutrient testing device. The method 200 to analyse sample using electrochemical nutrient testing device, comprises the steps of, firstly, at step 202, sample is collected from at least 20 cm deep. Later, the collected sample is sieved using filter to prepare fine and filtered sample, at step 204. Then, at step 206, reagent is added to the filtered sample in a test tube to prepare a homogenous mixture. Later, at step 208, a few drops of the homogenous mixture is gathered onto a test strip and connecting the test strip to the electrochemical nutrient testing device.

[0040] At step 210, waiting for approximately 30 seconds to obtain nutrient parameters and the electrochemical nutrient testing device is connected to a mobile application. Then, at step 212, 2-way communication is enabled between the electrochemical nutrient device and mobile application and the parameters are uploaded from the mobile application into a cloud server. At step 214, the data is sent to a cloud server through device or mobile app and the data is processed using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to generate recommendations. Finally, at step 216, recommendations are generated and sent to the user from the cloud server to the mobile application for remote monitoring and crop management by the user.

[0041] FIG. 3 refers to an exemplary flowchart of working principle of portable electrochemical nutrient testing device.

[0042] FIG. 4 refers to an exemplary line diagram 400 of portable electrochemical nutrient testing device for soil health monitoring. The screen-printed electrode is a battery-operated system with low power consumption with high accuracy. The electrochemical nutrient testing device 402 is connected to mobile application 410 either through cloud network or independently with the help of Bluetooth, infrared or the like. The cloud network 404 is connected to a processing system 406 which further comprises location intelligence module 408, AL/ML 412, and memory unit 414. The processing system processes the sample and recommends the user regarding soil, water or plant health quality in the form of soil health card using the parameters in the cloud network 404.

[0043] FIG. 5 refers to various exemplary parts of portable electrochemical nutrient testing device for soil health monitoring. The portable electrochemical nutrient testing device 500 comprises a function generator block 502, screen-printed electrochemical sensor 504, a working electrode 506, a counter electrode 508, a reference electrode 510, plurality of contact pads 512, data acquisition module 514, voltage control module 516, micro-controller unit 518, and processing module 520.

[0044] The purpose of the function generator block 502 is to produce the desired square-wave voltammetry signal. The signal is produced by the addition of the square pulse signal with the staircase signal, where both of them have the same frequency. The timer module of the microcontroller unit 518 is used to generate a very low frequency clock signal. The clock signal is given to both block A and block B of the function generator block. The microcontroller unit 518, which is used in the function generator block 502 utilizes less amount of power.

[0045] FIG. 6 refers to an exemplary prototype of portable electrochemical nutrient testing device for soil health monitoring.

[0046] FIG. 7 refers to an exemplary portable electrochemical nutrient testing device for soil health monitoring connected to a mobile device. The portable electrochemical nutrient testing device is connected to the mobile device using either USB, Bluetooth etc. The mobile device is connected to the cloud server in which the sample data gets processed. The processed data is again received by the mobile device which displays the recommendations and results in the form of soil health card.

[0047] FIG. 8 refers to an alternate design of direct connection between portable electrochemical nutrient testing device and mobile device. The portable electrochemical nutrient testing device is connected directly to the mobile device using a built-in USB port on the portable electrochemical nutrient testing device. A testing strip can be attached on the other side of the portable electrochemical nutrient testing device.

[0048] Numerous advantages of the present disclosure may be apparent from the discussion above. In accordance with the present disclosure, a portable electrochemical nutrient testing device for soil health monitoring is disclosed. The portable electrochemical nutrient testing device for soil health monitoring that is designed for in-field nutrient analysis and aids to monitor soil health accurately on a regular basis. The proposed invention aids the farmers to repeatedly evaluate nutrient, electrical conductivity, organic carbon and pH value of soil accurately within less time.

[0049] The bio-degradable and paper-based screen printed three-electrode sensor is used to test pH value of the soil. The proposed soil testing device is portable, cost-effective and easy to use. The portable electrochemical nutrient testing device doesn't require prior conditioning and calibration of the electrodes and does not require complex sample preparation using multiple reagents. The proposed portable electrochemical nutrient testing device is cost effective, single handheld device which is easy to operate and is portable.

[0050] In the foregoing description various embodiments of the present disclosure have been presented for the purpose of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Obvious modifications or variations are possible in light of the above teachings. The various embodiments were chosen and described to provide the best illustration of the principles of the disclosure and their practical application, and to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. All such modifications and variations are within the scope of the present disclosure as determined by the appended claims when interpreted in accordance with the breadth they are fairly, legally, and equitably entitled.

[0051] It will readily be apparent that numerous modifications and alterations can be made to the processes described in the foregoing examples without departing from the principles underlying the invention, and all such modifications and alterations are intended to be embraced by this application.