System and method for real-time non-invasive estimation of food quality within enclosed package

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11624719-B2
Application number	US-202117451451-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 19, 2021
Priority date	Oct 20, 2020
Publication date	Apr 11, 2023
Grant date	Apr 11, 2023

Abstract

This disclosure relates generally to a system and method for real-time non-invasive estimation of food quality within enclosed package. Existing works utilize invasive methods that require direct contact of the food item with the sensors. In the present disclosure, a potential is applied over a plurality of frequencies through the food item contained the enclosed package which includes a plurality of polyethylene layers and a conducting layer arranged between two adjacent polyethylene layers using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Values of electrical voltages and the electrical impedances of the food item are then obtained. A plurality of features is derived from the obtained values of the electrical voltages and the electrical impedances using a trained model. The present disclosure estimates the quality of the food item in real-time by co-relating the plurality of derived features with the quality of the food item contained inside the enclosed package.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A processor-implemented method for real-time non-invasive estimation of food quality within an enclosed package, the method comprising:
applying, via one or more hardware processors, a predefined potential with an alternating predefined current amplitude from an AC source over a plurality of frequencies with a predefined sweep through a food item contained inside the enclosed package, wherein the plurality of frequencies of the potential applied through the food item is specific to a biomarker present in the food item;
obtaining, via the one or more hardware processors, values of electrical voltages and electrical impedances of the food item as a function of frequency of the applied potential through an equivalent circuit comprising a resistance R1 representing a solution resistant, a capacitance C1 representing a double layer capacitance, an impedance W1 representing a Warburg impedance, resistance R2 representing a charge transfer resistance of the food item in conjunction with a plurality of micro-electrodes etched on an Aluminium layer of a packaging material of the food item, using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy by sweeping the frequency over a range of potentials, wherein the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy is a technique used to determine a change in concentration of plurality of chemical compounds present in the food item;
deriving, using a trained model capable of predicting quality of food items in real-time via the one or more hardware processors, a plurality of features from the values of the electrical voltages and the electrical impedances obtained, wherein the trained model is trained on an impedance spectrum and a voltage spectrum data obtained by varying the frequency over a range of voltages to characterize the food item and correlate with quality, wherein the biomarker present in the food item serves as an indicator for the estimation of quality of the food item contained in the enclosed package; and
estimating, via the one or more hardware processors, the quality of the food item in real-time by co-relating the plurality of derived features with the quality of the food item contained inside the enclosed package.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the enclosed package comprises of a plurality of layers which includes a plurality of polyethylene layers and a conducting layer arranged between two adjacent polyethylene layers.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the conducting layer comprised in the enclosed package further comprises of functionalized micro-electrodes for specific quality indicators associated with the food item contained in the enclosed package and area configured therein to determine the variation in applied potential over the plurality of frequencies associated with the food item, wherein the functionalized micro-electrodes are created between the conducting layer and the food item, when the food item comes in contact with the micro-electrodes etched on an Aluminium layer of the packaging material.

4. A system for real-time non-invasive estimation of food quality within an enclosed package, comprising:
a memory storing instructions;
one or more communication interfaces; and
one or more hardware processors coupled to the memory via the one or more communication interfaces, wherein the one or more hardware processors are configured by the instructions to:
apply, a pre-defined potential with an alternating predefined current amplitude from an AC source over a plurality of frequencies with a predefined sweep through a food item contained inside the enclosed package, wherein the plurality of frequencies of the potential applied through the food item is specific to a biomarker present in the food item;
obtain, values of electrical voltages and electrical impedances of the food item as a function of frequency of the applied potential through an equivalent circuit comprising a resistance R1 representing a solution resistant, a capacitance C1 representing a double layer capacitance, an impedance W1 representing a Warburg impedance, resistance R2 representing a charge transfer resistance of the food item in conjunction with a plurality of micro-electrodes etched on an aluminium layer of a packaging material of the food item, using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy by sweeping the frequency over a range of potentials, wherein the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy is a technique used to determine a change in concentrating of plurality of chemical compounds present in the food item;
derive, using a trained model capable of predicting quality of food items in real-time, a plurality of features from the values of the electrical voltages and the electrical impedances obtained, wherein the trained model is trained on an impedance spectrum and a voltage spectrum data obtained by varying the frequency over a range of voltages to characterize the food item and correlate with quality, wherein the biomarker present in the food item serves as an indicator for the estimation of quality of the food item contained in the enclosed package; and
estimate, the quality of the food item in real-time by co-relating the plurality of derived features with the quality of the food item contained inside the enclosed package.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the enclosed package comprises of a plurality of layers which includes a plurality of polyethylene layers and a conducting layer arranged between two adjacent polyethylene layers.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the conducting layer comprised in the enclosed package further comprises of functionalized micro-electrodes for specific quality indicators associated with the respective food item contained in the enclosed package and are configured therein to determine the variation in applied potential over the plurality of frequencies associated with the food item, wherein the functionalized micro-electrodes are created between the conducting layer and the food item, when the food item comes in contact with the micro-electrodes etched on an Aluminium layer of the packaging material.

7. One or more non-transitory machine-readable information storage mediums for real-time non-invasive estimation of food quality within an enclosed package, comprising one or more instructions which when executed by one or more hardware processors cause:
applying, a predefined potential with an alternating predefined current amplitude from an AC source over a plurality of frequencies with a predefined sweep through a food item contained inside the enclosed package, wherein the plurality of frequencies of the potential applied through the food item is specific to a biomarker present in the food item;
obtaining, values of electrical voltages and electrical impedances of the food item as a function of frequency of the applied potential through an equivalent circuit comprising a resistance R1 representing a solution resistant, a capacitance C1 representing a double layer capacitance, an impedance W1 representing a Warburg impedance, resistance R2 representing a charge transfer resistance of the food item in conjunction with a plurality of micro-electrodes etched on an Aluminium layer of a packaging material of the food item, using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy by sweeping the frequency over a range of potentials, wherein the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy is a technique used to determine a change in concentration of plurality of chemical compounds present in the food item;
deriving, using a trained model capable of predicting quality of food items in real-time, a plurality of features from the values of the electrical voltages and the electrical impedances obtained, wherein the trained model is trained on an impedance spectrum and a voltage spectrum data obtained by varying the frequency over a r

Assignees

• Tata Consultancy Services Ltd

Inventors

• Deshpande Parijat
• Dutta Jayita
• Rai Beena

Classifications

• G01N27/026 Primary

  Dielectric impedance spectroscopy (electrochemical impedance spectroscopy for measuring corrosion G01N17/02) · CPC title

• G01N33/143

  containing sugar · CPC title

• G01N33/14

  Beverages · CPC title