Hardware realization of fuzzy logic driven PWM controller for a cold storage system

Abstract

Diverse agro-climatic conditions and vast production base in India ensures large producability making the country second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world. However, the huge potential available in the nation in the form of export opportunities is not effectively tapped as one third of these produces get deteriorated in post-harvesting. Further, the post-harvest losses affect the per-capita availability of fruits and vegetables and results in high marketing cost, market gluts and price fluctuation. Lack of proper cold storage and cold chain facilities in the country are the major bottlenecks causing the post-harvest losses. Previous research works on cold storage system emphasize the need for monitoring all the essential parameters and demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of using fuzzy logic for controlling these parameters through MATLAB simulation. Hence, it is planned to design and implement an intelligent fuzzy logic driven PWM controller for a cold storage system to control the required parameters. The controller module is designed, implemented in hardware and tested.