Patents

Device for detecting Greening in citrus fruit

This patent was developed by Professor Nilton Luiz Menegon and by the postgraduate student, Luiz Otávio dos Santos. The Innovation Agency licensed the patent [PCT/BR2015/000114] at FAI/UFSCAR in March 2017. The contract, which aimed at commercialise the technology, was established with the company Fhocus Optical Solutions and the product has been used by orange producers in the citrus belt of the State of São Paulo. The patent had considerable economic impacts, namely: increased productivity and reduced cost of orange production. The licensed technology helps farmers to identify orange trees contaminated with Greening (Huanglongbing/HLB) - a citrus disease that attacks plants and prevents sap from reaching its ends, the main symptom of which is “leaf mottling”. The invention consists of a filter incorporated into spectacle lenses that creates a visual effect by intensifying the contrast between the characteristic colors of the disease in the leaves. The device intensifies the contrast between the green color and the yellow color, characteristic of the “mottling” of the leaves, in order to help identify the disease by the HLB inspector. In addition, the device blocks ultraviolet rays, providing the user with protection from sunlight and visual comfort for carrying out their activity. The technology resulted from the Master's dissertation of the graduate student, Luiz Otávio dos Santos Arantes, a physical engineer and responsible for the development of the technology. The development of the work was linked to the research project “Optical techniques for greening identification” developed at PPGEP/UFSCar (line of research - Technological and Organisational Dynamics) and funded by the São Paulo State Foundation (Process: 10 / 03848-2). The study was supervised by Prof. Nilton Luiz Menegon and coordinated by Dr. Débora Marcondes Milori (Embrapa Instrumentation).

Process for integrated planning and optimisation of agricultural and industrial operations in the tomato processing industry, production of intermediate products and final tomato products

This patent was developed by Prof. Reinaldo Morabito and the former student, Cleber Damião Rocco. The invention was registered in June 2016 with the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) - BR5120150004956. The Process was developed within the scope of the doctoral project of the postgraduate student from Program, Cleber Damião Rocco (currently a lecturer at FCA-UNICAMP) in the line of research: Planning and Control of Production Systems - PCsP). This invention refers to a new process to develop integrated planning and optimisation of the main production and logistics activities in transport and stock management in tomato processing plants, produce intermediate products (different types of concentrated tomato pulps) and tomato products for end consumers. The process definitely proposes the solution to the problem of preparing integrated planning and optimisation of the main agricultural activities, such as defining the choice of varieties and the schedule for planting and harvesting tomatoes, as well as transporting tomato production to the processing plants; in industry, it solves the problem of production planning and logistics for products produced specifically in tomatoes processing, whether it be in intermediate products (concentrated pulps) that are used in other processes, or final products for consumers. The process can also be used to analyse the agro-industrial system by changing the settings, and thus discovering, for example, bottleneck operations and scale investments. The process was incorporated into management software and adopted by some companies in the tomato agro-industrial chain. It is estimated that significant savings in financial resources have been achieved (reduction in the total cost of approximately 15%) and an increase in the operational efficiency of the tomato processing companies that have adopted the software.