Received: 2 June 2023 Revised: 1 August 2023
DOI: 10.1111/jfpe.14442
RESEARCH NOTE
Consumer-oriented intelligent ripening control system for
post-ripening fruit
Yuliang Li | Wentao Huang |
Beijing Laboratory of Food Quality and Safety,
College of Engineering, China Agricultural
University, Beijing, People's Republic of China
Correspondence
Xiaoshuan Zhang, Beijing Laboratory of Food
Quality and Safety, College of Engineering,
China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083,
People's Republic of China.
Email: zhxshuan@cau.edu.cn
Funding information
National Natural Science Foundation of China,
Grant/Award Number: 32071917
J Food Process Eng. 2023;46:e14442.
https://doi.org/10.1111/jfpe.14442
Accepted: 17 August 2023
Hanyu Li | Xiang Wang | Xiaoshuan Zhang
Abstract
To address the issues commonly encountered in traditional fruit ripening processes,
which include reliance on manual experience, low efficiency, single control parame-
ter, and significant fluctuations, a new intelligent fruit ripening control system has
been designed. This system is based on a mathematical modeling algorithm, which
allows for more effective and precise control over the ripening process. To ensure
that the ripe fruits are transported to the fruit processing center in a low ripeness
state, the proposed system adopts a strategy of precise control of temperature and
ethylene, as well as range control of other environmental parameters. The RSSA-PID
model is used for ethylene and temperature control, which has high smoothness, fast
response time, and high stability. Compared with the traditional PID model, the
RSSA-PID model has better dynamic performance and stability. Finally, the proposed
system is applied to the ripening process of post-ripening fruits, and the results show
that the system achieves intelligent ripening, precise control, and low power con-
sumption. The temperature and ethylene concentration are controlled within a varia-
tion of no more than 0.5%, and the humidity, oxygen, and carbon dioxide are
maintained within reasonable thresholds. Overall, this paper provides a promising
solution for the ripening process of post-ripening fruits, which can benefit the fruit
industry by improving the efficiency and quality of the supply chain.
Practical Application
The ripening chamber environment is a dynamic equilibrium environment with non-
linear characteristics because the fruits in the ripening chamber are constantly exchang-
ing substances and energy with the environment through respiration and transpiration.
An intelligent ripening control system (IRCS) for post-ripening fruits is proposed in this
paper (Figure 1). The whole ripening process runs automatically, which significantly
reduces the ripening time and saves a lot of post-processing time. The shorter ripening
time combined with the latest intelligent software and hardware means that only as
much energy as is actually needed is consumed. If the sales market changes, the fruit
can be stored under air conditioning (CA) until the scheduled delivery date without sig-
nificant further ripening and losses and complaints can be minimized.
KEYWORDS
PID parameter optimization, post-ripening fruit, ripening control, RSSA, supply chain
wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jfpe © 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC. 1 of 17

2 of 17
1 | I N T RO DU CT I O N
Post-ripening fruits include bananas, avocados, kiwis, mangoes, and
many other fruits that have high nutritional value (Cervantes-Paz &
Yahia, 2021). However, post-ripe fruits have a very short storage
period when they are fully ripe (Kim et al., 2021), so they are usually
picked mostly at periods of low ripeness (Pott et al., 2020; Tang
et al., 2020).
However, at this time, the fruits are hard, have low soluble solids
content, and are in poor edible condition, requiring natural ripening or
ripening to reach an edible state. The spontaneous ripening of the
fruit has problems such as long ripening time and poor edible taste,
which brings inconvenience to consumers (Wang et al., 2020). There-
fore, postharvest ripening is very important for post-ripe fruits that
are peeled for consumption. On the one hand, it can meet the demand
of consumers to eat fruits immediately after purchase, dispel their
concerns about fruit quality, and obtain commercial fruits with uni-
form ripeness and full color and flavor (Huang et al., 2021). On the
other hand, it can provide technical support and theoretical guidance
for dealers to promote early marketing of fruits, extend the supply
period of fruits and expand the sales field and sales volume of high-
quality commercial fruits (El Khetabi et al., 2022; García-Pastor
et al., 2020).
Current ripening techniques can be divided into two main cate-
gories: physical ripening and chemical ripening. Physical ripening
mainly refers to ripening by temperature or light. Chemical ripening
involves the use of chemicals that release ethylene (Li et al., 2022).
Physical ripening techniques include high irradiance treatment of
tomatoes, changing the storage temperature of kiwis, and treating
bananas at different temperatures (Cheng et al., 2022; Gubitosa
et al., 2022; Steelheart et al., 2022). The results of these studies
showed that high light and high temperature accelerated the ripen-
ing rate of fruits. There are many studies on chemical ripening tech-
niques, such as those exploring the effects of organic and chemical
synthetic solvents on fenugreek, the effect of 1-MCP on the ripen-
ing of papaya, and studies on the ripening effect of ethylene glycol
on bananas and kiwis (Cai et al., 2022; Orisa & Usoroh, 2021; Ruwali
et al., 2022; Verde et al., 2023). The results of these studies showed
that the ripening effect of samples treated with ethylene-releasing
chemicals was better. In summary, the two factors that have the
greatest influence on the ripening process of post-ripening fruits are
temperature and ethylene (Arpaia et al., 2018; Kou et al., 2021). In
addition to these two factors, humidity, oxygen and carbon dioxide
also have an effect on ripening (Anami et al., 2020; Brat et al., 2020).
Maintaining high humidity in the ripening environment is the key to
obtain high quality and high grade fruits, otherwise the skin is not
shiny and the appearance is not good (Romero & Lafuente, 2022).
Insufficient O2 or high CO2 concentration will inhibit or delay the
ripening of fruits (Park et al., 2021). In summary, a more reasonable
ripening technology should be to control the ripening quality of
fruits by adjusting the temperature and humidity, oxygen, carbon
dioxide and ethylene gas concentrations (Alam et al., 2021; Ebrahimi
et al., 2022).
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LI ET AL.
However, the following difficulties exist in the control of these
environmental parameters. The ripening chamber environment is a
dynamic equilibrium environment with non-linear characteristics
because the fruits in the ripening chamber are constantly exchanging
substances and energy with the environment through respiration and
transpiration (Douthe et al., 2018; Fei et al., 2018; Ramin Shamshiri
et al., 2018). At the same time, the ripening room has a certain area,
and the distribution of environmental parameters in different areas is
not uniform, so it is not possible to simply analyze a certain area when
carrying out control. Due to the area of the storage room and the sen-
sor itself, the system will experience a certain time delay and need to
wait for a certain period of time to determine the real environmental
state (Loy-Benitez et al., 2021; Tariq et al., 2020). Therefore, it is cru-
cial to establish a control model with fast, accurate and stable.
In summary, the existing fruit ripening industry needs to be highly
efficient, highly accurate and low-power consumption (Zhang
et al., 2021). Based on this, an intelligent ripening control system
(IRCS) for post-ripening fruits is proposed in this paper (Figure 1). The
whole ripening process runs automatically, which significantly reduces
the ripening time and saves a lot of post-processing time. The shorter
ripening time combined with the latest intelligent software and hard-
ware means that only as much energy as is actually needed is con-
sumed. If the sales market changes, the fruit can be stored under air
conditioning (CA) until the scheduled delivery date without significant
further ripening and losses and complaints can be minimized. This is
important to improve results such as inconsistent hardness, low aroma
level and uneven color, which caused by traditional ripening tech-
niques (Boateng, 2023; Cabo et al., 2021; Loayza et al., 2020; Ozcelik
et al., 2019; Wu et al., 2021).
2 | M A T E R I A L S A N D M ET H O D S
2.1 | System analysis of fruit ripening
2.1.1 | Business flow analysis for post-ripe fruits
From picking to market, post-ripening fruits undergo a series of steps
to ensure their quality and timely delivery. Figure 2 illustrates these
activities and highlights the crucial role of the fruit processing com-
pany. This company not only directly influences consumers but also
provides valuable feedback to logistics companies and fruit farmers,
contributing to the overall quality of the fruit throughout the supply
chain.
Stage 1: Origin picking—Post-ripening fruits are harvested by
farmers when they are not fully ripe. The fruits are then sorted and
packed based on their type and ripeness. Subsequently, they are
transported to storage rooms for purchase by fruit and vegetable pro-
cessing plants or distributors.
Stage 2: Cold chain transportation—The ripening process and tem-
perature of post-ripening fruits are closely related. To prevent the
fruits from rotting during long-distance transportation, logistics com-
panies set appropriate refrigeration temperatures in advance,

LI ET AL.
FIGURE 1 Intelligent ripening system process.
considering the specific fruit types. This ensures that the fruits main-
tain their quality from picking to the destination.
Stage 3: Fruit processing—Once ripe fruits reach the fruit and veg-
etable processing factory via the cold chain, the quality department
sets parameters for refrigerated trucks to check and sample the fruit
quality. After confirming their quality, factory workers manually sort
the fruits, selecting those with higher maturity for packaging and sale.
The remaining fruits that require further ripening are transported to
refrigerated rooms for the ripening process.
Stage 4: Fruit ripening—Forklift workers transport the fruits desig-
nated for ripening to ripening warehouses, where ripening workers
set the initial parameters (temperature, humidity, ethylene, etc.) based
on business requirements. Daily spot-checks are conducted on the
fruits, and the warehouse parameters are adjusted accordingly to
ensure optimal ripening. These observations and adjustments are
recorded for future reference.
Stage 5: Fruit on the market—Sorting workers categorize and pack
the ripened fruits according to customer demand. Subsequently,
transporters deliver the fruits to supermarkets, distributors, or direct
stores for direct sales.
In summary, the post-harvest supply chain for post-ripening fruits
involves multiple stages and stakeholders. Each step contributes to
the overall quality and timely availability of the fruits to consumers.
2.1.2 | User needs analysis of post-ripe fruits
The user requirement analysis involved in this system is shown in
Figure 3. In this system, the fruit farmer belongs to the commodity
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3 of 17
supplier, who has the simplest needs and wants to sell more fruits.
The logisticians load the fruit picked by the farmer, during which they
have to ensure the quality of the fruit: no mechanical damage, no rot-
ting and no deterioration in taste. However, they do not have the
testing technology and have to rely on third-party testing agencies or
professionals in the fruit processing centers. The fruit processing cen-
ter receives the fruit from the logistics personnel and needs to sample
the fruit for quality and ripeness. Fruit processing centers ripen fruit
according to market demand, and there is a demand for automation,
precision and low-power consumption for ripening processing tech-
nology, which is in line with the global trend of carbon neutrality
(Zhao et al., 2022).
After ripening treatment, the fruits flow to the market and are
mainly sold to three customer groups: distributors, commercial super-
markets, and general consumers. Dealers and commercial supermar-
kets tend to market the fruits earlier to grab a part of the market. Also
extend the sales period of fruits to increase the revenue. Therefore,
what they need most is edible fruits with minimum maturity. For the
average consumer, there is also a preference for newly available fruits.
Fruits with a fresh and bright appearance, good edible taste and with-
out the use of chemical ripening agents are particularly favored (Ali
et al., 2021). Therefore, consumers are most concerned about the
transparency and safety of the whole ripening process.
2.1.3 | Control rules for fruit ripening
The higher the temperature, the stronger the respiration; the lower
the humidity, the faster the fruit transpires and dehydrates, which will

4 of 17
FIGURE 2 Production and marketing business process of post-ripening fruits.
accelerate the hydrolysis within the fruit, thus stimulating the respira-
tion to increase. However, low humidity will cause the fruit to crumple
and affect the appearance. Therefore, it is sufficient to maintain a cer-
tain range of humidity. In addition to this, the influence of the harvest
gases (ethylene, oxygen, and carbon dioxide) is also significant, as eth-
ylene is an important factor in stimulating the ripening process of the
fruit. Oxygen needs to be maintained in the range of 19%–23% by
volume to ensure effective respiration. The concentration of carbon
dioxide needs to be controlled at too high a level, generally not higher
than 2000 ppm, to prevent carbon dioxide poisoning (Rodin
et al., 2020; Wang et al., 2022). The priority can be expressed by the
following rules of Figure 4.
2.2 | The structure of IRCS
The structure of the intelligent ripening control system for post-
ripening fruits is shown in Figure 5, which consists of data acquisition
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LI ET AL.
layer, data transmission layer, control layer, and demonstration layer.
Among them, the data acquisition layer includes the basic fruit infor-
mation module, oxygen sensor module, carbon dioxide sensor module,
ethylene sensor module, temperature and humidity sensor module
and spectral sensor module. The data acquisition layer is used to col-
lect the environmental parameters in the ripening warehouse and
send the collected data to the data transmission layer via LoRa wire-
lessly. The data transmission layer collates and compresses the col-
lected data and sends it to the control layer via Lora wirelessly. At the
same time, a copy is saved in the storage. The control layer contains
the oxygen supply unit, the carbon dioxide adsorption unit, the ethyl-
ene supply unit, the heating and cooling unit, the fan and the atom-
izer. The control center in the control layer decompresses and reads
the received data and adjusts the ambient gas concentration and tem-
perature and humidity in the ripening room according to the pre-
established ripening control model. At the same time, the adjusted
information is sent to the demonstration layer. The presentation layer
includes environmental data display, system information display,
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5 of 17

Analysis of user needs regarding post-ripe fruits.

F I G U R E 4 Control rules for

environmental parameters.
FIGURE 3
LI ET AL.

6 of 17
model information display and fruit knowledge base display. The man-
ager can correct the parameters adjusted in the control layer by the
ripening of the fruit displayed in the demonstration layer, while
the mathematical model is subjected to new iterations.
2.3 | Software design of IRCS
The flow chart of the ripening regulation system is shown in Figure 6.
First of all, based on the knowledge base, the preliminary ripeness
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LI ET AL.
F I G U R E 5 Architecture of
intelligent ripening control
system.
grading of post-ripening type fruits is performed and damaged fruits
are removed. The input values of the environmental parameters (tem-
perature, humidity, ethylene, oxygen, and carbon dioxide) in the ripen-
ing warehouse are determined according to the order requirements
(when and at what ripeness level). Once the fruit is in storage, the
controller automatically adjusts the actual values of the environmental
parameters. At the same time, the ripening information acquisition
and processing module detects color changes and spectral changes in
the ripening process of the fruit, converts these signals to ripening
thresholds and transmits them to the ripening and controllable factors

LI ET AL.
F I G U R E 6 Software design
of intelligent ripening control
system.
coupling module. The environmental information acquisition and pro-
cessing module is used to acquire the signals generated by the tem-
perature and humidity sensor, oxygen sensor, carbon dioxide sensor
and ethylene sensor in the ripening environment, and to fuse and con-
flict the signals to obtain the real values of temperature and humidity,
oxygen concentration, carbon dioxide concentration and ethylene
concentration in the ripening process, and to transmit the data to the
adjustment display module. Through the maturity and controllable fac-
tors coupling module, it is used to model the coupling between the
maturity information processed by the maturity information collection
module and the controllable environmental factors adjusted in the
workers' experience to obtain the regression curve of controllable fac-
tors, and the control center automatically adjusts the environmental
controllable factors according to this regression curve in the ripening
process. A regulation display module is used to regulate the tempera-
ture, humidity and micro-gas concentration in the ripening environ-
ment and to display the values. The ripening process is characterized
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7 of 17
by strong respiration and the release of ethylene, which disrupts the
original gas balance of the ripening environment. Therefore, it is nec-
essary to monitor environmental parameters in real time and set judg-
ment thresholds for oxygen and carbon dioxide to prevent too little
oxygen and carbon dioxide poisoning. When the CO2 concentration is
greater than the judgment threshold, the controller opens the CO2
adsorption device. When the oxygen concentration is lower than the
threshold value, the controller opens the oxygen cylinder. When
the actual ethylene concentration is higher than the input value, the
controller turns on the external circulation fan. Considering the sud-
denness of the problem during ripening, a worker correction module
is added to dynamically fine-tune the possible deviations of the
regression curve. The data is also updated to train a new machine
learning model, thus enabling adaptive adjustment of the entire ripen-
ing process. At the end of ripening, fruits that meet the ripeness
requirements are sold, or if they cannot be sold immediately, they are
transferred to the gas conditioning (CA) module for preservation.
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8 of 17 LI ET AL.

F I G U R E 7 Hardware
composition of intelligent
ripening control system.

2.4 | Hardware design of IRCS The sparrow search algorithm (SSA) is a new type of swarm intel-
ligence optimization algorithm proposed by Xue and Shen (2020),
Figure 7 shows the hardware diagram of the ripening system, which which mainly simulates the foraging behavior of sparrows to solve the
includes important components such as sensors, microcontrollers, global optimization problem. The SSA algorithm has the characteristics
fans, heaters (20 kW), chillers (11 kW), and ethylene supply equip- of short learning time, high optimization accuracy, fast convergence


ment. The sensors include a temperature and humidity sensor(–40 C and good stability. Therefore, this system uses the SSA algorithm to
to 80
C, 0%–100% RH), oxygen sensor (0–25 vol%), carbon dioxide optimize the PID control model of temperature and ethylene concen-
sensor (0–5000 ppm), ethylene sensor (0–1000 ppm), and camera, tration in the ripening store. the principle of SSA algorithm is as
which are mainly used to monitor the environment and fruit status in follows.
the ripening warehouse. The microcontroller is I.MX6ULL-linux devel- The population consisting of n sparrows can be expressed in the
opment board, which is the control center of the whole system. The following form:
fan is to promote the flow of gas in the ripening storage room, which
2 3
is divided into two types of external and internal circulation. The heat- x1,1 x1,2  x1,d
6 x2,1 x2,2  x2,d 7
ing and cooling device is to control the temperature of the storage 6 7
X¼6
6 .. .. .. .. 7
7 ð1Þ
room. Humidifiers ensure the humidity of the storage room. Ethylene 4 . . . . 5
supply equipment, etc., can replenish the required gas. The hardware xn,1 xn,2  xn,d
design of the system takes into account the requirements of smooth-
ness, low consumption and safety, and the software design enables where d denotes the dimensionality of the problem variable to be
digitalization and precise control of the ripening industry. optimized and n is the number of sparrows. The fitness values of all
sparrows can be expressed in the following form:

2 3
2.5 | Establishment of critical control model f ð½x1,1 x1,2  x1,d Þ
6 f ð½ x2,1 x2,2  x2,d Þ 7
6 7
FX ¼ 6
6 ..
7
7 ð2Þ
Among the many environmental factors affecting the postharvest rip- 4 . 5
ening of post-ripening fruits, temperature and ethylene concentration f ð½ xn,1 xn,2   xn,d Þ
are the determining factors. Therefore, the system gives priority to
the temperature control model and the ethylene concentration con- where f denotes the fitness value.
trol model. These two models are also used in the traditional ripening In this algorithm the sparrows are divided into discoverers, joiners
industry based on PID controller, which is simple in structure, easy to and scouts, and the update formula for their respective positions is as
implement, convenient in debugging, and the controlled objects are follows.
usually simple single-input single-output systems with strong robust- Discoverer's location update formula:
ness, so it is widely used in various fields. However, the traditional
8  
PID controller's parameters are empirically dependent, sensitive to ini- >
< Xtþ1  exp  i
if R2 < ST
tial values, tedious and time-consuming, and lack of self-tuning capa- X tþ1 ¼
i,j
α  iter max ð3Þ
i,j
>
: Xt þ Q  L
i,j if R2 ≥ ST
bility, which can no longer meet the requirements of modern control
systems, so it is necessary to study new PID controllers.

LI ET AL.
where t represents the number of current iterations and j = 1, 2, 3, …,
d. itermax is a constant indicating the maximum number of iterations.
xij denotes the position information of the ith sparrow in the jth
dimension. α  (0, 1] is a random number. R2 (R2  [0,1]) and ST (ST 
[0.5,1]) denote the warning value and the safety value, respectively.
q is a random number obeying a normal distribution. l denotes a 1  d
matrix, where each element inside is all 1.
When R2 < ST, this means that there are no predators around the
foraging environment at this time and the finder can perform an
extensive search operation. If R2 ≥ ST, this means that some sparrows
in the population have found a predator and alerted other sparrows in
the population, and all sparrows need to fly quickly to other safe
places to forage at this time.
The location of the joiners is updated as follows:
8 !
>
> X worst  X ti,j
>
< Q  exp if i > n=2
Xi,jtþ1 ¼ i2
>
>  
: Xptþ1 þ Xti,j  Xptþ1   Aþ  L otherwise
> optimal value and the best fitness value are obtained.
A denotes a 1  d matrix, where each element is randomly
assigned to 1 or –1 and A+ = AT(AAT) – 1. When i > n/2, this indi-
cates that the ith joiner with a low fitness value is not getting food
and is in a very hungry state, and needs to fly to other places for
food to get more energy.
A scout is a group of sparrows aware of danger, representing
10%–20% of the total population, whose initial position is generated
randomly in the population, with the following mathematical
expression:
8  
>  t 
> Xbest þ β  Xi,j  Xbest 
t t
> if f i > f g
>
<  1
0  becomes worse. Ki is used to eliminate the static difference, its reduc-
X i,j ¼
tþ1
Xti,j  Xtwrost 
>
>
>
> Xti,j þ K  @ A if f i ¼ f g
: ðf i  f w Þ þ ε
where Xbest is the current global optimal position. β, as the step con-
trol parameter, is a random number that follows a normal distribution
with mean 0 and variance 1. K  [1,1] is a random number and fi is
FIGURE 8 RSSA-PID ethylene concentration control model.
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9 of 17
the current fitness value of the individual sparrow. fg and fw are the
current global best and worst fitness values, respectively. ε is
the smallest constant to avoid zero in the denominator.
When fi > fg means that the sparrow is at the edge of the pop-
ulation and is extremely vulnerable to predators. Xbest means that
the sparrow in this position is the best position in the population
and is safe. fi = fg means that the sparrow in the middle of the pop-
ulation is aware of the danger and needs to move closer to other
sparrows to minimize the risk of predation. k means that the spar-
row is moving in a direction that is also step length control
parameter.
The algorithm first randomly initializes the sparrow population
and defines the relevant parameters, and defines the maximum num-
ber of iterations. The fitness of the initial population is calculated and
ranked to select the current best and worst values. Then, the positions
of discoverers, joiners, and sparrows aware of danger are updated,
ð4Þ and finally, the current optimal value is obtained. Finally, the global
2.5.1 | Ethylene PID control model based on SSA
algorithm
The controlled variable in this model is the warehouse ethylene con-
centration, the actuators are pneumatic control valves and fans, and
the warehouse ethylene concentration is regarded as an inertial link
with a time constant of 8 s. The PID control model of ethylene opti-
mized by the SSA algorithm is shown in Figure 8. The role of each
coefficient in the PID controller is mainly reflected in: the proportional
coefficient Kp increase can speed up the system response, reduce the
static difference, but the system overshoot will increase, the stability
ð5Þ
tion can reduce the amount of overshoot, so that the system stability
is enhanced. Kd increase can speed up the system response, reduce
the amount of overshoot. Each of the three control laws has its own
responsibilities and can be flexibly combined to meet different
requirements. The transfer functions of some important components
are shown below.
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10 of 17 LI ET AL.

Transfer function of the actuator: allows for faster gas control response, minimal oscillation, and smaller
steady-state errors.
10
G1 ¼ ð6Þ
ð0:2s þ 1ÞðsÞ

2.5.2 | Temperature PID control model based on

Transfer function of the inertia link formed by the space and SSA algorithm
structure of the warehouse:
The controlled object in this model is the depot temperature, the actu-
2 ators are the motor and the regulator, and the depot temperature is
G2 ¼ ð7Þ
8s þ 1
considered as an inertial link with a time constant of 20 s. The temper-
ature PID control model optimized by the SSA algorithm is shown in
In the SSA-PID model, the number of sparrows is defined as Figure 9. The transfer functions of some important components are
50, the dimension is 3 (Kp, Ki, Kd), and the number of iterations is 50. shown below.
The improved fitness function uses the sum of the absolute values of Transfer function of the actuator:
the errors, the overshoot and the regulation practice together to
determine the complete expression as: 5
Gt1 ¼ ð11Þ
ð0:8s þ 1Þð50sÞ
ð∞
J¼ ðw1 jeðtÞjÞdt þ w2 σ þ w3 ts ð8Þ
0 Transfer function of the inertia link formed by the space and
structure of the warehouse:
eðtÞ ¼ rðtÞ  yðtÞ ð9Þ

1
Gt2 ¼ ð12Þ
X
3
20s þ 1
wi ¼ 1 ð10Þ
i¼1

where e(t) is the deviation of the output from the input, is the over- In the improved SSA algorithm (RSSA)-PID model, the number of
shoot, and is the regulation time. The design of this fitness function sparrows is defined as 30, the dimension is 3 (Kp, Ki, Kd) and the number

FIGURE 9 RSSA-PID temperature control model.

FIGURE 10 Flow chart of improved SSA (RSSA) algorithm.

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LI ET AL. 11 of 17

ð∞
of iterations is 50. The temperature should be controlled as quickly as J¼ ðw1 jeðtÞjÞdt þ w2 σ þ w3 ts þ w4 N ð13Þ
possible to achieve smoothness and reduce the energy consumption. 0

Therefore, the improved fitness function is determined using the sum of

eðtÞ ¼ rðtÞ  yðtÞ ð14Þ
the absolute values of the errors, the overshoot, the regulation time and
the number of oscillations together, and the full expression equation is:
X
4
wi ¼ 1 ð15Þ
i¼1

where e(t) is the deviation of the output from the input, is the over-
shoot, is the regulation time, and N is the number of oscillations of the
response from the steady-state value. The design of this fitness func-
tion allows for faster gas control response, minimal oscillations and
smaller steady-state errors.

3 | RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 | Improved SSA algorithm

In the original SSA algorithm, the initial position of the population is

very close to the boundary, and the phenomenon of population diver-
FIGURE 11 Improved SSA algorithm adaptation curve (ethylene). sity reduction occurs, and the convergence speed becomes slower

FIGURE 12 Frequency domain and time domain comparison of conventional PID and RSSA-PID models (ethylene).

TABLE 1 Comparison of performance indicators for ethylene control.

Steady-state performance indicators Dynamic performance indicators Stability indicators

Ethylene control model ess б ts tr wc wg γ Lh

RSSA-PID model 0 .018 5.4000 6.400 .505 22.294 80.955 208.430
Traditional PID model 0 .076 49.500 8.100 .433 22.393 86.104 233.761

Note: ess denotes steady-state error. б, ts, tr denote overshoot, regulation time, rise time, respectively. wc, wg, γ, Lh denote amplitude crossing frequency,
phase crossing frequency, phase margin, amplitude margin, respectively.
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12 of 17 LI ET AL.

and may fall into the local optimum. Therefore, an improved PID con- upj  loj
trol model of the RSSA algorithm (RSSA-PID) is proposed in this paper Xoi,j ¼ loj þ ð16Þ
rands
in order to improve the optimization-seeking capability of the PID
control parameters of the actuator. The population position initializa- randsþ1 ¼ rands þ α ð17Þ
tion equation is as follows:
snþ1 ¼ sn þ 1 ð18Þ

where X oi,j is the initial position of the ith sparrow in the jth dimension.
up is the upper population boundary value. lo is the lower population
boundary value. rands is an increasing series and α is a random num-
ber in the range [1,5]. s is an equal series with initial value 1 and total
number i  j.
The flow chart of the RSSA is shown in Figure 10, and the later
model validation is based on this RSSA algorithm.

3.2 | Validation of ethylene regulation model

The three optimal parameters of the PID control obtained by the

improved SSA-PID model are Kp = 153.55, Ki = 0, and Kd = 1000.
The optimal value of the model is 9.8473, and the variation of its fit-
FIGURE 13 Improved SSA algorithm adaptation curve ness value with the number of iterations is shown in Figure 11. It can
(temperature). be seen that the improved SSA algorithm converges quickly and is

FIGURE 14 Frequency domain and time domain comparison of conventional PID and RSSA-PID models (temperature).

TABLE 2 Comparison of performance indicators for temperature control.

Steady-state performance indicators Dynamic performance indicators Stability indicators

Temperature control model ess б ts tr wc wg γ Lh

RSSA-PID model 0 .013 10.700 13.000 11.147 .246 77.075 402.384
Traditional PID model 0 .094 49.300 17.200 10.952 .119 67.285 970.586

Note: ess denotes steady-state error. б, ts, tr denote overshoot, regulation time, rise time, respectively. wc, wg, γ, Lh denote amplitude crossing frequency,
phase crossing frequency, phase margin, amplitude margin, respectively.
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13 of 17

Control of environmental factors in the ripening process.

FIGURE 15
LI ET AL.

14 of 17
FIGURE 15 (Continued)
able to find the optimal value and the optimal control parameters in a
shorter period of time. Figure 12 shows the comparison plots of the
conventional PID model and the RSSA-PID model in the frequency
and time domains. Figure 12a shows that the RSSA-PID model has
smaller amplitude oscillations and shorter delays than the conven-
tional PID model in the low frequency band. Figure 12b shows that
the RSSA-PID has smaller overshoot, shorter regulation time and rise
time, and is able to respond to the input quickly, accurately, and
smoothly. The dynamic and steady-state performance metrics are
shown in Table 1. ess = 0 indicates that both models are stable, and
the dynamic performance metrics of the RSSA-PID model are due to
the conventional PID model. The values of the frequency domain indi-
cators are very close to each other, and the amplitude margin and
phase margin are greater than 0, and have a high relative stability.
3.3 | Validation of temperature regulation model
The optimal value of the model is 15.6986 and the variation of the fit-
ness value with the number of iterations is shown in Figure 13. From
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LI ET AL.
the figure, it can be seen that the RSSA converges quickly in the early
stage, then changes slowly in the middle, and then converges quickly
again in the later stage. It indicates that the improved SSA algorithm
automatically jumps out of the local optimal solution and is able to
find the optimal value and the optimal control parameters in a shorter
period of time. Figure 14 shows the comparison plots of the conven-
tional PID model with temperature as the controlled object and the
RSSA-PID model in the frequency and time domains. Figure 14a
shows that the RSSA-PID model has less hysteresis than the conven-
tional PID model in the low frequency band, and less amplitude varia-
tion in the high frequency band. Figure 14b shows that the RSSA-PID
has a smaller overshoot, shorter regulation time and rise time, and can
respond to the input quickly, accurately, and smoothly. The detailed
dynamic and steady-state performance metrics of the temperature
control are shown in Table 2. ess = 0 indicates that both models are
stable, and the dynamic performance metrics of the RSSA-PID model
are better than those of the conventional PID model. The values of
the frequency domain indicators are very close to each other, and the
amplitude margin and phase margin are greater than 0. The relative
stability of both models is very high.

LI ET AL.
3.4 | Experimental validation of ripening regulation
system
In this paper, ripening tests were conducted with avocado. the C2H4
concentration was initially controlled at 500 ppm and maintained at
this state for 30 h, after which the release of C2H4 began until it
dropped to less than 50 ppm. The variation of C2H4 concentration in
Figure 15a fully met the control requirements. The temperature con-
trol was stabilized from the initial gradient of 15–20
C for a period of
36 h, and then gradually cooled down to 16
C or less. Figure 15b
shows the temperature variation of (b) fully met the control require-
ments. The humidity control range is 85%–93%, Figure 15c shows
that the humidity in the system gradually rises with time and stops ris-
ing when it reaches the maximum threshold, which meets the control
requirements. Oxygen concentration was controlled at 20%–22%, and
Figure 15d shows that there were several distinct respiratory peaks in
the fruit during ripening, but the oxygen concentration was always
within the required range. CO2 concentration was controlled at less
than 1400 ppm, and Figure 15e shows that the maximum threshold of
CO2 concentration was reached for the first time, stimulating the
working state of the CO2 adsorption device, and the magnitude of
the subsequent concentration changes became smaller.
Figure 15f shows the ripeness variation of avocado during the
operation of IRCS. There are many indicators of maturity, such as
hardness, color, soluble solids, and pH. In this paper, hardness and
color are chosen to characterize maturity, which are widely used in
practical applications. The hardness is measured by a texture
meter(TA-XT PLUS type, texture analyzer, Stable Micro System, God-
alming, UK) and the color is measured by an RGB camera (1/2.8
CMOS). [T0, T1, T2, T3, T4, T5] are time series with 6 h interval. The
hardness value gradually decreases with increasing time series and
the color also shows a significant change from cyan to dark red. Typi-
cally, the traditional method of ripening, on the other hand, takes 4–
5 days, and the system proposed in this paper has greatly improved
the production efficiency. In summary, this system can be precisely
controlled to accomplish the requirements of fruit ripening.
4 | C O N CL U S I O N S
In this study, an intelligent ripening control system was designed for
post-ripening fruits. Among the many environmental factors affecting
fruit ripening, temperature and ethylene concentration play a key role.
Therefore, it is particularly important to control them precisely. In this
paper, an RSSA algorithm is proposed, which converges very fast and
the number of iterations to reach the optimal value is less than 8. The
RSSA-PID model for ethylene has high smoothness (overshoot
1.84%), fast response time (regulation time 5.4 s), and high stability
(amplitude margin 208.430, phase margin 80.955). In the RSSA-PID
model for temperature, the overshoot is 1.21%, the regulation time is
10.7 s, and the phase margin is 77.075, and its dynamic performance
and stability are better than the traditional PID model. Finally, the sys-
tem was applied to the ripening process of post-ripening fruits. Its
17454530, 2023, 12, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jfpe.14442 by Universitat De Barcelona, Wiley Online Library on [18/12/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
15 of 17
temperature and ethylene concentration were achieved with precise
control, and the variation was no more than 0.5%. The humidity was
within a reasonable threshold of 85%–93%, and the oxygen and car-
bon dioxide were within the thresholds of 20%–22% and 600–
1400 ppm, respectively. In summary, a ripening regulation system for
post-ripening type fruits proposed in this paper can achieve intelligent
ripening, precise control and low power consumption.
AUTHOR CONTRIBU TIONS
Yuliang Li: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Writing-
original draft. Wentao Huang: Conceptualization, Methodology, Visu-
alization. Hanyu Li: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Software.
Xiang Wang: Data curation. Xiaoshuan Zhang: Funding acquisition,
Supervision.
ACKNOWLEDG MENTS
The authors gracess of tefully acknowledge the financial support from
the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number:
32071917).
CONFLIC T OF INTER E ST STATEMENT
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influ-
ence the work reported in this paper.
DATA AVAILABILITY STAT EMEN T
Research data are not shared.
OR CID
Xiang Wang https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3286-9539
Xiaoshuan Zhang https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0395-928X
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How to cite this article: Li, Y., Huang, W., Li, H., Wang, X., &
Zhang, X. (2023). Consumer-oriented intelligent ripening
control system for post-ripening fruit. Journal of Food Process
Engineering, 46(12), e14442. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfpe.
14442