FAR INFRARED RADIATION SMART FABRIC HEATING ELEMENT FOR CROPS’ ROOT ENVIRONMENT OPTIMIZATION IN GREENHOUSES

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Greenhouse managers need to improve their crops productivity to guarantee food security. Heating crops roots is essential to obtain higher yields, but existing technologies fail to direct the energy to the crops, heating the whole greenhouse instead. This has a large cost in terms of energy consumption (up to 40% energy waste) and GHG emissions and promotes pest infestation. With AgrowFab, we aim to commercialize a cost-efficient and sustainable technology consisting on a smart fabric that radiates heat as Far Infrared radiation (FIR). The fabric is made from nylon fibres coated with a proprietary non-metal carbon compound, making them electrically conductive. Our product’s nature (lightweight and mechanically flexible) allows its application to surface of any kind/size, and, thanks to a powerful control algorithm, it can be combined with other smart management systems to simultaneously control heating, irrigation and fertilization cycles, therefore enabling the complete management of the root-zone environment. AgrowFab controls the root’s capacity to absorb oxygen, water and nutrients on-demand, enhancing crop yields by 35%, while minimizing the energy waste (at least 40% lower) through accurate and faster (35-45%) temperature delivery. It also decreases the pesticide use by 20% and it can be powered using renewable energy sources. Our consortium is formed by San Hitech Ltd. – a leading engineering company with >20-year-experience and a wholesale branch for industrial electrical supplies – and ThermoSiv Ltd. – a experienced manufacturer of smart heating fabrics – which have joined their engineering and commercial capabilities to bring AgrowFab to market. Through this project, we aim to boost the competitiveness of both companies, reaching cumulative revenues of €47 million after 5 years of commercialization, creating 35 new job positions. With a total Phase 2 investment of €1.9 million, this would imply a ROI of 3.91.