The process of evaporation of sea water in making salt is an obstacle for salt farmers in Raci Village, Pati Regency. Besides requiring a long time, the technology used is also still relatively conventional which still depends on the sun's heat so that during the rainy season crop failure could occurs. "The main obstacle in making salt is the process of changing sea water from a viscosity level of 30x10-3 Ns / m2 to a viscosity level of 25x10-3 Ns / m2", said Rifa'i as the head of the Mentari Jaya salt farmer group in Raci Village .
According to Mamik as the Head of Raci Village, that the salt farmer group in Raci Village consisting of 500 Family Heads, ± 97% of them still use the conventional system by utilizing the sun's heat to evaporate sea water into salt.
The salt farmer group of Raci Village in Pati Regency has not been able to optimize the abundant wind potential, it is seen from the absence of salt production technology that utilizes wind energy, whereas according to BMKG data in 2018 the wind potential in the area is quite large with an average wind speed of 3,8 m / s.
That is what inspired Politeknik Negeri Semarang students, namely Mustain Rhozaly (Electrical Engineering), Gizella Sofiani (Mechanical Engineering), Rifky Khoirulloh Yoga Pratama (Electrical Engineering), Rohmad Salam (Mechanical Engineering), and Wahyu Ariyanto (Mechanical Engineering) and Ilham Sayekti, ST, M.Kom., As the supervisor to create WINTER SOON technology (Wind Turbine For Acceleration In Salt Production). This technology makes the process of evaporation of sea water faster and more efficient and environmentally friendly.
This technology utilizes wind energy through turbines to produce electricity as a heater in accelerating seawater evaporation thereby reducing the dependence on solar energy in the salt production process. This tool is also equipped with an Arduino Mega so that it can work automatically with the right warm-up time. The seawater heater part of the WINTER SOON can be placed indoors so that it can produce salt even in the rainy season. WINTER SOON (Wind Turbine For Acceleration In Salt Production) technology is the right solution for salt farmers in Raci Village, Pati Regency and is able to increase production by + - 34%.