Computerized Food Processing Operations PDF
Preview Computerized Food Processing Operations
COMPUTERIZED FOOD PROCESSING OPERATIONS COMPU'I'ERIZED FOOD PROCESSING OPERATIONS Arthur A. Teixeira Associate Professor of Food Engineering University of Florida Charles F. Shoemaker Associate Professor of Food Science University of California, Davis Springer Science+Business Media, LLC http://avaxhome.ws/blogs/ChrisRedfield AnAVI Book (AVI is an imprint of Van Nostrand Reinhold) Copyright © 1989 by Springer Science+Business Media New York Origina\ly published by Van Nostrand Reinhold in 1989 Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover Ist edition 1989 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 88-17415 ISBN 978-1-4613-5847-3 ISBN 978-1-4615-2043-6 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-4615-2043-6 AlI rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means-graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or information storage and retrieval systems-without written permission of the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Teixeira, Arthur A., 1944- Computerized food processing operations. "An AVI book." Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Food industry and trade-Data processing. 1. Shoemaker, Charles F., 1946- II. Title. TP370.5.T45 1989 664' .02'0285 88-17415 ISBN 978-1-4613-5847-3 To Our Wonderful Families Marjorie Alan, Craig, Scott Sharon John, Robert CONTENTS Preface ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 1. Microcomputers 5 Hardware 6 Interfacing with the Outside World 17 Software 22 2. Data Acquisition in the Laboratory 27 The Measurement Process 28 Gas Chromatography: A Case Study 29 Heat Penetration Tests: A Case Study 44 3. Computer Control in the Food Processing Plant 51 Review of Process Control Systems 51 Control System Configurations 55 Benefits of Computer-based Control Systems 62 System Specification and Vendor Selection 64 Industry Case Studies 67 4. On-Line Control of Unit Operations 101 General Concepts 101 Thermal Processing of Canned Foods 102 Ultrahigh Temperature Process Control for Aseptic Systems 111 Multieffect Evaporation in Juice Concentration 117 Fermentation Process Control 123 Computer Control in Bin Drying Operations 128 5. Process Modeling and Simulation 135 Thermal Processing: A Case Study 135 Freezing 150 vii viii CONTENTS D~ng 155 Other Unit Operations 159 Computer-aided Design in Procesi! Flowsheets 160 Training Requirements 165 6. Process Optimization 169 Elements of Optimization Theory 169 Steady-State Optimization in Thermal Processing 171 Dynamic Optimization in Thermal Processing 177 Optimum Container Geometry in Thermal Processing 185 Other Applications of Optimization to Heat Processing 188 Optimization in Food Dehydration 189 Index 197 PREFACE This book is designed to explain and illustrate how food processing op erations can be made more efficient and profitable through the application of computers in the laboratory, pilot plant, and production plant floor of industrial food processing plants. It is intended to provide a sufficient un derstanding of how computer system concepts can be applied to food pro cessing operations to permit technical managers, with the assistance of food engineering professionals, to identify, develop, and implement com puter applications to meet their own specific needs. The book should also serve as a useful text or guide for students in food engineering or food technology seeking a practical course on food process automation at the undergraduate-graduate level interface. The material covered includes the use of microcomputers for automated data acquisition and analysis in the laboratory and pilot plant, followed by the use of computer-based process control systems on the production plant floor. Higher-level applications are also included to illustrate the use of engineering software containing mathematical models for computer simulation, optimization, and intelligent on-line control of specific food processing unit operations. In each chapter, an introduction to the theory of the application in simple lay terms is followed by case study examples of actual project installations or demonstration projects that illustrate the application in a specific food processing situation. Some of the unit operations covered include thermal processing in retorts, heat treatments in aseptic processing, freezing, de hydration, evaporation, and fermentation. Product examples span across food industry subsectors from dairy products to distilled spirits. ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thanks are due to many individuals for supplying information and il lustrations. Particular thanks go to Dr. Dennis R. Heldman of the National Food Processors Association for encouraging the work and for his review of the manuscript. The authors are also grateful to Dr. John E. Manson of Central Analytical Laboratories, Inc., for his many suggestions and com prehensive review of chapter sections dealing with thermal process ster ilization. Special thanks also go to Dr. William C. Dries of the University of Wisconsin's Department of Engineering Professional Development for including the principal author as a regular speaker in his annual short course on "Computer Control of Food Processing," which provided much of the material in Chapter 3. For the remaining material in the book the authors are grateful for their combined industrial and academic experience in the field of food processing and food engineering that has made this work possible. xi Introduction A review of world history over the past thousand years will reveal certain periods of revolutionary changes that have had a major impact on modern civilization. The Renaissance brought Western Europe out of the Dark Ages into a quest for new knowledge. This quest led to exploration of the globe and to the establishment of a mercantile trade that brought great wealth to Europe along with the colonization of the New World. The Industrial Revolution of the nineteenth century transformed the United States from a rural agrarian economy to the industrial giant of the free world that it is today. The U.S. food processing industry has likewise experienced tre mendous growth over the past hundred years as a result of the American strength in manufacturing technology that grew from the Industrial Rev olution. As the twenty-first century approaches, U.S. manufacturing industries, including food processing, are discovering that their share of both domestic and world markets is shrinking in the face of growing competition from Japan and Western Europe. The key to this growing foreign competition seems to lie in the use of sophisticated information systems that focus on quality assurance while achieving manufacturing efficiencies that produce better-quality products at lower cost. Far-thinking industrial analysts are pointing to these developments as evidence of a revolutionary change in our modern civilization that is being labeled the "information revolution." It is no surprise that what lies at the heart of this new information rev olution are the high-speed digital computer and the dramatic developments in electronics technology that have encapsulated enormous quantities of computing power onto tiny silicon chips. The potential impact that this revolution can have on American industry, and on food processing in particular, is limited only by the imagination of those who understand not only what computers can do but also the science and technology behind their industrial manufacturing operations. One purpose of this book is to help spark that imagination. As computers became increasingly available, the food processing industry along with other major industries quickly adopted their use in the many business applications that were common across industry sectors. These in cluded record keeping, accounting, payroll, least-cost ingredient formu lations, database management, and management information systems. Al though these applications were helpful in improving business management 1 A. A. Teixeira et al., Computerized Food Processing Operations © Van Nostrand Reinhold 1989 2 INTRODUCTION efficiency, they had no direct impact on product and process development in the industrial laboratory or on industrial processing and manufacturing operations on the production plant floor. These are highly technical ap plications that need to be custom-developed by teams of engineers and sci entists whose combined knowledge includes product and process technology, engineering mathematics, and computer science. Software for these ap plications can rarely be purchased as off-the-shelf packages from a vendor. Dramatic improvements in laboratory efficiency can be achieved in the food industry laboratory by collecting primary data from sensors and in struments through a computer-based data acquisition system. These sys tems are capable of collecting, treating, and analyzing the data to produce results in a form ready for decision making by the research scientist. Com puter-based process control systems can replace traditional hard-wire relay logic control systems on the production plant floor, where they permit pro cess modifications (such as changes in the sequence of unit operations) or addition or deletion of operations to be accomplished by simply repro gramming the computer, without the need for plant shutdowns to rewire the entire control system and process equipment interface. Away from the plant floor, process design engineers can use sophisticated computer simulation software to predict the results of various process con ditions on the end product. With this capability the engineer can make use of optimization techniques to determine the optimum set of process conditions that should be specified. Back on the plant floor, these same software packages can be accessed through the computer-based process control system. When unexpected changes occur in the course of a process, the simulation software can predict the outcome of the process as a result of these altered conditions. It can then calculate and implement downstream changes in process conditions that will compensate for the upstream de viation. In this way no off-specification product is produced. This is known as real time on-line computer control. The foregoing examples illustrate the types of computer applications de scribed in this book. It should go without saying that very specialized training is required for development of the sophisticated software involved. These computer programs are typically designed by food engineers (en gineers with added training in food science) who have advanced training in engineering mathematics, engineering fields such as fluid mechanics and heat and mass transfer, and the reaction kinetics that describe the various physical, chemical, biochemical, and microbiological reactions oc curring in food product systems. Much of this training lies beyond the reach of both the food scientist and the production or process design engineer who has only basic engineering training; yet these persons are normally responsible for recommendations leading to process improvement and au tomation for production efficiency in a food company. This book is intended to help such persons identify what can be done and the types of resources that would be necessary to do it. The authors hope that it will serve as a useful text for a college course in advanced food process engineering, as
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