Integration of Fuzzy Logic into a Fermentation Process Control System

摘要

The making of beer is one of the oldest crafts known to man and it is therefore surprising that the nature of fermentation was not understood until the later part of the nineteenth century. Traditionally, a brewery was manually controlled and a master brewer made all the important decisions. Breweries are now highly automated and the production of beer is maximised to produce beer of a consistent high quality in the shortest time possible. The main objective of this project is to develop a decision making model for the fermentation process to minimise the brewing time ensuring the good and consistent quality of the beer. Our approach is based on fuzzy logic and it has two levels. This first model decides which type of beer is being manufactured. This model will then be integrated into a SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) control system. The project data is from a local commercial brewery. The second step is to monitor the progress of the individual beer while it is being manufactured and to optimise the brewing time. These models will communicate with a SCADA package, InTouch, (version 6.0) from Wonderware via Excel uing DDE (dynamic data exchange). InTouch will provide the front end for the operators.