Automation of Butter Production from Butter Cream by PLC

Our key objective in Automation of Butter Production from Butter Cream by PLC was to practically experience how a PLC based automated system is designed, developed, assembled & operated. We wanted to choose and Input & Output that has minimum safety risk and can be easily put together within

Project Title

Automation of Butter Production from Butter Cream by PLC

Project Area of Specialization

Electrical/Electronic Engineering

Project Summary

Our key objective in Automation of Butter Production from Butter Cream by PLC was to practically experience how a PLC based automated system is designed, developed, assembled & operated. We wanted to choose and Input & Output that has minimum safety risk and can be easily put together within the space limitations of a lab.

            In our FYP, we have managed to successfully build a system that can transform 10-12 liters of butter cream into butter and butter milk. Butter is our intended product and Butter milk is a byproduct of the process of Churning.

            We begin by pouring the Butter Cream into the 1st chamber which is Pasteurization. Once the required level of fluid in the chamber is sensed by the level sensor, a start button can be pressed to start the process of production of Butter.

            Pasteurization of Butter Cream is done by heating it using an Electric Heater and turning it off if the temperature goes above 70 degree Celsius and turning it back on if it drops below 65 degree Celsius. This goes on for 35 minutes. The temperature is sensed using a Pt-100 RTD.

            Once the timeframe of Pasteurization is complete, a cooling fan turns on that starts to cool the Butter Cream to a temperature of 20 degree Celsius. Once this temperature is reached, a valve opens and Butter Cream flows down to the 2nd chamber of Churner. Once all the Butter Cream has flown out and into the Churner, a cold water pump pumps water at a temperature of 15 degree Celsius for 15 seconds. The source of this Cold Water is a removable water can that can be removed easily and a fresh batch supply can be added after successive batches. Then this pumps stops and the Churning Motor Starts.

            The Churning Motor causes the fat molecules in the Butter Cream to bunch together that causes them to form Butter & Butter milk [1]. This process takes about 11 minutes can be observed by the floating of solid pieces of Butter on the surface of your fluid’s meniscus.

            Once Churning completes, a valve opens that drains out all the Butter milk which is collected into a removable tank. A dispensing motor opens shortly after. The dispensing motor is fully invasive and is dipped into the Butter Cream and dispenses out Butter via an outlet where an operator can manually open a valve and collect the Butter.

Project Objectives

Our objective in this search was to find either a finished product or part of the finished product that we could manufacture or produce using automation by PLC. Each industry’s product presented to us a unique challenge. In some the temperatures and pressures were too high making it unsafe to run tests needed to figure out our process flow. In some the height or length of the project to be built seemed impractical since we would be working in a lab. At the end, we decided to work on transforming milk to butter which we finalized as Butter Cream to Butter. Extracting butter cream from milk was a much more energy consuming process due to the application of ‘Separator’ that spins at RPM of 5000-6000. It also required milk in very large quantity making it impractical for lab based project work. So, our objective is to build a small industrial plant/product where Butter Cream is given as Input and Butter is obtained as Output and packed.

The motivation for a PLC based project came from a couple of sources. We had done lots of experiments and projects that have been based on Arduino. The layout of an Arduino is similar to that of a PLC as it too uses Analog & Digital I/O. We studied FATEK PLC programming which provided a fun and user friendly interface in the software WinProLadder. This made the thought of building a program beyond a simulation that would actually control a process way more exciting.

An experiment to simulate Churning of Butter Cream was done using a blender [2]. It was found that butter formed after draining Butter milk is very soft in nature where we realized how a mechanism could be developed to push it out of the Churner through an outlet.

Project Implementation Method

The Project is put together using two cylinderical cans and two water cans for. The cylinderical Cans are used for Pasteurization of Butter Cream followed by the Churning of Butter Cream. Once Butter Cream's required amount is added to the Pasteurization Chamber, the proximity sensor tells the system process is ready to begin as required level is reached. A push start button starts the process which begins by Pasteurization. Butter Cream is heated to a temperature of 70 degree celcius. Temperature is sensed using an RTD with transmitter (Voltage). An electric immersion heater is used for heating. The temperature is maintained at 70 degree celcius by turning the electric heater on/off using the PLC's digital output. Temperature is read using Analog Input Channel 0. This goes on for 35 minutes which is controlled by a timer in the plc program. Once this is done, heater goes off permanently and the cooling fan turns on. The cooling fan is on until the Butter Cream is cooled to a temperature of 20 degree celcius. Once this is done, an electronic valve opens below pasteurization chamber and butter cream flows into the churner.

Once all the Cream has reached the Churner, The cold water pump starts and operates for 15 seconds and provides cold water of 10-15 degree celcius. Once this stops, The churning motor starts and butter churning begins. This goes for about 9 minutes after which an electronic valve at the bottom of Churner opens and drains all the Butter Milk (a by product) and once this closes, then the butter dispensing motor starts to the side and pushes out butter via another electronic valve that opens.

Benefits of the Project

The benefit was the opportunity to experience how PLC based automation systems are designed, developed, programmed and assembled. We were not expecting a lot of wiring work to do because on simulation, ladder logic looked pretty simple but when we started it, it ended up taking a lot of time as a lot of components needed power of various types, some DC, some AC along with Relays needing a separate line. Analog Input needed 10V compared to Digital In/Out that needed 24V etc. The system helped us understand how butter production may be like at large scale by allowing us to see it at a much smaller scale.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

Cylinderical can for Pasteurization of Butter Cream:

Volume: 24,152.56 cm3 or 24.15 Litres

Out of this a volume of 22609.65 cm3 is usable which is equivalent to 22.61 litres.

This is the amount of Butter Cream that can be pasteurized in the first process of production.

Butter Cream then flows after cooling down to the Churner.

The Churner has a volume of 45219 cm3 or 45.22 litres.

The Butter Cream quantity that flows here is about half the capacity so it can be easily churned.

Before Churning starts, A small amount of cold water is pumped into the Churner from a 10 litre cold water can.

Once Churning is done, a valve at the bottom takes out the Butter Milk (a by-product) to a 5 litre white water can.

Butter Produced is pushed out by a motor that resembles in operation to the kind you see in soap dispenser. It however is bigger in size, fully invasive and much more powerful. This motor activates once the butter milk is drained and its valve closed opening another valve to the side for butter's exit.

Final Deliverable of the Project

HW/SW integrated system

Core Industry

Food

Other Industries

Core Technology

Others

Other Technologies

Sustainable Development Goals

Quality Education

Required Resources

If you need this project, please contact me on contact@adikhanofficial.com