AI-Enhanced Production Line for Quality Control, Filling, Capping, and Packaging in Beverage Industry Applications

Description

This project is the second phase of the previous project, which was a fully automatic beverage production line that was designed in 2019. The previous project aimed to design and fabricate six stages: the bottle preparation stage, the sterilizing stage, the filling stage, the capping stage, the drying stage, and finally the labelling stage. At that time, only one stage was fabricated physically, which was the filling stage, due to inadequacies in funding. In this project, the target is to integrate the filling stage with the rest of the new production line, redesign the capping stage, and design the packaging stage and use AI and a vision system to test and evaluate the shape of the beverage bottle. Consequently, some stages are eliminated from the previous project because they were designed properly and cannot be enhanced or reduced in cost. This production line encompasses several distinct stages: initially, a sorting and primary quality control zone for the empty containers, in which any container exhibiting cracks, scratches, or any defect that may compromise the quality of the final product shall be discarded. Subsequently, following a meticulous examination of the bottle, the next stage involves the filling of the bottle with juice, during which the product is filled with the requisite amount of liquid, and the cap is affixed to the bottle and secured by the conclusion of this stage. Thereafter, the second quality control zone is engaged to ascertain the correctness of the capping process on the container, ensuring it contains the requisite amount of liquid. In the final stage, a packaging machine is employed to package and organize the collection of bottles, which encompasses the last quality control zone to assess the packaging process. The sorting task may be executed by a robotic arm to eliminate defective bottles at various stages, based on decisions made by quality control, alongside alternative mechanical and pneumatic mechanisms for other sorting phases within the line. One of the main objectives is to address the problems relating to quality inspection of filling, capping and packaging in beverage production. With the support of AI and a vision system, the fully automated system and production line aim to minimize human physical interference in the beverage production process, the quality control, and the sorting process for products with defects or contamination in any process in the production line, which would help to maximize safety for both the operator and the consumer as well as the produced product. With human interference, the product/liquid could be exposed to external contamination. This system would lead to a significant improvement in quality, safety, and efficiency over a traditional system where the operator is responsible for the quality check and sorting process. In undertaking this endeavor, firstly, a thorough examination of the existing production lines along with their respective components and mechanisms, as well as the operational processes, is elucidated. Subsequently, the project delineates the design of the aforementioned stations/stages employing advanced computational tools in conjunction with theoretical calculations. Thereafter, comprehensive information regarding the requisite components, their selection criteria, and anticipated costs is presented; furthermore, a comparative analysis is conducted between conventional and PLC control systems to ascertain the most suitable control method for the system. Subsequently, in order to facilitate the flawless construction of the control, a flowchart was devised for each stage, effectively delineating the operational conditions for all components within the machinery.