Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM
Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM
Abfüllung von Soda- und Orangensaftflaschen
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Abfüllung von Soda- und Orangensaftflaschen

Intelligent Control in Beverage Production

The aim of the DESPRIMA project is to demonstrate the potential of the beverage industry to provide possible system services. DESPRIMA deals with modelling and control tasks. Each product, for example, makes different demands on its filling into the bottle. One challenge is energy-efficient and flexible operation.

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DESPRIMA – Demand Side and Production Management for Beverage Filling Processes

Flexible Energy Management in Beverage Production

Flexibility Requirements in the Power Grid and Demand-Side Management

Demand-side management (DSM) enables electricity customers to flexibly influence their own consumption in order to compensate for fluctuating electricity generation from renewable energy plants at the request of the grid operator. In return for the flexibilisation of the customer's loads for the supply of system services, the customer can receive special tariffs and thus reduce his electricity costs.
By providing this in the form of flexible P and Q load curves, the long-term:

  • the network stability (e.g. tasks of voltage maintenance and frequency control) is better controlled.
  • the expansion of the network and the provision of additional storage capacity are limited by the dynamic shifting of residual loads. 

The Future of Filling Technology Is Flexible, Energy-Efficient and Digital

A challenging task for production companies is the simultaneously energy-efficient and flexible operation. The field of the provision of dynamic system services by industry is still largely unexplored, especially for the beverage industry under consideration here.
It is missing or lacking so far:

  • Energy monitoring and forecasting of the individual components of the filling line and bottle production components.
  • There is a lack of detailed information on process flexibility.
  • Suitable strategies that guarantee the dynamic provision of system services without impairing the production process.

Smart Production in the Beverage Industry

The aim of the DESPRIMA project is therefore to highlight the potentials for the provision of possible system services by the beverage industry – in particular through intelligent control of bottle production, filling systems and packaging machines. A new smart energy management system will enable active participation in the electricity markets.

In DESPRIMA we show together with our network partners that with sufficient flexibility, costs can be saved and at the same time controllable and predicable loads are available for the grid. We are developing an energy management system that provides energy monitoring and forecasting. We pay particular attention to the following aspects:

  • Production specifications and requirements
  • Market mechanisms for the symbiosis of production processes
  • Operation of the power grid

A research and development consortium – consisting of a network operator, a beverage producer and various research partners – is implementing the project. We simulate and analyze the interaction of the energy management system with the power grid to generate the symbiosis between production operation and grid operation together with the SWW Wunsiedel public utilities (grid operator and supplier). The research results are tested and validated by the network partners at the beverage producer Brandenburger Urstromquelle as end users.

Logo DESPRIMA
Logo DESPRIMA

Modelling, State Estimation and Model-Based Control

Our task as ITWM team is the development of

  • the physical models
  • the state estimation
  • the implementation of model predictive control concepts for demand-side and production management

Together with the Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU), we are developing a model library whose components are used to map the preform production of the bottles by injection molding and the entire beverage filling process – also with regard to energy consumption, system performance and stability as a function of all control variables.

The models of the production lines and the preform production are coupled with models of the power grid of the University of Bremen.

Based on the resulting system configuration and the real-time models, we then implement model predictive control algorithms to control the production process together with RPTU Kaiserslautern. In doing so, both the production specifications and the energy specifications are to be adhered to while maintaining system stability. Here we consider and integrate in particular the interactions of the existing control algorithms of the plant manufacturers within the production line.

Project Partner

  • SWW Wunsiedel GmbH (Koordinator)
  • RPTU Kaiserslautern, Fachbereich Maschinenbau und Verfahrenstechnik
  • Fraunhofer ITWM
  • Dresden Elektronik Ingenieurtechnik GmbH
  • Software AG
  • Universität Bremen
  • Brandenburger Urstromquelle GmbH

Project Duration

July 2019 bis June 2022

The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi) within the framework of the funding measure »Application-oriented non-nuclear R&D in the 6th Energy Research Programme of the Federal Government«.

 

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