09603085/98/$10.00+0.

00 Institution of Chemical Engineers Trans IChemE, Vol 76, Part C, September 1998

DEVELOPMENTS IN MONITORING AND CONTROL OF FOOD PROCESSES

S. LINKO and P. LINKO
Laboratory of Bioprocess Engineering, Helsinki University of Technology, Espoo, Finland

ecent developments in advanced control techniques have opened up novel possibilities for food process control. Food processes have been particularly dif cult to automate and control owing to nonuniformity and variability in raw-materials, and lack of sensors for real-time monitoring of key process variables and quality attributes. Model-based control, distributed control systems together with eld communication protocols, and other computer-aided advanced control strategies are already widely used in chemical process industries, and have proven themselves in selected food processing applications. The bene ts of advanced control techniques include reduced costs, increased quality, and improved safety. Fuzzy logic and neural networks provide convenient means for dealing with uncertainties and highly non-linear events typical of biological processes. Nevertheless, replacing the human expert by computer-aided systems in bioengineering has been slower than in other process industries, and there are few published landmark cases. This paper discusses the potential of such novel tools in food process control. Keywords: advanced control; distributed control; expert system; food process control; fuzzy logic; neural network

INTRODUCTION In food process control, the main objectives are food safety, high quality, minimal processing, and high yield at minimal costs1 ,2 . Moreover, there is an increasing public awareness and a growing demand for improved standards. Highquality products require accurate and reliable instrumentation, fault detection techniques, and on-line control of process variables in order to meet both industry and government speci cations2 . Intelligent computer systems capable of modelling and real-time simulation of entire food processing operations from production planning to process control have been visualized as future goals. Food processes are, however, especially dif cult to automate and control owing to the variability in raw materials, and lack of means for real-time measuring and monitoring of key food process variables and food quality attributes1 4 . Control becomes particularly dif cult when there are interactions between manipulated and controlled variables. Advanced process control techniques have been widely applied in the chemical, petrochemical and forest-based industries, after the apparently rst computer-aided process control system was installed in 1959 in an oil re nery in Port Arthur, Texax5 ,6 . In general, computerized control systems in the food industry have been recently comprehensively discussed7 . There is no doubt that advanced, intelligent control techniques such as model-based, expert, neuro-fuzzy and hybrid control systems would offer particular advantages also in food and allied processes1 . Investments in automation, robotics, and advanced control techniques are likely to result in marked savings in costs, increased productivity, improved and more consistent product quality, and increased safety8 . In a recent Australian 127

study, substantial bene ts were realized from proposed advanced control systems9 . Of the seven industrial case studies, the food industry was represented by a sugar re nery. Consistent product quality would bene t from the adaptability of the control system to the changing environment but such a level of integration of control systems is still relatively uncommon in the food industry. Consequently, the interest in advanced control strategies in food process engineering to improve food manufacturing and quality has been rapidly growing during the last few years1 ,2 ,4 ,1 0 1 2 . This paper discusses some recent developments in advanced control techniques for food processing applications. Table 1 describes some of the nomenclature used. WHAT IS ADVANC ED CONTROL? Advanced control (and computing) can be de ned in many ways, depending on the point of view. For example, any control strategy other than PID control or one that is implemented by using a computer has to be called `advanced 1 2 . In this paper, advanced control is considered mainly as intelligent, computer-assisted, model-based control. In general, the introduction of advanced computing and control techniques is expected to improve process pro tability and business competitiveness. Furthermore, advanced control techniques aim to ensure more stable operations which respond appropriately to the changing requirements, while improved management information and decision support systems through advanced control brings additional bene ts. Nevertheless, the driving force in investing in advanced control systems should not be just to install high-tech control but to increase pro t. Pay-back

128

LINKO and LINKO

Table 1. Nomenclature. AI ARMAX CAM CBR CIM DCS ES FC GMC GUI I/O IPS KBS LAN MIMO MPC NN PC PID-loop PLC SCADA SDS Arti cial intelligence. A eld of computer science aiming at the possibility that a computer could behave `intelligently the way a human expert does. Auto-regressive moving-average with auxiliary input. Computer-aided manufacturing. Case-based reasoning. Programming in which knowledge is stored in the form of experience or cases. Computer-integrated manufacturing. Distributed control system. A computerized controller that is based on several coordinated processors. Expert system. A knowledge-based computer system imitating the performance of a human expert in problem solving. Fuzzy control; FL, Fuzzy logic. The process of solving problems that deal with ambiguous data using multivalued logic, expressing all things as a matter of degree through membership. functions that receive values between 0 and 1. Generic model control. Graphical user interface. Input/output. Integrated production system. Knowledge-based system . Local area network. Multi-input multi-output. Model-predictive control. A multivariable control strategy that depends on a mathematical model to predict the future state of the process variables. Neural network (sometimes ANN for arti cial neural network). Personal computer. A linear single variable controller that generates its control efforts on the basis of a proportional-integral-derivative algorithm. Programmable logic controller. A controller typically programmed using Boolean or ladder logic. Supervisory control and data acquisition system. Smart distributed system. A modular integrated PC-based control system.

times of less than one year have not been uncommon in investments to advanced control. Advanced control techniques include a wide variety of methods from model-based predictive controllers to intelligent and `software sensors, neuro-fuzzy control and expert systems. Many recent advances in process control have been mainly a result of inexpensive computing through microprocessors and intelligent sensor technologies, resulting in improved operational ef ciency. Case studies have shown that such bene ts can be achieved costeffectively, especially where a modern control and monitoring infrastructure with programmable logic controllers (PLC), distributed control system (DSC), and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system is already in place. Moreover, new tools of arti cial intelligence such as fuzzy logic, neural networks, and knowledge-based (expert) systems offer novel solutions to ef cient and reliable real-time control. They provide a novel means for estimation and prediction of key process variables which are conventionally not measurable on-line. Hybrid systems are based on several techniques such as conventional programming, expert knowledge, fuzzy logic, neural network, and so on. Although advanced control can be taken to cover the whole food manufacturing system including quality assurance, management information systems, purchasing and sales and scheduling, this paper only deals with the production process itself. A detailed review of the state of the art and discussions on the theories behind the different schemes of advanced process control is beyond the scope of this paper.

PID, PLC, DCS AND SDS Conventional PID (proportional-integral-derivative) controllers have been used for more than half a century1 3 . They are affordable, robust, relatively easy to use, tune and maintain, and generally commercially available. Essentially, a PID controller reads sensor information, and makes the necessary changes to control-device actuators on the basis of a built-in algorithm. Inexpensive, programmable logic controllers (PLC) with built-in PID loop functions provide, in many cases, the basic units for process control. Furthermore, many controllers now offer the possibility of tuning on the basis of demand. Their main disadvantage is that they perform well only with processes of linear, loworder kinetics, while typical nonlinear bioprocesses change their behaviour whenever their process variables change. Nevertheless, PLCs have been credited with one of automations biggest advancements, and a PLC coupled with smart transmitters and colour graphics user interface represented a revolution in process control1 2 . The changeover from in exible, conventional hard-wired relays, timers and switches to software-based control has resulted in marked savings both in space and costs, eliminated timeconsuming relay mounting and wiring, and brought about the possibility of quick and easy modi cations in the control strategy with changing production needs. Highlighting successful examples from the food industry, PLC interfaced to workstations have been used to control packaging lines in a bakery1 5 and to control the refrigeration system in a meat processing plant1 6 . The interest in exible distributed control systems (DCS), Trans IChemE, Vol 76, Part C, September 1998

DEVELOPMENTS IN MONITORING AND CONTROL OF FOOD PROCESSES consisting of a group of PLCs and an operator interface with a video display for viewing and manipulating of the process variables distributed from the input/output electronics, has recently increased. With the DCS, modi cations in control strategy frequently require only software changes, resulting in marked savings both in costs and time. In chemical and wood pulping processes, feed forward control has already become routine, and the combined use of DCS and PLCs with an open architecture is becoming more and more common. A recently described example of the installation of a microprocessor-controlled DCS in a food plant is the German liquid sugar producer Amino GmbH1 7 . To stabilize the process, feed forward control is commonly employed in DCSs to compensate for an upstream disturbance before it affects a controlled. Conventional cascade control is used when there is a need for one controller to adjust the set-point of another to compensate for changes in a second variable. Where continuous feedback of nal product quality is not technically feasible, statistical process control (SPC) is recommended to maintain product quality. In food process control, control hardware is often distributed over long distances and sometimes has to operate in a hostile environment. There is a trend toward increased levels of communication through multi-layer networks to provide up-to-date information to the operator and management in order to help ensure that the process runs ef ciently and reliably. There is no doubt that DCSbased computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) with information transfer via local area networks (LAN) is likely to increase in popularity in the near future in the food industry, resulting in major cost savings1 . A typical modern installation would consist of a digital eldbus with many nodes from I/O devices to PLCs, to message displays, and PCs with colour graphics1 8 . Fieldbus is a generic term which describes a new digital, two-directional communications network used to link isolated eld devices such as transducers, sensors, controllers and actuators. Each eld device has a low cost computing power, which enables the execution of simple functions such as diagnostics and control. With more and more open systems being installed, such advanced communication protocols are becoming increasingly important. However, until recently, the lack of eldbus standardization has somewhat limited the progress. According to Caro and Morgan1 food processes would bene t from the eldbus, which enables the integration of modern smart sensors with inexpensive advanced control systems. As an example, in a packaging line controlled by PLCs, the remote PLCs communicate with a master PLC through a two-way digital bus which also sends data to a local display panel providing status information1 9 . Each line s master PLC is connected to a higher level bus, which has a high capacity to transmit data from all different production areas within the plant to the control centre. At the highest level, the eldbus is connected, for example, to a LAN such as Ethernet. An important advantage of eldbusconnected PLCs is the modular construction as new units or nodes can be easily added at will, and if one unit has to be shut down, others are not affected. Blevins and Kinney2 0 have discussed in detail the bene ts from a eldbus, using a waste water remediation plant as an example. Honeywell recently enhanced its smart distributed system (SDS) to modular integrated PC control with an open network, bringing real-time communications to sensors and controls Trans IChemE, Vol 76, Part C, September 1998

129

in machine intensive plants typical of food and beverage production as well as packaging2 1 . This eliminates the need for PLCs, with an increased exibility and functionality at decreased costs2 2 . Smart distributed systems have been since installed in canned and packaged foods in Canada, and in biscuit production by Nabisco. The brewing industry has been at the forefront in introducing automation to the food and beverage production. Digital eldbus technology was recently introduced at the Bitburger Brewery in Bitburg, Germany2 2 , with reports of up to 40% cost reductions in cabling, commissioning, and maintenance compared to the conventional analogue technology. Another example is a Guinness brewery where a new control system of an Integrated Production System (IPS) has been adopted 2 3 . The whole process is controlled from a control room on the brewing oor where silent touch screens show every detail of the brewing process. The information to the control room is received via a digital eldbus multiplexer, which transfers signals from the PLCs at local plant control to the mimic display. Due to the eldbus, up to 70% savings in the system installation costs could be realized. Touch screen operator interfaces are employed also, for example, at the Stroh Brewery Company in St Paul, Minnesota2 4 . The familiar Windows platform allowed installation within minutes, and the Windowsbased QuickDesigner allows the simulation of push buttons, selector switches, displays and so on, on the screen; the operator can select, eg., the CIP (clean-in-place) cycle with the touch screen. Another recent Windows-based control system is Wonderware InTouch developed in cooperation with Microsoft. InTouch has been applied, for example, by the Helsinki University of Technology in cooperation with skyla , Finland, to control an immobilized VaPo Ltd, Jyva cell bioreactor system2 5 . PC AND SCADA Ten years ago it was hard to imagine a PC on the factory oor. However, with the phenomenal developments both in software and hardware, many advanced control systems can now be achieved with a PC2 6 . Although PLCs are generally better at data acquisition, PCs excel in data analysis. Relatively recently, however, PCs have been programmed to be able to execute PLC-type real-time ladder-logic control called `soft PLCs2 7 . Visual programming, object-oriented software, and client/server networks have helped to increase the popularity of PCs. The invention of the modern, graphical user interface (GUI) has brought the plant automation system a giant step forward 2 8 , and the key importance of a userfriendly, colour-graphics operator-machine interface in advanced computer-aided process control systems can not be emphasized enough2 9 . PC-based software can now also provide a colour-graphics user interface, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), and trend analyses, and is expected to have a marked impact on process control. Quite recently, the introduction of the Microsoft Windows NT operating system has brought PCs into part of DCS2 8 ,3 0 . Windows NT has the same look and feel as consumer PCs and, consequently, requires less operator training. Todays Windows NT provides for support and documentation tools, video conferencing on the plant oor, and multitasking, multiprocessing, and the determinism required for sophisticated real-time applications.

130

LINKO and LINKO several independent PID-loops concurrently. Few reports on advanced model-based food process control were published before the 1980s although the principles were already reported in the 1960s, and in 1973 the Andersa s (Paris, France) identi cation and command controller has been claimed to have been the rst application to a commercial multivariable control problem. Various model-based or model-predictive control (MPC) strategies have more recently been applied, for example, to baking ovens, cooking extruders, grain dryers and nut roasters3 , and a number of commercial MPC packages are available7 ,4 1 . During the last decade, considerable interest has been directed to adaptive linear controllers which, in principle, are based on an on-line estimation algorithm for automatic parameter adjustment when process conditions change. This type of controller is especially suitable for fermentations and enzymatic processes, in which the biocatalyst activity may vary unpredictably. In model-based control, the behaviour of the process is represented by an analytical or empirical model and a control law is then established on the basis of the model. The model is different for each application and is typically generated off-line from experimental data. Detailed physical principles that govern the process are not normally required and the model should be accurate, simple, stable, and applicable for on-line control purposes, in order to be useful in practice. In generic model control (GMC), the construction of a control algorithm capable of driving the process model along a reference trajectory eliminates the need for tuning. The complexity of bioprocesses makes, however, modelling dif cult and time-consuming, for example, the modelling of the kinetic behaviour of an extrusion cooker4 2 . Recently, however, Elsey et al.4 3 have demonstrated that the performance of MPC with an internal process model for optimizing its control action is far superior to that for PI control of a food extrusion cooker in single-input-single-output control. Clearly, multivariate models may be employed to predict the quality of the end product and, with feedback via optimization, to give new set-points for process control. Although the general lack of knowledge bases on food properties makes the prediction of food quality during processing dif cult, applications are likely to be on-line in the near future. That automatic control of critical food quality variables is becoming a reality has been demonstrated recently by Whaley4 4 who described in detail a model-based control system for a cereal drying plant. In modelling or system identi cation, empirical modelling using time series enables the process output to be represented by a linear, time-invariant, discrete-time model which can be transformed into an ARMAX (AutoRegressive Moving-Average with auXiliary inputs) format3 . Although an ARMAX model represents a linear relationship between the inputs and outputs, in practice, this is often suf cient even though the true relationship over the range of interest may be non-linear4 5 . FUZZY KNOWLEDGE-BASED CONTROL The most recent developments in control technology have focused on user friendliness and on techniques in which exact mathematical modelling of the process is not required. Only twenty years ago microprocessors and minicomputers Trans IChemE, Vol 76, Part C, September 1998

When a new SCADA concept was introduced to the Guinness Park Royal plant, the most critical area was to get the SCADA and the PLCs to cooperate3 1 as a loss of just one batch would cost more than the plant s entire automation system. Market cost savings have also been realized by Carlsberg-Tetleys Alloa brewery as a result of the introduction of a new SCADA system3 2 . Other examples from the beverage industry are the modern open SCADA systems based on off-the-shelf components, and recently installed at HP Bulmer, which has 53% of UK cider market, annually producing 50 million gallons3 3 , and the PC-based control system in the RL Seale & Co rum distillery of Barbados3 4 . Networking across the production areas provide for process control, system diagnostics, and the downloading and management of recipes. A smart, PC-based SCADA system has been installed, for example, at Birds Eye Wall, Europe s largest ice cream factory in Gloucester, UK, producing up to 60% of Europe s ice cream3 5 . By optimizing compressor control algorithms, marked cost reductions could be achieved. This required historic trend analyses, and real-time data available at the remote PLCs. The refrigeration plant is managed by more than 100 PLCs, and the SCADA system reads the data over the site s Ethernet network. When Sanders, one of the European leaders in animal food production, wanted to establish a new plant in ChateauGontier in France, it also wanted an automation system which would assist the operators through a user-friendly man-machine interface3 6 . Sanders eventually rejected a conventional DCS solution in favour of a PC-based system, owing to savings in costs. Genesis real-time, multitasking control software running on a PC was selected for all the automation, and PID loop control is used for the accurate mixing of expensive raw materials for consistent quality and reliability. In this case, no PLCs were employed. Johnson3 7 has reviewed the current developments in commercially available distributed control tools. In many cases, Windows NT has been chosen as the operating system, allowing the DCS to be integrated with most commercially-available information networks such as a eldbus digital communication protocol, and with standard Windows-based word processors and spreadsheets. For example, National Instrument s (Austin, Texas) new BridgeVIEW designed to monitor and control one or more distributed units was developed in G environment to run on Windows 95 or NT, and includes SCADA, alarm and event logging, historical data collection, and device servers to communicate with PLCs, etc.3 8 . Likewise, Alfa Laval s (Lund, Sweden) PC-based SCADA system with an open architecture was developed for the 32 bit Windows NT platform3 9 . The supplier support service for process control and automation systems is becoming increasingly available world-wide through the Internet4 0 . ADVANC ED MODEL-BASED CONTROL PID-loops described above are the most common single variable or single-loop controllers. However, most food related processes are multivariable, time-varying and nonlinear. Nonlinear processes are dif cult to predict with conventional models designed for linear processes but problems involving several process variables have been generally dealt with by multi-loop controllers running

DEVELOPMENTS IN MONITORING AND CONTROL OF FOOD PROCESSES began to take over control tasks and a decade later distributed control systems began to be commonplace, the late 1990s are now witnessing fuzzy control (FC), neural networks (NN), and various hybrid systems coming into everyday life. A fuzzy system can be constructed to map inputs to outputs as any conventional computing system4 6 . According to Waller4 7 , fuzzy logic brings simplicity to the system, when great accuracy is not really needed. It allows the application of heuristics in the form of rules in the control of complex problems, and neural networks bring the ability to learn to the system. Furthermore, FC can deal well with nonlinear and task-oriented problems which has led to the wide availability of hybrid PID-fuzzy controllers. It is an enabling tool for automated supervisory control because it converts human operator s strategies to direct use4 8 . If such a controller is used for set-point regulation, for example, in temperature control, fuzzy logic is usually employed to supervise a conventional PID-controller4 9 . Although King and Mamdani had already described a simple fuzzy algorithm to control the temperature of a stirred tank in the late 1970s, the rst industrial application of fuzzy logic was apparently a cement kiln controller developed in Denmark in the early 1980s. Other known early examples are the fuzzy train control in Sendai, Japan developed by Hitachi, and the control of the petrochemical plant Atlan-tec in Germany, using Informs fuzzyTech software. According to Whitney5 0 , the fuzzy expert (more appropriately: knowledge-based) system Linkman has saved millions of dollars annually in fuel costs alone for Blue Circle Ltd in the UK. Knowledge-base is the part of an ES that consists of facts and heuristics about the domain of interest. Fuzzy (continuous) logic was introduced by Lofti Zadeh in 1965. The theory of fuzzy sets provides convenient means to deal with uncertainties and to convert subjective expert knowledge into quantitative functions which can be processed by a computer. An advantage in the context of food processes is that no complex mathematical relationships are required in the construction of a fuzzy logic controller (FLC). The principles of fuzzy control have been described in detail for example by Yamakawa4 6 . A FLC manages a complex control surface by heuristics instead of a mathematical model. Fuzzy models can be written in the form of easy to understand linguistic rules of the type `If... (antecedent), then... (consequence), similar to the rules in expert systems (ES). A rule is a conditional statement representing heuristic reasoning in which the rst part `if... establishes the conditions that must apply in the second part and `then... is to be acted upon. Together with the corresponding membership functions that describe the degree, within a scale of 0 to 1, with which an element belongs to a set, a group of rules constitutes a fuzzy model. In most commercial FLCs, relatively simple triangular or Gaussian membership functions are used. In Japan, `neuro-fuzzy has already become a `household word. Most commercial fuzzy logic applications are related to control, and today fuzzy logic is used in cameras to control automatic lens focusing; in washing machines to select the cycle time; in cars to select the gear for automatic transmission or to control the automatic braking system; and in videos, vacuum cleaners, lifts, etc. In 1991, Matsushita alone sold over one billion US dollars worth of fuzzy logic based products in Japan, and by 1996 Japanese `fuzzy exports reached about US $ 90 billion. The early food Trans IChemE, Vol 76, Part C, September 1998

131

process related applications of FLC have been described by Linko and others5 1 , and by Dohnal5 2 . In the mid-80s, fuzzy modelling was suggested to control a at bread extrusion cooking process, which was probably the rst fuzzy control application to a food process5 3 ,5 4 . A fuzzy expert system was then built for extruder control, based on the object oriented SmallTalk/V programming environment implemented on a PC. This was expanded to a fuzzy `if..., then... rule-based start-up and shut-down controller which was tested on a production scale twinscrew extruder in cooperation with the Federal Research Centre in Detmold, Germany, using at bread production as the model process5 5 . A convenient GUI with colour graphics was programmed for easy operation and all key process variables are shown in the form of dynamic gauges, in which the arrows change in colour from green (within setpoints) through yellow and orange (within given tolerances) to red (outside tolerances, indicating alarm). The system also provides for the de nition of fuzzy sets with triangular membership functions for all factors and responses. The ability to `remember historical data is invaluable because important information can be provided by the time and sequence of key events and the operator can ask for additional information from the ES at any time. The fuzzy control system was also connected to a neural extrusion simulation model and controller which, after start-up, had superior performance when taught with values close to the operating area5 3 . Other recently published applications on fuzzy food process control include a number of fermentations and food processes1 0 ,1 1 ,5 2 such as Oishi and others5 6 who applied fuzzy control theory to the regulation of the moromi (sake mash) temperature in the sake brewing process. Alfafara et al.5 7 developed a fuzzy controller for ethanol concentration in yeast fermentation and employed it to maximize the production of glutathione. Examples of other potential food process applications of FLC are the drying of sugar beet pulp5 8 , grain drying5 9 and aseptic processing6 0 . Motorola has recently introduced a new 16-bit microcontroller architecture that supports FL programs4 8 . A number of companies have currently plug-in fuzzy logic modules in beta-site testing phase which run on SCADA loops of the plant, rather than on the local control loops. Both Yokogawa Corporation of America (Newnan, Georgia) and Omron Electronics have successfully combined fuzzy logic with conventional PID control with the bene ts of both systems4 6 . EXPERT SYSTEMS An ES is `a computer program which applies expert knowledge to solve complex problems, mimicking the reasoning skill of a human expert 6 1 . It has also been appropriately called `an intelligent automation environment comprised of conventional and heuristic methods to solve a particular problem 6 2 . An ES can either be advisory, with an ability to `discuss with the user, or a stand-alone system, which can handle complex control tasks. Most expert systems are so called if..., then... rule-based systems. ESs can be very helpful in dangerous and unpleasant situations, relieve unskilled labourers from tiresome routines, and they can be built for round-the-clock operation. The expert system for advisory control of heat processing

132

LINKO and LINKO supervisory control system for baker s yeast production7 1 were built in Smalltalk/V-Macintosh environment. A knowledge-network was constructed to represent facts and their relations. Also Kosola and Linko7 2 developed intelligent, real-time neural and neuro-fuzzy state estimation, prediction, and control tools for baker s yeast fermentation. Visual C++ for Windows was employed in the programming of direct neural control systems and MATLABT M was used for building a neuro-fuzzy hybrid system, both implemented in a PC. Other types are also slowly coming to the food industry. For example, Joshua Tetley has recently been reported to have reduced refrigeration costs by an impressive 30% by the introduction of fault diagnosis ESs at its Leeds brewery7 3 . An EUREKA scheme based ALSACA (automation for large-scale assembly) project contains an automatic advisory error recovery system, which uses CBR to detect and diagnose errors within a plant7 4 . The system collects data from PLCs and compares that information with a database of known faults and their remedies. NEURAL CONTROL Neural network models do not require any a priori knowledge on relationships of the process variables in question, and offer a simple and straightforward approach to identi cation problems. The expert knowledge and facts in neural networks is obtained by iterative training on the basis of prior examples. A neural network can also be retrained on- or off-line whenever new information becomes available. An example of industrial-scale applications is the recent neuro-fuzzy hybrid system to control of the tank level at Idemitsu Chiba re nery in Japan. Neural networks handle highly non-linear problems and uncertainties typical of food processes, and are characterized by an ability to learn from past input/output vector pairs through iterative training. Consequently, neural network programming has become one of the biggest research areas of arti cial intelligence, although food process applications have only recently been studied and little published information is available5 7 . It is often not realized that the basic concept of neural networks was already presented in the 1940s in a search for ways to simulate the function of the brain, much before John McCarthy introduced the arti cial intelligence paradigm in 1956. Thus, relatively old concepts are dealt with here. Why is it then that practical applications of neural networks had to wait for so long? Werbos presented the backpropagation learning principle in his PhD thesis in 1974, but it was not until Rumelhart and coworkers made backpropagation widely popular through a landmark paper that appeared in Nature in 1986. This resulted in an explosion of research in neural network applications, but bioprocess application research only began to emerge in the 1990s. Several Japanese companies have applied neural network technology to control kerosene fan heaters commonly used in Japan to heat individual rooms. A more complex example is the automation of certain operator control tasks in lithographic offset colour printing by Rockwell Graphic Systems. According to Hoskins and Himmelblau7 5 , feedforward, backpropagation neural networks are well suited to solving problems typically encountered in the chemical process industry, and this is likely to also apply to Trans IChemE, Vol 76, Part C, September 1998

designed at the Campbell Soup Company is believed to be the rst of its kind in the food industry. In this well-known landmark case, the idea was to collect and organize the expert knowledge of the retiring retort operator Aldo Cimino into a rule-based ES called `Aldo on the disc 6 3 . According to Whitney5 0 , the ES for advisory control system for hydrostatic sterilizers has been said to have paid off already during the rst pilot trial. The 151 rule base capturing the 30 years of experience was built on a PC using the Texas Instrument tool Personal Consultant, and it took six months to develop at a cost of about $65,000 not including the time of the interviews given by Cimino. In addition to troubleshooting, the system also includes all start-up and shut-down procedures for hydrostatic and rotary sterilizers, and it has been successfully installed and operated in several plants. This is a typical example in which the system was designed on the basis of available expert knowledge, in this case of a retiring expert in the eld. The ES has since been installed and successfully operated in several plants. While ESs such as the one described above are used speci cally to solve only problems within a limited domain of expertise, ES shells or tools are generic and can be applied to construct ESs for a wide variety of applications. Unfortunately, few affordable shells have real-time capability in speed and functions, and a user-friendly GUI. Nexpert, ART and KEE have built-in real-time capability and, for example, G2 and MUSE have been designed especially for real-time process monitoring and control. Recently, a number of KBS tools have also been combined with a graphic user interface, object-oriented programming (OOP), fuzzy-, model- and case-based-reasoning (CBR), learning ability provided by neural networks such as the NeurOn-Line algorithm in combination with G2, multimedia, and hypertext, etc. G2 has been said to be the most powerful of the commercially available process control knowledge-based system (KBS) tools6 4 , and Gensym alone has installed more than 1000 systems worldwide for process control6 5 . For example, the ISI Agroindustrial Sugar Company in Padua, Italy, has been investigating the use of G2-based expert systems in real-time control since 19896 6 . While rule-based systems have an excellent capability to explain their reasoning, and some even have the ability to check for the consistency of their rules and to modify rules on the basis of observed facts, neural networks are good at learning. So called expert networks are hybrid systems which combine ESs and neural networks with the advantages of both6 7 . Today more than 60% of ES applications have been developed for PC. They can run conventional PC software, be networked into a LAN, and in many cases replace PLCs. One of the rst prototype ESs built for fermentation processes was the real-time fuzzy ES for glucoamylase production control6 8 , built using the same object-oriented Smalltalk/V-based (Digitalk, Inc, Los Angeles, CA) fuzzy ES tool originally developed for extrusion cooking control and implemented in a PC6 9 . The hierarchic, rule- and framebased system was built to operate on-line, in real-time, with a capability of fault prediction, diagnosis and correction. The system has been subsequently further developed, and as the rst example cases an on-line diagnosis and control system LAexpert for lactic acid production7 0 and

DEVELOPMENTS IN MONITORING AND CONTROL OF FOOD PROCESSES bioindustries. Miller and others7 6 have discussed the principles of various neural control strategies in detail. Linko and others7 7 were the rst to use a neural network with output feedback and time delays for the control of speci c mechanical energy (SME) on the basis of screw speed in at bread production by a twin-screw extrusion cooker. However, as a food extruder is basically a MIMO (multiinput multi-output) system, a MIMO neural network simulator and controller was subsequently integrated with the fuzzy extruder expert system to form a hybrid controller, which was found to be superior after reaching a steady state operation7 8 . Dynamic changes in torque, SME and pressure were modelled and controlled using two independentlytaught feed-forward arti cial neural networks. Choutrou et al.7 9 emphasized the importance of a careful selection of the design parameters to achieve a good performance of an adaptive neural controller. They employed a control scheme based on a plant inverse neural model to control a simple, experimental stirred tank bioreactor. Baker s yeast production represents another type of application of neurocontrol7 1 ,7 2 . Recently, new hybrid software tools, which use existing PLC systems to predict and optimize product quality rather than focusing on the production process itself, have become commercially available8 0 . Neural networks exhibit a great potential as `software sensors for on-line, real-time state estimation and prediction in complex process control applications1 0 ,8 1 ,8 2 . Zhu et al.8 3 used backpropagation neural networks in state variable prediction during the start-up phase of a chemostat ethanol production process. A successful simultaneous estimation of consumed sugar and total produced lysine using data from industrial-scale fed-batch fermentations has been recently demonstrated8 4 . Other typical food processing related neural network applications have involved beer brewing8 5 , yogurt production8 6 , enzyme production8 7 and drying of cooked rice8 8 . Quite recently, Linko et al. 8 9 reported on the application of a neural network in the estimation of fermentation time in the production of b-galactocidase by Streptococcus salivarius subsp thermophilus 11F while Patnaik9 0 applied a dynamic recurrent neural network to control the fed-batch b-galactosidase fermentation by recombinant Eschericia coli which is sensitive to the

133

in ux, noise and process faults. Still another recent example is the application of a recurrent neural network by Teissier et al.9 1 to monitor and control yeast production in a wine base medium using an open-loop control strategy. WHAT CAN WE EXPECT OF THE FUTURE? Improved food process control is needed to ensure a safe, nutritious, and affordable food supply for future generations. This was clearly recognized at the 1993 EFFoST (European Federation of Food Science and Technology) Conference on food control in Porto, Portugal. In the foreword, the great potential of advanced, computer-aided food process control systems has been presented but, as we have seen, the complex nature of food processing makes real-time process control a dif cult and challenging task. Selected examples of recent developments in food process control are given in Table 2, some of which are discussed in a greater detail in the foreword. Although conventional feedback control is accessible and economic today, and statistical process control can be employed as an excellent tool in total quality management (TQM), novel on-line sensors1 ,9 2 ,9 3 for key process variables and quality attributes are needed for ef cient control. Robotics is likely to play an increasing role in food process automation and control in the near future, with a major German meat processor Waltner Fleischwarenfabrik GmbH becoming a good example of the advantages gained from the use of custom-programmed robots in pork chop processing8 . Advanced control strategies are based on a process model to improve the performance of the control system, and continued research for more reliable models is still needed. Advanced controllers can cope with nonlinearities, uncertainties, variable time delays, changes in process variables, and unmeasureable outputs. Statistical process control (SPC) and statistical process monitoring (SPM) employ statistical means as a part of the TQM in order to assure that the process is under control and the products are produced within de ned speci cations. Although statistical process control is not a new concept to improve productivity and product quality, increasing attention to SPC has been given in overall process improvement and control, and its

Table 2. Examples of advanced food process control applications. A packaging line controlled by PLCs with a two-way digital bus. An integrated production system (IPS) for control at a new Guinness brewery. A windows-based system with touch screens at the Stroh Brewery Company in St. Paul Minnesota. A new SCADA concept at the Guinness Park Royal plant, in which the most critical area was to get the SCADA and the PLCs to cooperate A new SCADA system at Carlsberg-Tetley s Alloa brewery A smart, PC-based SCADA system at Birds Eye Wall, Europe s largest ice cream factory in Gloucester, UK A new SCADA system based on the Wonderware s InTouch software A new PC-based control system at Sanders animal feed plant Model-based control at a cereal drying plant Fuzzy, expert and/or neurocontrol of a food extruder Fuzzy control of grain drying Supervisory expert control of thermal processing Fuzzy expert control of lactic acid and baker s yeast fermentation Fault diagnosis expert system, at Joshua Tetley s leeds brewery Neural estimation of consumed sugar and total produced lysine Neural control of fermentation processes 19 23 24 31 32 33 35 36 44 54, 55, 78, 79 59 63 7072 73 82 79, 8184, 8687

Trans IChemE, Vol 76, Part C, September 1998

134

LINKO and LINKO been announced recently, and is expected to enable realtime monitoring and control through the Internet worldwide1 0 9 ,1 1 0 . With the 32-bit Java one writes `applets to run on a Web browser, instead of writing applications in a language for a given platform. Integration of SCADA with the Internet already bene ts Cargill s oil blending plant in Merseyside1 0 3 . In July 1997, a new organization OACG (Open Architecture Control Group) was established, focusing on creating and implementing a standard control engine interface using Java, and a standard I/O medium to connect the control engines with UDP/IP protocol running on Ethernet1 1 0 . Another recent development is a novel objectoriented WEB monitoring and control system by Trihedral Engineering Ltd (Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada) which was implemented at the Cavendish Farms new potato products plant in Summerside (Prince Edwards Island, Canada), with a daily throughput of one million pounds of products1 1 1 . The 1993 expert report on research needs into the 21st century of the IFT research committee identi ed arti cial intelligence and vision systems for sensing food safety and quality as important research subjects1 1 2 . Although much progress has been made since then the report is for the most part valid. In other elds, fuzzy control and neuro-fuzzy hybrid systems are already increasingly appearing in everyday life in camcorders, car transmissions, vacuum cleaners, washing machines, etc. Neural networks can also be employed as `software sensors and predictive control for rapid inference of dif cult-to-measure process output(s) from easily-measurable variables1 1 3 . Neural networks are useful in process identi cation when the structural relationship between the inputs and outputs is not known, but suf cient data is available for the learning procedure. Willis and others1 1 4 have shown the superiority of neuro-control over conventional PI control. According to Collins1 1 5 , perhaps the biggest criticism against neural networks is their inability to determine how they have arrived at a particular conclusion. Lack of information on successful productionscale applications is a further problem1 1 6 . In monitoring and control, the real-time capability of modern expert systems is clearly invaluable1 1 7 . The bene ts of knowledge-based systems in industrial applications have already been clearly demonstrated, although for proprietary reasons little published information is available. According to Chiu1 1 8 , the main driving force for applying advanced, control systems is savings in time and money rather than an improved controller performance. He sites as a typical example the integration of autotuning into todays PID controllers, often with payback after a single use. There is no doubt, however, that in a short time arti cial intelligence techniques integrated into food process control systems will be seen, primarily to complement, rather than replace, conventional control techniques as well as to improve human friendliness. The operator is vital to the success of any novel control application. Affordable standard tools of advanced process control are now available even for the small and medium-sized enterprises. There are no longer technical reasons why food processing could not be as well controlled as any other process, but a change in attitudes and education may be needed. Furthermore, there are only a few published landmark cases and references which do not particularly encourage the conservative food industry to experiment with the novel control techniques. It took an Trans IChemE, Vol 76, Part C, September 1998

principles are described elsewhere9 4 9 7 . A number of integrated CAM packages provide for SPC1 2 and, as an application example, Tan et al.9 8 have recently applied SPC coupled with machine vision for automated real-time control of an extruded food product. Statistical control was monitored by conventional Shewhart charts9 9 , and a PI algorithm was employed to minimize the product size variation caused by moisture variation. Negiz et al.1 0 0 applied SPM to HTST dairy pasteurization for monitoring of product lethality and process sensor reliability. Unlike the chemical industry, process optimization methods have still been little used in the development of model-based predictive controllers for food processing to maximize quality and minimize costs. Following the introduction of PLCs with built-in PID loop functions to replace electromechanical relays in the mid1970s, the rapid developments in personal computers and related software can be said to have resulted in a second revolution in process control. The PC has nally arrived to the plant oor1 , although doubts and criticism have also been expressed1 0 1 ,1 0 2 . Modern computer control systems can easily incorporate both on- and off-line data into their knowledge pool. The capabilities of Pentium processors and the recent introduction of the Windows NT operating system has allowed the DCSs to be integrated with most commercially-available information networks such as the eldbus digital communication protocol, and with standard Windows-based word processors and spreadsheets. When PCs become more robust and crash proof, and links to the Internet become increasingly important, the choice for PCs in process control is likely to increase1 0 3 . The latest software developments also enable marked improvements in the SCADA concept1 0 4 ,1 0 5 and easy-to-understand graphical user interfaces make the modern control systems simple to operate. As the supplier support services become increasingly available worldwide through the Internet, the system maintenance will no longer be a major problem. A digital eldbus enables the integration of modern smart sensors with inexpensive advanced control systems. A smart sensor includes microprocessor software to overcome problems caused by non-linearities. In many cases a smart sensor can calibrate itself, and act as a fault detector1 . The eldbus technology promises to improve quality, reduce costs and boost ef ciency. Following the European eldbus standard EuroNorm EN 50170, an international standard IEC may be nally rati ed by the end of 1998, but much of the bene ts of a standard have been claimed lost during the 13 years of negotiations1 0 6 . The advantages of the use of eldbus technology in the food industry have been recently discussed, using the baking industry as an example, and emphasizing the dramatic reduction of complexity and costs of control system design, installation, maintenance and extension1 0 7 . The principle of independent `agents and `applets capable of communicating with each other could be visualized as a future solution to the communication problems1 0 8 . With the platform-independent object-orientated Java developed by Sun Microsystems (Menlo Park, California), monitoring, reports, trends, alarm lists and statistical process control could become available for any authorized individual anywhere in the world. The Java Automation Application Programming Interface (API) has

DEVELOPMENTS IN MONITORING AND CONTROL OF FOOD PROCESSES engineer to bring such skills to the role of brew master before the Sinebrychoff brewery in Finland ventured into tranferring to computer-controlled, continuous maturation process using immobilized yeast, and it may need a new generation of food engineers and scientists with rst-hand knowledge of computers before real advances can be seen in advanced food process control at the industrial level. REFERENCES
1. Caro, R. H. and Morgan, W. E., 1991, Trends in process control and instrumentation, Food Technol, 45(7): 6266. 2. Perez-Correa, J. R. and Zaror, C. A., 1993, Recent advances in process control and their potential applications to food processing, Food Control, 4: 202209. 3. Haley, T. A. and Mulvaney, S. J., 1994, Advanced process control techniques for the food industry, Trends Food Sci Technol, 6: 103 110. 4. Linko, S., 1997, Advanced control of food processes, in Engineering and Food at ICEF 7, 13 17 April 1997, Brighton, UK (Shef eld Academic Press, Shef eld) pp. AA16-AA24. 5. Johnson, D., 1996a, Distributed control: A view of what s new, Control Engineering, 43(12): 7882. 6. Anderson, J., Backs, T., Van Loon, J. and King, M., 1994, Getting the most out of advanced process control, Chem Engineering, 101(3): 7889. 7. Mittal, G. S. (ed), 1997, Computerized Control Systems in the Food Industry (Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York). 8. Byrne, M., 1996, 21st century plant automation, Food Eng Int l, October: 7174. 9. Martin, T. E., Perkins, J. D., Barton, G. W. and Brisk, M. L., 1991, Bene ts from process control: results of a joint industry2 university study, J Process Control, 1: 6883. 10. Eerika inen, T., Linko, S., Linko, P., Siimes, T. and Zhu, Y.-H., 1993, Fuzzy logic and neural network applications in food science and technology, Trends Food Sci Technol, 4: 237242. 11. Linko, P., Eerika inen, T., Linko, S. and Zhu, Y.-H., 1993, Arti cial intelligence for the food industry, in Proceedings of AIFA Conference 93 (Arti cial Intelligence for Agriculture and Food - Equipment and Process Control), Nimes, France, 27 29 October, EC2, Paris, pp. 187200. 12. McGrath, M. J., O Connor, J. F. and Cummins, S., 1998, Implementing a process control strategy for the food processing industry, J Food Eng, 35: 313321. 13. Bennett, S., 1993, Development of the PID controller, IEEE Control Systems, 13(6): 5865. 14. Wenstrup, R. A., 1994, Programmable logic controllers meet smart transmitters, Food Process, 55(4): 72. 15. Swientek, B., 1993, Placing a premium on real-time management, Prepared foods, 1625 74. 16. Morris, C.E., 1993, Global new plant design -32000 hogs per day, Food Engineering, 65(8): 61. 17. Krueger, J. and Max, H., 1997, Exchange of a distributed control system (DCS) in a liquid sugar plant, Zuckerindustrie, 122: 701705. t und 18. Birus, T., 1997, Steuerungstechnic heute und morgen - Realita ssiges Obst, 64(1): 1920. Visionen, Flu 19. Blevins, T., 1996, Distributed intelligence makes for faster food, Processing, April: 1011. 20. Blevins, T. and Kinney T., 1997, How eldbus can in uence your next project, Control Eng, 43(12): 133134, 136, 138. 21. Reeve, A., 1996, Fieldbus choices become clearer, Control & Instrumentation, 28(12): 29. 22. Babb, M., 1997, Process control steps ahead with digital eldbus, Control Eng 44(15): 8486. 23. Anonymous, 1997, Controlling those costs, The Chemical Engineer, 6 February: 2632. 24. Anonymous, 1995a, `Stroh brewery makes quick panel changes onthe- y , Control Engineering, 41(10): 14. 25. Salmi, J., 1996, Biotechnical puri cation of sulfurous process emissions, MSc Thesis (Helsinki University of Technology, Finland). 26. Petrone, D.J. and Stackhouse, M.D., 1998, PC-based control goes real-time, Control Eng, 45(6): 5456,58,60,62,64. 27. VanDoren, V. J., 1997, Software turns PCs into PLCs, Control Engineering, 44(11): 6.

135

28. Houck, D., 1993, Point, click, drag, mix, Food Processing, USA, 54(11): 108,111. 29. Henrikson, F. W., 1996, Food Processing Automation Conference IV, Trends Food Sci Technol, 7: 9698. 30. Babb, M., 1997, PC-based control falls on `hard times, Control Eng, 44(1): 7984. 31. Anonymous, 1995b, Guinness modularises its software for new SCADA, Control & Instrumentation, 27(10): 20. 32. Anonymous, 1997, Keeping a close watch on the brew, Processing, January: 3132. 33. Heathcote, R., 1997, SCADA team in cider, Control & Instrumentation, 29(1): 29. 34. Anonymous, 1997, PC-based control system distills rum in Barbados, Control Eng, 44(18): 1920. 35. Tinham, B., 1997, Electric cool SCADA, Control & Instrumentation, 29(2): 25. 36. Gaillet, T., 1994, PC-based control system provides exible production, Control Eng, 41(4): 2526. 37. Johnson, D., 1996b, SCADA software raises the stakes, Control Eng, 43(10): 8084, 86. 38. Gerold, J. S., 1996, Software bridges gap from instrumentation to plant oor, Control Engineering, 43(11): 4041. 39. Webb, C., 1997, Smelling fat, Control & Instrumentation, 29(9): 59 60. 40. Anonymous, 1997, The Internet and you, Control Eng, 44(4): 6477. 41. VanDoren, V. J., 1997, Multivariable controllers enter the mainstream, Control Eng, 44(4): 107112. 42. Kulshreshtha, M. K., Zaror, C. A. and Jukes, D. J., 1991, Automatic control of food extrusion: problems and perspectives, Food Control, 2: 8086. 43. Elsey, J., Riepenhausen, J., McKay, B., Barton, G. W. and Willis, M., 1997, Modeling and control of a food extrusion process, Compus chem Eng, 21 (Suppl): S361366 44. Whaley, M. G., 1995, Using model-based controls in cereal drying, Cereal Foods World, 40: 1922. ller, S., Aarts, R. J. and Kortela, U., 45. Linko, P., Rauman-Aalto, P., Mo 1992a, ARMAX modelling and state estimation of an enzyme fermentation process, Biochem Engineering J, 1992, 50: B45-B49. 46. Yamakawa, T., 1992, A fuzzy logic controller, J Biotechnol, 24, 1 32. 47. Waller, L., 1989, Fuzzy logic: it s comprehensible, it s practical and it s commercial, in Electronics, March: 102103. 48. Bartos, F. J., 1996, Fuzzy logic reaches adulthood, Control Engineering, 43(7): 5052, 54, 56. 49. Keure, D., 1997, Fuzzy logic smooths PID-resistant loop, Control Eng, 44(6): 7172. 50. Whitney, L. F., 1989, What expert systems can do for the food industry? Food Technol, 43(5): 135136, 138. 51. Linko, S., Zhu, Y.-H., Eerika inen, T., Siimes, T. and Linko, P., 1994, Arti cial intelligence in bioprocess modelling, estimation and control, Dev Food Sci, 36: 143158. 52. Dohnal, M., Vystrcil, J., Dohnalova, J., Marecek, K., Kvbapilik, M. and Bures, P., 1993, Fuzzy food engineering, J Food Eng, 19: 171 201. 53. Linko, S. and Linko, P., 1986, Fuzzy modelling and its potential, in Development of Mathematical Kinetic Models, Paulus, K. (ed), Berichte der Bundesforschunganstalt fu r Erna hrung BFE-R-8603: 2526. inen, T., Linko, S. and Linko, P., 1988, The potential of fuzzy 54. Eerika logic in optimization and control, in Automatic Control and Optimization of Food Processes, Renard, M. and Bimbenet, J.-J. (eds), (Elsevier Applied Science Publishers, London) pp. 183200. 55. Eerika inen, T., Zhu, Y.-H. and Linko, P., 1993, An expert system with fuzzy variables and neural network estimation, in Proceedings EUFIT 93, Sept 710, 1993, Aachen, Germany, ELITE-Foundation, Aachen, Vol 1, pp. 202207. 56. Oishi, K., Tominaga, M., Kawato, A., Abe, Y., Imayasu, S. and Nanba, A., 1991, Application of fuzzy control to the sake brewing process, J Ferment Biotechnol, 72: 115121. 57. Alfafara, C. G., Miura, K., Shimizu, H., Shioya, S., Suga, K. and Suzuki, K., 1993, Fuzzy control of ethanol concentration and its application to maximum glutathione production in yeast fed-batch culture, Biotechnol Bioeng, 41: 493501. ger, J., Langhans, B. and Alender, S., 1995, Einsatz von Fuzzy 58. Ru r die Automatisierung einer Schnitzeltrocknung, ZuckerControl fu industrie, 120: 387398.

Trans IChemE, Vol 76, Part C, September 1998

136

LINKO and LINKO

Application of arti cial neural networks to investigate the drying of cooked rice, J Food Process Eng, 19: 321329. yra -Ma kinen, A., 1998, Linko, S., Envald, S., Zhu, Y.-H. and Ma Production of b-galactosidase by Streptococcus salivarius subsp thermophilus 11F, J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol, 20: 215219. Patnaik, P. R., 1997, A recurrent neural network for a fed-batch fermentation with recombinant Eschericia coli subject to in ow disturbances, Process Biochem, 32: 391400. Teissier, P., Perret, B., Latrille, E., Barillere, J. M. and Corrieu, G., 1997, A hybrid dynamic recurrent neural network model for yeast production monitoring and control in a wine base medium, J Biotechnol, 55: 157169. Giese, J., 1993, On-line sensors for food processing, Food Technol, 47(5): 8895. Skjoldebrand, C., 1996, On-line sensors - tools for increased productivity and greater ef ciency, European Food and Drink Review, Autumn: 7172, 7475. Sperber, B., 1993, PC-based SPC, Food processing, USA, 54(10): 25 32. Stier, R.F., Blumenthal, T. K. and Blumenthal, M. M., 1993, Getting started with SPC/SQC, Baking & Snack, October: 4748, 50, 5253, 55. Harris, C. S. M. and Richardson, P. S., 1996, Review of principles, techniques and bene ts of statistical process control, Campden & Chorleywood Food Research Association Review, No 4: vii + 45 pp. Wetherill, G. B. and Brown, D. W., 1991, Statistical Process Control Theory and Practice, (Chapman & Hall, New York, NY). Tan, J., Chang, Z. and Hsieh, F., 1996, Implementation of an automated real-time statistical process controller, J Food Process Eng, 19: 4961. Shewhart, W. A., 1931, Economic Control of Quality of Manufactured Produce, (Reinhold, Princeton, NJ). Negiz, A., Ramanauskas, P., Cinar, A., Scvhlesser, J. E. and Armstrong, D. J., 1998, Modelling, monitoring and control strategies for high temperature short time pasteurization systems - 3. Statistical monitoring of product lethality and process sensor reliability, Food Control, 9: 2947. Babb, M., 1997, PC-based control falls on `hard times, Control Eng, 44(1): 7984. Brown, A. and Hastie, M., 1996, Should PCs be used for process control? Control & Instrumentation, 29(10): 3536 Reeve, A., 1998, SCADA on the Internet, Control & Instrumentation, 30(5): 33. Johnson, D., 1996b, SCADA software raises the stakes, Control Eng, 43(10): 8084, 86. Tinham, B., 1996, Wizards wheel over SCADA systems, Control & Instrumentation, 28(12): 2324, 27. Hodgkinson, G., 1998, Fieldbus, Control & Instrumentation, 30(5): 31. Bond, A., 1997, Focusing on eldbus as an enabling technology, European Food & Drink Review, Autumn: 50, 52,54. Egi, N., 1997, New bioprocess control scheme: Decentralized autonomous control system, J Biotechnol, 52: 283288. Lange, S. T., 1997, What s all this about object technology? Control Eng, 44(1): 5964. Anonymous, 1997, New open architecture group works on control standards, Control Eng, 44(11): 2122. Anonymous, 1997, Object-oriented technology processes potatoes, Control Eng, 44(11): 2123. Ritzvi, S. S. H., Singh, R. K., Hotchkiss, J. H., Heldman, D. R. and Leung, H. K., 1993, Research needs in food engineering, processing, and packaging, Food Technol, 47(3): 26S-35S. Linko, S., Luopa, J. and Zhu, Y.-H., 1997, Neural networks as `software sensors in enzyme production, J Biotechnol, 52: 257 266. Willis, M. J., Montague, G. A., Di Massimo, C., Tham, M. T. and Morris, A. J., 1992, Arti cial neural networks in process estimation and control, Automatica, 28: 11811187. Collins, M., 1993, Empiricism strikes back: neural networks in biotechnology, Bio/Technol, 11: 163166. Samad, T., 1992, Neurocontrol: Concepts and applications. Proceedings 1992 IEEE Int Conf on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, October 1821, Chicago, Illinois, pp. 369374. Laffey, T. J., 1991, The real time expert, Byte, 16(1): 259264. Chiu, S., 1997, Developing commercial applications of intelligent control, IEEE Control Systems, 17(2): 9497.

59. Zhang, Q. and Litch eld, J. B., 1993, Fuzzy logic control for a continuous cross ow grain dryer, in J Food Process Eng, 16: 59 77. 60. Ou-Yang, F. and Singh, R. K., 1994, Knowledge-based fuzzy control for aseptic processing, Food Technol, 48(6): 155162. 61. McLellan, M. R., 1989, Introduction to arti cial intelligence and expert systems, in Food Technol, 43(5): 120122, 124, 128. 62. Stock, M., 1989, Glossary, in AI in Process Control (McGraw-Hill Book Co, New York) pp. 201. 63. Herrod, R. and Smith, M., 1986, The Campbell Soup story: An application of AI in the food industry, in Texas Instruments Eng J, 3(1): 16. 64. Efstathiou, H. J., 1990, Introduction to knowledge-based systems for control engineering, in IEE Control Eng Ser, 1633. 65. Samdani, G. and Fouhy, K., 1992, Smart software, in Chem Eng, 99(4): 3032. 66. Anonymous, 1992, Controlling beet sugar plants, Expert Systems, 9: 99. 67. Caudill, M., 1991, Expert networks, in Byte, 16(10): 108116. 68. Aarts, R. J., Suviranta, A., Rauman-Aalto, P. and Linko, P., 1990, An expert system in enzyme production control, Food Biotechnol,. 4: 301315. , L., Eerika inen, T. and Linko, P., 1990, A real-time 69. Aarts, R. J., Seppa expert system in extrusion cooker control, in Engineering and Food, Vol 1, Physical Properties and Process Control, Spiess, W. E. L. and Schubert, H. (eds) pp. 909918. 70. Siimes, T., Nakajima, M., Yada, H., Asama, H., Nagamune, T., Linko, P. and Endo, I., 1992, Object-oriented fuzzy expert system for on-line diagnosing and control of bioprocesses, Appl Microbiol Biotechnol, 37: 756761. 71. Kosola, A. and Linko, P., 1994, Neural control of fed-batch baker s yeast fermentation, Dev Food Sci, 36: 321328. 72. Kosola, A. and Linko, P., 1994, Neural control of fed-batch baker s yeast fermentation, Dev Food Sci, 36: 321328. 73. Anonymous, 1997, A genius of an idea, Processing, January: 10. 74. Nathan, S., 1997, Send for an EXPERT, Process Engineering, 78(19): 13. 75. Hoskins, J. L. and Himmelblau, D. M.., 1988, Arti cial neural network models of knowledge representation in chemical engineering, Comput Chem Engineering, 86: 881890. 76. Miller, W. T. III, Sutton, R. S. and Werbos, P. J. (eds), 1990, Neural Networks for Control, (MIT Press, Boston). 77. Linko, P., Uemura, K., Zhu, Y.-H. and Eerika inen, T., 1992, Application of neural network modelling in fuzzy extrusion control, Trans I ChemE, 70 (C3): 131137. 78. Eerika inen, T. and Linko, P., 1994, Neural networks in extrusion process identi cation and control, Food Control, 5: 111119. 79. Choutrou,M., Najim, K., Roux, G. and Dahhou, B., 1993, Control of a bioreactor using neural network, Bioprocess Eng, 8: 251254. 80. Barnes, M., 1996, Hybrid-based PLC control predicts, optimizes product quality, Control Eng, 43(8): 7576, 78. 81. Di Massimo, C., Lant, P. A., Saunders, G. A., Montague, M. T., Tham, M. T. and Morris, A. M., 1982, Bioprocess applications of model-based estimation techniques, J Chem Technol Biotechnol, 53: 265277. 82. Royce, P.N., 1993, A discussion of recent developments in fermentation monitoring and control from a practical perspective, Crit Rev Biotechnol, 13: 117149. 83. Zhu, Y.-H., Nagamune, T., Endo. I, and Linko, P., 1994, Neural network model in state variable prediction during start-up of chemostat cultue for ethanol production by Sacchraomyces cerevisiae yeast, Trans IChemE, 72: 135142. 84. Zhu, Y.-H., Rajalahti, T. and Linko, S., 1996, Application of neural networks in lysine fermentation control, Biochem Eng J, 62: 207 214. 85. Simutis, R., Havlik, I. and Lu bbert, A., 1993, Fuzzy-aided neural network for real-time state estimation and process prediction in the alcohol formation step of production-scale beer brewing, J Biotechnol, 27: 203215. 86. Latrille, E., Corrieu, G. and Thibault, J., 1994, Neural network models for nal process time determination in fermented milk production, Computers & Chemical Eng, 18: 11711173. 87. Wang, Y., Luopa, J., Rajalahti, T. and Linko, S., 1995, Strategies for the production of lipase by Candida rugosa; neural estimation of biomass and lipase activity, Biotechnol Techn, 9: 741746. 88. Ramesh, M. N., Kumar, M. A. and Srinivasa Rao, P. N., 1996,

89. 90. 91.

92. 93. 94. 95. 96. 97. 98. 99. 100.

101. 102. 103. 104. 105. 106. 107. 108. 109. 110. 111. 112. 113. 114. 115. 116. 117. 118.

Trans IChemE, Vol 76, Part C, September 1998

DEVELOPMENTS IN MONITORING AND CONTROL OF FOOD PROCESSES ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors are grateful to the Academy of Finland for nancial support.

137

Engineering, PO Box 6100, FIN-02015 HUT, Finland. Fax: +3589 462373. Email: susan.linko@hut. . The manuscript was received 6 November 1997 and accepted for publication after revision 16 July 1998

ADDRESS
Correspondence concerning this paper should be addressed to Dr S. Linko, Helsinki University of Technology, Laboratory of Bioprocess

This paper is an extended and updated version of an invited plenary lecture presented by Dr S. Linko at the 7th International Congress on Engineering and Food (ICEF 7), April 1317, 1997, Brighton, UK.

Trans IChemE, Vol 76, Part C, September 1998