Project Details

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Real-Time Measurement of Product Quality in Food Processing Lines

Company: Eriez Manufacturing Co.

Major(s):
Primary: EE
Secondary: IE
Optional: BME, CMPEN

Non-Disclosure Agreement: NO

Intellectual Property: NO

This senior capstone collaboration will be a short-term project between Eriez Manufacturing and Penn State University’s Electrical Engineering department intended for the Spring 2025 semester. The objective of this project includes surveying and evaluating quality monitoring sensors (Process Analytics) that exist in today’s food and beverage industries. Process Analytical Measurements are a necessity in these industries to monitor and maintain production consistency and the quality of food production. Food safety and quality management not only impacts human health directly but can also affect manufacturing efficiencies and production yield rates, ultimately impacting the US economy [1]. As such, online, real-time measurements and monitoring of various parameters affecting production recipes in food industries becomes increasingly important. 1st Deliverable: Providing a summary of various quality monitoring sensors being used in today’s market. This will include summarizing the measurement principles, the communication protocols (Fieldbus, High Speed Industry Bus, HART Communication Protocol, IO Link, Ethernet/IP, etc.), the Inputs/Outputs for each sensor and their specific applications, not limited to the following: 1. Beverage applications [2,3]: a) Dissolved O2 sensors b) CO2 sensors c) Turbidity sensors d) pH sensors e) Conductivity sensors f) Oxidation Reduction Potential sensors 2. Packaged food applications [4]: a) Time-Temperature Indicators (TTI) b) Freshness Indicators (FI) c) Leak Indicators (LI) d) pH Indicators (PHI) 2nd Deliverable: Prototype development for real-time data collection of signals from a subset of surveyed sensors. This effort will enable a real-time mechanism to collect data for various products from different sensors. A preliminary analysis to prove the feasibility of this prototype will also be a required deliverable for this project. [1] Cozzolino, D., 2022. Sensors for the Food Industry: An Introduction. [2] https://www.mt.com/us/en/home/products/Process-Analytics.html [3] Dodero, A., Escher, A., Bertucci, S., Castellano, M. and Lova, P., 2021. Intelligent packaging for real-time monitoring of food-quality: Current and future developments. Applied Sciences, 11(8), p.3532. [4] Ma, Y., Yang, W., Xia, Y., Xue, W., Wu, H., Li, Z., Zhang, F., Qiu, B. and Fu, C., 2022. Properties and applications of intelligent packaging indicators for food spoilage. Membranes, 12(5), p.477.