Monitoring and control device for the automated optimization of the grinding line of a roller system and corresponding method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11065626-B2
Application number	US-201916282757-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 22, 2019
Priority date	Aug 22, 2016
Publication date	Jul 20, 2021
Grant date	Jul 20, 2021

Abstract

A self-optimizing, adaptive product processing system and a corresponding method for grinding and/or crushing cereals and seeds. The grinding and/or crushing takes place in at least one roller mill which includes a roller pair. So as to detect the temperature of the surfaces of the rollers, at least two temperature sensors are disposed on at least one of the rollers. The detected temperature measurement values are used for optimal adjustment and signal generation of the roller setting.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a grinding system including:
control circuitry including data receiving circuitry;
at least one roller pair, wherein the at least one roller pair includes two rollers for processing a product, at least one of the rollers including a plurality of sensors for detecting measurement values indicating a state of the at least one of the rollers, each of the rollers including a rotational axis;
a measuring device in a receiving opening of a roller body of the at least one of the rollers of the at least one roller pair for processing the product, the measuring device including at least one of the plurality of sensors for detecting the measurement values indicating a state of the at least one of the rollers, the measurement values from the at least one of the rollers of the at least one roller pair being received from data transmitting circuitry of the measuring device using the data receiving circuitry of the control circuitry, wherein:

the control circuitry is configured to identify at least one of a type of the at least one of the rollers and identification of the at least one of the rollers based on electronically stored data of an identifier,
the plurality of sensors, connected to the control circuitry, including two or more temperature sensors disposed along the rotational axis of the at least one of the rollers for ascertaining at least one of a temperature profile and a temperature gradient of the at least one of the rollers,
the plurality of sensors further include at least one of a vibration sensor and an accelerometer for monitoring at least one of a rotational speed and an acceleration/deceleration of the at least one of the rollers, and
the control circuitry includes machine learning circuitry configured to generate and predict at least one of a remaining service life of the at least one of the rollers, wear parameters of the at least one of the rollers, an operating parameter of the at least one of the rollers, a roller operation and a width of gap between the two rollers of the at least one roller pair, and a parallelism of the two rollers which are optimizable in an automated manner by at least one of the control circuitry and closed-loop control circuitry connected to the control circuitry based on the measurement values which have been received by way of the machine learning circuitry.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the two rollers comprises the data transmitting circuitry, a microprocessor, an energy source, two of the temperature sensors, and the vibration sensor.

3. The system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the at least one of the rollers comprises distal ends, the measuring device including one of the temperature sensors in a region of the distal ends of the at least one of the rollers, the temperature gradient for the at least one of the rollers being measurable by way of the temperature sensors of the respective distal ends.

4. The system according claim 1 , wherein:
the control circuitry measures the temperature gradient along the at least one of the rollers using at least one of the temperature sensors, the temperature gradient which has been measured is transmitted to the control circuitry, at least one a distance between the rollers of the at least one roller pair and parallelism of the at least one roller pair being corrected in an optimized manner by way of the control circuitry based on the measured temperature gradient.

5. The system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the control circuitry identifies the at least one of the rollers using an identification tag of the least one of the rollers, the identification tag including electronically stored data indicating at least one of a roller number and a corrugation identification of the roller.

6. The system according to claim 1 , wherein:
a temperature of the at least one of the rollers is measured and monitored continuously using at least one of the temperature sensors and the control circuitry.

7. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the rollers comprises:
an RFID tag, at least one of the temperature sensors, the accelerometer, the vibration sensor, and the control circuitry which generates parameters regarding at least one of a remaining service life of the at least one of the rollers, wear parameters of the at least one of the rollers, the operating parameter of the at least one of the rollers, the rotational speed of the at least one of the rollers, the acceleration/deceleration of the at least one of the rollers, a shape of the at least one of the rollers, and a number of corrugations the at least one of the rollers.

8. The system according to claim 7 , wherein:
at least one of the wear parameters and the operating parameter include diagnostic indicators of product build-up.

9. The system according to claim 7 , wherein:
the machine learning circuitry of the control circuitry is used for generating the parameters regarding at least one of a remaining service life of the at least one of the rollers, wear parameters of the at least one of the rollers, and the operating parameter of the at least one of the rollers utilizing at least one of the shape, a twist, and the number of corrugations of the at least one of the rollers utilizing closed loop circuitry of the control circuitry.

10. The system according to claim 1 , wherein:
an optimization of at least one of an operation of the at least one roller pair and a parallelism of the at least one rollers of the roller pair is performed by at least one of the control circuitry and the closed-loop control circuitry connected to the control circuitry using the measurement values which have been received by way of the machine learning circuitry,
the machine learning circuitry comprising monitoring circuitry configured to monitor the received measurement values and learning circuitry, the monitoring circuitry configured to chronologically detect a temperature during a time of heating which is an actual value and a setpoint value of the temperature, and at least one of the width of the gap, the rotational speed, a product build-up, and the parallelism of the two rollers, and
the learning circuitry performing a learning process by linking at least two of the actual value and the setpoint value of the temperature during a predetermined period of time, the width of the gap, the rotational speed, the product build-up, and the parallelism of the two rollers.

11. The system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the at least one of the rollers includes at least one of an energy receiver and an energy source for supplying power to the at least one of the plurality of sensors.

12. The system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the at least one of the rollers includes an inductive energy receiver which wirelessly receives electrical energy via an electromagnetic field.

13. A method for operating the system according to claim 1 , comprising:
obtaining measurement values from the measuring device of the at least one of the rollers;
transmitting the measurement values from the measuring device to the control circuitry;
optimizing the system using the machine learning circuitry of the control circuitry using the measurement values which have been obtained with respect to at least one of a shape of the at least one roller, a twist of the at least one roller, and a number of corrugations of the at least one roller.

Assignees

• Buehler Ag
• Buehler Ag Geb

Inventors

• Reiter Emanuel

Classifications

• B02C4/38

  in grain mills · CPC title

• B02C4/06

  specially adapted for milling grain · CPC title

• B02C4/30

  Shape or construction of rollers · CPC title

• B02C4/32

  Adjusting, applying pressure to, or controlling the distance between, milling members · CPC title

• B02C25/00 Primary

  Control arrangements specially adapted for crushing or disintegrating · CPC title