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The new retort recently installed in Fresno State’s Food Processing Research Laboratory is already slated for a technology upgrade as faculty and students prepare to apply computerized logic control to the operating system.
- Fall - 1999 "Update" Special Report -
Gift of sophisticated software enables students to prepare for real-industry situations
From CATI Publication
Copyright © 1999. All rights reserved.
As installed, the retort, which is a large pressure cooker, must be run manually. That requires an operator to monitor and make adjustments in temperature, pressure, flow rate, etc., by hand adjustments of valves and other controls.
With support from the California Agricultural Technology Institute (CATI), industrial technology professor Matthew Yen and some students are working to customize software so the retort can be operated entirely by computer.
"This is an opportunity for students to learn how to automate the system with commonly used industrial equipment," Yen said in describing the project.
In more sophisticated food processing operations, equipment is run by a device called a programmable logic controller (PLC), a specialized computer that sends signals to the equipment electronically. In even more sophisticated systems, separate computer programs run the PLC. In that case, the computer can receive as well as send information to the equipment.
With a software donation from the Wonder Ware Corp., Yen and his students are working to develop a software package than will run the retort automatically
"First we have to key in the program, which can be cumbersome and tedious; then we have to develop a logic sequence program in the computer; then we have to download that to the programmable logic controller," Yen explained. Modifications also will have to be made to the retort so it can be operated electronically. It is a big undertaking, but one with valuable rewards.
"We are trying to do this so students will have a skill that is transferable. This skill can be used in almost any industry," Yen said.
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Copyright © 2000. All rights reserved.
CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE - CATI
College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology
California State University, Fresno
