Automation
How the dispensing system 4.0 works
It was a premiere at the catering trade fair in Amsterdam at the beginning of the year: Van Duijnen Horeca Service presented a fully automated version of its dispensing system for the first time. The system sends data to the cloud, making it available around the clock.
The 'pub experience' appears in a completely new light: no more long queues at the bar until it's finally your turn. No more frantically waving at the overly stressed waitress. Instead, simply go to the so-called 'Friends Table', choose your favorite beer there and pay directly by credit card before finally tapping it yourself. - This is roughly Van Duijnen Horeca Service's vision of 'Tap 4.0'.
However, before the beer can flow from the tap 4.0, a number of steps are necessary in the background to ensure quality, explains Christiaan Knopper, Innovation Manager at Van Duijnen Horeca Service: "Tapping technology may seem simple at first glance - but this is a fallacy. Storage, temperature and pressure must be taken into account and precisely coordinated to ensure optimum beer quality on tap. Furthermore, the process in the restaurant must run efficiently, everything has to be user-friendly and the bar manager needs continuous access to all data in order to be able to guarantee his guests consistent quality.
At the 'Friends Table' you can operate your own tap. The corresponding information is ...
© SigmaControlPreviously, we could only buffer the data until it was read out by the payment system - after that, the information was irretrievably lost. In other words, there was no possibility of documentation, we were severely restricted in terms of expansion requests and completely dependent on the provider of the cash registers."
The reason for this was that different modules were used in the past for the tasks outlined - each equipped with its own control system. Christiaan Knopper: "Each solution was only good at one thing and therefore had its own limitations." These limitations ultimately led to a change in the organization's approach and thus to the use of a scalable automation solution with a connection to the IoT.
... displayed on a 3.5-inch touchscreen panel. This communicates with the PLC via CANopen.
© SigmaControlToday, Van Duijnen is able to collect and access all data independently of other providers. "We now know exactly how and when which beer brands are selling, can manage this valuable data and also make it available to suppliers," says Knopper. From a technical perspective, however, data such as pressure, temperature and the detection of empty kegs are particularly important: "Customers come to us with all kinds of questions. If the beer has too much or too little foam - is this the result of the wrong temperature or pressure? It's then much easier and much quicker to read out the relevant data remotely and correct the parameters than having to send an expensive technician on site."
Thanks to the automated process and the precise dosing it enables, no more beer is spilled and every beer is registered. This means that it is no longer possible to forget a drink or two when paying - whether intentionally or not. The resulting savings would be around 20 %. Apart from this, Knopper is convinced that in future the main focus for restaurants will not be on direct savings, but on additional services. Accordingly, Van Duijnen Horeca Service no longer wants to earn money primarily from the sale of complete systems in the long term, but rather from maintenance and, above all, from pay-per-click subscription models. This refers to a very transparent system in which the customer is charged a certain amount for each glass of beer served. Using RFID, the customer can pay the displayed price either immediately or as a 'collective bill' at the end of their visit to the pub using a corresponding card to which a certain 'credit' amount has previously been loaded.
Precise data for the perfect foam crown
Back to the subject of quality. To understand the importance of transparent access to the parameters of the dispensing system for the perfect beer, a brief digression into dispensing technology is in order: There is a basic pressure in the keg with a certain amount of carbon dioxide in the beer. In a closed container, perfect equilibrium prevails. However, as soon as the container is opened, the gas wants to escape from the liquid. To finally get the beer from the keg into the tap, the pressure has to be increased by adding more carbon dioxide to the keg. The warmer the beer, the higher the pressure needs to be. When the beer is finally tapped, there are three possibilities: saturated beer (with a nice head), under-saturated beer (stale taste) or over-saturated beer (sour taste).
The status of each individual dispenser can be called up at any time via the cloud. The bar manager can monitor or shut down everything from here at the click of a mouse.
© SynadiaAccording to Christiaan Knopper, finding the right pressure for a perfectly balanced beer experience is a science in itself and depends not least on the length of the beer line - the pressure drops by 0.03 bar with every meter: "To determine the pressure and adjust the cooling accordingly, we first have to calculate the entire length and height of the water column. If we need higher pressure, then we simply store the beer a little warmer. As soon as it exceeds the perfect drinking temperature, we have to cool the beer again during transportation from the keg to the tap. This is done with a so-called python - a water pipe that runs along the beer line. Van Duijnen uses ultrasonic flow meters to detect empty kegs and react accordingly. The decisive factor here is that the PLC used makes the data available in the cloud around the clock - i.e. 24/7! - is made available. In the event of an alarm or if important information is available, appropriate measures can be taken immediately.
KeyKegs are increasingly being used for kegs. With this system, the beer is filled into an internal plastic pocket of a PET keg without the addition of oxygen or propellant gas. According to Christiaan Knopper, this variant is mostly chosen by small breweries as they have the problem of not being able to precisely control the carbon dioxide content because fermentation is a natural process. Large breweries are different: They put the beer into centrifuges after the brewing process to remove all the yeast - and therefore the gas. They then add carbon dioxide to the beer until perfect saturation is achieved, guaranteeing consistent quality throughout.
The Amazon gateway enables a secure connection for querying and exchanging data. For engineering purposes, the Sigmatek CPU offers various secure remote access options via VPN router or VPN tunneling.
© SigmaControl/SynadiaAll in all, the automated dispensing system currently logs data relating to the detection of empty kegs, temperature and consumption - via both analog and digital I/Os - and sends it to the cloud, where it is logged and interpreted. Additional options - such as a thermostat - can be easily integrated at any time. All HMIs, RFIDs and taps were controlled by four CP 112 PLC modules especially for the installation at the trade fair. These were supplied by Sigmatek, as were the 3.5-inch touchscreens (ETT 352) and RFID readers (RFID 131). For the development of the
interface, which allows remote access to the data from a PC, and the complete software project planning was the responsibility of the Dutch company Synadia.
was responsible.
The implemented cloud solution gives the operator a real-time overview of both the entire system and every single active tap in the bar. The same applies to the transactions carried out and any alarms. Based on this, corresponding reports can be created and ultimately the entire system can be shut down via online access.
For Synadia, one challenge in the project was to design the various functions of the dispensing process with regard to interchangeable hardware in order to guarantee the greatest possible flexibility, because: "No two bars are the same and the best configuration of hardware and cloud functionality must be configured based on numerous factors," says Synadia Managing Director Remi van Wijngaarden. Ultimately, it's about configuring the inputs and outputs via the cloud and equipping them with functionalities that are then forwarded live to the PLC.
The PLC software then works according to the configuration specified by the cloud. "The complexity here is that there is no predefined hardware selection or functionality in the software. In other words: We have managed to cover the most diverse pubs with one and the same software
version. We are also working on carrying out planned PLC updates via the cloud. Last but not least, we are making our solution compatible with Amazon Web Services with the aim of being able to process thousands of transactions per minute. Incidentally, we use the open source software GIT for version control, which is probably quite unique for PLC software."
Author: Karl Baldauf, Product Manager IoT, Sigmatek GmbH & Co KG
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