Intelligent, flexible control for continuous digitalization in coffee roasting

In this Project, Probat and the Institute of Automation Technology are collaborating to develop a flexible, intelligent and adaptive control system for roasting machines in coffee production. The control strategy shall ensure high process quality despite the variety of environmental influences, such as ambient temperature, type of coffee or batch size, and increase the degree of automation of the process.

The aim is to specify target temperature curves for the duration of the roasting process, so-called "roasting profiles", and to realize them machine-independentlywith the developed control system. Production becomes more flexible and scalable, as the most efficient machine can be used depending on the batch size. In addition, the energy consumption for roasting profiles is optimized by analyzing the heat transfer to the coffee beans as a function of the supply air temperature and flow rate.