Patent Publication Number: US-2022222754-A1

Title: A method for processing sensor input data captured from sensors placed in a production line, and a system thereof

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The invention relates to the field of food processing, such as liquid food processing and packaging. More particularly, it is related to methods and systems for processing sensor input data captured from sensors placed in a production line. 
     BACKGROUND ART 
     A food processing line of today is in most cases a complex system comprising a number of different pieces of equipment that can process food products in various ways. There are several reasons for the complexity. One reason is that in order to provide for that the line can be cleaned during operation, some of processing steps may be duplicated. For instance, there may be two or more balance tanks provided in the line such that one of them can be serviced while one or several of the others are used for production during the service, which is beneficial from a production point of view since the service in this way does not require that the line is closed down Another reason for having complex systems is that food producers are interested in having flexible lines that can be used for a number of different products. By having such flexible lines, it is possible for the food producers to process and/or pack different products if needed. Further, many of the food processing lines of today have been upgraded several times over the years, which as an effect results in that the lines become increasingly complex. 
     In addition to that the food processing lines are complex as such; the level of complexity increases when taking into account that different sensors are being used. For instance, some food producers may prefer to have magnetic relays provided on each door to be able to detect when this is open or closed such that this can be used as input for determining when a machine interruption has occurred. Other food producers may choose not include such relays on all doors, but instead prefer to, for the same purpose, rely on temperature sensors, conductive sensors, flow transmitters etc., which most often is used for analyzing operations or for control purposes. 
     The complexity of the food processing lines and the sensors used in the food processing lines have effect on the key performance indicators (KPIs) used for keeping track of the performance of the lines. Due to that the lines may be set up differently and that they may comprise different pieces of equipment as well as different types of sensors, it is challenging and time consuming to set up a structure for determining KPIs for a food processing line. Thus, there is a need for methods and systems that can reduce time needed for setting up a system for reliably measuring KPIs. 
     SUMMARY 
     It is an object of the invention to at least partly overcome one or more of the above-identified limitations of the prior art. In particular, it is an object to provide methods and systems for efficiently and reliably set up structures for determining KPIs related to a food processing line. 
     According to a first aspect it is provided a method for processing sensor input data captured from sensors placed in a production line, said method comprising receiving sensor input data from the sensors placed in the production line by a variables generator, wherein the variables generator comprises a first processor, a first data communications module and a first memory, generating a number of variables based on the sensor input data according to a variable generation scheme, transferring the number of variables to a key performance indicator (KPI) generator, wherein the KPI generator comprises a second processor, a second data communications module and a second memory, and generating a number of key performance indicators (KPIs) based on the number of variables according to a KPI generation scheme. 
     Alternatively, the variables generator and the KPI generator may share one and the same processor, memory and data communications device. 
     Further, the method may comprise transferring the number of KPIs to a user interface (UI) enabled device. 
     The variables generator and the KPI generator may be different physical entities. 
     The variable generation scheme may be shared among a first group of production lines and the KPI generation scheme may be shared among a second group of the production lines. 
     The second group may be a sub-set of the first group. 
     An amendment of the variable generation scheme may be distributed to the production lines of the first group via a variable generation data center. 
     An amendment of the KPI generation scheme may be distributed to the production lines of the second group. 
     The KPI generation scheme may be shared in the second group via secure data communications channels. 
     The production line may be a food production line, such as a liquid food production line. 
     According to a second aspect it is provided a system arranged to process sensor input data captured from sensors placed in a production line, said system comprising a variables generator arranged to receive sensor input data from the sensors placed in the production line and to generate a number of variables based on the sensor input data according to a variable generation scheme, wherein the variables generator comprises a first processor, a first data communications module and a first memory, and a key performance indicator (KPI) generator arranged to receive the number of variables from the variables generator, and to generate a number of key performance indicators (KPIs) based on the number of variables according to a KPI generation scheme, wherein the KPI generator comprises a second processor, a second data communications module and a second memory. 
     Further, the KPI generator may be arranged to transfer the number of KPIs to a user interface (UI) enabled device. 
     The variables generator and the KPI generator may be different physical entities. 
     The variable generation scheme may be shared among a first group of production lines and the KPI generation scheme may be shared among a second group of the production lines. 
     The second group may be a sub-set of the first group. 
     An amendment of the variable generation scheme may be distributed to the production lines of the first group via a variable generation data center. 
     An amendment of the KPI generation scheme may be distributed to the production lines of the second group. 
     The KPI generation scheme may be shared in the second group via secure data communications channels. 
     The production line may be a food production line, such as a liquid food production line. 
     Still other objectives, features, aspects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following detailed description as well as from the drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings, in which 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a system comprising a food production line provided with sensors. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a variables generator and a KPI generator in further detail. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates an example of a hardware set up for the variables generator and the KPI generator. 
         FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating a method for processing sensor input data captured from sensors placed in a food production line. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     With reference to  FIG. 1  a system  100  is illustrated. The system  100  comprises a food production line  102 , also referred to as food processing line, which may be a food treatment line comprising steps such as heat treatment, homogenization, filtration and separation, or a food packaging line or a combination thereof. In the example illustrated in  FIG. 1 , the food production line  102  comprises a filling machine  104 , a card board packer  106  arranged to group packages and place them in a cardboard tray, and a film wrapper  108  arranged to provide a plastic film around the tray and packages. By way of example, to monitor performance of the food production line  102 , a first and second sensor  110 ,  112  are placed in the filling machine  104 , a third sensor  114  is placed in the card board packer  106  and a fourth sensor  116  is placed in the film wrapper  108 . The sensors  110 - 116  may be of various kind. For instance, in case the filling machine  104  is a carton-based roll-fed filling machine, the first sensor  110  may be a temperature sensor for determining that sufficient heat is generated when forming transversal sealings, and the second sensor  112  may be an optical sensor for determining that a web of packaging material is correctly aligned when forming a longitudinal sealing. The third sensor  114  placed in the card board packer  106  may, by way of example be a magnetic-based door sensor for determining whether or not a service door is opened. The fourth sensor  116 , also by way of example, may be an optical sensor configured to calculate packages entering the film wrapper  116 . 
     Sensor input data  118 ,  120 , 122 ,  124  from the sensors  110 ,  112 ,  114 ,  116  can be fed to a variables generator  126 , i.e. data generated and fed from the sensors  110 ,  112 ,  114 ,  116 . Based on the sensor input data, the variables generator  126  can be configured to determine a number of variables  128 ,  130 , illustrated as var 1  and var 2  in  FIG. 1 . The variables may be determined in various ways and sensor input data from one or several of the sensors may be taken into account. For instance, based on the sensor input data  122  from the third sensor  114 , a variable called “time service door is opened” may be determined. More particularly, by logging when the service door is opened and a point of time as well as when the service door is closed and a point of time, it can be determined for how long the service door was opened. Further, a variable “packages produced” may be determined based on sensor input data  124  from the fourth sensor  116 . 
     From the variables generator  126  the variables  128 ,  130  can be fed to a key performance indicator (KPI) generator  132 . The KPI generator  132  can be configured to determine KPIs  134 ,  136  based on the variables  128 ,  130 . For instance, a KPI called “time service door is opened per 1000 packages” may be determined by combining the variables called “time service door is opened” and “packages produced”. After having determined the KPIs  134 ,  136  these may be transmitted to a user interface (UI) device  138 , e.g. a personal computer, a mobile phone or a tablet, such that the KPIs can be communicated to an operator. 
     In case one or several of the sensors  110 ,  112 ,  114 ,  116  are replaced by other sensors or if a piece of equipment in the food production line  102  is replaced with a new piece of equipment, the sensor input data  118 ,  120 ,  122 ,  124  will be altered and as an effect the variables  128 ,  130  are to be determined in a different manner. By having a number of different ways to generate variables stored in a variable generation data center  140 , it may be possible to instead of manually set how the variables are to be determined with the other sensors or with the new piece of equipment, this information may be downloaded from the variable generation data center to the variables generator  126  in the form of a variable generation scheme  142 . In case data related to the new piece of equipment is not to be found in the variable generation scheme  142  and this is manually entered by the operator, this data may after having been entered be uploaded to the variable generation data center  140 . In this way, by sharing how variables are to be determined for different sensors and for different pieces of equipment, a time for setting up the system  100  may be shortened, and also by sharing a likelihood to find inaccuracies or mistakes will increase, which in turn provides for increased reliability. 
     In a similar manner, a KPI generation data center  144  may be used for sharing how KPIs are to be determined, and also a KPI generation scheme  146  may be used for downloading and uploading information between the KPI generator  132  and the KPI generation data center  144 . However, since the KPIs are closely related to how the food production line  102  can be run efficiently, these may by some food producers be considered as business-critical information that is not to be shared with everyone. For this reason, the information held in the variable generation data center  140  may be shared with a number of food production lines  148   a - e , together forming a first group  150 , and the information held in the KPI generation data center  144  may be shared with a second group  152 , being a subset of the first group, herein comprising the food production lines  148   d - e . By separating the variable generation data center  140  and the KPI generation data center  144 , it is made possible to collaborate with respect to how the variables are generated, but not with respect to how the variables are used for determining KPIs, e.g. measures based on a combination of different variables. Thus, the time for setting up the system can be shortened and still keep some information within a limited group, e.g. food production lines owned by the same company. 
     The variables generator  126  and the KPI generator  132  may be set up in different ways.  FIG. 2  illustrates by way of example, one possible set up. In a piece of equipment  202 , an event may be registered by a logger  204 , more particularly a data logger connected to at least one sensor. Data registered by the logger  204  is parsed by parsers, herein by way of example a first and a second parser  204   a ,  204   b , to identify different event types  208 , such as service door opened. The event types  208  identified by the data parsers  204   a ,  204   b  can be stored in a database  206 . By combining the event types  208 , variables  210  may be determined. The variables  210  may be transferred to a formula calculations step  212  in which KPIs are determined based on the variables  210 . As illustrated, the variables generator  126  may comprise the equipment  202  including the logger  204  and the data parsers  204   a ,  204   b , and the KPI generator  132  may comprise the database  206  and the formula calculations  212 . 
     As set forth above, the variables generator  126  and the KPI generator  132  may be set to share information with the first group  150  and the second group  152 , respectively. To assure that the information is not spread unduly the variables generator  126  and the KPI generator  132  may be different physical entities. For instance, the variables generator  126  may comprise a first processor  302 , a first data communications module  304  and a first memory  306 , and the KPI generator  132  may comprise a second processor  308 , a second data communications module  310  and a second memory  312 . 
     Alternatively, one and the same processor, memory and/or data communications module may be used by the variables generator  126  and/or the KPI generator  132 . 
       FIG. 4  illustrates a flow chart  400  comprising steps for processing the sensor input data  118 ,  120 , 122 ,  124  captured from the sensors  110 ,  112 ,  114 ,  116  placed in the food production line  102 . In a first step  402  the sensor input data  118 ,  120 ,  122 ,  124  from the sensors  110 ,  112 ,  114 ,  116  placed in the food production line can be received by a variables generator  126 . Thereafter, in a second step  404 , a number of variables  128 ,  130  may be determined based on the sensor input data  118 ,  120 ,  122 ,  124  according to a variable generation scheme. In a third step  406 , the number of variables  128 ,  130  can be transferred to the KPI generator  146 . In a fourth step  408  the number of KPIs  134 ,  136  can be generated based on the number of variables  128 ,  130  according to the KPI generation scheme  146 . Optionally, in a fifth step  410  the number of KPIs can be transferred to the UI enabled device  138 . 
     Even though the production line above is described above in a context of food production, it should be understood that the principles and advantages may also be applied in other fields of production. 
     From the description above follows that, although various embodiments of the invention have been described and shown, the invention is not restricted thereto, but may also be embodied in other ways within the scope of the subject-matter defined in the following claims.