Cereals processing technology

42 Cereals processing technology
performance or changes in operating conditions. A classic example is a change
in production rates or plant wear.
Distributed Control Systems (DCS) and Supervisory Control And Data
Acquisition (SCADA)
These systems are now the accepted standard for process control and
monitoring. SCADA systems are often used in conjunction with Programmable
Logic Controllers (PLCs). SCADA systems are usually mounted on personal
computer hosts that communicate with PLCs.
SCADA/PLC and DCS systems offer extensive control and monitoring
capabilities that are easily manipulated. The data collected can be stored in an
efficient manner and presented in a usable form within the package or via a
standard presentation package. The information gathered may also be relayed to
other computing systems, for example, management and accounting systems.
They are also an essential element with which the application of advanced
computer and control techniques may be considered.
It is impractical to consider advanced control techniques without having
some form of DCS or SCADA/PLC system in place. These are used to enact the
decisions reached by the advanced control system in terms of the optimal
solution to the current set of process conditions and requirements.
3.7 Milling research
Milling research can be divided into two categories, namely commercial
research and academic research. Commercial research tends to be confidential in
nature, but the results of this work can be seen in the new products and processes
marketed by manufacturers in the field. These developments have been
discussed above. In contrast, academic research is well documented and may
be discussed extensively. The following review discusses some of the work
carried out in the milling field.
The engineering work that has been reported tends to be purely experimental
in nature with little emphasis placed on understanding the basic principles
employed (Speight 1969, Wanzenreid 1970, Moss et al. 1980, Hook et al. 1984,
Wingfield and Ferrer 1984, Szauter 1985, Scanlon and Dexter 1986, Curran et
al. 1994, Mason 1994, and Murata et al. 1994). There are notable exceptions to
this rule: Nuret and Thielin (1949), Nuret and Jeannot (1951), Pratique (1952a,
1952b, 1952c, 1952d, 1953, 1954a, 1954b) and Ruffet (1994) have performed
considerable amounts of work in the areas of plansifter and roller mill
mechanical performance. Owens (2000) worked in the area of overall process
modelling and optimisation.