Abstract:
A system which monitors and controls wine fermentation parameters online was designed. Particularly, wine fermentation has been of major concern since quality and productivity have been, low due. to less emphasis on the technology for the control of the broth parameters online. The wine fermentation parameters that this- project focused on. are; temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen and alcohol content.
The system was modelled in the workshop using wood and wires to simplify understanding of the software designed system. The design of the system was accomplished using proteus software environment, and embedded C language for coding and simulating. The design has the microcontroller to receive readings input from sensors inserted in flow-cell filled with wine, and processes the data acquired, then sends the output. to be displayed on the LCD screen. The simulation portrays the physical working of the system hardware when implemented.
The result of the designed system shows that the temperature; pH, dissolved oxygen and alcohol content are monitored from the LCD screen; temperature and dissolved oxygen are controlled
i.e. instantaneous adjustments are performed online for any deviation of the, optimum' ranges of the parameters.
A real time, closed loop control system for monitoring and controlling wine fermentation parameters was successfully modelled, designed, and simulated. The system is best suited for commercial wine production, and with this, wine of standard quality is expected.
