Hey, the Craft Brewers Conference and BrewEXPO America is right around the corner, taking place in Nashville from April 30 to May 3. The trade show floor gets bigger and bigger every year, and to save you some time, we reached out to the exhibitors for a sneak peek of what they will be showing off at their booths this year. Stay tuned for the entire “What to see at CBC 2018” series over the next few weeks. It’s a great way to plan out your expo hall path and save some of that walking around time for drinking.
Pro Chiller Systems’ Total Cooling Control
Booth: 1900
Seattle-based Pro Chiller Systems will be introducing and displaying its newest TCC Total Cooling Control at the 2018 Craft Brewers Conference. A chance meeting on a flight from Seattle to Raleigh, N.C., began a nine-month collaboration with Pro Chiller, Amazon Web Services and T-Mobile. The newest TCC Version streamlines data collection and chiller system control using IoT. Integrating Pro Chiller’s Controller [Total Cold Control] with the ever growing IoT ecosystem provided by AWS and the outstanding cellular network of T-Mobile provides seamless connectivity to your Pro Chiller Products. Chiller systems directly affect the quality of beer and the potential for loss of product.
Implementation of current control systems require breweries to invest in the running of wires and cabling, sometimes long distances, and require the configuration and setup of IT equipment. This process can be overwhelming for a small business with limited technical resources. Once the connection is achieved, current solutions provide a static set of data whose only tangent value is historical, focused on the reaction to an issue rather than prevention of the issue. Now, through T-Mobile’s nationwide network, soon all Pro Chillers will be outfitted with cellular connectivity. No wires or technical knowledge will be required to establish a connection. Simply turn your chiller on.
By utilizing Amazon Web Service’s IoT platform, Pro is able to provide the user with secure communications and enhanced data intelligence. Collecting data from systems across the country, Pro can identify trends and provide time-sensitive information to the customer. Breweries are notified of preventive actions to avoid downtime and protect product quality.
Pro’s customers will be able to analyze system data through visualizations displayed on their dashboard at mychiller.com. They can register all of their Pro systems across geographic locations to view on a single page. The layout was designed to provide real-time operational data at the top, with a historical view including trend charts and alarm logs provided below. In addition to on-demand review of system performance, the customer will also receive operational alerts by email or text message.
Emerson to showcase smart brewing solutions at #CBC18
Booth 2650
Emerson, the global automation solution provider, will be demoing its line of state-of-the-art brewing and filling technologies with a focus on delivering consistent, repeatable product quality while maximizing yield and minimizing waste. These include:
- DeltaV PK Controllers — Enable automation of the brewing process with reliable and scalable control across a wide variety of applications, either as a standalone system with full-scale DCS features (batch production, easy redundancy, recipe management, execution, historization) or integrated into existing DeltaV systems.
- MicroMotion and Rosemount instrumentation — Improve quality control by automating the measurement of critical process points with hygienic magnetic flow sensors and Coriolis meters for wort flow, degrees-Plato and ingredient additives, and vibrating fork level switches and pressure gauges for accurate filling with real-time insights.
- ASCO Numatics fluid automation — Increase operator safety and boost brewery throughput with high-performance valves and actuators designed to allow easy field assembly and enhanced control across bottling platforms.
- Keystone valves and actuators — Enhance performance with reliable valve and automation packages which provide accurate process flow control in a compact design while reducing brewery downtime.
Boxcar Central web-enabled cellar control
Booth 2962
Boxcar Central provides state-of-the-art controls and software you need to manage and protect your brewery business. With PLC-based control panels and a web-enabled interface, you have 24/7 remote access to your brewery. Monitor and control your fermentors from anywhere, any time. Visit the Boxcar Central booth to:
- See a live demonstration of Boxcar’s state-of-the-art, web-enabled cellar control system.
- Learn how brewers are now remotely controlling and monitoring their fermentation and chiller systems while away from the brewery.
- Watch a live data feed posting on a brewery kiosk monitor that brewers use for a central reference.
- Discuss the benefits of consistent temperatures to within 1 degree F, alerts to mitigate solenoid valve failures, chiller problems and the value of your beer and your time.
- Explore the possibilities of sensor integrations to monitor any important variable in your brew continuously and remotely such as pressure, CO2, DO, pH, density and more.
VicinityBrew improves user interface of recipe-based application
Booth 2624
Over the past year, VicinityBrew has focused on developing a balanced application with a rich feature set, along with an easy-to-use interface. Its brewery specific recipe-based application has released three new screens.
- The Production Schedule, featuring a Gantt Chart display with extensive filtering capabilities and as batch linking to establish parent relationships between interdependent brews.
- Batch Entry Browser, a streamlined version of its traditional Brew log structured data entry screen.
- VicinityView Browser is a powerful query and report generator. Brewers can quickly search and access information, generate new reports or pull quick summary views of production with an online login.
With the new production schedule, users can now visually see and manage various production runs. The new screen supports a variety of grouping, filtering and timescale adjustments to alter or narrow a user’s focus. Beyond the visual Gantt Chart display of scheduled batches or production runs, users can create relationships by linking interdependent batches together to reflect the nature of their actual production. The links build a master formula relationship while making changes to one segment, such as scaling size, or adjusting the execution date, and those changes are also reflected.
Added user controls allow brewers to select or hide specific fields, columns and sections to display the most pertinent information for their job task. The settings save to their user profile. Relevant data drillbacks or links between field ID and associated records have been added throughout the software, easing navigation from one piece of information to the extended details within related screens. VicinityBrew has even created an engine for users to create and add their drillbacks in some regions of the application.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.