The industrial panorama is evolving. Using IoT sensors and actuators it is possible to increase product's value, by controlling its production chain. Internet technologies such as FIWARE can provide the services that modern industry needs to process and evaluate sensor data to apply higher production standards, which increase product value. Although FIWARE enablers provide the tools to fulfil modern industry needs, there is an interoperability gap a gap between applications and enablers, as different enablers have different protocols and needs. This article describes an agriculture system developed using vf-OS (virtual factory Operating System), a platform that aims to become the bridge between applications and enablers, as it provides the means to interact with them. The developed system is composed of different applications, that use enablers (integrated using the vf-OS system), current context management and fruit quality theories, to control product quality during the whole fruit production chain.
With the introduction of paradigms like Internet of Things, Cyber Physical Systems and Cloud Computing, Smart Factories are becoming a central part of today's manufacturing systems. Even though there already are some solutions in the market the full potential for smart manufacturing hasn't yet been achieved. In order to fulfil the gap European researchers are developing vf-OS, a platform that aims to be the future reference in future factories operating systems. In this work is presented some preliminary results regarding the modules related to IoT, event processing, situational awareness and data harmonization that are being researched in the scope of vf-OS to achieve holistic solution for industries, specifically targeting the agriculture domain.
The development of thermal energy storage solutions (TES) in agroindustry allows reduction of production costs and improvement of operation sustainability. Such solutions require high storage capacity and the ability to adapt to existing equipment. The use of phase change materials (PCMs), which are able to store thermal energy as latent heat, creates new opportunities for heat storage solutions (LHS, latent heat storage) with higher energy density and improved performance when compared to sensible heat storage. New architectures are envisaged where heat storage is distributed throughout the production chain, creating prospects for the integration of renewable generation and recovery of industrial heat waste. This work aims to investigate the benefits of decentralized thermal storage architecture, directly incorporating PCM into the existing equipment of an agroindustry production line. To assess the feasibility and potential gain in the adoption of this TES/LHS distributed solution, a tempering and mixing equipment for food granules is selected as a case study, representing a larger cluster operating under the operation paradigm of water jacket heating. The behavior of the equipment, incorporating an inorganic PCM, is modeled and analyzed in the ANSYS Fluent software. Subsequently, a prototype is instrumented and used in laboratory tests, allowing for data collection and validation of the simulation model. This case study presents a demonstration of the increase in storage capacity and the extension of the discharge process when compared to a conventional solution that uses water for sensible heat storage.
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