Control and Monitoring Systems for the Automated Cleaning Process of Plastic Trays Used in the Food Industry

The proper management of operations in an industry becomes significantly relevant in terms of improving or worsening processing methods, generating a direct impact on the economic sector and the quality of the products offered. In this context, the case of plastic trays used in the production line is ad-dressed, which tend to accumulate impurities on their surface during their time in the workplace. To tackle this issue, it is proposed to implement a washing machine capable of effectively removing any type of external agent. In order to carry out real-time control and monitoring of the automatic wash-ing process of the plastic trays, the tools provided by the Tia Portal software were utilized. Through programming, a suitable sequence was established be-tween input and output variables, using a time of 1 min and 57 s to complete the washing process of a plastic tray. One of the key objectives is to record the quantity of processed plastic trays and monitor the process through historical data related to the roller, piston, and water pump. To achieve this goal, an IoT platform was developed on Ubidots, which facilitates the control and tracking of the aforementioned functions. Thanks to its implementation, a satisfactory outcome was achieved in terms of successful processes. Finally, in the Tia Portal software, it is possible to program the display to set the setpoints that allow observing the historical process data generated by the time, temperature, and flow sensors.