Automation Strategy for Black Tea Production Line

Abstract

Tea is one of the primary beverages consumed with its added health benefits. India enjoyed supremacy in its production till a significant period. But, recently it is lagging behind in the race being surpassed by some neighbouring countries. The aforesaid issue is a matter of serious concern as it has a major share to contribute in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country and hence is a sizeable foreign exchange earner. The effect has arisen due to lack of varieties and cumbersome approach to the production of tea. Hence, this paper focuses on Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) of tea industry which leads to automated production and scope of implementation of mixed assembly lines, thereby increasing the scope of the global market capture of sales. The automation is designed on Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) based control of the CTC (Crush, Tear & Curl) tea manufacturing processes. The user interface has been proposed to be developed with the help of a SCADA software. The interfacing of PLC and SCADA can be achieved by OPC communication. Virtual commissioning of the entire production line can be achieved by plant simulation.