The curdling process during cheese production is a critical step, which directly affects the quality of the product. Control of this process requires accurate measurement of the parameters making use of a laser and spectrometer. A means was needed to make this measurement more practical for a batch production facility.
First a 250 ml sample of the milk was taken into a laboratory for measuring. When this measurement was found to be workable, it was expanded to measuring in a pilot plant (200 l).
After this measurement was successful, plans were made to do the measurement in-line in the factory (15 kl). For this in-line measurement special conditions had to be met, for instance, the probes had to be of hygienic and robust design.
In the final arrangement, the HeNe laser light is fed via fibre-optic cable into eight different tanks filled with curdling milk. The probes monitor the reflected light and send the signal through the multiplexer to a photon counting head and auto correlator. The use of the multiplexer means that only one detector and HeNe Laser are needed to monitor the curdling process in all eight vessels. The results of the measurements are displayed in the control room, with the multiplexer cycling through the eight vessels over a 20 minute period. With this arrangement it becomes far easier to determine if any corrections need to be made to keep the curdling process running as it should.
Westplex is offering a 16-channel fibre optic multiplexer complete with SpectraWin software - a Windows-based application that controls the measuring order and timing of the switching. Several add-on modules including process control, colour or irradiance, can be added. Custom modifications may also be accommodated on request.
Features of the fibre-optic multiplexer include: optical throughput > 60%; optical repeatability > 90%; RS232 interface; < 50 ms switching time between adjacent positions; fibre connections SMA type 905/906.
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