MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

WEST YANGON TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING

PLC BASED LIQUID FILLING AND MIXING SYSTEM

BY

Mg Phyoe Pyae Zaw(VI EC-37)

, MARCH ,2018

YANGON
 INTRODUCTION
Different type of sector, where liquid are used as a product. That’s offers
opportunities that can be transformed into success only by those companies that have
technology to take it beyond competition. High degree of flexibility is its prior need. Also
industries face many other challenges. The pressure to continually increase production volumes
has stressed older systems and has increased maintenance requirements. For manufacturers,
this creates two problems: higher costs and increased downtime. Production managers are
being challenged to reduce cost, wastage and downtime. New technologies are required that
will reduce water usage, increase energy efficiency and minimize downtime in high-speed
beverage production environments. Increasing competitive pressures, ever more stringent legal
regulations, rising costs of commodities and energy and consumers whose preferences are
subject to rapid change – beverage companies today are forced to increase their flexibility and
operate with maximum efficiency at the same time. The key to this problem is an integrated
process approach. After all, if all processes are perfectly coordinated with each other and
reliable communications have been established between all parts of the manufacturing plant, it
is much easier to address the big challenges In small industries, the refilling system usually
operates in manual mode and even this is true for some other industries also. Literature suggests
that microcontrollers are being used in these industries as it brings a cost effective solution for
controlling the process. Although PLCs are costly, still those are also used in industries. The
implementation of PLC for commercial cup filling and mixing plants is not discussed widely
in literature, therefore in this work an endeavour is made to bring out the important facts about
its commercial use.

PLC based liquid filling and mixing system is divided into 3 sections; the conveyor
section (transfer section), filling section and mixing section. The whole sections are controlled
by the Delta PLC. The mechanical part of this system consists of mechanical drawing,
measuring, welding and fabricating process, while electrical part consists of electrical drawing;
electrical wiring and programming. The software of the Delta PLC theory includes the
electrical and mechanical actuators for the hardware will be showing a good result to full fill
the objective of this paper.

This paper is a complete application of automation. The various process of this

system is controlled by PLC. PLC is heart of the system and the system is controlled according
to the programmed PLC. There are seven inputs to the PLC out of which five is the output of
the proximity sensor. The proximity sensor senses the presence of the bottle at the conveyor
belt. In this work metallic bottles are used which are detected by a proximity sensor. Infra red
sensor is another choice that may be used in place of proximity sensor. When the bottle is
sensed by the proximity sensor, a signal is sent to the PLC through signal conditioning circuits.
The PLC then operates the dc motors to start the mixing process and deliver the mixture to the
tank. In real time systems AC drives may be used for the purpose. Depending upon the need,
proportion and amount of two different liquid to be filled and mixed in bottle, the closing and
opening operation of valves connected to motors is controlled through PLC. PLC is a
programmable device developed to replace mechanical relays, timers and counters. PLCs are
used successfully to execute complicated control operations in a plant. The PLCs helped reduce
the changeover time from a month to a matter of just few days. PLC consists of an input/output
(I/O) unit, central processing unit (CPU) and memory. The I/O unit acts as the interface
between PLC and real time systems. All logic and control operations, data transfer and
manipulation work is done by CPU. PLCs provide the advantages of high reliability in
operation, flexibility in control techniques, small space and computing requirements,
expandability, high power handling, reduced human efforts and complete programming and
reprogramming in a plant. The PLC is designed to operate in the industrial environment with
wide ranges of ambient temperature, vibration, and humidity and is not usually affected by the
electrical noise that is inherent in most industrial locations. It also provides the cost effective
solution for controlling complex systems.

The main components used are as followed:

 Delta PLC
 Proximity Sensor
 Solenoid Valve
 DC Motor

Delta PLC:

Many PLC configurations are available but, in each of these there are common
components and concepts. The most essential components are:

Power Supply - This can be built into the PLC or be an external unit. Common voltage
levels required by the PLC (with and without the power supply) are 24Vdc.
 CPU (Central Processing Unit) - This is a computer where ladder logic is stored and
processed.

I/O (Input/output) - A number of input/output terminals must be provided so that the

PLC can monitor the process and initiate actions.

Indicator lights - These indicate the status of the PLC including power on, program
running, and a fault. These are essential when diagnosing problems.

Aim and Objectives

This paper is to achieve new liquid in combination of two different liquids.The main
objectives of the paper are:

 To acquire new liquid mixture composition in mixture process tank as a product.

 To maintain quality of the product to be produced.
 To develop PLC as a controller to control Liquid Mixture System
 To apply the Liquid Mixture Control System that can be used to obtain product in
the main tank.
 To know how to control PLC
 To understand how to work motor: conveyor motors, pump motor, stirring motor.
 To understand sensors: photoelectric sensor and level sensor
 To have practical knowledge and experiences

Important of Work

In our paper, PLC is very important. It controls almost all parts of the machine. So, we
can reduce the number of employees. Thus, we can save workforce.
Project Scopes

This project is primarily concerned to get new liquid in combination of two different
liquids. The scopes of this project are:

 Develop a system that can produce new product during mixing process of two liquids
that they are different types or same.
 Built up the system that can maintain quality of mixture composition in mixture
process tank as a product.
 Employ PLC as a controller to control the whole system.
 Use pumps as output for taking in liquids into tanks and valves as tanking out liquids
from tanks.
 Obtain mixtures as a product in cup from main liquid tank (Mixing Tank).
List of components

No. Name Value Quantity

1. PLC(Delta) 8 to 8 ES-2 1

2. Photoelectric Sensor E3JK-R4M1 1

3. Level Sensor - 1

4. Motor - 2

5. Pump RD-06V24-02 1

6. Conveyor - 1

7. Relay OMRON MY2NJ 5

8. Valve - 2

9. Power Supply AC 1

Table: List of components of “PLC Based Liquid Filling and Mixing Machine"
Flow Chart For This System

When the start button is pushed, the motor starts hence the conveyer belt starts moving.

When the bottle is under the solenoid valve, the bottle is sensed and the motor stops hence the

conveyer belt stops. Then the solenoid valve operates and the bottle starts filling the water.

When the bottle completes filling process, the solenoid valve is closed and the motor starts, the

conveyer belt starts moving and carries the bottle away from the solenoid valve. If another

bottle is sensed then the above process will be repeated. When stop button is pressed or

activated then the entire process will be stopped.

Figure: Flow Chart Operation

Operation
Filling is the process in which a machine packs the liquid products such as water, cool

drinks etc. This method includes placing bottles onto a conveyor belt and filling bottles one at

a time. This aim of this paper is to describe the methods for filling more than one bottle at a

time. In a conveyor system, stepper motor is used for its efficiency. It includes the user defined

volume selection at the desired level. Our system includes less number of sensors, so it is less

expensive. Filling is controlled by PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) using ladder logic

method. In the bottle filling system the PLC gets the sensor feedback and controls the solenoid

valve timing as well as controls the conveyor belt. By programming the PLC, the entire system

is being controlled. Sensor stands as the most important part for bottle filling. Normally in all

automation industries, PLC is considered as the heart of any system. The entire system is made

more flexible, time saving and user friendly. Every result leads to the conclusion that the

operation of PLC in is very inspiring.

Advantages
 Accurate & Proportional mixing of liquid
 Reduction in operating costs as compare to manual process
 Increasing production
 Fully automatic system so that quality production achieved in less time
 Efficiency & Maintenance easy.
 Same system used for different purposes

Applications
This project can be used in the following fields:

 Food processing technology

 Beverage processing industry
 Concrete industry
 Paint industry
Conclusion

Automation systems are used to increase productivity, which in turn brings economic
progress. The main purpose of PLC in automation is used to control the whole system. The
cost of installation is not cheap but it can efficiently run for a long period of time. The
performance, flexibility and reliability is based on the investment. A PLC based control system
was applied to the automatic liquid filling station previously specified and the performance was
measured. The entire system is more reliable, time saving and user friendly.

This paper has proposed an application of automation illustrating a PLC based fully
automatic untouched liquid filling and mixing system. The system meets the demand of high-
speed production using the least mechanism requirements.

The system has proved to work effectively avoiding unnecessary spill or wastage of
liquids. The system also provides high accuracy and precision in proportion of liquid filling
and mixing. Although proposed system illustrates the mixing process of two liquids, any
number of liquids may be mixed in varying proportions. It is true that the use of PLC is a costly
affair particularly for small industries but it offers many advantages that overcome its cost.