Energy Efficiency Analysis of Continuous Flow Ohmic Heater with Advanced Controls

What is it about?

The paper presents an analysis of the energy consumption of a Continuous Flow Ohmic Heater (CFOH) equipped with advanced process controls for heating operations in the food and drinks industry. The CFOH is controlled by a PC and includes an onboard Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) and a Human Machine Interface (HMI) for standalone operations. The technical solution presented in this paper for heating foods demonstrates significant energy savings compared to conventional heating methods. The study evaluates the efficiency of the CFOH when different advanced process control techniques are used. The analysis shows that the CFOH can achieve an energy efficiency conversion of at least 87.9%. The energy efficiency conversion percentage can be increased by applying advanced controllers such as Model Predictive Control (MPC) or Adaptive Model Predictive Control (AMPC).

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Why is it important?

This research is important because it presents an analysis of the energy consumption of a CFOH with advanced process controls for heating operations in the food and drinks industry. The study highlights the significant energy-saving potential of the CFOH compared to conventional heating methods. The CFOH uses the Joule effect to generate electric current in food products, resulting in rapid temperature increase and high energy efficiency. This technique eliminates the low efficiency of heat transfer from the surface of vessels typically used to heat and cook food products. The achieved high efficiency is crucial for reducing energy consumption and improving sustainability in food processing. Key Takeaways: 1. CFOH systems offer a more energy-efficient alternative to traditional heating methods in the food and drinks industry. 2. The energy efficiency of the CFOH can be further improved by applying advanced controllers such as MPC or AMPC. 3. Among the controllers tested, AMPC provides the highest energy efficiency, outperforming MPC and PID controllers.