Automatic Cane Feeding Control System

Project report submitted

in
partial fulfillment of requirement for the award of
degree of

Bachelor of Engineering
in
Electronics Engineering
by
Mr. Sagar Mani Mr. Samay Khairkar
Mr. Saurabh Tapsi Mr. Shreyash Dhage
Mr. Shubham Palaskar

Guide Guide

Dr. S.S. Dorle Prof. N.P. Wyawahare

CO-Guide
Mr. Jayant Dhage

Undertaken at
Manas Agro Industries and Infrastructures Ltd, Wardha

Department of Electronics Engineering

G.H. Raisoni College of Engineering, Nagpur
(An Autonomous institute affiliated to Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University)
Dual Accreditations NAAC "A" Grade & NBA (Tier-I)

May 2017
 Automatic Cane Feeding Control System
Project report submitted
in
partial fulfillment of requirement for the award of
degree of

Bachelor of Engineering
in
Electronics Engineering
by
Mr. Sagar Mani Mr. Samay Khairkar
Mr. Saurabh Tapsi Mr. Shreyash Dhage
Mr. Shubham Palaskar

Guide Guide
Dr. S.S. Dorle Prof. N.P. Wyawahare

CO-Guide

Mr. Jayant Dhage

Undertaken at
Manas Agro Industries and Infrastructures Ltd, Wardha

Department of Electronics Engineering

G.H. Raisoni College of Engineering, Nagpur
(An Autonomous institute affiliated to Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University)
Dual Accreditations NAAC "A" Grade & NBA (Tier-I)

May 2017
© G.H.Raisoni College of Engineering, Nagpur 2017
 DECLARATION

We, hereby declare that the project report titled “Automatic Cane Feeding
Control System” submitted herein has been carried out by us in the Department
of Electronics Engineering of G.H. Raisoni College of Engineering, Nagpur towards
partial fulfillment of requirement for the award of degree Bachelor of Engineering in
Electronics Engineering. The work is original and has not been submitted earlier as a
whole or in part for the award of any degree / diploma at this or any other Institution /
University.

Place
Date Sagar Mani
Samay Khairkar
Saurabh Tapsi
Shreyash Dhage
Shubham Palaskar
 CERTIFICATE

The project report titled “Automatic Cane Feeding Control System” submitted by
Sagar Mani, Samay Khairkar, Saurabh Tapsi, Shreyash Dhage, Shubham
Palaskar for the award of degree of Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics Engineering
has been carried out under our supervision. The work is comprehensive, complete and fit
for evaluation.

Co-Guide Guide

Mr. Jayant Dhage Prof.N.P. Wyawahare

Assistant Gen. Manager Assistant professor
Manas Agro Infrastructures Ltd, Department of Electronics
Wardha Engineering G.H.R.C.E, Nagpur

Guide

Dr. S.S.Dorle
Head,
Department of Electronics Engineering
G.H.R.C.E, Nagpur

Dr. S.S.Dorle Prof. K.D. Joshi Dr. Preeti Bajaj

Head, In-charge, Projects Director,
Department of Electronics Engineering GHRCE, Nagpur
G.H.R.C.E, Nagpur
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Our first experience of project has been successful, we are thankful to the G.H.R.C.E. with
immense gratitude. We wish to acknowledge all of them. However, we wish to make special
mention of the following.

First of all we are thankful to our project guide Dr. S.S Dorle, and Prof Nikhil Wyawahare
Under whose guidelines we are able to complete our project. We are wholeheartedly
thankful to them for giving us their valuable time, attention and for providing us a
systematic way for completing our project in time.

We are also very thankful to DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING for

giving us the opportunity to conduct this project.

Regards,

Sagar Mani
Samay Khairkar
Saurabh Tapsi
Shreyash Dhage
Shubham Palaskar
 ABSTRACT
The main goal of the project is to provide a steady state cane feeding system in a
sugar factory. Cane raw sugar factory consist of a series of chemical and mechanical
process. Cane feeding section, milling section, evaporator section are the main sections of a
cane raw sugar factory. Current system uses manual mode where there is no track of the
canes supplied, with no weighing system. The manual mode of controlling may trip the
entire cane feeding and milling system. Sometimes the manual system faces jamming if
there is overloading of canes due to which the entire system get disrupted, after which the
workers manually take off canes from the table which is very hazardous. This further leads
to not achieving the daily targets of the industry, thereby causing losses. So there is a need to
develop an Automatic Cane Feeding Control system to avoid all these issues and make the
system function better and run smoothly. This project presents a system in which there will
be weight calculation step where weight of feeding cane is calculated first. A threshold is
being set to ensure the smooth running of the feeding table, where if the weight of the cane
is less than threshold the feeding table is in motion. If the weight goes above the threshold it
is detected effectively and is efficiently removed thereby causing no disturbance and
jamming in the sugar manufacturing process.
 LIST OF FIGURES
Figure No Figure Name Page No
1.1 Manufacturing steps involved in production of sugar 1
1.2 Cane unloading 2
3.1 Block diagram of Design 7
3.2 Flowchart Design 8
4.1 Programming in Atmel Studio 12
4.2 L293D Motor Driver IC 13
4.3 L293D Pin Diagram 13
4.4 Atmega 16 microcontroller 14
4.5 Atmega 16 Pin Diagram 14
4.6 Voltage regulator IC 7805 15
4.7 Centre Shaft Motor 15
4.8 Serial LCD kit 16
4.9 Load Cell HX711 16
5.1 Material Used 17
5.2 Block Diagram of the Design 18
5.3 Schematic Diagram 18
5.4 Assembling L293D IC 19
5.5 Assembling Load Cell 20
5.6 Setting the Conveyer Belt 20
5.7 Final Circuit 21
5.8 Testing 21
6.1 Testing Photographs(1) 23
 6.2 Testing Photographs(2) 23
7.1 Company Photographs 32

LIST OF TABLES
Table no Table name Page no
Table 6-1 Verify Object Weight 24
 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 General description
The main purpose of sugarcane factory is to produce crystallised sugar from the cane
raw juice. The raw sugarcane brought in the company is first unloaded by the cane carrier
and sent to the feeder table. The sugarcane is then sent through the cutter which involves
three processes Cane Chopping, Cane Levelling and Cane Fibrizer. After this the cane
carrier section carries cane into the milling section for juice extraction. There are two
processes for extracting juice from cane Milling and Diffusion. Juice extraction by milling is
the process of squeezing the juice from the cane under a set mills using high pressure
between heavy iron rollers. For improving the milling extraction efficiency, imbibition water
is added at each mill: Hot water is poured over the cane just before it enters the last mill in
the milling train and is recirculated up to the reach the first mill. The juice squeezed from
this cane is low in sugar concentration and is pumped to the preceding mill and poured onto
the cane just before it enters the rollers, the juice from this mill is the same way pumped
back up the milling train.

Fig 1.1 Manufacturing steps involved in production of Sugar

Juice is extracted from the milling section and collected in a juice tank. It is pumped
to raw juice heaters. The purpose of raw juice heating is to destroy or stop the development
of microbial activity in the raw juice. The raw juice is then sent for clarification to remove

1
the mud, dust, waxes and fibres. In order to concentrate the juice into a thick syrup, juice
evaporation is done and the thick syrup is sent for drying. The sugar thus formed is ready for
packaging and delivery.

1.1.1 Need
It is necessary for the sugarcane industry to meet its daily target. So there is need to
use latest technology and certain developments are required in order to increase the
efficiency and help the industry to meet its daily target thereby avoiding losses.

Fig 1.2 Cane unloading

1.1.2 Problems identified and Solution

When the cane is being unloaded by the cane carrier and sent to the feeder table,
sometimes due to the overloading of cane the entire process/mechanism gets disrupted.
Thereby causing losses to the industry as the daily target doesn’t meet. The development of
Automatic Cane Feeding Control System is required. The proposed system will replace the
existing system with an innovative new system in such a way that the jamming in the feeder
table will be avoided so that the entire process remains undisrupted.
1.1.3 Objectives

2
 Main objective of this project is for the sugar industry to meet its daily targeted value
of production and to improve work efficiency, and avoid the jamming caused in the feeder
table due to overloading.

1.1.4 Features

• Substantial improvement in crush rate.

• Damage due to choking/jamming at can preparatory device & 1st mill is totally
eliminated.
• Fluctuating demand of steam pressure due to irregular feed to the uniform cane feed
predetermined rate result in optimum primary extraction.
• By substantial reduction of wear & tear, the down time reduces automatically and
thus productivity improves.
• If eliminates the necessary of buffer resistors in cutter motors.

1.1.5 Outcomes

• Alarms for any electrical signals.

• Data Set facility for operator.
• Frequent control action to control the process.
• Saving on maintenance cost & time of cane carrier, DC drives and preparatory
equipment.
• Smooth running of the mills avoiding extreme load/hunting of DC drive.
• To avoid tripping / overloading of drive/motors.

3
 CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
 Chapter 2
LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Paper Review

2.1.1 A model reference adaptive control system for the automatic control
of cane feeding system in a cane sugar factory. [1]

This paper defines the modern technologies used for developing a system adaptive
for cane feeding control. Cane raw sugar factory consist of a series of chemical and
mechanical process. Cane feeding section, milling section, evaporator section etc. are the
main sections of a cane raw sugar factory. For the steady feed of cane into the milling plant
it is very important to control the entire cane feeding system automatically. The manual
mode of controlling may trip the entire cane feeding and milling system. This paper
describes the automatic control of cane feeding section of a cane raw sugar factory through
model reference adaptive control approach(MRAC). The plant model including the
dynamics of kicker, leveller, fibrizer, Donnelly chute etc makes the system more complex.
In order to reduce the complexity of controlling the entire system a logical control scheme is
necessary. Steady feed of cane can be achieved by controlling the speed of cane carrier
motor and rake elevator motor. Set point of the cane carrier and rake elevator motor control
system can be varied by this logical control scheme for the steady feed of cane into the
milling section. A model reference adaptive control system can be use to implement the
control scheme. MRAC shows better control performance than a conventional controller

4
2.1.2 Report On an Automatic Control System for Sugar Cane carriers
employing THYRISTOR- FED Dc Drive Motors. [2]
A system employing a Hall generator for mill chute level sensing and automatic
speed control is described. The speed controlled sugar cane conveyors, from the feed tables
to the first mill chute are driven by DC motors and are fed by thyristors. This system has
proven itself in three sugar campaigns at Aqucareirade Mo~ambique where a constant
crushing rate was maintained throughout the entire crushing periods For determination of
the sugarcane intake rate to the mills, the initial governing factor is the level of the first mill
chute and the lift of the first mill top
Roller. Overriding factors are the electrical currents drawn by the primary and secondary
cane knife motors and the shredder motor. Existing chute level control methods, as
employed at various sugar factories have not proved entirely satisfactory. The various
methods are as follows
(a) Limit switches installed at different heights of
the chute;
(b) Probes set at different heights of the chute to
measure electrical values such as resistance and
capacitance ;
(c) chute deflection plates operating potentiometers;
(d) flaps operating limit switches in different position so if the cane carrier to the first mill.
The major difficulty experienced in the above methods is that control components
are continuously subjected to external influences such as foreign matter,
residue sugar, moisture, wear and tear etc., which
lead to distorted results.
When the new sugar factory was built by Aqucareirade Moqambique at Mafambisse
near Beira in 1968 / 70, a reliable stepless controlled variable speed drive system was sought
for the cane carriers to the crushing mills. After giving thorough consideration to cane
carrier drive and control methods employed at existing factories, an optimum solution
appeared to be the application of thyristor-fed DC shunt wound motors. The speed of these
motors should be governed by simple and robust electrical signal transmitters, ableto operate
continuously under stringent ambient conditions which prevail in the milling section of a
sugar factory.

The Purpose of Mill Automation

Basic Requirement:
• Safety of the Cane Feeding and Milling Equipment.
• Prevention of Overloading of Feeding and Milling Equipment.
• Prevention of Jams and Choking in Cane Feeding and Milling Equipment.
• Facilitate continuous operation.
• Reduction and Possible Elimination of Stoppages due to Human Error.
• Early indications of Faults.
Optimization:
• Maintaining optimum load on the Preparatory Devices and Mills.
• Maintaining Continuous Positive Feeding at all times.

5
• Maintaining Uniform Steam / Power Demand over the entire Mill House.
Automation Approach:

Common industrial activities like steam generation or process plants share common
engineering parameters like Pressure, Temperature, Flow and ph. Milling is completely
different from these activities. Therefore the Automation approach also differs greatly from
other common processes. We would like to concentrate on this Approach.

Mill House Automation Systems

Interlocks, Protection and Alarming Systems:

• Automatic Interlocking System between Bagasse Carrier, Inter Carriers, Mills, Rake and
Main Cane Carriers, Preparatory Devices, First or Auxiliary Cane Carrier meaning if any
equipment stalls or trips then all preceding feeding equipment will stall.
• Bearing Temperatures Of all Mills, Cane Preparatory Devices, Cane Carriers are sensed
and Alarms are generated if Temperature of any bearing rises above prescribed limit pin
pointing the device.
• Any other Customized Factory Specific Application will be implemented.

6
 CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
 CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
3.1 BLOCK DIAGRAM

Figure 3.1: Block Diagram of the Design

The block diagram serves as the backbone of the design and figure 3-1 illustrates the block
diagram. A load cell is used to detect the weight of the object. After the weight is detected,
Analog to Digital converter is used to display weight on LCD. An L2933D motor driver IC
is used to drive the motor i.e. moving the conveyer belt. When the input is given, AVR 16
microcontroller is programmed where a threshold is set of 200gms and if the input is greater
than 200gms then the conveyer belt stops. An additional delay of 8 seconds was given to
assure the smooth running of the belt.

7
3.2 FLOWCHART DESIGN

Figure 3.2: Flowchart design

The above figure is the flowchart for the prototype. The above flowchart indicates the steps
involved in the verification of Automatic Cane Feeding Control System. As soon as the
supply is given, an initial weight is to be applied for the verification. In the first step weight
is put on the load cell and a threshold is being set. If the weight of the object/sugarcane is
less than the threshold, the conveyer belt starts and if the weight is greater than threshold the
conveyer belt stops. In the last step, a delay is being introduced in the prototype to ensure
the smooth running of the conveyer belt.

3.3 Basic steps involved in sugar Industries

There are two processes for extracting juice from cane.

 Milling, and
 Diffusion.

8
3.3.1 Milling

Juice extraction by milling is the process of squeezing the juice from the cane under
a set mills using high pressure between heavy iron rollers. Those mills can have from 3 up to
6 rolls; every set of mills are called tandem mill or mill train. For improve the milling
extraction efficiency, imbibition water is added at each mill: Hot water is poured over the
cane just before it enters the last mill in the milling train and is recalculated up to the reach
the first mill. The juice squeezed from this cane is low in sugar concentration and is pumped
to the preceding mill and poured onto the cane just before it enters the rollers; the juice from
this mill is the same way pumped back up the milling train. Cane juice mixed with the water
introduced at the last mill) is withdrawn from the first and second mills and is sent for
further processing. Milling trains typically have four, five or six mills in the tandem. For
improve the milling extraction performance before the cane reach the first mill, normally are
used knife and shredder as preparation equipment.

3.3.2 Diffusion

Sugarcane diffusion is the process of extracting the sucrose from the cane with the
use of imbibition but without the squeezing by mills. Shredded cane is introduced into the
diffuser at the feed end, Hot water is poured over the shredded cane just before the discharge
end of the diffuser. The hot water percolates through the bed of cane and removes sucrose
from the cane. This dilute juice is then collected in a compartment under the bed of cane and
is pumped to a point a little closer to the feed end of the diffuser and this dilute juice is
allowed to percolate through the bed of cane. At this point the concentration of sucrose in
the cane is higher than the concentration of sucrose in the dilute juice just mentioned and so
sucrose diffuses from the cane to the juice, this now slightly richer juice is pumped back up
the diffuser and the process is repeated.

3.3.3 Juice clarification

Sugar cane juice has a pH of about 4.0 to 4.5 which is quite acidic. Calcium
hydroxide, also known as Milk of lime or limewater, is added to the cane juice to adjust its
pH to 7. The lime helps to prevent sucrose's decay into glucose and fructose. The limed juice
is then heated to a temperature above its boiling point. The superheated limed juice is then
allowed to flash to its saturation temperature: this process precipitates impurities which get
held up in the calcium carbonate crystals. The flashed juice is then transferred to a
clarification tank which allows the suspended solids to settle. The supernatant, known as
clear juice is drawn off of the clarifier and sent to the evaporators.

3.3.4 Juice evaporating.

The clarified juice is concentrated in a multiple-effect evaporator to make a syrup of

about 60 per cent sucrose by weight.

9
3.3.5 Crystallisation and centrifuging

This syrup is further concentrated under vacuum in a vacuum boiling pan until it
becomes supersaturated, finely ground sugar crystals suspended in alcohol are introduced
into the vacuum pan as seed crystals around which sucrose is deposited and these crystals
then grow in size until they are ready to be discharged.

A number of boiling schemes are possible; the most commonly used boiling scheme
is the three-boiling scheme. This method boils the sugar liquors in three stages, called A-, B-
and C-.A batch type sugar centrifuge separates the sugar crystals from the mother liquor.
These centrifuges have a capacity of up to 2,200 kilograms (4,900 lb) per cycle. The sugar
from the centrifuges is dried and cooled and then stored in a silo or directly packed into bags
for shipment.

3.3.6 Energy in the sugar mill

The remaining fibrous solids, called bagasse, are burned for fuel in the mill's steam
boilers. These boilers produce high-pressure steam, which is passed through a turbine to
generate electrical energy (cogeneration).

The exhaust steam from the turbine is passed through the multiple effect evaporator
station and used to heat vacuum pans in the crystallization stage as well as for other heating
purposes in the sugar mill. Bagasse makes a sugar mill more than energy self-sufficient;
surplus bagasse goes in animal feed, in paper manufacture, or to generate electricity for sale.

10
 CHAPTER 4
TOOLS AND PLATFORM
 Chapter 4
TOOLS & PLATFORM

4.1 Tools

4.1.1 Atmel Studio

Atmel Studio 7 is the integrated development platform (IDP) for developing and
debugging Atmel SMART ARM based and Atmel AVR microcontroller (MCU)
applications. It supports all AVR and Atmel SMART MCUs. The Atmel Studio provides a
seamless and easy-to-use environment to write, build and debug applications written in
C/C++ or assembly code. It also connects seamlessly to Atmel debuggers and development
kits.

Atmel Studio is a Visual Basic and .NET Framework based IDE which supports
AVR and ARM architecture based MCU’s.

4.1.2 Key Features

 Support for 300+ Atmel AVR and Atmel SMART ARM-based devices
 Vast source code library, including drivers, communication stacks, 1,600+ project
examples with source code, graphic services and touch functionality through Atmel
Software Framework (ASF)
 IDE extensions through Atmel Gallery, the online apps store, for development tools
and embedded software from Atmel and third parties
 Tune capacitive touch designs, validate system performance, monitor power
consumption, and real-time data and trace graphing with Atmel Q Touch Composer
 Configure and test the performance of wireless designs with the Wireless Composer
running on the target
 Write and debug C/C++ and assembly code with the integrated compiler
 Advanced debugging features include complex data breakpoints, nonintrusive trace
support (SAM3 and SAM4 devices), statistical code profiling, interrupt
trace/monitoring, polled data tracing (Cortex-M0+ devices), real-time variable
tracking with optional time stamping, and integration for leading-edge debug data
visualization and RTOS awareness
 Integrated editor with visual assist
 New project wizard allowing projects created from scratch or from a large library of
design examples
 In-system programming and debugging provides interface to all Atmel in-circuit
programmers and debuggers
 Create transparent debug views into CPU and peripherals for easy code development
and debugging

11
  Full chip simulation for an accurate model of CPU, interrupts, peripherals, and
external stimuli.

Fig 4.1 Screenshot of programming in Atmel Studio

4.2 Components:

1. Motor Driver IC:

Figure 4.2 L293D Motor Driver IC

12
L293D is a typical Motor driver or Motor Driver IC which allows DC motor to drive on both
direction. L293D is a 16-pin IC which can control a set of two DC motors simultaneously in
any direction. It means that you can control two DC motor with a single L293D IC. The
l293d can drive small and quiet big motors as well. It works on the concept of H-bridge. H-
bridge is a circuit which allows the voltage to be flown in either direction. As voltage needs
to change its direction for being able to rotate the motor in clockwise or anticlockwise
direction, H-bridge IC are ideal for driving a DC motor.

Figure 4.3 L293D Pin Diagram

There are two Enable pins on l293d. Pin 1 and pin 9, for being able to drive the motor, the
pin 1 and 9 need to be high. For driving the motor with left H-bridge you need to enable pin
1 to high. And for right H-Bridge you need to make the pin 9 to high. If anyone of the either
pin1 or pin9 goes low then the motor in the corresponding section will suspend working.

2. Atmega 16 Microcontroller:

Figure 4.4: Atmega 16

ATmega16 is an 8-bit high performance microcontroller of Atmel’s Mega AVR family with
low power consumption. Atmega16 is based on enhanced RISC (Reduced Instruction Set
Computing) Most of the instructions execute in one machine cycle. ATmega16 can work on
a maximum frequency of 16MHz.

13
ATmega16 has 16 KB programmable flash memory, static RAM of 1 KB and EEPROM of
512 Bytes. The endurance cycle of flash memory and EEPROM is 10,000 and 100,000,
respectively. ATmega16 is a 40 pin microcontroller. There are 32 I/O (input/output) lines
which are divided into four 8-bit ports designated as PORTA, PORTB, PORTC and
PORTD. Each I/O pin has an alternative task related to in-built peripherals.

Figure 4.5 ATmega16 Pin Diagram

3. Voltage Regulator IC
Voltage sources in a circuit may have fluctuations resulting in not giving fixed voltage
outputs. Voltage regulator IC maintains the output voltage at a constant value. 7805 IC,
a voltage regulator integrated circuit (IC) is a member of 78xx series of fixed linear voltage
regulator ICs used to maintain such fluctuations. The xx in 78xx indicates the fixed output
voltage it provides. 7805 IC provides +5 volts regulated power supply with provisions to add
heat sink as well.

14
 Figure 4.6: Voltage Regulator IC 7805

4. Center Shaft Motor:

Figure 4.7: Centre Shaft Motor

10RPM Centre Shaft Economy Series DC Motor is high quality low cost DC geared
motor. It has steel gears and pinions to ensure longer life and better wear and tear properties.
The gears are fixed on hardened steel spindles polished to a mirror finish. The output shaft
rotates in a plastic bushing. The whole assembly is covered with a plastic ring. Gearbox is
sealed and lubricated with lithium grease and require no maintenance. Although motor gives
100 RPM at 12V but motor runs smoothly from 4V to 12V and gives wide range of RPM,
and torque. Tables below gives fairly good idea of the motor’s performance in terms of
RPM and no load current as a function of voltage and stall torque, stall current as a function
of voltage

15
5. LCD Module

Figure 4.8: Serial LCD kit

6. Load Cell (HX711):

Figure 4.9: Load Cell (HX711)

HX711 is an electronic scale module, whose working principle is to convert the
measured changes in resistance value changes, through the conversion circuit into electrical
output. The module communicates with the host computer through TTL 232.
Specification:

 Differential input voltage: ±40mV

 Data accuracy: 24 bit (24 bit A / D converter chip.)
 Refresh frequency: 80 Hz
 Operating Voltage : 5V DC
 Operating current : <10 mA

16
 CHAPTER 5
DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION
 CHAPTER 5

DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

5.1 STEPS FOR HARDWARE DEVELOPMENT

Step 1: Materials

Figure 5.1: Materials used

Figure 5.1 shows the tools used for the actual implementation. These include soldering
iron/solder, electrical tape, hook up wire/jumpers, wire cutter/stripper, cardboard,
conveyer belt, pcb, load cells.

Step 2: The Circuit

Power Supply

Load Cell LCD Display

AVR16
Controller
A to D
converter L293D
Motor M
Driver

Figure 5.2: Block diagram of the design

17
Figure 5.3: Schematic diagram – Automatic cane feeding control

Here, a load cell having a capacity of 5kg is used. It is used to measure the weight
and display it on the LCD. The ATmega 16 microcontroller is used to control the circuit
and the LCD. It is based on Reduce Instruction Set Computing. Motor driver IC is used
to run the motor and the conveyer belt, whereas Voltage regulator IC is used to regulate
the voltage..

To prevent the jamming in the belt a threshold is being set, which stops the belt at a
delay of 10 seconds, so that the entire process/mechanism isn’t disrupted and there is
continuous flow of cane on the belt. Figure 5.3 shows the schematic diagram of
Automatic Cane Feeding Control System.

18
Step 3: Assemble the Circuit

Figure 5.4 : Assembling the L293D IC

Step 4: Assembling the Load Cell

Figure 5.5: Assembling Load Cell

19
Step 5: Setting Up the Conveyer Belt

Figure 5.6: Setting the Conveyer Belt

Step 6: Programming the ATmega16

Step 7: Assembling the entire circuit on board

Figure 5.7: Final Circuit

20
Step 9: Implementation and testing

Figure 5.8: Testing

21
 CHAPTER 6
TESTING AND SUMMARY OF RESULTS
 CHAPTER 6
TESTING AND SUMMARY OF RESULTS

6.1 Functionality Test

The system can verify whether the weight of the object is below Threshold value or above it.
If the weight is less than the threshold value then the conveyer belt is in motion.

6.1.1 Procedure for the verification feature:

1. Turn ON the main system.
2. Put the object on weight sensor module.
3. If conveyor belt starts running, Transfer the objects on conveyor belt.
4. If conveyor belt doesn’t start remove the unwanted objects.
5. Conveyor belt transfers the object to the feeder system

Figure 6.1: Testing photograph (1)

22
 Figure 6.2 : Testing photograph (2)

The following tables illustrates the verification of the AUTOMATIC CANE

FEEDING CONTROL SYSTEM. If the weight is less than 200grams, the conveyer belt is
running and if the weight is above 200gms then the belt is stationary.

WEIGHT VERIFICATION STATUS(CONVEYER)

1 40gms Verified Running
2 60gms Verified Running
3 75gms Verified Running
4 110gms Verified Running
5 140gms Verified Running
6 200gms Not Verified Not Running
7 235gms Not Verified Not Running
8 300gms Not Verified Not Running

Table 6-1 Verify Object Weight

23
6.1.2 Conclusion
The proposed system has the capability to provide a innovative solution to the
current problems in the sugarcane industry. The system efficiently helps in avoiding the
jamming cost on the feeder table. The weights of the objects/sugarcane are calculated and a
threshold is set according to which the feeder table is in motion. Thereby, meeting the daily
target of the company and avoiding losses.

24
 CHAPTER 7
INTERNSHIP HANDS ON PRACTICE
 CHAPTER 7
INTERNSHIP HANDS ON PRACTICE

In the initial two month of internship the entire plant was studied by us. We were
acknowledged about the rules and regulations of the company. The plant is divided into
three units:
1. Primary Unit
2. Intermediate Unit
3. Final Unit
We were acknowledged about the various process involved in manufacturing of
sugar. The industry had a capacity of 2500 metric tonnes cane cut per day.
The processes include cane receiving and unloading .Cane unloader is a electrically operated
mechanical unloading device. It has a capacity of 20litres/hr.
Next part includes the feeder table where the cane is levelled. After that cane is taken
for preparation which involves cane chopping, cane levelling, cane fibrizer. After this the
cane carrier section carries cane into the milling section for juice extraction. There are two
processes for extracting juice from cane Milling and Diffusion. Juice extraction by milling is
the process of squeezing the juice from the cane under a set mills using high pressure
between heavy iron rollers. For improving the milling extraction efficiency, imbibition water
is added at each mill: Hot water is poured over the cane just before it enters the last mill in
the milling train and is recirculated up to the reach the first mill. The juice squeezed from
this cane is low in sugar concentration and is pumped to the preceding mill and poured onto
the cane just before it enters the rollers, the juice from this mill is the same way pumped
back . Juice is extracted from the milling section and collected in a juice tank. Raw juice
heaters are used to stop the impurities. Then after complete evaporation juice is dried out
and sugar is formed.

25
 Figure 7.1 : Cane fibrizing

After learning all the details about the process involved in the sugar industry we
found out the need for developing an Automatic Cane Feeding Control System to avoid any
losses to the company. Solution provided by us was accepted by the company and we
worked on the system under the guidance of the Engineers present. We have acquired
practical skills and experienced well under the guidance of the Engineers present at the
company. Currently the project is under process and a prototype has been developed by us.

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CHAPTER 8
REFERENCES
 REFERENCES

[1] Maheswary mohan, Abhir Raj Metkar, Priyanka. “A model reference adaptive control
system for the automatic control of cane feeding system in a cane sugar factory”
International Advanced Research Journal in Science, Engineering and TechnologyNational
Conference on Emerging Trends in Engineering and Technology (NCETET’16) Lourdes
Matha College of Science & Technology, Thiruvananthapuram Vol. 3, Special Issue 3,
August 2016

[2] A Gradener. Siemens (Pty) Ltd. “ Report On an Automatic Control System for Sugar
Cane carriers employing Thyristor- Fed Dc Drive Motors.”

27
APPENDICES
 APPENDICES

Programming

#include <avr/io.h>
#include <util/delay.h>
#include <stdbool.h>
#include <math.h>

void initialize();
void display();
void command();

int main(void)
{
DDRA = 0x0ff;
DDRB = 0x0ff;
DDRD = 0x0ff;
DDRC = 0x00;

int
i,p1=0x00,p2=0x00,p3=0x00,r1,r2,r3,r4,r5,r6,r7,r8,s1,s2,s3,s4,s5,s6,t1,w,w1,w2,w3;
char z,x;

char a[11] ="Weight";

initialize();
for (int i=0;i<=5;i++)
{

PORTA = a[i];
display();

while(1)
{
PORTA = 0x0c0;
command();

28
for (i=0;i<=7;i++)
{

p1 = (p1<<1);
t1 = PINC;
p1 = p1 | t1 ;

for (i=0;i<=7;i++)
{
p2 = (p2<<1);
t1 = PINC;
p2 = p2 | t1 ;

for (i=0;i<=7;i++)
{

p3 = (p3<<1);
t1 = PINC;
p3 = p3 | t1 ;

r1 = p1 & 0x0f0;
r1 = r1 >> 4;

r2 = p1 & 0x0f;

r3 = p2 & 0x0f0;
r3 = r3 >> 4;

r4 = p2 & 0x0f;

r5 = p3 & 0x0f0;
r5 = r5 >> 4;

r6 = p3 & 0x0f;

w = ((r2 * 16) + r3)*10 ;

29
 w1 = w / 100 ;
w2 = (w / 10) - (w1*10) ;
w3 = (w / 1) - (w1*10) - (w2*100) ;

PORTA = w1+48;
display();
PORTA = w2+48;
display();
PORTA = w3+48;
display();

PORTA = 'g';
display(
);
PORTA = 'm';
display();
PORTA = 's';
display();

if (w1 >= 5)
{
PORTB &= ~_BV(6);
PORTB &= ~_BV(7);
_delay_ms(3000);
}

else if (0<= w1 <=4)

{
PORTB &= ~_BV(6);
PORTB |= _BV(7);

void initialize()
{
PORTA = 0x01;
command();
PORTA = 0x38;
command();
PORTA = 0x06;

30
 command();
PORTA = 0x0e;
command();
PORTA = 0x80;
command();
}

void display()
{
PORTB |= _BV(1);
PORTB &= ~_BV(0);
_delay_ms(50);
PORTB &= ~_BV(1);

void command()
{
PORTB |= _BV(0);
PORTB |= _BV(1);
_delay_ms(50);
PORTB &= ~_BV(1);
}

Photograph with company guide

31