See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/308870832

Automatic Measurement of Cane Crushing Capacity Using a Nuclear-Free

Online System Based on Angle Sensor and Distributed Control System

Article  in  Sugar Tech · September 2016

DOI: 10.1007/s12355-016-0484-4

CITATION READS

1 569

6 authors, including:

Dianzhi Hou Yuan-Yuan Pu

Beijing Technology and Business University TEAGASC - The Agriculture and Food Development Authority
32 PUBLICATIONS   444 CITATIONS    21 PUBLICATIONS   783 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Shan Chen
Guangxi University
25 PUBLICATIONS   148 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

NIR4Dairy (Research Leaders 2025) View project

Dairy processing technology center (DPTC) project 4.1 View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Dianzhi Hou on 03 June 2019.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Sugar Tech (July-Aug 2017) 19(4):402–408
DOI 10.1007/s12355-016-0484-4
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Automatic Measurement of Cane Crushing Capacity Using
a Nuclear-Free Online System Based on Angle Sensor
and Distributed Control System
Dian-Zhi Hou1,2 • Yuan-Yuan Pu1,2,3 • Xiao-Mai Yao1,2 • Cheng Huang4
Yan-Guang Zhu1,2 • Shan Chen1
Received: 25 May 2016 / Accepted: 13 September 2016 / Published online: 30 September 2016
Ó Society for Sugar Research & Promotion 2016
Abstract Cane rate (t/h) is a main indicator to evaluate the
milling performance of a cane sugar factory. Currently,
nuclear scales are being used to measure the cane crushing
capacity in most of the sugar factories in China. The
gamma rays are generated by the nuclear scale adds risk to
the working environment when the sugar factory is in
operation. To achieve nuclear-free sugar manufacturing, a
new online detecting system with an angle sensor was
developed to measure the cane rate. In the present study,
comparison of nuclear scale and angle sensor cane rate
measurements was discussed. Results showed that the
detecting relative error was less than 5 %, which did not
effect the production requirements of the factory. In addi-
tion with combination of a distributed control system, the
nuclear scale can achieve the online detection and control
of cane crushing rate.
Keywords Nuclear scale  Gamma ray  Nuclear-free 
Angle sensor  DCS  Cane crushing capacity
& Shan Chen
shan-chen@foxmail.com
1
Center for Sugar Engineering and Technology Research,
Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, People’s Republic of
China
2
College of Light Industry and Food Engineering, Guangxi
University, Nanning 530004, People’s Republic of China
3
School of Biosystems and Food Engineering, University
College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland
4
Guangxi Nongken Sugar Group Jinguang Sugar Co. Ltd,
Nanning 530004, People’s Republic of China
123
•
Introduction
Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region is the main cane sugar
producing region in China. It annually produces 5–6 mil-
lion tons of sugar, which accounts for 60 % of the total
sugar production in the country (Li and Yang 2015; Li
2004). The major process for white sugar production con-
tains sugarcane shredding, juice extraction, juice clarifi-
cation, evaporation, and crystallization (Rein 2009). On
arrival at the sugar factory, sugarcane is transported to
conveyor belt for shredding. The shredded cane is then
passed through a series of mills (typically five or six mills,
called the milling train as a whole) for juice extraction
(Olaoye 2011; Adam and Loughran 2005). As shown in
Fig. 1, sugarcane is crushed into small pieces by three
shredders, with the preparation of sugarcane after the third
shredder typically 80 % (Oliver et al. 2007). Before
entering the milling train, the cane rate (the total mass of
shredded cane) was measured in order to control the cane
rate of the milling train. Generally, the automatic control
system monitors the cane rate through a computer host,
using a nuclear scale installed at the secondary conveyor
belt. According to the detecting relative error between the
given value of the cane rate and the actual cane rate, the
system will automatically adjust the speed of the conveyor
belt using proportion integration differentiation (PID)
control so as to maintain the cane rate at a given value.
A rapid and accurate approach for measurement and
control of the cane rate plays an important role in the whole
sugar manufacturing process. As is known to all, a well-
distributed and balanced sugarcane extraction process is
crucial for maintaining a stable sugarcane transportation
schedule, shortening sugarcane storage time, and ensuring
proper operation of the boiler where bagasse from the
extraction process is used (Hou et al. 2015). The
Sugar Tech (July-Aug 2017) 19(4):402–408
Fig. 1 Location of the nuclear
scale in sugarcane conveying
process
application of nuclear scales in sugar factories is helpful for
maintaining the cane rate. However, gamma ray irradiation
is an issue which might bring harm to human beings in the
surrounding environment. Additionally, the leakage of
radioactive material and the amount of irradiation during
operation pose a huge health risk in the factory (Hayward
1958). In order to reduce nuclear pollution caused by the
nuclear scale, an angle sensor was developed and applied
in the sugar factory. To the best of our knowledge, there are
limited relevant reports on the study of angle sensors used
in a sugar factory.
In the present study, an angle sensor in combination
with the DCS was applied to investigate its feasibility to
realize nuclear-free production in cane sugar mills. It was
expected that the angle sensor with the DCS system would
be capable of automatic online detection of cane rate in
cane sugar factories.
Materials and Methods
Nuclear Scale and Control Theory
A nuclear scale has been successfully used in cane sugar
manufacturing industries for continuously measuring sug-
arcane throughput (Burr and Payne 1954). A nuclear scale
consists of a radiation source and an ionization chamber.
The radiation source emits gamma rays, and the ionization
chamber receives the gamma rays. The principle of a
nuclear scale is based on the fact that absorption of gamma
radiation increases with the mass of measured material. In
sugar factories, gamma rays from the radioactive source
impinge on the shredded cane materials on the conveyor,
where a portion of rays is absorbed by the cane, while the
remaining portion penetrates the cane and reaches to the
ionization chamber filled with high-pressure argon that is
ionized by the rays. Since the electric current signal gen-
erated by gas ionized is proportional to the intensity of the
gamma radiation, relationship between the detected current
403
signal (I) when shredded cane was loaded onto the con-
veyor belt and the original current signal (I0) when the
conveyor belt was idling is shown in Eq. (1).
I ¼ I0 elWL=r ð1Þ
where l is the mass absorption coefficient of shredded
cane; WL is the load capacity of the conveyor belt per unit
length, and r is the width of sugarcane conveyor belt.
The preamplifier module converts the current signal into
a voltage signal which represents the change in the load.
Since the output voltage U is proportional to the current
signal I, Eq. (1) can be expressed as below:
U ¼ U0 elWL=r ð2Þ
where U0 is the voltage output when the conveyor was
without loads and U is the voltage output when the con-
veyor was loaded with shredded canes.
Finally, the voltage signal is introduced into the host
system. The relationship between the load and the nuclear
radiation signal absorbed by sugarcane material is linear
within a certain range. In this range, ionization voltage
decreased with increasing thickness of the shredded cane.
In addition, a speed sensor conveys the speed of the con-
veyor to the host system. The host system calculates the
instantaneous flow and cumulative flow based on the above
two signals.
If K ¼ r=l, while simultaneously taking the logarithm of
both ends of Eq. (2), then:
 
U0
WL ¼ K ln ð3Þ
U
where K is called the calibration constant of the shredded
cane.
When the K is determined by calibration, the transient
cane rate Q was calculated by:
Q ¼ W L  vi ð4Þ
where vi is the instantaneous velocity of the conveyor.
The cumulative cane rate W is calculated as below:
123
404 Sugar Tech (July-Aug 2017) 19(4):402–408

X
N X
N ionization chamber, which is 364 nGy/h, is 5.35 times as
W¼ Qi T ¼ WLi vi T ð5Þ much as the workshop environment. Considering that a
i¼1 i¼1 variety of maintenance and cleaning work has to be carried
where T is the calculation period and N is the number of out a few times every week, operators working under such
cycles given in the cumulative time. an environment may suffer irreversible damage to their
health in the long run. Therefore, the nuclear scale needs to
be replaced to change this situation.
Irradiation in the Surroundings of Nuclear Scale

Radioactive sources were divided into five levels, i.e., clas-
ses I, II, III, IV, and V, with corresponding negative impacts
ranging from high to low. The vast majority of radioactive
sources used in nuclear scales are 137Cs, which is classified as
class IV. Although a class IV radiation source is a low-risk
source which will not cause permanent damage to humans,
there is still a certain degree of damage to the health of
workers if they work in such an environment for a long time
and with close contact to these radiation sources.
The nuclear scale consisted of a radioactive body with the
size of a soybean sealed in a protective container. When it is
in operation, the gamma rays are emitted through a small
window of the container. In spite of the fact that the window
has a certain collimation effect on the rays, with increasing
distance, the scattering and reflecting of the rays, the colli-
mation effect will become worse. Therefore, the absorbed
dose rate of gamma radiation around the nuclear scale
becomes larger. To understand the amount of gamma radi-
ation in surrounding environment, gamma radiation dose at
different sites around the nuclear scale was measured using a
high-sensitive CSI detector. Results are shown in Table 1.
It was clear that the radiation dose of gamma ray was
different according to distance of radioactive source
(Table 1). If the distance would be more from the
radioactive source, the radiation dose will be less. As the
distance between measuring site and radioactive source
increased from 5 to 50 cm, the radiation dose detected
decreased by about 18.6 times. Nevertheless, the amount of
radiation relative to the workshop environment is still very
high. In addition, the radiation dose just below the
Nuclear-Free Measurement Method Based
on Angle Sensor
In order to solve the management difficulties and the risks
caused by the nuclear scale, an angle sensor method was
developed and applied in the cane sugar factory. An angle
sensor is a kind of sensor used to detect angle. A probe is
connected to the angle sensor. The probe trails across the
top of the cane blanket. As the tip of the probe rises and
falls with the height of the cane blanket, the probe and the
attached angle sensor rotate, providing the angle mea-
surement (Wu et al. 2015). The specific installation posi-
tion and working principle of the angle sensor are shown in
Figs. 2 and 3. When there is no shredded cane on the
conveyor belt (idling), the probe is perpendicular to the
conveyor belt (not touching the conveyor belt) (Fig. 2a).
When the conveyor belt is loaded with shredded cane and
in operation, the probe angle (a) varies with the changes in
the thickness of shredded cane (Fig. 2b). Then, the changed
angle of probe caused by the thickness of shredded cane
will be directly reflected as output to the angle sensor.
Therefore, the thickness of shredded cane H can be cal-
culated: H = R - R  cos(a) (Fig. 3), where R was the
length of the probe.
The probe is installed vertically above the secondary
conveyor belt. The field installation of the angle sensor is
shown in Fig. 4.
As shown in Fig. 4, three angle sensors are installed in
the same section. According to the working principle of the
angle sensors, the DCS reads the angle of the three angle

Table 1 Gamma radiation dose around the surrounding environment of the nuclear scale
Measuring site Results (unit nGy/h)

1 The distance from the surface of the container is 5 cm 7610

2 The distance from the surface of the container is 50 cm 408
3 The distance from the cane carrier is 1 m 247
4 The distance from the cane carrier is 2 m 117
5 The distance from the cane carrier is 3 m 91
6 The distance from the cane carrier is 4 m 90
7 The distance from the cane carrier is 5 m 87
8 Just below the ionization chamber 364
9 Workshop environment 68

123
Sugar Tech (July-Aug 2017) 19(4):402–408 405

Fig. 2 a Conveyor belt (idling); b conveyor belt (in operation)

where R is the length of the probe; a1, a2, and a3 are angles,
respectively, detected out by the three angle sensors; H is
the thickness of shredded sugarcane.
The shredded-cane volume was obtained with formula:
V ¼ H  L  vi  t ð7Þ
where V is the volume of shredded sugarcane, L is the
width of belt, vi is the instantaneous velocity of the con-
veyor, and t is the set time (typically a few seconds).
Based on the equation Wi=Vq and (7), the transient
cane rate Q could be expressed:
Wi q  H  L  vi  t
Q¼ ¼
Fig. 3 Calculating the thickness of shredded cane t  t
a 1 þ a2 þ a3 
¼ q  R  R  cos  L  vi ð8Þ
3
where q is the density of the material sugarcane, Q is the
transient cane rate in set time (t), and Wi is the cane mass.
The shredded-cane cumulative cane rate can be calcu-
lated by using equation:
N 
XN X a1 þ a2 þ a3 
W¼ QT ¼ q R  R  cos L  vi  T
i¼1 i¼1
3
ð9Þ
where N is the number of cycles given in the cumulative
time and T is the calculation period.
The distributed control system (DCS) was developed to
provide a comprehensive package of analog controllers, and it
was connected by a digital communications network to a
computerized operator interface in a centralized control room
Fig. 4 Installation of angle sensors on site (Dahm and Mathur 1990). The DCS can provide automatic
control of sugarcane crushing process (Aldini et al. 2002). The
sensors at the same time and then calculates the average. DCS reads the rotation angle which is linked to the thickness
The correlation between the thickness of shredded cane H of shredded cane using Eq. (6). With a series of calculation
and the angle is shown below: using Eq. (9), the cane rate can be obtained. In combination
a1 þ a2 þ a3 with angle sensor, the DCS is used to control the speed of the
H ¼ R  R  cos ð6Þ secondary conveyor belt. If the thickness of shredded-cane
3

123
406 Sugar Tech (July-Aug 2017) 19(4):402–408

Fig. 5 Cane rate calculation

process

layer on the conveyor belt is over a certain value, the DCS can
reduce the speed; otherwise, the DCS increases the speed of
the secondary conveyor belt to achieve the cane rate set point.
The cane rate calculation process is shown in Fig. 5.

Application Effect Analysis

The developed nuclear-free system based on the angle

sensor and DCS was applied in a cane sugar factory in
China. It was run from January 15, 2016 to January 24,
2016 (total 10 days), and data at four detection times
(08:00; 12:00; 16:00; 20:00) on each day were collected. In
order to verify the application effect of angle sensor in
sugar factory, the cane rates obtained from the angle sensor
and the nuclear scales were compared with the real cane
rate which is also based on a nuclear-scale measurement. Fig. 6 Changes in the cane rates at four detecting time during
To better distinguish the cane rates in the study, the real 10 days; cane rate 1 the real cane rate, cane rate 2 nuclear scale, cane
cane rate was marked as cane rate 1 (C1) and the cane rates rate 3 angle sensor
measured by nuclear scale and angle sensor were marked
as cane rate 2 (C2) and cane rate 3 (C3), respectively.
(C2) is calculated by a program that is developed by the
factory according to the current signal output from the
Results and Discussion nuclear scale. Figure 6 shows the changes in cane rates C1,
C2, and C3 during 10 days. It was observed that the cane rates
Though both C1 and C2 are calculated from nuclear-scale remained basically at around 150 t/h during these 10 days,
system as shown in the above-mentioned Eqs. (1)–(5), the and only the cane rates detected on the day eighth (2016/1/
programs used to process the current signal output were 22) were over 160 t/h, which suggested that more sugarcane
different. The former (C1) is calculated from the program was being processed on that day. Nevertheless, the cane rate
provided to the factory by Ocean Power Co., Ltd. The latter data at four different times of the same day were very similar,

123
Sugar Tech (July-Aug 2017) 19(4):402–408 407

Table 2 Relative errors calculated of C2 and C3 with C1 Table 2 continued

Date/time Relative error (%) Date/time Relative error (%)
d1 d2 d1 d2

January 15, 2016 2016/1/24

8:00 1.79 3.04 8:00 2.97 0.94
12:00 0.35 0.56 12:00 0.35 2.43
16:00 2.73 2.80 16:00 2.04 1.16
20:00 2.36 0.97 20:00 1.04 0.07
January 16, 2016 d1 is the relative error of C2 and C1; d2 is the relative error of C3 and C1
8:00 0.88 0.27
12:00 3.57 4.16
indicating a stable manufacturing process during the day.
16:00 0.20 4.39
Significantly, the calculated C2 was very similar to the real
20:00 1.36 0.27 cane rate C1 at those detecting times on each day, which
2016/1/17 demonstrated the reliability of our developed program and
8:00 2.12 4.24 proved its further application in calculation of cane rate 3. As
12:00 2.92 4.98 seen by the similarity in its calculated cane rate to those
16:00 0.88 0.54 calculated by the nuclear scales, the C3 can be calculated by
20:00 1.35 0.74 Eq. (9). By comparison of C1, C2, and C3, it can be observed
2016/1/18 that the detected C2 and C3 both were very close to the C1.
8:00 1.00 0.07 Additionally, in different time periods on the same day, the
12:00 0.07 4.23 C3 detected by angle sensor is relatively stable and basically
16:00 1.56 0.46 can maintain at the same level. From the application results,
20:00 1.07 2.67 it was anticipated that the use of angle sensor for measure-
2016/1/19 ment of the cane rate is promising in achieving a nuclear-free
8:00 0.07 0.07 manufacturing process in cane sugar factory.
12:00 2.57 1.64 A better way to show the comparison result of C1, C2, and
16:00 1.46 3.11 C3 was to calculate the relative error (d), which can be cal-
20:00 0.13 1.80 culated according to Eq. (10), and results are shown in
2016/1/20 Table 2.
8:00 1.51 2.54 jDj
12:00 0.68 0.07 d¼  100 % ð10Þ
C1
16:00 0.35 0.14
20:00 1.56 0.20 where d is the relative error and jDj is the absolute value of
2016/1/21
the difference between the cane rates detected (C2 or C3)
8:00 1.12 2.18
and the real cane rate C1.
12:00 1.39 3.18
As shown in Table 2, the relative error d2 is very close
to the relative error d1 at different times of the day, which
16:00 3.86 2.72
suggested the reliability of the application of angle sensor
20:00 3.42 1.74
as well as the developed program in sugar factory. Addi-
2016/1/22
tionally, it was observed that the both relative errors d1 and
8:00 1.75 3.50
d2 are less than 5 %, which indicated that the use of anger
12:00 1.69 0.73
sensor is promising and it completely meets the production
16:00 2.15 0.74
requirement of the factory.
20:00 0.24 4.00
2016/1/23
8:00 0.90 3.26 Critical Issues Encountered During Operation
12:00 4.50 2.90
16:00 0.50 1.65 The application of the angle sensor in combination with the
20:00 1.78 2.63 DCS in the sugar factory achieved positive results. How-
ever, due to the large cane rate being processed each day,

123
408
the contact angle sensor weared rapidly during operation.
This critical issue needs to be resolved.
Conclusions
The angle sensor in combination with the DCS is of great
potential for measuring the cane rate in sugar factories. The
new system was running continuously for 10 days through-
out the 2015–2016 milling season, which was validated. In
the comparative study, the measurement error between the
angle sensor and the nuclear scale is less than 5 %. At the
same time, the operation of the angle sensor is relatively
stable. Therefore, the angle sensor is promising as a
replacement for the nuclear scale for accurate cane crushing
rate measurement, in order to achieve a nuclear-free working
environment in sugar factory.
Acknowledgments This work was financially supported by Scientific
Research and Technology Development Program of Guangxi
(20131077) and Scientific Research and Technology Development
Project of Nanning (14122003-1).
Compliance with Ethical Standards
Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of
interest.
References
Adam, C., and J. Loughran. 2005. The effect of blanket thickness on
extraction energy in sugarcane rolling mills: A finite element
investigation. Biosystems Engineering 92(2): 255–263.
123
View publication stats
Sugar Tech (July-Aug 2017) 19(4):402–408
Aldini, L., T. Deigaard, and J.-J. Østergaard. 2002. High-level control
at sugar factories, applied to the DdS diffusion process.
International Sugar Journal 104(1248): 560–563.
Burr, G.O., and J.H. Payne. 1954. Weighing bagasse and sugar with
gamma rays. Hawaiian Sugar Technologists 13(1954): 124.
Dahm, Michele, and Anoop Mathur. 1990. Automation in the food
processing industry: Distributed control systems. Food Control
1(1): 32–35.
Hayward, A.E. 1958. Biological effects of whole-body gamma
radiation on human Beings. Radiology 70(3):420
Hou, Dianzhi, Pingping Xiang, Cheng Huang, and Yanguang Zhu.,
2015. Construction and research: An automation control system
of sugarcane balanced crushing. In 6th International Conference
on Intelligent Control and Information Processing, 480–484.
Li, Yang Rui. 2004. China: An emerging sugar super power. Sugar
Tech 6(4): 213–227.
Li, Y.R., and L.T. Yang. 2015. Sugarcane agriculture and sugar
industry in China. Sugar Tech 17(1): 1–8. doi:
10.1007/s12355-014-0342-1.
Olaoye, J.O. 2011. Development of a sugarcane juice extractor for
small scale industries. International Journal of Agricultural
Technology 7(4): 931–944.
Oliver, Gossett, Vernon Buchanan, and Kavian Cooke. 2007. A
tribological study for an increased coefficient of friction in the
extraction of sugarcane juice. Tribology Transactions 50(2):
198–204.
Rein, P.W. 2009. White cane sugar production. International Sugar
Journal 111(1321): 27–36.
Wu, Ying, Qingshen Jing, Jun Chen, Peng Bai, Junjie Bai, Guang
Zhu, Su Yuanjie, and Zhong Lin Wang. 2015. A self-powered
angle measurement sensor based on triboelectric nanogenerator.
Advanced Functional Materials 25(14): 2166–2174.