Sweet Beet Wanted

Syngenta runs a beet analysis station in Bad Salzuflen which was modernized extensively by PlanTec OHG. The main objective was to ensure the clear identifiability of the beet samples on their way through the plant in a pilot project. PlanTec solved this problem with a non-tactile operating RFID system (Radio Frequency Identification).

 

Exemplary Pilot Project

 

The project presented a few unknown variables to the company: For one, there was no previous reference application for the use of RFID technology for identifying agricultural bulk goods of this kind in the entire agricultural industry and it was unforeseeable whether and how the mobile data media of the RFID system could be brought into connection with the beet. Therefore practical experience with the automatic identification of the beet batches was to be gathered first in the analysis station in a pilot project during the 2007 campaign.

 

PlanTec soon decided which system to use. “We decided to modernize the control and operation sections of the plant at Syngenta Seeds with a Simatic S7-300 controller and a TP177 Touch Panel”, Wolfgang Geiler, Managing Director at PlanTec reports. “It therefore made sense for us to have a look at this portfolio for a solution for the beet identification. We soon found the most suitable systems in the Simatic RF600 with Siemens’ support.”

 

Reliable Batch Detection

 

Jörg Hempelmann, head test technician for sugar beet at Syngenta in Bad Salzuflen, describes the challenge of the RFID application: “If just a single sample is lost or cannot be assigned clearly to a plot, the whole database is no longer correct. We also need about ten years to cultivate a new, more productive type with a better resistance to pests in beet growing which is delayed by 12 months by every unidentifiable sample and affects our capability to compete with sugar cane.

 

PlanTec therefore developed a detection concept with which the beet from every single plot can be traced fully automatically by the processing plant. A so-called Smart Label is used as a mobile data medium. This is housed in a plastic tube for protection against water and mechanical damage and is fastened in a beet-shaped, screw sealed plastic capsule. One of these capsules is put into every beet sack destined for Bad Salzuflen during the harvest. A barcode label which identifies the plot and beet sample is also attached to every data capsule during the pilot project.

 

PlanTec has assigned the Smart Labels a consecutive identification number. This is read out when the beet batch enters the system and again before the beet enters one of the two washing machines. The conveyor belt stops automatically in case of batches without a data capsule or with several data capsules to prevent mixing up batches and identification errors.

 

Robust and Low-Cost

 

With IP65 protection the writers/readers and antennae are ideally equipped for use under the difficult daily ambient conditions which prevail in the beet processing plant. Even more important was the relatively low price of the paper labels because more than 2,500 Smart Labels were required for the pilot project. Another advantage is the great reading distance from the antenna so that data capsules hidden beneath several beets are also detected reliably. To create a certain additional redundancy PlanTec connected two other antennae to the writer/reader which detect every beet batch again before it enters one of the two washing machines.

 

The writer/reader transmits the read out numbers via Industrial Ethernet to the Simatic controller. The connected operator panel displays the position of the respective batches in an overview screen based on the numbers. “We used to have a lot of jams and faults at the washing machines,” Jörg Hempelmann remembers. “When a washing machine was opened, beet from several batches was sometimes washed together and mixed up. The system almost always had to be emptied. Now it can be stopped at any time. The system notices where which beets are so that no batch is lost.”

 

The data capsule is removed from the beet manually after washing and is transported to the labeling station for the samples on its own belt. The washed beets are processed into a homogeneous mash from which 45 grams per batch are taken as a sample. These are then given a label with a barcode which is linked to the data of the beet plot. The easily perishable beet mash is immediately deep frozen and the sample is analyzed in Syngenta’s central laboratory in Sweden whilst the rest is delivered to a sugar refinery.

 

Market Position Strengthened

 

The pilot project has shown that the labels in the data capsules run through the system without any problems. The detection rate of the antennae was 100 percent regardless of the respective position of the data medium. The system can therefore be exploited totally in the second extension stage in the next campaign. Jörg Hempelmann sees the successful automation of the batch identification as a further component in the expansion of research and development to strengthen the competitive position of Syngenta: “We are very pleased indeed with the results of our pilot project. In the second expansion stage we are expecting a higher data quality with less effort because the new system eliminates several sources of error. The antennae never forget to read out the data memory. We no longer need to unscrew the data capsules during labeling in future because the additional barcode is omitted.”

 

Technology at a Glance

 

• Use in the logistics and production sections
• UHF range (865 to 868 MHz in Europe, 902 to 928 MHz in the USA)
• Two antennae each mounted opposite each other for reading distances up to 10 meters
• Readout of the Smart Tags by the Simatic RF660A antenna with a Simatic RF660R writer/reader