Self-Healing Brewing Controller for Target Beer Taste Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Automated beer brewing systems lack the ability to dynamically adjust brewing processes to achieve specific sensory characteristics of beer, often resulting in variations in taste and quality due to deviations from intended recipes.
Innovation Solution
A beer making system that uses a performance model to generate updated recipes by analyzing measured parameters during brewing, allowing adjustments to mashing and boiling schedules, and incorporating a recirculating liquid path with selectable flow paths and removable reservoirs to control brewing processes and achieve desired taste characteristics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If automated brewing systems execute fixed recipe programs, then brewing process automation is achieved, but the ability to achieve specific sensory characteristics and maintain consistent quality is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors brewing parameters (temperature, time, flow rates) during the brewing process and compares them against target values. When deviations are detected, the controller automatically adjusts process parameters to correct the deviation and maintain the desired sensory characteristics, thereby resolving the contradiction between automation and quality consistency.
Solution Approach 2:
The brewing system transitions from executing fixed, static recipes to dynamic real-time control. The controller continuously adapts process parameters based on actual measurements and performance models, enabling the system to maintain consistent sensory characteristics while fully automated, thus resolving the contradiction between automation extent and manufacturing precision.
2Ease of operation
If brewing processes follow fixed schedules, then process control is simplified, but the ability to dynamically adjust for desired taste characteristics is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses performance models and control algorithms to automatically determine and execute the brewing parameters needed to achieve desired sensory characteristics. The controller self-adjusts process variables based on real-time feedback and performance predictions, eliminating the need for complex manual adjustments while maintaining ease of operation and enabling taste customization.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables taste characteristic customization by dynamically changing process parameters (temperature profiles, time durations, flow rates) based on desired sensory outcomes. The performance model translates target sensory characteristics into specific parameter adjustments, allowing the system to maintain simplicity while achieving high adaptability.
3Device complexity
If brewing systems use fixed flow paths, then system structure is simplified, but the ability to recirculate and control liquid for different brewing stages is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The flow path system transitions from fixed to dynamic, with valves and pumps that can redirect liquid flow based on the current brewing stage. The controller automatically selects appropriate flow paths (recirculation, sparge, boil) based on process requirements, maintaining structural simplicity while achieving brewing stage flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The recirculating liquid path system is designed to perform multiple functions through a single integrated structure. The same pipes and pumps serve different brewing stages (mashing, sparging, boiling) by dynamically routing flow, eliminating the need for separate dedicated pathways for each stage while maintaining adaptability.
Data Source
AI summary
An automated or semi-automated beer brewing system may adjust a brewing session based on data collected during the brewing session. The adjustments may attempt to achieve a set of desired taste characteristics, even though a brewing session may then deviate from an intended recipe. A performance model of the brewing system may include taste characteristic effects and operational aspects of an automated brewing system, and may be used to calculate changes to various brewing steps. A control system may analyze various measured parameters to determine deviation from an intended recipe, and may use the performance model to calculate updated brewing steps that may attempt to achieve the desired result. When such measured parameters indicate a malfunction, a brewing session may be paused or terminated.