Lemonade Machine?

The decision to build a lemonade machine came from an idea that the model should be able to demonstrate the aspects of a future biotechnological factory in the most accessible way. A biotechnological process usually includes mixing substances, regulating the pH and the temperature, and in- and efflux of streams. In its essence, an automatised lemonade machine is in fact a small biotechnological factory, which a wider audience can comprehend. With that, we started on our design of the lemonade machine, integrating several aspects of the Industry 4.0 framework.

Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 is a concept that outlines the next step in the evolution of industrial systems. Due to increased automatisation and interconnectedness of technological entities, industrial processes of the future will require a very different involvement from humans. Bigger biotechnological companies, such as Janssen Biologics, are very eager to go high-tech as soon as possible, which means they have to start educating and preparing their staff for the new standard protocols. This collaboration with Technolab is one of the first steps aimed at introducing the new concepts to their employees.

In order to demonstrate this conceptual framework, we integrated the following aspects in our machine:

1. Autonomous Systems
2. Digital Twin
3. Internet of Things
4. Additive Manufacturing

1. Autonomous System

The principle of autonomous systems implies that the operator will simply send orders to the machine, which will be executed according to the protocol. In the case of our lemonade machine, we built a mobile app which could be used to:

1. Order a lemonade with a particular syrup of a defined concentration. This emulates the ability of the operator to send an order to a modular apparatus which is able to execute various protocols according to the demand of the factory at a given moment.
2. Inspect the status of the machine: which pumps are currently working, which flows are currently on/off, if there is liquid in the mixing container. This helps the operator ensure that the protocol does not deviate from the expected program.
3. Check the readings of sensors: temperature, concentration, and liquid levels. This helps the machine operator track when either of the liquids needs to be replenished or the containers have to be purged.
4. Moreover, we built an automatically updated webpage, which was used to track how many times the pumps have been activated. This helps ensure that maintenance comes in due time.

We built the app using MIT App Inventor, which is a web service that allowed us to build a cross-platform (web-based) app using an intuitive drag & drop block system. The app communicates with the Arduino using a Bluetooth model. Arduino also dynamically updates a webpage hosted on a privately accessible server, which is then parsed by the app to display the readings of the sensors and the status of the pumps.

2. Digital Twin

Digital Twin is an integrated concept, which entails a set of operations conducted by cyber-physical systems, which ultimately leads to an continuous optimisation of the processes. This is performed by ensuring that the functioning of all parts of the system can be traced in a “digital twin”, which is available in the cloud. The data from all parts is gathered and processed in the cloud, which in turn allows for the optimisation of the processes. 

We demonstrated this aspect by running a webpage, which recorded the:

1. History of orders. This allows to keep track of the demand for particular protocols, allowing to adjust the bulk orders of raw materials, etc.
2. Number of times a particular pump has been turned on. This allows for the maintenance of the pumps so as to ensure consistency in the delivered volumes.
3. The concentration (expressed as turbidity) of the mixed liquid. This helps keep track of the consistency of the delivered product (lemonade). One can cross-compare the turbidity of orders with the same desired concentration and adjust the machine if sufficient consistency is not achieved.

3. Internet of Things

In order to exemplify this highly complex framework, we used RFID chips and barcodes to demonstrate the potential for wireless communication between hardware entities. For example, the machine would only start dispensing the mixed lemonade if a cup was placed in a slot for dispensation. The RFID chip also contained information about the volume of the cup, so it would dispense the volume appropriate for a cup of a particular size.

The barcodes were used to refer the operator to a web page that contained essential information about a piece of equipment, as well as its level of wear (e.g. number of runs on pumps).

4. Additive Manufacturing

This indispensable part of good manufacturing practices of the future demonstrates the possibility of on-demand production of broken pieces, as well as decentralised assembly of larger pieces of equipment. In our case, a Y-join that connected two influx pipes into one was designed and 3D-printed. A piece that was otherwise unavailable for our pipes!

Conclusion

At the end of the three-month challenge, we were able to deliver a fully functional lemonade machine that exceeded the expectations of the supervising team at Janssen Biologics. The demonstration model was transferred to their facility in Leiden and has been since used for demonstrations on isght during open days.

You can watch a video presenting all the mentioned aspects of our project, including a live demonstration of machine’s working.