Visualization and control of the ripening process at VVISS

VVISS is a Czech company specializing in the warehousing and distribution of a wide range fruits and vegetables in the EU. The company has six warehouses in two countries. Four of them are located in Czechia (Brno, Ceska Skalice, Cesky Tesin, Zernov) and two warehouses are located in Slovakia (Madunice, Presov). The company's home base is in Prague.

In 2003, it was decided to install a brand new international system for the control of the banana ripening process at VVISS. The Czech company ELPRO Kolin was responsible for the entire implementation of this control system.

The control system with two PLC devices (Tecomat NS950 and Tecomat TC600) provides:

• Control of the cooling process
• Energy consumption monitoring and load shedding control

The NS950 and TC600 PLCs are connected to the control computer located in the supervisory room. The ripening process is controlled and visualized by the Reliance 3 SCADA/HMI system, which is installed on the control computer. All ripening rooms are equipped with control panels that can also control and monitor the ripening process.

The central control system (Reliance SCADA, Tecomat PLCs) is intended to visualize and control the entire process of banana ripening. All operating data is archived. The process of ripening can be controlled or monitored by authorized users from any PC connected to the LAN (local network) or from any PC connected to the Internet.

The warehouse where the SCADA-based control system was installed

Compressors providing control of the cooling process