Automation of a home brewery

V diplomskem delu je predstavljen razvoj in implementacija sistema za vodenje domače pivovarne. Varjenje piva je kompleksen proces, ki je sestavljen iz veliko korakov, zato je v diplomski nalogi predstavljena avtomatizacija najtežjih korakov pri varjenju piva. Pri varjenju piva je brez avtomatiziranega stroja težko doseči ponovljivost končnega produkta, prav tako pa je sam proces precej zahteven. Diplomska naloga se osredotoča v glavnem na avtomatizacijo drozganja in kuhanja. Drozganje in kuhanje sta dva procesa, pri katerih je potrebno pivino segreti na želeno temperaturo in jo nato ohraniti na tisti temperaturi. Pri varjenju piva je brez avtomatiziranega sistema težko sproti izvajati točne meritve temperature, še težje pa je ročno zagotavljati ustrezno temperaturo pivine v loncu. V diplomski nalogi je predstavljena strojna oprema, ki nam omogoča zanesljivo varjenje piva. Strojna oprema je izdelana na tak način, da je potrebnih čim manj ročnih posegov v varjenje, kar nam zagotovi lažje varjenje piva, prav tako pa zagotavlja ponovljivost. Delovanje stroja nadzira in vodi programirljivi logični krmilnik, ki preko ustreznih merilnikov dobiva povratno informacijo o stanju pivine in s pridobljenimi informacijami krmili aktuatorje na tak način, da sledi receptu, ki ga dobi od uporabnika preko grafičnega vmesnika.The thesis presents the implementation of a system for controlling a home brewery. The process of beer production is complex and consists of many steps. Therefore, the thesis focuses on presenting and automating the most difficult steps in home brewing. When making beer without sophisticated equipment, it is difficult to achieve the consistency of the final product and manage the complexity of making a beer by hand. This thesis focuses on automating the steps of mashing and cooking. Mashing and cooking are both processes where we need to heat the wort to a certain temperature and maintain it. When making beer without a machine, it is difficult to make precise and accurate measurements, and it is even more difficult to manually adjust and maintain the desired temperature in the cooking pot. For the above-mentioned reasons, the thesis presents the hardware that allows us to reliably produce beer. The hardware is designed to require as little manual intervention as possible, which in turn allows us to produce beer more easily and to increase the consistency of the final product. The machine is controlled by a programmable logic controller that receives its information about the wort from sensors and, accordingly, can manipulate the actuators to follow the recipe requested by the user through a dedicated graphics interface