WO2010063859A1

WO2010063859A1 - System and method for obtaining, grading and selecting olive oil

Info

Publication number: WO2010063859A1
Application number: PCT/ES2009/000559
Authority: WO
Inventors: Antonio Miguel SÁNCHEZ SOLANA; Luis MARTÍNEZ LÓPEZ; José Ramón BALSAS ALMAGRO; María Dolores LÓPEZ DE LA TORRE
Original assignee: Universidad De Jaen
Priority date: 2008-12-01
Filing date: 2009-11-30
Publication date: 2010-06-10
Also published as: ES2341694A1; ES2341694B1

Abstract

The invention comprises the steps of selecting a mill (1); pressing the olives in said mill (1), pressed pulp thereby being obtained; beating the pressed pulp; separation into the solid phase, known as "alperujo", and a mixture of oil and water; extraction of the solid particles from the mixture of oil and water; settling, filtering, storage in a warehouse and sampling. The steps are monitored by means of product RFID tags (7), which accompany the product throughout the entire method, which tags record information relating to the parameters measured by sensors in each stage. Depending on the information recorded on the product RFID tags (7), the production process is monitored in real time, the streams of product being manipulated by means of electrovalves (8) controlled by intelligent systems and the parameters of anomalous aspects being corrected.

Description

SYSTEM AND PROCEDURE FOR OBTAINING, CLASSIFICATION AND

OLIVE OIL SELECTION

D E S C R I P C I Ó N

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is included within the field of obtaining oil, specifically describes a system and a method of obtaining, classifying and selecting oil.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Among the oil production systems (presses, 3-phase and 2-phase centrifugal), it is the 2-phase centrifuge that has been imposed on others, especially for aspects of production and less environmental pollution, because the Legislation tries to avoid the effects of alpechin.

For these reasons, the oil industry has replaced its usual procedure of oil production, based on a three-phase decanter system (oil, pomace and vegetable water) by one of two phases, that is, output on one side of oil and lull by another.

The quality of the oil depends fundamentally on the previous classification of the olive by qualities of the fruit and the control of a series of parameters during the production process in the mill.

The consequence of the system change mentioned above has been the disappearance of the plant control parameters by the milling masters, such as the vibrofilter fines and the behavior of the alpechines centrifuge. The disappearance of these parameters causes that currently the master miller must determine the good or the malfunction of the plant on the basis of a visual and tactile information, specifically on three parameters: the paste that leaves the mill, the consistency of the paste at leave the blender and the outlet of the pomace of the decanter. The oil extraction installation is regulated from these three parameters, acting on the appropriate controls, which are the sieve (thickness of the maximum output size of the pulp) in the mill, the time that the pulp remains in the blender, the quantities of cold and hot water that are added therein, the temperature of said mixer, the amount of dough that enters the decanter, the water that is added in said decanter, and the regulation rings or diaphragms where they are extracted the oils in the decanter.

If you wish to obtain accurate information, you must wait for the result of methods based on chemical analysis, which are delayed beyond one working day, so that the information is too late and corrections cannot be made in real time. Some methods, such as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) or Near Infrared (NIR) are faster in response time, of the order of several minutes, but it takes the manipulation of a specialized operator and a good calibration of the dispositives. None work in a continuous system and the attempts that have been made with Near Infrared using filters with continuous operation have failed.

When any of these methods is used in laboratories with operator manipulation, it is necessary to wait several hours to obtain the results, since a prior drying of the matter is needed.

Therefore, only through the combination of analysis in the laboratory, visual analysis, and through electronic sensors, it is possible to evaluate the smooth operation of the installation. This control procedure is far from being suitable since the methods currently in use have various limitations.

- The NMR method and the Soxhlet require a previous drying of the sample that implies, at least, 6-7 hours of waiting for the obtaining of the analytical result (in the case of the Soxhlet method it is necessary to add at this time the extraction of the Ia grease due to the solvent), and this makes it impossible in a continuous industrial process in the oil mill.

- On the other hand, the Autelec method, although it allows obtaining the result after a few minutes (4 to 5 minutes), implies a high degree of manipulation of the sample and a considerable consumption of solvents (limitations shared with the Soxhlet method).

- The chemical analysis of the oils to determine their quality implies several days of delay in obtaining the information. Therefore, it follows that it is necessary to resort to other technologies to address the development of control methods.

Near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) is an analytical technique whose instrumental characteristics make it interesting when addressing the development of a detector to analyze the depletion of the pomace. This is due to the fact that it allows the quantitative analysis of samples without hardly requiring preparation. This technique is currently applied but its use is limited to detecting the amount of oil lost in the pomace.

The attempt to use vision control in the industrial process of an oil mill for quality control in real time has been failures as evidenced in the documents: "Estimation of fat content in the alperujo by artificial vision" PhD thesis read in Ia Universidad de Málaga, 2005 and "Alperujo Characterization Method for optimization of olive oil extraction, and installation for its implementation", Spanish patent application P 200301359, both of the author Sánchez-Solana.

Quality control in industrial tasks through radio frequency technology (RFID) has been applied with notable successes for several years in various industrial sectors.

The international patent application PCT / ES 2008/000115 uses RFID technology for automatic food classification and discloses a system for the automatic classification of olives, specially designed to be implanted in oil mills, in which a plurality of labels with technology participate RFID, which can be arranged between the olives themselves, or be fixed to the different trailers used in their transport to the mill. This system also provides that RFID tags incorporate relative information: if the olive has been collected from the ground or directly from the tree; plot of origin of the olives; workers who have manipulated the olives; harvest time and agricultural work done in the crop.

Said olives are transported to the oil mill, at the entrance of which at least one antenna is established for reading said labels, an antenna that is associated with a database for storage and management of the information, thus identifying the type of olives that they enter the installation and assigning to the corresponding trailer the correct unloading hopper, having provided the complementary use of portable devices for coding or reading the labels, in order to allow the debugging of errors of incorrect readings.

Thus, once the trailer is positioned on the appropriate hopper, next to This will place a second antenna through which it is verified that the container coincides with the appropriate reception hopper, preventing the discharge in case this is not so. Then we proceed to verify that the information on the labels that includes the olive type information is correct, after which the olive is unloaded. Depending on the information transmitted by labels and detected by the antenna, which will be processed by the system and stored in the aforementioned database, you can proceed to stop the download system or continue if the verifications are correct, with Io that in each hopper the correct olive would be had.

In the event that the labels are mixed with the olives, it is provided that at the exit of the hoppers of the containers, a series of conveyor belts will be arranged, with a reading antenna associated to each one, by means of which check the information of the labels associated with said olives, so that if it is detected that any label does not correspond to the line on which it should go, the system is paralyzed and branched to another tape, so that said tapes communicate respectively with the storage hoppers of each type of olive perfectly classified, at the exit of which the corresponding production line will be established. Also, during the transport of the olives through the tapes, antennas can be placed along them to read the labels and make checks of the quality of the olive during the screening process and divert the tape to other tapes if They detect errors in these labels.

Finally, once the olives are conveniently separated, they will be subjected to a washing process, in order to improve their quality, each type of olives being perfectly identified and classified.

The importance of improving the quality of olive oil will be a matter key in the coming years. At present, quality is controlled when the industrial process has been completed, by means of physicochemical indices and by sensory evaluation of an expert. Variations in the quality grade of olive oil occur due to many factors, but the most influential is the variability of the fruit itself.

The technical problem that is proposed to solve is to extend the use of a technique that uses RFID to the field of the improvement of the quality and the yield of the olive oil production in the oil mills, allowing to classify the olive from a previous chemical analysis to the collection of said olive and of the information contained in the RFID tags related to the production process, according to the quality of oil that can be expected from said olive to, subsequently, select the most suitable obtaining procedure according to the parameters to be controlled and refer the flow to other different qualities if said procedure is not performed according to plan.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention solves the aforementioned problems by means of a system for obtaining olive oil that incorporates RFID technology and an oil obtaining process that makes use of said system.

The invention presents a real-time system, online and based on RFID technology, which assimilates the production of olive oil to that of other sectors in which the raw material is first selected and then produced and that is opposite to the methods of current olive oil production. RFID technology can be used to correctly classify the olive, as a consequence of which olive oil of better quality is produced since the industrial system does not combine olives with substantially different quality parameters. It is an objective of the present invention to describe a system for obtaining, selecting and classifying oil, which allows the control of obtaining, selecting and classifying it by means of RFID technology, as well as a method that makes use of said device.

It is another objective of the invention to solve the problems of controlling the procedures for obtaining oil by means of a procedure and an associated system that allows the monitoring of the raw material to obtain the oil, in this case, the olive, from the own culture to, prior to the process of obtaining, select the quality of the oil from a chemical analysis, so that the process of obtaining is aimed at directing the product flows so that said selected quality is obtained and, failing that, to propose the variations that are necessary, both in the procedure for obtaining (alternative flows), and in the modification of the operating parameters of the elements involved, to obtain oil of different quality in the event that the specifications are not met .

The invention proposes the existence of an oil production line for each of the oil qualities to be obtained in the factory. The characteristics of the olive cultivation procedure, as well as the results of a chemical analysis carried out on the olive in the field itself and an analysis of the Abencor or similar type, determine the expected quality for the oil obtained from each olive sample.

In this way, each olive sample, once the expected quality of its oil is known, will be destined to the production line more similar to that quality. Subsequently, the olive will go through the different stages and the different elements of the process of obtaining oil and in each of them it will be verified, according to some comparison criteria and decision, if these stages are carried out properly. If so, the intermediate product of each stage will go to the next stage within its same line. In case of detecting anomalies, the product will be redirected towards the more related line of production, so that there are no contamination of a certain quality of oil with heterogeneous quality oils, in addition to modifying the operating parameters of the elements that act in said stage, to eliminate said anomalies.

This whole process of data collection, comparisons, decisions, flow control and correction of parameters in the elements occurs automatically by means of an intelligent computer control system that will be described later. The fundamental aspect of the invention lies in the inclusion of RFID tags that record information about all the relevant parameters and events that occur to the olive trees and to the successive products from the crop to the end of the procedure. This information is processed by the computer media in real time to be able to decide on the flow of products, as will be explained later.

The advantages of the invention are described below:

- The principle of the invention can be used for other control tasks, such as the classification of products in order to divert them to lines of similar quality, product diversion at the exit or at the entrance of each machine, etc.

- The system collects all the relevant information about the handling of the oil, from the cultivation of the olive to the final steps of the olive oil production and storage in the storage warehouse of the winery.

- The system controls the process and detects variations in the main control parameters, which allows the product to be derived to avoid contamination due to the malfunction of some element of the system.

- The particular way to record and evaluate the information on the parameters of the procedure allows to adapt the operation of the elements of the system to both the recommended features and those of the product in process, being able to make corrections on the fly, which so far are unknown .

INTEGRATING ELEMENTS OF THE SYSTEM OF THE INVENTION

To avoid contamination by the mixture of oils of different qualities, there is a complete line of obtaining olive oil, with all its elements, for each of the qualities that you want to obtain.

The olives are collected in the field together with the product RFID tags that collect information about the crop, and are loaded on trailers identified by trailer RFID tags that indicate the type of olive they contain. The olive trees have been analyzed Abencor or similar and subsequently the chemical analysis and tasting panel, to determine the quality of the oil that can be given and the data of these analyzes have been recorded, as well as those of cultivation and The quality of the oil, in the RFID product labels. Once the quality of the oil has been determined, that quality of oil is associated with a production line and the olive is introduced in that line, starting by storing it in the appropriate hopper, identified with an RFID tag where data on the olives it receives and re-record said RFID tag of the hopper with the information of what was received based on the olives it receives.

Next, the rest of the elements that are part of each of the lines of the system of the invention are described: - Mills: The mills receive the olives loaded in the hoppers.

Each oil production line contains its mill, which has a sieve, which can be removable, of appropriate thickness to the quality of oil associated with that line. A large sieve size implies high productivity but worse quality in the pressing and greater difficulties in the other elements of the system, while a finer sieve size implies greater quality in the pressing and less difficulties in the following elements, at the expense, however, to decrease production.

- Blenders: Pressed olive paste and water at different temperatures enter the blenders. In said mixers, the pasta is beaten together with the water in order to obtain a whipped paste containing drops of oil that are grouped in a later separable oil phase. The blenders include a heating system that preferably comprises a double inner pipe through which a heating fluid circulates, to which water is incorporated at a certain temperature. The operating system in each mixer breaks down into several phases. Each phase can be controlled separately and with the RFID technology divert the product if any anomaly is detected in any of the phases.

- Means for separating the batter paste in alperujo and in a mixture comprising oil plus water. The separation means are preferably of the centrifugal type, more preferably of the type comprising a decanter fed by a dough pump, which collects the product from the mixer and introduces it into the decanter.

Water is added to the decanter, either automatically or manually. The decanter has a drum and an auger, by means of which the separation of the beaten paste and the water is produced in two mixtures: a mixture comprising oil plus water and a mixture comprising alperujo. The Oil mixture plus water may be contaminated with solid particles of alperujo, just as the alperujo may contain oil particles.

The decanter has adjustment clips or diaphragms used to regulate the levels where the oil mixture plus water is extracted and can also be used to regulate the differential speed between the drum and the auger, as well as the speed of rotation.

The mixture of oil and water is directed towards a sieve, while the alperujo is directed to a deboning machine, where the bone contained in the alperujo is separated, the mixture being reintroduced into the system as a review pomace, which is transported to a special line which contains a decanter review.

The use of product RFID tags of various densities provides information on the proper functioning of the decanter, as well as the vertical centrifuge and the decantation tanks, which will be described below, by the proportion and the information of product RFID tags that appear in the alperujo phase with respect to those that leave the oil part plus water. This would give information on whether the clips or regulating diaphragms are correctly regulated.

- Sifter: The sieve is used to separate on the one hand the particles in suspension of larger size and on the other the water plus oil free of said upper particles.

- Vertical centrifuge: This element is not necessarily found in all installations. When it is present, it acts after the sieve. Said vertical centrifuge works similarly to the decanter, eliminating the coarse particles. However, the speed of rotation is substantially higher, which produces a deterioration of the quality of oil The control of the vertical centrifuge is produced by means of the RFID tag density system described for the decanter.

- Decantation tanks: In the decantation tanks, oil, water and denser solid particles are sorted by density. Since the oil is the least dense component, it remains in the upper part, while the most solid particles remain in the lower part and the water and the less solid particles in the intermediate part. Periodic purges from the settling tank remove water and solid particles deposited. Oil substantially free of suspended solid particles and water is obtained in the settling tank.

The longer the settling stage lasts, the more complete the deposition of water and particles, which is advantageous. However, an excessively prolonged time of decantation means a longer contact time between the oil and the particles, which can cause harmful reactions in the oil and provide unwanted odors, which reduce the organoleptic properties of the oil.

- Mechanical filters. In the mechanical filters the oil that leaves the settling tank is filtered, to remove less dense solid particles that have escaped to the settling tank. The mechanical filters are arranged in series, reducing the size of the filter along the path. The filters incorporate a level that indicates the degree of dirtiness of said filters and a pump that controls the amount of oil that is injected into the filters themselves.

- Warehouse storage warehouses. The oil obtained after the filters is stored in the warehouse in tanks. There are preferably more than one deposit or group of deposits, associated with different qualities of oil obtained. - Stoner. The stoner is used to separate the bone from the mixture of pomace and water, to then derive the mixture of pomace and water without bone into a review decanter.

- Decanter review. Because the alperujo that leaves the decanter can still have appreciable amounts of oil still usable, said mixture of pomace and water is passed through a review decanter, in which oil of inferior quality is obtained.

Each oil production line is a complete line and has its own elements, as indicated above, but preferably there is no revision decanter for each line, but there is a smaller number of revision decanters. Products that have suffered such anomalies in the process of obtaining that their quality is of a very low order are passed through the decanter or the decant decanters.

- Means of decision. They evaluate the information of the RFID control system and other electronic sensors and compare said information with a pre-established protocol, making the appropriate decisions and directing the successive steps of the oil obtaining procedure.

- Data processing elements, which keep the transmitted information, for the study of the traceability of the product.

- RFID control system and other electronic sensors. Its mission is to receive the information of the sensors distributed along the elements of the oil obtaining process, in order to register said information in the RFID tags. In each step of the process of obtaining oil, decisions must be made that depend on the Information recorded in RFID tags. The RFID control system comprises the following components:

* RFID tags, composed of a first antenna, a radio transducer and a chip. The chip contains information that is desired to be transmitted through the antenna. In some of the steps some RFID tags can include one or more sensors in their structure.

* RFID reader / writer, consisting of a second antenna, a transceiver and a decoder. The reader periodically sends signals to detect labels. When the reader detects a label, it receives the information from the label, which includes identification information and other information relevant to the quality of the oil and the procedure for obtaining it.

In all the oil production plant there are distributed odor sensors, or incorporated in the labels themselves, that detect if the product of each stage is contaminated with some type of odor and diverts it to the most appropriate line.

STAGES OF THE INVENTION PROCEDURE

The process of the invention carries out the traceability of the olives from their own crop, recording in RFID product labels all the data relevant to said crop, as well as those of the analyzes, which allow classifying the olives. When the olives arrive at the installation where the system of the invention is located, they are, therefore, duly identified by the RFID product labels that accompany them from their cultivation. These labels will also accompany the olives in their passage through the elements incorporated in the system of the present invention, during the different stages of the process object of the invention.

The steps that constitute the procedure of The present invention.

Previous stage: The olives arrive at the mill in trailers, classified according to relevant information referring to the previous crop and analysis data, from which said olives are classified according to their quality. Each trailer carries a trailer RFID tag that indicates the type of olive it contains and the rest of the relevant information. The trailer RFID tag can be attached to the trailer and protected against fraud.

The product RFID tags that accompany the olives incorporate information on the following parameters:

- collection of the olive: from soil, flight or mixing, and other possible,

- time of collection,

- weather conditions, temperature, rain of the season, - plot of origin of the olives,

- workers who have handled the olives,

- harvest time,

- degree of fruit maturity,

- chemical treatments of olive trees, - characteristics of cultivated and cultivated soil,

- location of the crop,

- agricultural work carried out in the cultivation of olive.

- bone pulp ratio

- expected quality of the oil to be obtained

1.- Pressing.

The pressing is produced in the mills and as a result a pressed olive paste is obtained.

At the entrance of the mill, there is an assignment of each trailer to an appropriate reception hopper, depending on the information recorded on the product and trailer RFID tags. The olives are then discharged into the appropriate hoppers so as not to introduce contaminants.

Additionally, the residence time of the olives in the hopper that unloads in the pressing mill can be controlled, since no more than 24 hours must pass from the collection to the pressing.

To carry out this control, the information on the collection of the fruit and the output of the olive in the hopper is recorded on a special RFID tag, establishing by difference the time elapsed from the collection to the pressing. The special RFID tag in which the temporary information is stored can be extracted before entering the mill and subsequently reincorporated, or it can be a tag of sufficiently small size and features such as not to be damaged by the mill.

To perform the pressing stage, it is necessary to take into account several factors: the amount of olive at the entrance, the amount of water that is added in the mill and the temperature of said water, as well as the size of the screens, which determines the size of the particles that pass to the blender. A finer dimension of the screen facilitates the work in the later stages, but slows down the production, while a thick dimension increases the production at the cost of hindering the subsequent stages.

The information contained in the RFID product labels is processed by the decision means, which determine the appropriate screen size, sending the olive to the appropriate mill and in the correct quantities, as well as the quantity and temperature of the water added .

The product RFID tags have adequate dimensions to cross the screens without being damaged, however, which is also It is possible to use RFID tags that can be removed before pressing and reintegrated into the pressed olive mass after said pressing.

2.- Smoothie.

The shake is carried out in the blenders. The pressed olive paste from the mills is introduced into the blenders and a paste containing a separable oil phase is obtained as the product of the milkshake.

If the product of the pressing is in accordance with what was expected, that is, if the information recorded in the RFID tags indicates that no anomalies have occurred during the pressing, said pressing product is directed towards the mixer of its production line. Otherwise, it is directed towards the mixer of the most similar quality obtaining line, by means of an electrovalve. In general, all product deviations, both in the mixer and later, are produced by means of solenoid valves.

At the beginning and at the end of the beating stage, information on the following parameters is recorded on the RFID product labels: - paste temperature, by means of a temperature sensor,

- moisture of the paste, by means of a humidity sensor,

- paste consistency, by means of a suitable sensor,

- residence time in the mixer, by means of time measurement.

If the values of the indicated parameters, especially the temperature, are not within the stipulated ranges contained in the database, the milkshake product is directed towards the decanter of the most related quality line or towards the review decanter , to obtain oil of different quality and these parameters are modified to avoid future failures. Otherwise, the product is directed towards the decanter of its line. 3.- Separation of oil and alperujo.

The separation of oil and pomace is carried out in the decanter. The product of the oil and pomace separation are two mixtures: the alperujo and the mixture of water and oil, both mixtures including dispersion of solid particles of various sizes and densities.

The decanter of each production line receives the product of a smoothie correctly made in the mixer of said production line, while the review decanter, common to all or a part of the production lines, receives the product of other operations performed in a very defective way, with great decrease in the quality of oil.

At the beginning and at the end of the solid-liquid separation stage, information on the following parameters is recorded in the 5 RFID product labels:

- product temperature, by means of a temperature sensor,

- product moisture, by means of a humidity sensor,

- quantity of processed product, using an appropriate sensor,

- differential speed between the auger and the decanter drum, by means of a suitable sensor.

- displacement of the pomace window, by means of the position of the oil extraction level control clips.

An additional control element is, according to a practical embodiment of the invention, the introduction of RFID tags of different densities, higher and lower than the density of water, to check which part of said RFID tags is mixed with the oil or with the lupine . In this way, that information read at the exit of the decanter provides knowledge about whether it is working correctly and according to the qualities of olive paste received depending on the number of labels that come out of the alperujo or oil and determine the correct operation of the machine. That is why it is important to work with labels of different densities.

4.- Extraction of solid particles.

The extraction of solid particles occurs in the sieve. In the sieve the mixture of water and oil plus solid particles from the decanter is introduced and water plus oil is obtained on one side and, on the other, particles of thickness greater than that of the sieve. The product RFID tags function as thickness sensors, so that the product RFID tags larger than a given one do not pass through the sieve and those of smaller size do.

If, at the exit of the sieve machine, the information contained in the RFID product labels indicates that the procedure is complying with the quality specifications in the production process, the product of the sieve machine is sent to the decantation stage of its production line . Otherwise, the product of the sieve machine is diverted to a vertical centrifuge or to another oil production line of a more similar quality, by means of an electrovalve. By means of the vertical centrifuge, the solid particle extraction procedure is perfected.

Information on whether these have passed through the vertical centrifuge and what processes it has been subjected to in said vertical centrifuge is incorporated into the product RFIDs.

5.- Decantation.

The decantation stage is developed in the decantation tanks. In the settling tanks the product of the sieve machine or, where appropriate, of the vertical centrifuge is deposited, when it is included in the line and He considers his employment adequate.

Decantation tanks are preferably arranged in series. Each line has its own set of settling tanks to avoid contamination by impurities. Depending on the information contained in the RFID product labels, the product of the sieve machine is directed towards the set of settling tanks of its line or the line of the most related quality, if the RFID tags reflect anomalies. Decantation tanks are purged from time to time, extracting water and solid particles denser than oil.

In the stage of decantation, data on the following parameters are recorded in the product RFID tags, the product RFID tags themselves may contain some of the sensors used: - product temperature, by means of a temperature sensor,

- quantity and size of the particles removed, by appropriate sensor,

- duration of the stage, by means of time measurement.

The use of product RFID tags of various densities provides information on the proper functioning of the decantation tanks, by the proportion and the information of product RFID tags that appear in each of the phases of the decantation.

If the information recorded in the product RFID tags detects that during the decantation process any anomaly has occurred, the decantation product is derived towards the line of obtaining a more related quality, or failing that, to the review decanter to obtain lower quality oil, in addition to correcting the operating parameters of the decantation tanks. Otherwise, the settling product is directed towards the mechanical filters of the same obtaining line. 6.- Filtering.

The filtering stage is developed in the mechanical filters. The product coming from the decantation tanks reaches the mechanical filters. The filters are arranged in series and have a decreasing pore size.

The information contained in the product RFID tags is used to determine the moment of change of the filters, as well as the amount of product that is introduced into the filters.

7.- Storage.

The oil obtained by the steps described above is classified by quality based on the information contained in the RFID product labels. For each of the different qualities, one or several storage tanks are arranged, so that each tank contains homogeneous quality oil.

The decision means are responsible for selecting the oil that is introduced into each tank, based on the information recorded on the RFID product labels, plus the information provided by the sensors of each machine through which it has passed and the content of the bases of data.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To complement the description that is being made and in order to help a better understanding of the characteristics of the invention, according to a preferred example of practical implementation thereof, a set of drawings is attached as an integral part of said description. where, for illustrative and non-limiting purposes, Io has been represented next:

Figure 1.- Shows a schematic elevational view of the installation of the invention, where the existence of several oil production lines, of different qualities, can be seen.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention describes a system for obtaining, selecting and classifying olive oil and a method that makes use of said system, controlled by means of RFID technology.

The olives arrive at the facility comprising the oil mill in which the system of the invention is located in trailers identified by RFID trailer tags that record the information on the olives they contain and then are introduced into hoppers (9), with information on the Olives they must contain. Olives are also identified by product RFID tags (7).

Traceability of the olives is carried out from their own crop, introducing RFID product labels (7) in which data on the cultivation of the olives are recorded, such as:

- collection of the olive: from soil, flight or mixing, and other possible,

- time of collection, - weather conditions, temperature, rain of the season,

- plot of origin of the olives,

- workers who have handled the olives,

- harvest time,

- degree of fruit maturity, - chemical treatments of olive trees,

- characteristics of the cultivated and cultivated soil, - location of the crop,

- agricultural work carried out in the cultivation of olive.

- bone pulp ratio

- expected oil quality

Prior to the arrival in the oil mill, a chemical analysis of Abencor type or similar to olives is carried out, which determines the quality of the oil contained in said olives and classifies them according to qualities, to obtain homogeneous qualities of oil. This chemical analysis allows to know what the quality of the oil will be at the end of the procedure. With the help of databases and decision means, the main parameters of the appropriate olive oil production procedure are determined. By means of the RFID technology, it is controlled whether the operation of the elements of the obtaining system of the invention is in practice according to said pre-established parameters or if any anomaly occurs during the process of obtaining oil. If an anomaly occurs, the RFID technology allows it to be detected and corrected in real time the process of obtaining, modifying the flows in an appropriate way by means of electrovalves (8) so that the item of product that has suffered the anomaly is diverted to another obtaining line ( 10) of different quality oil, so as not to contaminate the superior quality oil and not produce mixtures of inhomogeneous quality.

The product RFID tags (7) accompany the olives not only from the crop to the mill, but also when they enter the mill (1) and become olive paste, as well as during the different elements and subsequent stages of the procedure to obtain olive oil, recording the measurements of sensors distributed throughout the system or incorporated into the product RFID tags themselves (7).

Once the analysis has been carried out with all the previous information stored in The product RFID tags (7) and the parameters of the production procedure have been decided, the olives, together with the product RFID tags, are introduced into hoppers (9) and directed towards mills (1). The mills (1) have screens of different sizes. The information of the product RFID tags (7) allows intelligent decision means to decide which line of production (10) is suitable for that olive heading and route it to the hopper corresponding to the mill (1) of said line. In the mill (1) a process of pressing the olives is carried out which results in a pressed olive paste.

The information recorded in the product RFID tags (7) is used to control the operating parameters of the mill (1), which are the size of the sieve and the amount of olives that are introduced, as well as the amount of water added in the stage and its temperature, and also the duration of the pressing.

The next stage after the mill (1) is the blender (2). In the blender (2) the pressed paste is introduced and mixed with water and as a result a paste with a separable oil phase is obtained. If the parameters of temperature, humidity and consistency of the paste, as well as the duration of the shake measured at the beginning, at the end and at intermediate points of the blender (2) and recorded in the product RFID cards (7), are within of the established ranges, the paste passes to the next stage, which is the separation of oil and lupine in its own line of production (10). Otherwise, it is diverted to the more related line, depending on the anomalies recorded in the product RFID tags (7).

The separation of oil and pomace is done in a decanter (4). The result of the stage of separation of pomace and oil in the decanter (4) are two mixtures: a mixture of water and oil and another mixture called alperujo.

The alperujo can be directed towards a stoner where the pomace bone and then introduced into a review decanter (not shown) to take advantage of the oil content of the pomace and obtain inferior quality oil. If the operating parameters of the decanter (4) of each line, temperature, quantity of processed product, rotational speed of the decanter (4), position of the clips or diaphragms of oil outlet of the decanter (4), recorded on the labels Product RFID (7) are correct, the mixture of water and oil follows the process of obtaining oil of the quality corresponding to its line (10) and is directed towards the next stage of extraction of particles in a sieve (5).

The step of extracting solid particles is carried out in the sieve (5). In it, solid particles of larger size than the characteristic size of the sieve (5) and a mixture of oil and free water of said particles are separated. The control that the product RFID tags (7) perform in the sieve machine (5) is a simple separation thickness control. The product RFID tags (7) larger than the characteristic size of the sieve (5) remain and those of larger size exceed the stage and continue.

The product RFID tags (7) can be manufactured in different densities, which makes it possible to verify the correct operation of the decanter (4), the sieve (5) and the settling tanks (6) by comparing whether the density of the RFID tags of product (7) corresponds with the one suitable to the place of the decanter (4), of the sieve (5) or of the settling tanks (6) where they were separated.

Following the sieve (5) there is a horizontal centrifuge (11), which complements the function of said sieve (5).

The next stage is the settling and takes place in the settling tanks (6). The oil is separated at the top, by its lower density, compared to water and dense solid particles, which remain in the lower part of the deposits, where they are purged. During the decantation, data on the product temperature, quantity and size of the particles removed and duration of the stage are recorded on the product RFID tags (7).

If the information recorded in the product RFID tags (7) detects that during the decantation process there has been an anomaly, the decantation product is referred to the decanter to obtain lower quality oil. Otherwise, the decantation product is directed to the next stage of filtering.

The filtering takes place in mechanical filters, arranged in series, which have a decreasing pore size, so that in the first filters the thickest particles remain and successively particles of increasingly thin size are eliminated. The information contained in the product RFID tags (7) is used to determine the moment of change of the filters, as well as the amount of product that is introduced into the filters.

Additionally, and analogously to that described in the sieve machine, the control that the product RFID tags (7) perform on the mechanical filters is a size control, so that the product RFID tags (7) exceed a certain size remain in the filter, while those that have a smaller size, pass through the filter. By checking the size of the product RFID tags (7) that pass and get trapped, the operation of the mechanical filters can be controlled.

The last stage is the storage in storage warehouses located in the warehouse. There are deposits of storage for different qualities of oil, so that the information contained in the RFID product labels (7) is used to decide to which tank the oil is sent, in order to gather in the same storage tank oils of homogeneous quality.

In the end, a chemical analysis is carried out, as well as a tasting panel of the oil contained in the storage tanks to verify the quality. Theoretically, that quality has to coincide with the quality that was estimated when the sample of olives in the field was extracted with a model of Abencor laboratory or similar type of oil mill and that oil was made chemical analysis and " tasting panel ", together with the chemical parameters, extract the organoleptic values that determine the quality and its optimal production process. The deviations between the quality parameters obtained in the previous analyzes and made in the field, as well as the analysis in the storage warehouses of the warehouse may be due to various causes, such as: the variability of the sample received to make the analysis prior, the homogenization of many similar qualities of olive mixed, or in the last case due to an incorrect operation of the control systems, including RFID tags.

Claims

1. System for obtaining, classifying and selecting olive oil, which includes several production lines (10), each of which comprises the following elements:

- hoppers (9) loaded with olive,

- a mill (1) provided with sieve, in which the olive is introduced for pressing, producing a pressed olive paste;

- a blender (2) of the pressed olive paste, comprising heating means, and which produces the formation of oil drops in the separable oil phase;

- means for separating, by centrifugation, the beaten paste in a mixture comprising oil plus water and a mixture comprising alperujo; - a sieve (5), used to separate solid particles and water from the mixture comprising oil plus water;

- a vertical centrifuge (11), which complements the function of the sieve (5);

- settling tanks (6) where by density the oil is separated from the water and the solid particles by successive purges; Y

- oil storage media substantially devoid of water and solid particles; characterized in that it additionally comprises:

- measurement sensors located in the pressing means, the beating means, the separation means, the sieve (5), the settling tanks (6) and / or the storage means;

- means of recording information;

- at least one database,

- means of comparison, - means of decision, and

- a control system based on RFID technology, comprising: - RFID product labels that move together with the olive, the pressed olive paste, the alperujo, the mixture comprising oil plus water and / or oil substantially devoid of solid particles and water; and - RFID readers / recorders located in the pressing means, the beating means, the separation means, the extraction means and / or the storage means; where the measurement sensors that measure the values of certain physical variables, the information recording means record in the product RFID tags (7) the information of the values of said physical variables, as well as other information, the RFID readers recognize the information recorded on the product RFID cards (7), the comparison means make comparisons between the information recognized by the RFID readers and the content of the databases, and the decision means make decisions regarding the operation of the system elements based on these comparisons.

2. System according to claim 1, characterized in that the product RFID tags (7) have registered information regarding the cultivation of the olive contained in said hoppers (9) with respect to the following categories:

- collection of the olive: from soil, flight or mixing, and other possible,

- time of collection,

- weather conditions, temperature, rain of the season,

- plot of origin of the olives, - workers who have handled the olives,

- harvest time,

- degree of fruit maturity,

- chemical treatments of olive trees,

- agricultural work carried out in the cultivation of olive. - bone pulp ratio

- expected oil quality

3. System according to claim 1, characterized in that each line comprises at least one mill (1) provided with sieve, existing in the set of the mill lines (1) with sieves of different characteristic thicknesses.

4. System according to claim 1, characterized in that the product RFID tags (7) have a size substantially smaller than the characteristic thickness of the screens.

5. System according to claim 1, characterized in that the mixers (2) comprise at least one of the following sensors: - a paste temperature sensor,

- a paste consistency sensor,

- a moisture sensor of the paste, and

- a stopwatch, to measure the duration of the paste in the whipping media, incorporating the measurements of said temperature, consistency, humidity and duration sensors in the product RFID tags (7) at the entrance and exit of the passage of the pasta by said blenders (2).

System according to claim 1, characterized in that the separation means comprise a decanter (4), composed of a drum and an auger, and a pump (3), by means of which paste is pumped into the interior of the decanter, the decanter comprising additionally, adjustment clips used to regulate the levels of oil extraction and the speed of the drum relative to the auger.

7. System according to claim 6, characterized in that the decanter (4) includes the following sensors:

- a humidity sensor,

- a temperature sensor,

- a paste quantity sensor pumped into the decanter (4), and - a loop control sensor,

- incorporating the measurements of said sensors of temperature, humidity, amount of paste pumped, and position of the clips in the RFID labels of the product (7) at the entrance and at the exit of the passage of the paste through said decanter (4).

System according to claim 1, characterized in that the product RFID tags (7) have different sizes, so that said smaller product RFID tags (7) pass through the sieve (5) and the larger ones are retained .

9. System according to claim 1, characterized in that the settling tank (6) comprises at least one of the following sensors:

- a stopwatch, to measure the residence time of the paste in each settling tank (6), - a particle quantity sensor, and

- a particle size sensor, incorporating in the product RFID tags (7) the measurements of said sensors for particle quantity, particle size, and residence time in the settling tank (6).

10. System according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a review decanter, towards which the paste is diverted from at least one of the following elements to obtain lower quality oils:

- decanter (4), - settling tanks (6),

- blender.

11. System according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a vibrophine machine, in which the paste is introduced after passing through the sieve (5), to remove the coarse particles.

5

12. System according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises mechanical filters connected in series, which have decreasing pore diameters, to separate solid particles from the product of the settling. 0

13. System according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a stoner that separates the bone from the pulp after passing through the decanter (4). 5

14. System according to claim 1, characterized in that it additionally incorporates odor sensors whose information is recorded in the RFDI product labels (7).

15. System according to claim 14, characterized in that the odor sensors are incorporated in the product RFID tags (7).

16. System according to claim 1, characterized in that the product RFID tags (7) have varied densities. 5

17. Procedure for obtaining, classifying and selecting olive oil using the system described in claims 1 to 16, which comprises the following steps:

- pressing of the olive made by means of the sieves of the mills (1), obtaining a pressed olive paste; 0 - milkshake of the pressed olive paste, which is carried out in the blenders (2), where the formation of oil drops in the separable oil phase occurs; - separation of the batter paste in alperujo and a mixture comprising oil plus water, using a decanter (4);

- extraction of solid particles and water from the mixture comprising oil plus water, obtaining oil substantially free of water and solid particles;

- storage of the oil in storage means, characterized in that it comprises control steps carried out by means of product RFID tags (7) and trailer RFID tags that carry information regarding the production and treatment of the olive, on which record data referring to the method of obtaining oil as it passes through each of the steps of said method, said data being detected by RFID product (7) and trailer tag readers, which transmit said data to a database, from which they are compared by means of comparison with typical values, taking place by means of decision making decisions regarding the method, said decisions comprising the quality of the oil and flow decisions.

18. Method according to claim 17, characterized in that it comprises a step of selecting a suitable obtaining line (10) based on the data recorded on the product RFID cards (7).

19. Method according to claim 17, characterized in that it comprises a stage of control of the time elapsed from the collection of the olive until the pressing, based on records of the date of collection and the moment of pressing on product RFID cards (7) that They accompany the olives.

20. Method according to claim 17, characterized in that it comprises a step of controlling the amount of olive introduced into the mills (1).

21. Method according to claim 17, characterized in that it comprises a stage of recording the temperature, consistency and / or humidity of the pressed paste, both at the entrance and at the exit of the beating step, as well as the duration of said smoothie step

22. Method according to claim 17, characterized in that it comprises a step of diverting the pulp from the mill (1) to a mixer (2) to obtain lower quality oil, depending on the temperature records.

23. Method according to claim 17, characterized in that it comprises a temperature and / or humidity recording stage at the entrance and exit of the decanter (4), as well as the amount of mass pumped into the decanter (4), and The position of the adjustment clips of the decanter (4) and / or the differential speed of the drum and the auger and the speed of rotation.

24. Method according to claim 17, characterized in that it comprises a stage of diverting the mixture comprising water and pomace towards a deboning machine and subsequently towards a review decanter.

25. Method according to claim 17, characterized in that it comprises a filtering stage carried out by means of mechanical filters placed in series having decreasing pore diameters.

26. Method according to any one of claims 15 and 25, characterized in that it incorporates a filtering control step by means of

The information registered in the product RFID tags (7), which allows Decide when to change the filters and / or the amount of oil to be injected into said filters.

27. Method according to claim 17, characterized in that the storage comprises the arrangement of several types of storage tanks intended to accommodate oil of different qualities, as well as the direction of the oil towards one or other storage tanks by means of the decision means depending on the result of the comparison of the information recorded in the product RFID tags (7) with the content of the databases.

28. Method according to claim 17, characterized in that it comprises a final stage of analysis of the oil contained in the storage tanks, in addition to a tasting, to verify if the final quality of the oil corresponds to that foreseen by Abencor type analyzes, In addition to chemical analysis.