With continuous technological advancements and growing market demands, the application of intelligent control technology has become a key factor in driving the development of the tea industry. Therefore, studying intelligent control technology for Tea processing equipment is of great significance to the production and development of China's tea.
This review summarizes the latest research progress on intelligent control technology in Green Tea, black tea (red tea in China), and dark tea primary production lines, exploring innovative applications of intelligent withering equipment and intelligent pan-firing machines in the refinement process of tea. This can provide insights for future research on intelligent control technology for tea processing equipment.
I. Research on the Application of Intelligent Control Technology in Primary Production Lines for Tea
1. Green Tea Production Line
Green tea, the most common and widely consumed type of tea in China, has seen the introduction of smart production lines by many companies. These production lines are equipped with data collection and management capabilities to achieve digitalized processing.
Photographed by the Editorial Department of China Tea
The automated production line system for stir-fried green tea is precise and highly automated, enabling fully automatic continuous production of green tea. Advanced energy-saving production equipment and bio-pellet clean energy have been used in production lines that have achieved digital system control while also achieving energy savings and cleanliness. In recent years, green teas such as West Lake Longjing and Xinyang Maojian have also achieved continuous and automated production, with data control platforms integrated into their production lines.
2. Black Tea Production Line
The black tea production line is also moving towards intelligentization. The automated primary processing equipment for Yunnan black tea includes leaf storage machines, withering machines, air classifiers, roller impurity removal machines, rolling machines, unclumping sieving machines, fermentation machines, and Drying machines, significantly increasing production efficiency.
A certain tea company in Guizhou has disclosed an intelligent processing production line for black tea, including fresh leaf conveyors, rolling machines, unclumping machines, intelligent fermentation rooms, drying machines, and control cabinets. This production line effectively solves the problem of manual water control after washing fresh leaves, which not only is time-consuming and labor-intensive but also can cause fresh leaves to accumulate and mature, affecting quality and reducing tea-making efficiency.
Photographed by the Editorial Department of China Tea
A certain tea company in Anhui has provided an automated processing production line for small-cup black tea, ensuring accurate packaging and improving packaging efficiency.
3. Dark Tea Production Line
The dark tea production line is also gradually becoming automated. The automated primary production line for dark tea proposed by a smart equipment company in Changsha includes leaf storage devices, pan-firing machines, two sets of rolling machine groups, two fermentation warehouses, and two drying machines. These are sequentially connected through conveyor devices and controlled via PLC control cabinets and central control computers using Ethernet interconnection, enabling automated continuous production of dark tea.
Fermentation is a critical process for the formation of dark tea's characteristic flavor. Traditional fermentation environments for dark tea are rudimentary, making it difficult to precisely control temperature and humidity, often leading to uneven fermentation, low aroma, or off-flavors. To improve fermentation effects, some precision-controlled, clean, and automated fermentation processes have been developed and applied.
4. Multi-functional Production Lines
To address technical bottlenecks such as single-function production lines, low general applicability of equipment, low production efficiency, and inability to meet the needs of future flexible intelligent manufacturing, many companies have innovatively integrated processing procedures and equipment for different types of tea, developing modular machine adaptation and manufacturing innovation technologies. This has promoted original innovation in the intelligent control of production lines, enabling online recognition and classification of tea leaves, allowing tea processing equipment to automatically select optimal processing parameters based on different tea leaves, transitioning from automation to digitization and intelligence.
5. Main Intelligent Processing Equipment for Tea
In addition to overall line intelligence, key equipment for tea processing is also gradually becoming intelligent. For example, intelligent withering equipment solves issues of uneven withering temperatures and low efficiency; intelligent pan-firing machines achieve precise temperature control; intelligent rolling machine groups can accurately regulate multiple parameters during rolling; and intelligent drying machines can monitor the drying state and color changes of tea in real-time, effectively ensuring tea quality.
II. Research on the Application of Intelligent Control Technology in Refinement Production Lines for Tea
There has also been progress in the intelligentization of tea refinement production lines. For instance, digital blending technology can automatically optimize blending schemes, improving blending efficiency and accuracy; intelligent impurity removal equipment can effectively remove impurities from tea, enhancing tea quality; and intelligent air classification equipment can accurately identify and adjust tea grades, improving the precision of air classification.
In the future, intelligent control technology will continue to play a significant role in tea processing equipment:
- Integration and interoperability of intelligent control technology, meaning that different processing equipment can exchange data and collaborate intelligently through IoT technology, further improving the overall efficiency and adaptability of production lines.
- Deep integration of big data analysis technology and tea processing equipment, through deep mining and analysis of production data, predicting equipment failures, and implementing preventive maintenance, improving factory utilization rates and production reliability.
- Deep integration of green environmental protection, energy-saving, and emission reduction concepts with intelligent control technology, developing more environmentally friendly processing technologies and energy-saving equipment to meet higher requirements for sustainable development in the global tea market.
In summary, the continuous advancement and application of intelligent control technology for tea processing equipment will bring new development opportunities and competitive advantages to the tea industry, playing an increasingly important role in driving the industry towards greater intelligence, efficiency, and sustainability.
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