Monitoring concept in commercial laundries (IMPRESS)

The aim of the research project is the development of an intelligent sensor concept for commercial washing processes. Through the targeted integration and combination of sensors in specific process steps (e.g. clear washing, rinsing process) as well as the use of artificial intelligence, an effective monitoring of the washing process is aimed at.

The automation of commercial laundries is constantly advancing, especially in order to increase productivity, sustainability and safety of processes as well as to reduce costs. However, this trend also entails the need for intelligent monitoring of complex machine processes. This is particularly important in laundries, for example to ensure and further improve the quality of washing processes (e.g. stain removal) and hygiene standards. Furthermore, the integration of intelligent sensors for continuous data acquisition and monitoring ensures the economical use of waste water recycling plants. So far, however, in the laundry sector new trends in industry 4.0, such as intelligent sensors in combination with artificial intelligence, have only been implemented slowly and selectively. In the future, however, a change to "intelligent laundries" is inevitable in order to be able to continue offering economically and ecologically sensible services. The development of an intelligent sensor concept for laundries would be a first step towards the full automation of this branch of industry.

The aim of the research project is to develop an intelligent sensor concept for commercial washing processes. Through the targeted integration and combination of sensors in specific process steps (e.g. clear washing, rinsing process) as well as the use of artificial intelligence, an effective monitoring of the washing process is aimed at. With the help of the newly developed monitoring concept, an increase in process quality is to be achieved. Furthermore, the condition of the wastewater can be documented. These data can be used to develop an economical wastewater recycling process for laundries for the first time.