More Modbus

The support of Modbus RTU was just added to Artisan (see this previous post), but it is already time to extend its scope based on your requests. This extension of the Modbus support allows Artisan to talk to more device including some build into commercial roasters.

Modbus RTU

Artisan v0.6 adds a new device call MODBUS. Selecting that one allows you to have Artisan talk to your Modbus RTU device. Modbus is a de facto standard serial communication protocol connecting industrial electronic devices. Artisan supports the RTU (Remote Terminal Unit) variant and plays the role of the supervisory computer, while the connected devices have to be the slaves. Interesting devices for us are variable-frequency drive controllers that allow to control the speed of your drum and fans as well as PID controllers. But there are also temperature meters that provide a Modbus link.

Connecting Artisan to a Coffee-Tech FZ-94 Lab Roaster

The extensive controllability of the FZ-94, a 100g to 2.4kg capacity range lab roaster from Coffee-Tech Engineering, makes it an excellent machine for the development of roast profiles. It features three electric heating elements that can be controlled separately, controls for both, drum speed and air speed, and comes with three build-in temperature probes. The roaster is prepared for data logging using Artisan via its USB connector.

FZ-94 (4) – Taking Control

Now that Artisan can talk to the drive controllers, it is not only possible to read the drive speeds, but also to control the drive speeds. However, that needs some further configuration changes on the drive controllers as well as some additional setup on the Artisan side.

PID Control

A PID controller is a control loop feedback mechanism commonly used in industrial applications. – PID Controller, Wikipedia

FZ-94 (3) – Connecting the Drives

The FZ-94 comes with two Delta VFD-L drive controllers often referred to as frequency drives. One controls the drum speed, the other the air flow via the fan speed. Both are operated manually via a dial. While Artisan can log roasts automatically by reading the three temperature values from the machine via its RS485/MODBUS connection, the drum speed and air flow, both of which have a considerable influence on the resulting roast, have to be manually marked via some user defined buttons or sliders.

FZ-94 (1) – Bumping up MODBUS

In this first post on an improved FZ-94 setup for Artisan v1.0 we are focusing on the communication between the machine and the software. MODBUS RTU speed in Artisan prior to v1.0 was limited by an issue in an underlying library. That resulted in each request/replay pair to take at least the amount specified by the serial timeout parameter, which defaults to one second.

Device Selection

There are a number of devices to monitor or control your roaster that are supported by Artisan. Which one to choose? Let's look at the key features of the available choices.

Coffee-Tech FZ-94 working seamlessly with Artisan

Artisan 1.0 screen with sliders for FZ-94 on the left

Recently, we received the opportunity to get an FZ-94 lab roaster and see how this roasting machine could work seamlessly with Artisan. An inspired back-and-forth between Marko Luther on the Artisan side in Germany and the R&D team of Coffee-Tech in Israël ensued and soon, the first machine was communicating fully with a newly expanded and freshly compiled version of Artisan.

FZ-94 (2) – Pushing the Drum Heat Limit Controller

That third MaxWell MTA-48 temperature PID, all the way to the right on the front of the FZ-94, plays a dual role. Besides reporting the actual temperature of the roasting drum, it is wired to control the heaters based on the set temperature limit.

FZ-94 (0) – Playing with the CTE Lab Roaster

Some new features in Artisan v1.0 open up advanced possibilities to log and control the Coffee Tech Engineering's Lab Roaster  FZ-94. This series of posts describe an improved setup that supersedes the one documented in an earlier post.

Artisan v2.4

We are proud to present the results of our work of the past months. This release takes Artisan quite a bit further by introducing a number of new roasting tools besides and many small refinements. Enjoy the new Roast Comparator, Roast Simulator, and Profile Transposer now available with Artisan v2.4!

Proaster and Artisan

COFFEE OLLE, a coffee roaster in Hong Kong, posted instructions on how they connect Artisan directly via USB to their 5Kg THCR-03 Proaster shop roaster.

Artisan v2.8.4

 

We introduce Artisan 2.8.4 which adds a few features and improves stability while staying full compatible with any previous version.

Buttons – Appearance, State, and Action

A custom button in Artisan is specified by a name, an event type and value, an action as well as button and text colors (see Events, Buttons Palettes). There can be as many buttons as you like. Additionally, each button has an appearance (normal/pressed) and a state. State and appearance are disconnected by default, but can be connected via button actions.

Artisan v1.0

After a long journey that started at the end of 2009, the development of Artisan finally reached version 1.0. Download it from the Artisan GitHub page. This one introduces only a few new features w.r.t. the previous one, but adds some small improvements and bug fixes. For the full list of changes and additions see the Artisan change log.

Controlling a Hottop

Thanks to the genius work of Jim it is now possible to control the heater and fan of a Hottop roaster from your PC. Jim designed the HT Roaster Interface, an electronic device. It is available as Arduino-compatible shield that may be piggybacked on a TC4C board and can take over the control of the connected Hottop. It takes serial commands send from a computer to the Arduino micro-controller and sets the heater power and fan speed accordingly. If it receives the string "OT1,75" it sets the heater to 75% and if it receives the string "IO3,21" it sets the fan speed to 21%.

Artisan v2.10.2

We have again updated the best roasting software you cannot buy! To ease the path for Mill-City-Roaster owners to Artisan we added support for all of their machines. This version also extends the support for IKAWA roasters supporting their latest addition, the PRO 100 X, and simplifies the connection to Aillio Bullet R1 machines on Windows removing the requirement of an alternative USB driver installation. For further news see below.

Artisan 0.6

It took a moment, but now it is released:
Artisan v0.6 for Windows, OS X and Linux

Developing this version was a very exciting experience, because of all the enthusiastic support we received over the last year. We would like to thank especially the following people.

Artisan v2.1

This is the Artisan version we will use to prove Scott Rao wrong (or right). We extended Artisan in various ways to facilitate the application of his roasting theory.  Thanks Scott, for pushing us!