Holding the kiln curve and the tile face in ceramics
Kiln sensors and surface vision tied together, so a defect on the sorting line points back to the firing zone that caused it.
- Reference design
- Ceramics
- Industrial IoTComputer VisionEdge AI
- Edge gateway at the kiln + line-scan camera at sorting. Works offline.
- Kiln PLC (Modbus / OPC UA), WhatsApp, shift report
It lives in the head of the kiln operator.
He knows which zone to nudge when the weather turns or a new glaze batch arrives. His corrections are made by feel and recorded nowhere.
- A roller kiln is long and slow: cause and effect are an hour apart.
- High line speed at sorting.
- Existing PLCs vary in age and protocol.
- 01
Read the kiln
Zone temperatures, fan speeds and roller speed are logged from the PLC every few seconds.
- 02
Log the operator's nudges
Each setpoint change is captured with a reason chosen by voice or tap.
- 03
Inspect the face
A line-scan camera grades surface defects at sorting: pinholes, cracks, shade drift.
- 04
Link cause to defect
Tile position in the kiln is time-shifted to match its grade, so defects map to zone conditions.
- Defects traced to a zone within the shift, not after the batch.
- Consistent grading across shifts and sorters.
- Alerts when a zone drifts outside the operator's usual band.
Firing curves paired with the result on every tile, so each batch starts from what worked.
- D1Zone temperature and roller-speed time series
- D2Operator setpoint changes with stated reason
- D3Surface images and defect grade per tile
- D4Glaze batch, body mix and ambient context
Recorded on site and owned by the plant. The system uses it to keep learning your floor.
- 01
Capture
PLC tap, ambient sensors, line-scan camera at sorting
- 02
Edge
Gateway: time alignment, defect inference, offline buffer
- 03
Model
Surface defect classifier; drift detection on zone curves
- 04
Record
Tile-level join of firing conditions and grade
- 05
Surface
Kiln panel, WhatsApp alerts, shift quality report
First-grade yield rises.
PILOT MEASUREMENT REQUIRED: premium-grade share per shift before and after.
Defects reach the operator sooner.
PILOT MEASUREMENT REQUIRED: time from defect onset to corrective setpoint.
Grading is consistent.
PILOT MEASUREMENT REQUIRED: agreement between camera and manual sorters.
Run a plant with an expert like this?
Tell us whose judgement your floor cannot run without. That is where a pilot starts.