JM Canty, a supplier of process technologies, has just announced the launch of its Flowcell system which analyses liquids, slurries for food and beverage applications using vision technology to provide a comprehensive inspection and analysis tool.
Canty claims that the system provides not only a count of particles, but also provides information on each particle such as size (length and width), shape, perimeter and aspect ratio of each particle - crucial information to processed food manufacturers, particularly during the research and development stage of products.
With this information the company says that a more complete analysis of the suspended particle can be achieved. Agglomerated particles can be identified, allowing particles of 30micron oil droplets with 15micron Silica solids suspended in water to be viewed on screen.
The Flowcell provides the user with the ability to inspect in the lab and on-line in various versions to cover pressure (up to 6000PSI) environmental conditions (Weatherproof/Explosion Proof/EEx).
The image sensor uses a high resolution / high speed CCD camera coupled to a microscopic lens system. The company says that particle size ranging from 0.8micron - 1000micron can be viewed.
The Particle size has a number of output options. Most common used output option is an automatic Graph Macro on an Excel spreadsheet. A number of spreadsheets are included such as Bin Sizing and Percent Passing By Volume.
The biggest benefit of the Vision based system, claims the company, is reassurance. As the user can see a still or moving image of particles they can immediately correlate between the graph data and the image on the screen.