Digital laser sorter designed for frozen vegetables
to more accurately remove foreign materials from frozen vegetables,
according to its manufacturer.
Laser sorters are used in industry to ensure no visible contaminants get included in their packaged products. Visys said its Lynx and Spyder digital sorting systems make major improvements in the mechanical handling of food products. The company's digital technology converts the light signal from the laser immediately into a digital signal at the moment it hits the light sensor, without any signal loss, said Visys. The digital conversion process provides the machine with more accurate information than is provided by conventional analogue systems, allowing it to sort products better, the company stated. Conventional analogue systems translate the signal through electrical impulses, which can be made less accurate through normal interference. Visys has also designed an infeed chute, which puts the product in front of the optics and air ejection system. The design eliminates false signals and cuts down on false rejects, the company stated. "This was and still is the problem with conventional free-fall laser sorters," Visys said. The free-fall laser technology is applied in end-of-line inspection to eliminate different foreign materials and damaged products, on products such as minestrone mixes, leeks and other blended types of frozen vegetables and fruits. The company redesigned its already existing Lynx machine as a medium capacity laser sorter for processors that package frozen fruits and vegetables. The Spyder, a high capacity version, can also sort vegetable and fruit mixes, whatever the variation in size of the ingredients. "Capacities up to ten tons per hour, depending on the quality of the product, with low false reject rates and high efficiencies are effortlessly reached," the company claimed. The Lynx and the Spyder can be configured either to perform single-sided or dual-sided inspection. The equipment can also be scaled to meet specific capacities of different processing lines. The Lynx can be scaled to handle a conveyor width of 700mm. The Spyder can handle widths of up to 1,200mm. We launched the Lynx (medium capacity) in November 2006 at IPA in Paris- which is news fact we missed. One can say that it is now available for the frozen food industry (fruits and vegetables)
