Buhler claims its Sortex Z+ uses the highest possible resolution optics and signal-to-noise ratio available on today's market to detect and reject even the smallest defects, while removing less good product than competing products.
"Other optical sorters use cruder ejection systems, ejecting product with the equivalent of a shotgun blast," Sarah Bee, Buhler's product manager for Sortex, told FoodProductionDaily.com. "Our system detects and ejects defective products with a precise blast of air, targeting like a laser guided missile."
Optical sorters are used for food products like fruits, vegetables, nets, potato strips, snack foods, confectionary and seafood. They are used to detect and remove defects and foreign material from such products. Investment in optical sorters has increased recently due to industry pressures to improve food quality and safety.
The Sortex Z+ monochromatic and bichromatic cameras can detect colour defects in visible or infrared wavelengths. The combination of cameras and the use of Buhler's shape recognition software enables the detection of a very wide range of foreign material, extraneous vegetable matter, small spot defects, fine product damage, and subtle differences in colour, claims the company.
The optics and ejection system are in-house custom built, which, the manufacturer claims, can be more precisely aligned than using standard outsourced parts. Precision defective product identification and targeting reduces the energy required to remove defective product, the company stated.
"The running costs are lower as a precise jet of air removes less good product. Because less air power is needed and used only to remove defective product, reliability and efficiency are improved, so customers get better payback," said Bee.
To achieve optimum performance, operators require minimum training to use the Sortex Z+, assisted by a colored, intuitive user interface, the manufacturer claims.
Sortex managing director Bruno Kilshaw said: "With the Z+ we have pushed the technology still further to levels of efficiency where the highest quality can be achieved time after time as a matter of course."