The company says the machine offers 25% improved detection performance, and has an energy saving mode for use with certain products.
James Chrismas, marketing manager, Loma, told FoodQualityNews.com the cabinet has also been designed to make it easy to manoeuvre it around manufacturing lines, so there is flexibility to adjust factory floor layouts for the best use of space.
Improved detection
“The real essence of this machine is the space savings, it’s less than a meter wide, and ideal for many operations where space is at a premium,” Chrismas said. “Normally an x-ray is at the end-of-line, and has to be squeezed in. Reacting to customer demands, we’ve come up with one of our shortest x-ray machines.”
The Loma X5 spacesaver can also reduce energy consumption, he added.
“Generally x-rays are power hungry, you’ve got to run the x-ray technology,” he said. “If you run on eco mode, we would expect to see 25% [energy] reduction in running the standard x-ray.
“The eco mode may not work with everyone – if you’re running huge blocks of cheese, it will be different because you need the power. But with lightweight products, it’s going to save you a huge amount of energy.”
The X5 Spacesaver offers 25% improved detection performance, claims Loma, because of its Adaptive Array Technology (AAT). This technology tailors resolution, depth and scaling for any product. There is no need to specify the diode array pixel size as the machine adjusts to give the best detection performance for the product.
Designed for survival
The X5 Spacesaver X-ray detects contaminants such as bone, glass, stones, plastics, ceramics, and metal fragments.
X-ray machines need to be strong and sturdy to survive in food production environments, he said. They need to be able to operate for long hours and cope with harsh chemical cleaning processes.
“It’s all about longevity – these machines are not going to fall over. It’s about having tough machines work day in and day out.”
The X5 has the IP66 rating, which refers to the protection a machine has against solid objects and liquids.
The machine has rounded sloping surfaces to stop food particles or water droplets accumulating in crevices, and is designed to withstand high pressure wash-downs.
“It’s one of the toughest machines on the market,” said Chrismas. “A cleaning regime might be done two or three times a day, there’s no flat surface, no likelihood of bacteria building up.”