Put the pedal to the metal (detector)

Profile Advantage allows manufacturers to minimise the number of false rejects from 40 to 1 per hour, claims Mettler Toledo.

At Emballage 2014 in Paris the firm had a Formula 1 themed booth showcasing products including the Safeline metal detector which it said offers greater detection sensitivity than standard systems.

The metal detector reduces false rejects, especially in items which have a lot of water inside such as fresh meat and poultry and metallized products.

Multi-simultaneous frequency technology​

Norbert Hate general manager of Mettler Toledo Product Inspection, said by using multi-simultaneous frequency technology, it helps overcome the false electrical signal emitted by foods with a high moisture or salt content.

“The technology is to have two frequencies which are running simultaneously which reduce the effect product diagram and cancel the field of the product effect. Finally we are treating the wet product like the dry product,” ​he told FoodProductionDaily.com.

The metal detector offers 50% greater detection sensitivity than that of standard systems – irrespective of packaging materials, said Mettler Toledo.

Reject mechanism​ 

Safety compliance means there is a sensor to detect presence of the reject product within the bin, said Hate.

“We are able to detect if the reject has been done properly, we also have the fill level of the product rejection so we can trigger an alarm for this.​

“If the product is rejected the operator cannot open the bin and put it back on the line.”​

Hate said the customer needs to think about which kind of risk he has in his production area when choosing a detection machine.

“Does he have glass risk, does he have a metal risk, he has to assess his own risk. If he has only metal risk he is going to go to a metal detector, if he has bone and glass risk and plastic he will move to an x-ray system,” ​he said.

“That system is a very good metal detector and can detect other things than metal and is a measurement of mass, so can detect missing product in a package of chocolates for example.”    ​

The future is to make a combination of two or three machines which can check weigh and detect metal.

“For example, a checkweigher which can check the product with the weight and before we can put a metal detector, we say combi-checkweigher,” ​said Hate.

“Now we have some vision systems which can detect the label, if it is correct. So it is important for the consumer to be protected, against allergens for example.​

“The main issue for the core customers is to have a machine in the line, which is a small machine, as they don’t have enough place to put a lot of machines. So if you have three devices on it, it is very good for them.”​

A stop by the pit lane…​

Mettler Toledo also showcased the C3000 checkweighing system offering improved weighing accuracy and higher throughput rates.

It covers a calibratable weighing range of 3 grams to 10 kilograms and checks up to 600 products per minute, the firm told us last month​.

Mettler-Toledo presented its X33 and the X36 Series, which are part of the Safeline X-Ray next generation inspection technology.

They offer up to five times more detection sensitivity than standard while using up to a fifth of power.

The X33 Series systems are designed for handling small and medium packaged food and pharmaceutical products.

The X36 Series inspects large products for contaminants such as glass and metal fragments, calcified bone, mineral stone and high-density plastic.