Setting New Standards in Potato Sorting with the Novel Sherlock Separator 4.0
During Interpom 2022, Insort GmbH – Insort Inc. will be presenting their novel potato sorting machinery at stand 174. Interpom visitors can find out more about Sherlock Separator 4.0, one of Insort's innovative solutions for the spud processing sector.
According to Insort data, Sherlock Separator 4.0 represents the next generation of the most reliable three-way sorting solution on the market, specifically designed for whole potatoes.
“The novel machinery comes with further enhanced performance in terms of detection reliability and yield savings, latest Chemical Imaging Technology CIT® 3rd Gen, highest defect detection reliability employing high-resolution true color RGB cameras, real-time artificial intelligence, newest generation lighting system, enhanced software for most precise sorting results and improved usability, and optimized design for an even better product flow and increased yield,” a recent company brief states.
These developments, along with tried-and-true technologies like the Separator Rejection System and Automatic Peeler Control, guarantee the best foreign body identification, effective data management, and reduction of operational costs through increased energy efficiency and yield.
“We offer the most comprehensive 3-way and 4-way sorting solution that includes color, shape, and chemical defect detection. The whole potato sorter can detect all kinds of foreign materials and defects such as sugar ends, scab, rot, and green and glassy potatoes. Thanks to InlineFOODlab4.0, ‘Repeel’ and size sorting functions are standard, as is comprehensive data provision in line with the latest Industry 4.0 requirements,” company data shows.
New Standards for the Optical Sorting and Monitoring of Foodstuffs with Chemical Imaging Technology CIT® 3rd Gen
In chemical terms, infrared radiation is used to stimulate covalent molecular bonds in (mostly) organic compounds. This creates overtones and combination bands in the fundamental vibrations of the molecules, which can then be measured. NIR spectroscopy is therefore an almost ideal non-contact procedure for identifying organic bonds in a wide range of foodstuffs.
The technology has been further developed into Hyperspectral Imaging. This term refers to high-resolution image spectroscopy, which generally extends the 2D information provided by traditional spectrometers to include a third dimension, the location, through a specialized system.
The information provided by this technology is an order of magnitude more detailed than that provided by e.g. single line optical cameras, and this is why it delivers much more selective results than technologies currently on the market. Advances in data processing speed and affordable hardware that can deal with the enormous quantities of data involved are now opening up commercial applications for monitoring and sorting foodstuffs. Foreign bodies, or defects that would be completely invisible to the naked eye, can be detected purely based on the chemical composition of the foodstuff and removed from the product stream.
InlineFOODLab 4.0
InlineFOODLab 4.0 allows processors to get quantitative chemical data of the product and the most reliable real-time inline quality data available in the industry. Dry matter values in potato products are just one example. They can be delivered combined with color and shape characteristics as well as with size values of the objects.
