Inspecting wet and conductive products has for many years presented bakers with a number of challenges. At the 2018 Bakery Showcase, Fortress Technology (Booth 465) will demonstrate how its Interceptor range is achieving a new level of sensitivity by conquering product effect.
Originally designed for a bakery production facility, the Interceptor can be deployed on numerous checkpoints on a bakery line, including packing conveyors, pipeline configurations for raw dough, or gravity systems for inspecting raw ingredients, such as milled flour.
So what causes this product effect in a seemingly dry product? In addition to salt content, baked bread when it comes out of a warm oven can impact a metal detector’s ability to distinguish between any metal contaminants that may have been introduced during the mixing process and the false signal given by the combination of product attributes. Because baked goods can react in different ways in the magnetic field of a food inspection metal detector, it can lead to false readings and consequently higher product waste. What’s more, air bubbles and the density of a loaf of bread will vary, even in the same batch, which pose a challenge for x-ray.
Rather than tuning into specific frequencies, the Interceptor splits and simultaneously analyzes the low- frequency and high-frequency signal. This means the metal detector can clearly differentiate between the signal generated by the product as a result of moisture or mineral content and any metal contaminant.
The result is a more reliable and accurate reading regardless of size, shape and orientation of metal particles and an improvement in detection capabilities of up to 100% with stainless steel, especially when inspecting traditionally difficult “wet” products or using metalized film during processing. In real terms, halving the test sample sphere size to 0.5mm equates to picking up a wire length contaminant of 25mm.
For ease of use, the Interceptor learns and recalls the signature of any given product with just one pass. FM Software is integrated, bringing a predictive element to the analysis of signals from the metal detector.
Customers can choose either Wi-Fi or Ethernet connections for easy and accurate data collection. To reduce the risk of human error when manually testing the performance of the detection system, Halo automatic testing can be added.
Being IP69K rated, the Interceptor range is resistant to water ingress and dust, ensuring long-term reliability and performance in heavy processing and washdown environments, especially bakery manufacturing plants.
For a demonstration, visit Bakery Showcase, Booth 465
