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Infrared development improves defect detection
• Herbert Engineering develop infra-red technology for their market leading Auto-sort
• Excellent payback achieved in short period of time
• Better foreign object detection is good news for potato processors!
Herbert Engineering has always been committed to the continual development and improvement of their products, and one of the latest examples of this is the progress made with Infrared technology for the Auto-sort. Previously, three channel cameras (using red, blue and green) have been used and these have always given excellent levels of defect detection. However, there was still opportunity for improvement, particularly when detecting green on red potatoes.
This led Herbert to develop the technology to use a fourth channel for infra-red. Initial testing showed that this not only detected the green better, but also picked up the subtle difference between rot and soil. This means that potatoes with lumps of soil on which would previously have been rejected are now identified as “good” and pass through for further processing.
A further benefit of the infra-red technology is better foreign object detection. This is crucial, particularly in the process industry where suppliers can be fined tens of thousands of pounds if just one foreign object passes through into the potato supply.
The advance was achieved through an extensive development process in software and hardware. The lighting cabinet now uses a combination of fluorescent and LED lighting. The computers used are the fastest money can buy, so they can deal with the huge amount of data processing involved with the addition of the infra-red channel, giving the best possible results.
The new system is already in use in Ireland, and the customer has reported an increase in his green detection on rooster potatoes from 60% to 85%, meaning that the payback on the machine will be very quick.
Hartmut Gall of Herbert Engineering has played a major role in the development of this technology and commented, “ We are delighted with the initial results shown by the infra-red technology, and look forward to seeing further improvements in detection for more customers in the future.”
For more information and photos contact:
Jo Herbert, Marketing Director on +44 1945 430 666 or jherbert@rjherbert.co.uk
Visit our Auto-sort product page