Sorting foreign material and defective kernels from nuts and dried fruit
Product moves from a vibratory feeder onto an inclined chute and then falls freely as a thin curtain. The falling line is scanned in colour by line-scan cameras from the front and the back; shell, stones and darkened kernels are blown out of the stream by an air pulse from the nozzle just below.
The position of the deviating kernel in the curtain is passed to the valve driver; the matching nozzle fires and the kernel is deflected into the reject bin. The removed count and the scan image are shown on the operator display.
- 01 Feed
- 02 Free fall
- 03 Scan
- 04 Eject
The vibratory feeder spreads the kernels evenly onto the chute.
- Items ejected
- —
- Nozzle fired
- —
Scenes are illustrative simulations; they are not customer references or performance guarantees.
Need
Kernels are small, move fast and overlap; on a belt only one face of each kernel is visible. Shell fragments and stones are similar in size and tone to sound kernels, and darkening is often on one face only.
Solution approach
The chute spreads the kernels into a curtain one kernel thick, so in free fall they do not hide one another and both faces are seen. Each camera faces a background bar in the product colour: sound kernels blend in, while a kernel that deviates in colour or brightness stands out. Scan line and nozzle are a short, fixed distance apart; the nozzle matching the kernel position fires.
Process steps
- 01
Feed
The vibratory feeder spreads the kernels evenly onto the chute.
- 02
Free fall
Kernels leave the chute and fall freely as a thin curtain.
- 03
Scan
Front and back cameras scan the falling line; a deviating kernel stands out from the background.
- 04
Eject
The matching nozzle fires an air pulse and the kernel is deflected into the reject bin.
Related applications
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