Discover how the COMPASS optical sorter by Key Technology enhances vegetable processing with advanced features like Pixel Fusion™ and multi-wavelength sensing.
Key Technology (Key), a member of Duravant’s Food Sorting and Handling Group, introduces its COMPASS® optical sorter for fresh and IQF corn, peas and green beans at Expo Pack Mexico booth 2418.
Purpose-built for vegetable processors managing multiple SKUs, product medleys and frequent changeovers, COMPASS delivers precise, repeatable removal of foreign material (FM) and product defects across varied production requirements. Available in belt-fed configurations for fresh applications and chute-fed configurations for IQF, COMPASS protects product quality, reduces operational complexity and offers a strong return on investment.
Key features of the COMPASS optical sorter
- Advanced detection technology:
- Flexible configurations
- Belt-fed for fresh vegetables and chute-fed for IQF products.
- Modular sizes to scale with your processing needs.
- User-friendly design
- Recipe-driven programming with a touchscreen interface.
- Quick-release belts for easy cleaning and maintenance.
- Hygienic and durable
COMPASS features Key’s advanced sensing architecture, which combines multi-channel sensor data and multi-wavelength strobing to generate up to eight streams of inspection data. Key’s proprietary Pixel Fusion™ detection technology uses visible and infrared data at the pixel level to further sharpen contrast for finding even the most difficult-to-detect FM and product defects. In many applications, COMPASS delivers detection capabilities comparable to laser-based sorters but without mechanical scanning components, lowering maintenance requirements and long-term operating costs.
Benefits for vegetable processors
For IQF vegetable applications, COMPASS is configured as a chute-fed sorter designed to identify and remove FM during final quality inspection. Capable of sorting virtually any vegetable including slices, dices and medleys, it can also detect product defects when sorting single-product runs. Optional high-powered ejectors provide the force needed to remove dense or heavy contaminants, including chunks of ice, while maintaining precise control to minimize false rejects.
COMPASS enables faster changeovers and seamless transitions between SKUs through recipe-driven programming accessed via an intuitive touchscreen user interface (UI). Selecting a recipe automatically adjusts sort parameters, eliminating manual recalibration and reducing operator intervention. New product recipes can be tuned directly within the UI using product-specific recipe templates without the need for an application engineer or Key service technician, giving processors greater independence as production requirements shift.
