Oxfordshire-based metal detector designer and manufacturer, Fortress Technology, showcased its new multi-aperture, multi-lane metal detector range at the recent PPMA Total Show in Birmingham.
The unit features a single metal detector mounted across multiple food packing and processing conveyor lines. The firm claims the range “sets a new standard for performance” and can help manufacturers “reduce factory footprint, investment and on-going operating costs”.
The unit is able to detect all metal types down to 0.7mm ferrous, 0.7mm non-ferrous and 1.4mm stainless steel.
Fortress’s European sales director, Phil Brown, explained that, prior to this new unit, factories wanting a multi-lane system to inspect food items had “limited options”.
“You could either install a much larger single aperture spanning all lanes, or insert standalone metal detectors between the conveyors. Neither were ideal solutions for food factories, resulting in a bulkier machine or conceding on metal detection sensitivity,” he said.
“The main downside of installing a larger metal detector with a single aperture is it compromises product integrity. This is because the larger aperture is looking for metal contaminants in multiple products and dealing with multiple signals, making it less sensitive.”
He continued, “Also, if a contaminated product is identified on one line, all products in the row are rejected, as the machine cannot single out the line with the contaminated product.”
“Now we have a tried and tested system in two, four and five lane configurations, we can confidently engineer a unit for any number of lanes to inspect any product,” Phil said.
“Customers are repeatedly seeking food inspection systems that simplifies the purchase and support, reduces the volume of systems on the factory floor and optimises space, without compromising on quality and metal detection performance.
“We are very excited about the cost and performance benefits that this technology presents to our customers. Fortress has once again challenged the status quo and generated a truly innovative system that marks the end of food factories compromising on any performance criteria, in particular metal detection sensitivity,” he added.
