| Today,
in many industries, high-power X-ray technology is taking the
high cost out of product inspection and verification, helping
to eliminate food product contamination, product non-conformity
and other factors that may effect product acceptability.
Nils Farstad, quality assurance
manager of raw materials of the Norwegian-owned fish company,
Frionor USA, documents his company's real time inspection
experience. The company chases fish worldwide, from on-ship
or on-land processing plants, in 16ý-pound, rectangular
deep frozen fillet blocks 19 x 10 x 2ý inches.
Farstad states, "Our
third generation foreign body detection system gives us
a competitive quality edge over our competitors. Purchased
fish is true 'catch of the day.' All received shipments
may contain anything from Cod, Hake and Haddock to Pollock
and Whiting.
"After processing at
Frionor, the fillet blocks are delivered primarily to food
service companies in the form of fish sticks, individual
portions
or nuggets. The Frionor inspection process is part of a
U.S. Government program that establishes a given number
of blocks to be inspected, out of each quantity shipment."
The number of inspected blocks
varies according to the incoming lot size and lot size
may range from 600 to 35,000 pounds, Farstad notes. "Without
X-ray capability, the government mandates that at least
20% of each lot must be inspected, requiring that the blocks
are 'slacked-out' (thawed) for manual inspection. Manual
inspection is an inefficient, time consuming and very costly
inspection process."
During X-ray scanning, each
frozen block travels under the beam for half a minute.
In the normal X-ray operating mode, bones and other objects
show up as dark shadows. In a contrast mode, they show
up as lighter shadows. The inspector can stop the inspection
process at any time and enlarge the image for closer inspection.
According to Frank Scelzi,
president of Nationwide Inspection Systems, Inc. his
company's modular automated X-ray inspection systems take
the drudgery and possible human error out of manual inspection
typically found in food and drug manufacturing plants.
Scelzi says, "The key to success of a system is the
ability to tailor a conveying function to the needs of
a specific |
product,
then fit or retrofit the inspection system at the end of the
production line, without requiring major alteration to the
feeds and speeds of the existing process."
Frozen fish
blocks enter the X-ray inspection system via a powered
conveyor that uses motorized pulleys to match its speed
to the needs of the inspection system.
Motorized Pulleys Perform
PowerRoll motorized pulleys
from Interroll Corp. require less space and have considerably
higher operating efficiency than conventional belt conveyor
drives. The pulleys provide reliable and maintenance-free
operation in industrial and agricultural applications,
even when operating under the most rugged conditions.
The internally powered PowerRoll
gives systems designers the flexibility to pack more conveyor
drive power into less space. Drive efficiency is improved
more than 35% when compared to conventional "multi-component" drive
systems that rely on separate motors, worm-gear reducers,
chains, sprockets or couplings. As a result, the fully-rated
horsepower of the drive is available at the pulley surface.
Horsepower's range from 0.03hp
up to 0.30hp. The motorized pulleys are available in 10
standard lengths ranging from 10 to 25 inches, providing
a range of fully loaded conveyor belt speeds of from 24
to 240 feet per minute.
All rotating components of
the PowerRoll are housed within the pulley shell, protected
from dirt, dust, moisture and other contaminants-- virtually
eliminating the need for maintenance.
In food handling or other
applications where cleanliness is crucial, a PowerRoll
with stainless steel construction will tolerate repeated
high-pressure wash downs using hot water and strong detergents.
For more information from
Nationwide Inspection Systems, Inc., call (727) 524-2500 |
