Key Technology has introduced its new COMPASS optical sorter for nuts, a high-performance and high-capacity system that identifies and removes product defects and foreign material.

The COMPASS sorter helps nut processors protect food safety and achieve exact final product quality specifications. For ease of use, COMPASS’s ergonomic user interface (UI) was developed in collaboration with UI experts to mimic the intuitive navigation of smartphone apps.

Ideal for sorting walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios, peanuts, pecans, cashews, and other nuts, COMPASS finds and rejects a wide variety of foreign material and products defects such as small, loose, and embedded shell fragments; membrane material; insect damage; surface scratches; color-based defects; and rocks, sticks, plastics, paper, and glass. Accurate color and shape grading also allows processors to meet the most stringent product quality specifications.

COMPASS’s recipe-driven operation ensures consistent sort performance on every product run. Operators can easily create and adjust sort recipes, including adding new products to sort, new grades, or different varieties of an existing product. A new operator without any technical skills can learn how to operate the system in production in under 30 minutes.

Key Technology tailors each COMPASS sorter to satisfy customers’ unique quality selection requirements. COMPASS can be equipped with next-generation shortwave infrared (SWIR) InGaAs sensors and/or visible-infrared (RGB and IR) sensors to detect the color, size, shape, and structural properties of every object, depending on the application. Additionally, COMPASS is available with Key’s proprietary Pixel Fusion technology, a unique solution that combines pixel-level input from multiple sensor types to produce optimal contrasts for finding even the most difficult-to-detect foreign material and product defects.

Featuring a new, open-design mechanical architecture, COMPASS has no moving parts, significantly reducing overall total cost of ownership. Sensor and light windows are positioned away from product splatter, so accurate inspection is sustained throughout long production cycles without operator intervention. COMPASS’s design facilitates easy access for workers and minimizes cleaning and maintenance requirements.

COMPASS also features Key Discovery, a data analysis and reporting software that turns the sorter into an Internet of Things (IoT) -connected device and information center for the customer’s operation. By delivering a wealth of product quality and sort process information, Key Discovery gives nut processors important insights into the operation of their line and product quality trends.

Key Technology www.key.net