Three-way sorting capability for Key Technology’s Optyx camera sorters

Key Technology has introduced its three-way sorting capability on Optyx, making this camera/laser sorter suitable for walnuts, raisins, dates, cherries and other small-sized products.

Two ejector systems and three outfeed streams enable processors to automatically remove foreign material and waste in one stream while assigning the other two sort streams to separate good product of different grades. Optyx with three-way sorting can improve yields, increase throughput, reduce labour, and/or minimise capital equipment while maximising product quality and food safety, the company claims.

Key designed Optyx with three-way sorting for processors that want to separate good product into distinct grades or isolate product that can be reworked and recovered separately from foreign material and waste.

Three-way sorting is available on Optyx 3000, which handles up to six metric tons of product per hour, and on Optyx 6000, which handles up to 12 metric tons per hour. For higher volume lines, Key’s Manta sorter, which can also be equipped with three-way sorting, handles up to 20 metric tons per hour.

Optyx with three-way sorting utilises Key Technology’s built-in sorting intelligence to separate product into three streams based on a combination of product-specific attributes. The sorter’s proprietary colour cameras recognise each object’s size, shape and millions of colour differences. Key’s laser technology is used to inspect the distinctive structural properties of each object to identify additional product attributes and reliably detect foreign material.

Compared to traditional two-way sorters that often require a walnut processor to run product through one sorter multiple times or leverage two or more sorters in sequence, three-way sorting reduces the number of passes through a sorter, limiting product degradation and either doubling throughput or reducing capital equipment.