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“If you can actually rewrite with a beam of light and alter this pattern, you can make the circuit morph to adapt to different requirements,” he added. “Imagine what you can make a system like that do for you!”
. SORTEX E optical sorter
Close up of the mount used to hold a GaAs sample, showing the radio-frequency coil used for pulsed spin manipulation. (Credit: Yunpu Li)
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation.
Further details of this research has been published in the paper, “Optically Re-Writable Patterns of Nuclear Magnetization in Gallium Arsenide”, by J. P. King et al, Nature Communications, published online on 26th June 2012. DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1038/ncomms1918
InGaAs technology sorts the good berries from the bad
By using indium gallium arsenide technology, more efficient shape and colour sorting in berries is possible. This increases productivity, improves quality and reduces labour costs
Buhler has revealed the SORTEX E, a new optical sorter for berries
Employing advanced InGaAs technology, smaller volume processors can improve performance and reduce costs even more than was possible previously. The need for manual sorting by hand pickers is reduced dramatically. The SORTEX E has been trialled successfully in Europe and the USA. Two units are currently installed at a customer’s plant in the North West region of United States to sort blueberries, loganberries, raspberries and other berry varieties. David Adams, Buhler Sortex Business Manager reports that the customer is delighted with the results. “The volume handled maximises productivity. After one pass some hand picking is still required but by putting our two SORTEX Es in line, this requirement will be minimised so that the number of pickers needed will be reduced by 80pc,” he says.
The physical characteristics of berries vary. Blueberries, for example, are cultivated commercially in the United States and so are larger than the wild berries that are harvested in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. With cultivated varieties, most extraneous vegetable matter, or EVM, is extracted by mechanical pre-cleaning equipment prior to sorting. As a result the sorting process is primarily concerned with identifying discoloured berries and, of course, eliminating any residual EVM. Wild berries undergo a similar process but EVM contamination is at a higher level than with cultivated varieties. The challenge at the sorting stage therefore is to extract a higher level of EVM such as pine needles, stems, leaves and stick fragments. So the sorting process focuses on both colour and shape. The SORTEX E sorts
July 2012
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