PC-OCT23-PG26.1_Layout 1 03/10/2023 10:11 Page 26


MIXING, WEIGHING & CONVEYING ‘NEVER OBSOLETE’ RICE CONVEYING & INSPECTION


One of the largest rice cooperatives in North America has more than 50 Fortress Technology metal contaminant inspection units installed in its plants


compromising performance and consumer safety. Continuing to benefit from Fortress Technology’s contaminant detection ‘Never Obsolete’ pledge, this dry rice manufacturing and packing facility now has in excess of 50 gravity, bulk, lab unit and incline conveyor metal detectors. Processing and packaging more than 100


T


long and medium-grain rice brands - supplying retailers, restaurants, food service companies and exporting globally - Fortress has supported the farmer-owned rice cooperative by issuing a number of technology and machine upgrades. Analogue metal


detectors more than 10 years old have been converted to digital to improve contaminant detection and add data logging and reporting capabilities. In the latest and largest project, Fortress has reconditioned and mounted 13 existing metal detector heads onto new incline conveyor frames robustly designed to transport heavier bags of rice, introducing an innovative bi-directional sweep reject. The US producer harvests, mills, grades


“


he ‘Holy Grail’ of any food machinery investment is to maximise Total Cost of Ownership in a sustainable way, without


product, again helping to minimise waste and identify contaminants for further investigation. For bulk bags of rice weighing up to 50kg,


Because Fortress


always sticks to its universal modular design, upgrading is straightforward


performance and detection sensitivity is not


and packs over 60-million rice bushels annually. Upstream, prior to packing, are a number of Fortress Gravity metal detectors located between product shoots and hoppers. Each rapidly inspects between 40,000 and 75,000 cubic feet of free-falling dried long-grain rice hourly, automatically rejecting metal contaminants from the product flow and keeping rice waste to a minimum. Compact offline lab units are then


deployed to quickly examine any rejected product and separate the metal contaminants from the rice. This enables the rice producer to filter out and rework all good


26 OCTOBER 2023 | PROCESS & CONTROL


forfeited. Having ground level remote access enables staff to safely select the inspection parameters and access data from the metal detector heads if the HMI control panel is beyond reach. Many Fortress engineers contributed to the


”


design, yet, company founder and President Steve Gidman couldn’t restrain himself from getting involved. He said: “Because the conveyor was inclined and as the product had to be rejected perpendicular to the flow, rubber grips were not advisable as they would inhibit reject performance, damage bags and make a mess. Knowing that this would create unnecessary waste, to address this we instead opted for belting with flighted sections. This solution allowed the rice bags to be conveyed uphill at a steep angle, without


large bag metal detectors are, for weight and safety reasons, located at floor level. Featuring a large aperture, a special coil structure, and Vector heavy duty conveyor, the bulk inspection metal detector can guarantee detection of ferrous and non-ferrous metals as small as 1.5mm, and 2.0mm non-magnetic 316 stainless steel contaminants in the aperture centre. To inspect smaller rice packs weighing up to 9kg, Fortress engineered a special incline conveyor frame to overcome the plants’ limited floor space. Measuring 4.25m in length, packs move up a special flighted conveyor


belt at a 45° angle. Designed to handle a fast product rate, a Stealth metal detector with a customised head and aperture ensures


impacting the lateral rejection.” Due to the high product rate – on average


150ppm - and the flighted belt, deploying a reject device with a return stroke was ruled out. To avoid collisions with the belt features and trailing rice bags, Fortress instead created a bi-directional paddle sweep reject. Rejecting contaminated packs on either side of the conveyor, chutes funnel rejected product safely to ground level, securing it behind lock and key for authorised quality control personnel to remove. For this customer, like many, the sensitivity of


each metal detector combined with the compatibility of components, provides added assurance that investments can be spread out. Knowing that the technology will never be obsolete is especially valued by this customer. “Very often, metal detection hardware


remains fit for purpose long after the software has evolved. Many fast-growth companies approach us to discuss adding extra features, including sophisticated data logging capabilities,” explained Fortress Europe’s Managing Director Phil Brown. Because Fortress always sticks to its


universal modular design, upgrading to a Stealth Metal Detector is very straightforward. Not only does this save customers a lot of money, it also prevents industrial assets adding to the environmental costs. Being able to offer this upgrade service and additional field support is a huge tick for responsible waste stewardship, reported Brown.


Fortress Technology fortresstechnology.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50