A&D’s advanced technology in the ProteX X-ray Series is best-in-class, designed with users and businesses in mind.
Detecting hazardous foreign contaminants in food and beverage production is one of the main reasons why food manufacturers implement X-ray inspection as their final critical control point.
By inspecting final products with X-ray technology, food and beverage manufacturers are able to ensure that all of their packaged products are free from hazardous physical contaminants that could pose a safety risk, or cause a large-scale product recall.
Product inspection is critical in quality control and ensuring optimal quality assurance results. X-ray systems are incorporated into a production line and can inspect the product’s content to judge whether they are consistent throughout production batches.
This type of overall quality assurance helps food and beverage manufacturers enhance the production quality and brand image by rejecting non-conforming packages from the production line. It also helps to identify where the low-quality products originate from.
Some key features the A&D ProteX X-ray systems have are:
- Advanced Algorithms
Built for more than just containments, we also provide mass estimation, shape detection, and component verification. - Compact Design
Our equipment is the smallest in class to allow for easy in-line integration with minimal reconfiguration of existing equipment. - Easy to Read Display
A 15-inch color touchscreen provides users with a vibrant screen for viewing high-resolution imagery. - Streamlined Product Setup
Minimal inputs from the user makes setup and changeover quick. - Quick-ship Available
For manufacturers who need product inspection systems within a couple weeks. - Accelerated ROI
Reject classification allows the operator to see trends in real time and correct issues upstream from the X-ray. - Service Simplified
Local service to ensure maximum uptime.
A&D’s ProteX X-ray system uses advanced technology to detect a wide variety of contaminants and hazards, such as:
METALS: Metal, including ferrous, non-ferrous, and stainless steel can be detected via X-ray, even when inside foils and aluminum cans. This is important in almost all manufacturing industries, as components can break at any point during production, and should that happen, the product should be rejected before final packaging.
FLAVOUR AND SUGAR CLUMPS: Unlike some of the other contaminants, flavor or sugar clumps may not be much of a health hazard, but they do negatively impact the experience consumers have with your product or brand. X-ray detection can find inconsistencies such as these to improve your consumer’s experience when it matters most.
GLASS: Glass contaminants, including glass shards, can be particularly important to detect when producing products with glass containers, especially in the food and beverage and other consumer packaged goods industries.
PVC AND TFE PLASTICS: Due to the use of plastic in a variety of packaging and manufacturing applications, detecting PVC and TFE (Teflon) plastic is very important. From gaskets or plastic handles lost during production, to plastic fragments that may break during packaging of your product, detecting PVC plastics can be an important part of your X-ray processes.
In addition to simply detecting physical contaminants in packets, today’s X-ray systems can be applied to multiple purposes. They can act as multi-tasking protectors of the integrity of your products and subsequently the quality of your brand.
The ProteX X-ray system provides product inspection functions that cannot be accomplished by metal detection or checkweighing alone:
- Measure product mass
- Check fill levels
- Seal integrity
- Identify faulty, irregular shapes
- Spot component inclusions / absences
X-ray systems have a minimal footprint, with a single unit performing multiple tasks as opposed to using several different machines. Additionally, with a single set-up screen, line changeovers are quicker and easier, reducing the risk of errors and keeping production downtime low.
Metalised packaging and quality control
In food and pharmaceutical packaging, foil trays, aluminium trays, aluminium foil, foiled bags and sachets are commonly used.
Metalised packaging is used for many reasons as they provide a complete barrier to light, moisture, oxygen and bacteria, and in turn helps to increase shelf-life and to improve the presentation of the food.
However, metalised packaging is often not compatible with conventional metal detectors and so it is unlikely to meet supermarket and retail requirements. When using a metal detector, metalised packaging creates a large product signal which can force the metal detector to operate at inferior sensitivity levels than mandatory.
The solution to this is an X-ray inspection system. X-ray inspection machines excel at detecting high-density foreign objects in most products, even if they have metalised packaging.
X-Ray inspection is fundamental to quality control and delivering on brand promises.
Additionally, the ProteX X-ray system provides additional product inspection functions that cannot be accomplished by metal detection or checkweighing alone
Missing Product Detection
In scenarios when the total weight of a product is acceptable, X-ray can be used to visually inspect and reject a product if there is missing product inside the package.
Shape Detection
X-ray can be used to find inconsistencies in products that should be rejected, like broken or incomplete products.
Package Check
In instances where the product shifts during the packaging process, it may be important to check the seal of the product.
Masking
Products with clips and oxygen absorbers can be masked to check for presence and avoid a false detection.
Features and Benefits of the A&D ProteX X-ray include:
- Automatically records every packet across the line
- Ability to export production reports, statistics via USB
- Lightweight and compact design allows for easy integration into production lines
- Can preset and store up to 10 different groups with up to 100 products
- Simple and intuitive operation via a 15-inch colour touch screen
- Can be supported with A&D Ready Remote Support to minimise down-time
- Protected from dust and water to IP65 standards
Conclusion
Applications for X-ray go far beyond merely detecting contaminants within packaging. They can be deployed as complete systems for quality control of packages coming off the production line, checking for contaminants, as well as defects in packaging, shortfalls in fill quantities, and abnormalities in the placement of contents, all of which are extremely useful functions of x-ray systems.
These x-ray systems come in various forms with different levels of functionality, so explore which one could be best for your needs. Local support, conveyor speed, licensing, industry specialisation, system integration and availability of spare parts should all be considered.
If you need assistance or have any questions not covered by our FAQ, please don’t hesitate to get in touch and speak to one of our team.