Tomra has just debuted a new sensor-based sorting machine for freshly harvested root crops called the Tomra 3A. The new arrival replaces the FPS (Field Potato Sorter) machine with which Tomra first entered this sector seven years ago.

The Tomra 3A employs an in-flight inspection and ejection process to detect and remove stones, soil clods, and other debris from the incoming product. It is designed to operate at high capacity, because of the time pressure of short harvesting seasons, and to gently move the product without risk of damaging or bruising it.

“The TOMRA 3A improves upon its predecessor in every way. In developing this machine, we have learned from our experience working with farmers in this sector and have adopted technologies already proven in some of our other sorting applications. As a result, this machine gives farmers exactly what they’ve told us they want: greater capacity, green potato removal, no product bruising, greater robustness and excellent reliability, easy to use and to move around, more data and statistics, and lower cost of ownership,” explained Jim Frost, product manager at Tomra Food.

The equipment features a novel imaging system which has color-detection to identify unwanted green potatoes. Solid-state, pulsed LED illumination technology with high resolution cameras is able to distinguish between organic matter (the crop) and inorganic matter (foreign material). Among the range of signal responses from multiple tailored LED frequencies (some visible and some non-visible infra-red), advanced software analysis detects the presence of gross green on sun-exposed potatoes. The sorter is tolerant of overhead lighting effects and eliminates sensitivity to changes in light levels through daylight, evening, and night production.

The optical system has no moving part when it operation. In addition, new optical temperature control ensures consistency of optical signals.

Tomra says the new sorter has a capacity increase over the FPS’ by up to 30%.  To accommodate a range of input capacities, the sorter is available in three widths with 1200mm, 1600mm, and 2400mm infeed conveyance. This enables throughput of up to 45, 65, and 100 tons per hour.

The Tomra 3A is managed by software from the TOMRA ACT platform, sharing the graphical user interface and many of the features of its big brother, the TOMRA 5A. For ease of use there is a 15-inch wide high-resolution touchscreen with a high-brightness mode. The TOMRA 3A interface includes alarm reporting, statistics, and diagnostics capabilities, with the option of remote support via a 4G modem connection.

Ease of use extends also to serviceability. Improved accessibility of the ejector mechanism allows customers to order and replace parts themselves. New LED lights ensure long life, with no need for annual replacement. All these new sensor technologies have made it possible to move the camera further away from the product sorting zone, greatly reducing the need for cleaning the camera so that machine uptime is maximized, and the crop is more quickly moved to storage. The space needed for storage is reduced because foreign materials and poor-quality potatoes are so efficiently removed. Moreover, the farmer is empowered to supply customers with the highest-quality product, confidently meeting agreed specifications.