COMPASS Belt-Fed Optical Sorter Enhances Food Safety

    July 15, 2025
    Key Technology's COMPASS belt-fed optical sorter offers gentle handling and recipe-driven operation for diverse wet or delicate products.
    Related To:
    © Key Technology, Inc.
    COMPASS Belt-Fed Optical Sorter Enhances Food Safety

    The COMPASS belt-fed optical sorter detects and removes foreign material and product defects while improving ease of use, sanitation, and maintenance. Suitable for wet, sticky, and delicate foods, it helps processors ensure food safety, maintain high product quality, and maximize yield.

    This belt-fed version handles produce, snack foods, and other products that are not suitable for chute-fed sorters. Its horizontal belt configuration provides gentle handling to reduce breakage and lowers installation costs by minimizing elevation changes.

    Recipe-driven controls maintain consistent sorting results for every run. The user interface mirrors smartphone app navigation, enabling non-technical workers to operate the system in under 30 minutes. New recipes can be created in less than 10 minutes, with product changeovers taking under a minute and full washdowns completed in as little as 15 minutes. Intelligent belt control automatically tracks belt alignment, eliminating manual adjustments.

    Powered by an advanced sort engine, the system detects and rejects plastic, glass, paper, wood, and other foreign materials, along with user-specified defects. Customizable cameras and up to eight channels of multispectral sensor data allow it to find more and smaller defects than conventional three-channel cameras, often removing the need for laser or hyperspectral sensors.

    For sanitation, the sorter has an open design, sloped surfaces, and minimal moving parts. Sensor and light windows are positioned to avoid splatter, and the belt can be quickly removed for cleaning. The open architecture provides easy access for cleaning and maintenance.

    Each unit includes Key Discovery, data analytics, and reporting software that transforms the sorter into an IIoT-connected device for delivering insights on product quality and line operations. Available in multiple sizes and configurations, the belt-fed COMPASS fits various processing stages, from raw receiving to final inspection, with a compact footprint for easy installation.

    Features:

    • Belt-fed configuration for gentle product handling
    • Suitable for wet, sticky, and delicate applications
    • Horizontal installation reduces facility modifications
    • Recipe-driven controls for consistent performance
    • Smartphone-style user interface
    • Quick recipe creation and rapid product changeover
    • Intelligent belt tracking control
    • Advanced multispectral sensors and customizable cameras
    • Open design with sloped surfaces for sanitation
    • Quick belt removal for easy cleaning
    • Integrated IIoT data analytics with Key Discovery
    • Compact footprint with flexible line placement options

    Key Technology, Inc.
    Walla Walla, WA
    (509) 529-2161
    key.net