Potato Review

Digital sorters introduced at expo KEY Technology introduced its VERYX® 2.0 line of digital sorting machines at Pack Expo Las Vegas from September 27th to 29th. The company, which designs and manufactures automated digital sorters, conveyors and other processing equipment in Europe and the US and supports customers worldwide via its SupportPro service organisation, first introduced the line six years ago. The new line features a new mechanical layout, next-generation LED illumination, enhanced laser scanner technology, and new software driven by artificial intelligence (AI). The VERYX 2.0 belt sorters’ architecture houses all utility components within the frame, eliminating the need for an external enclosure. All door seals have been updated to a new patented design. Additional sanitation upgrades further ensure VERYX 2.0 can withstand even the harshest operating environments over long production cycles. A next-generation LED illumination system on VERYX 2.0 delivers higher intensity light with less scatter and reduced shadowing effects, which improves the sorter’s FM and defect detection. Featuring components with up to twice the life expectancy of previous- generation LED lighting, the manufacturer says Key’s new LED illumination technology reduces operating costs at the same time it improves sort performance. New digital receivers produce “the highest resolution available” while Key says a more accurate and consistent signal enables more precise FM and defect removal while reducing good product loss and improving yield. Key has enhanced the software functionality of its FM Alert™ monitoring tool that sends alerts if a critical FM event occurs and records a time-stamped image of each critical object detected by the sorter. VERYX 2.0 is available with Key’s new Discovery™ suite of data analytics solutions, so data can be collected, analysed and shared while sorting product and Key has also enhanced its intelligent Sort-to-Grade® (STG) software which can categorise product defects and the dimensions and automatically makes accept/reject decisions based on the target quality spec defined by the operator. The line includes belt and chute- fed sorters of various sizes. 66 POTATO REVIEW NOVEMBER 2021 MACHINERY Irrigation reel replaced after 25 years CENTRAL Scotland grower Lindsay Ashworth has just replaced the Bauer irrigation reel he has used for the past 25 years, having bought it in 1996. “Apart from replacing a turbine seal and a bearing, the old reel hasn’t been touched,” said Mr Ashworth. “We’re still using the Bauer pipes and couplings we bought at the same time – some of them second-hand – and have never had a burst, so over the long term it’s been a very low-cost system.” The tenanted farm at Abercrombie near Anstruther, which Lindsay and Marjory Ashworth run with their daughters Jane, Anne and Emma, grows maincrop potatoes as well as spring and winter malting barley, high erucic acid oilseed rape and winter feed wheat. Irrigating three or four times a year is a routine operation for the 50 acres of potatoes. With the long-serving irrigation reel having been traded in, this work was handled by a new Bauer E31 100/480 irrigator supplied by Reekie’s Cupar branch. “Everyone who’s seen it comments on how strong and well-built it looks, so I’m confident this one will also last 25 years or more,” said Lindsay. “The old reel is purely mechanical, of course, and I was a bit sceptical about the electronic control system on the new one but I’m now convinced; it’s very clear and simple to set up and to make adjustments.” Marjory added: “The text notifications we get from the controller have been a real time-saver; being able to ‘ask’ the machine how long it will take before finishing a run is really helpful because you can then decide whether there’s time to get another job done before heading out to the field.”