Detection of transparent dishes in a moist and cool room
- Customer: Machine builder for the food industry
- End user: Chicken processor
- Problem: condensation on sensor due to temperature difference
- By: Oliver Mason
Condensation on sensor due to temperature difference
A chicken supplier encountered problems with detecting the transparent dishes in which the chickens are transported. The processing hall is a cool and humid environment, which causes condensation on the sensor. As a result, the used sensor with reflector could not make a good detection.
Because hygiene is very important in a processing hall for chickens, very hot water is used for cleaning. Because the temperature in the hall is quite lower (around 5 degrees), condensation forms on the sensor and reflector. These had to be reset after every cleaning round, because the condensation caused the sensor to lose its zero point. In addition, the life of the sensor was only six months.
Blue Light sensor IP69K
The customer suggested using a fiber sensor from another supplier. After testing, the desired switching distance (30 cm) turned out not to be feasible with this sensor.
The Blue Light sensor FT55-BH from SensoPart has solved the problem. The transparent scales are perfectly detected and by working with a sensor without a reflector, cleaning the sensor is no longer necessary (or to a lesser extent). The sensor is IP69K, which is desirable in chicken processing to meet hygienic requirements.
