Ultrasonic sensors used in vegetable cleaning process

Waycon Positionsmesstechnik: Ultrasonic sensors perform two tasks in one process in the agriculture industry for vegetable cleaning.

Fresh vegetables from the field must be cleaned quickly in large quantities, packaged and transported to the supermarket. At first a lot of dirt sticks on the carrots. They are cleaned in water baths and then brushed clean with mechanical rotational brushes. They are then weighed accurately and packed in plastic bags.

Compact ultrasonic sensors of the UN series from Waycon Positionsmesstechnik can be used here for two purposes. First, the level of the water bath is controlled by a sensor. Before the brushing machine two UN sensors are mounted with synchronization. They measure the level of the feed hopper and control the conveyor belt in a way that the brushing machine is always properly loaded. The environment is very rough. A lot of water, soil and carrot skin is splashing around. The UN sensors are IP67 waterproof and mechanically very robust. They work even with heavily polluted diaphragm.

The outstanding feature of the UN series is its high acoustic power combined with small sensor size. This is achieved with new optimized transducers, working at high electrical voltages. Thus also small, moving and poorly reflecting objects can be safely detected. Moreover the sensors work also under high contamination. With a length of <40mm the UPK sensors are the most compact ultrasonic sensors for such high measuring ranges.