TOMRA 5A_DSC09000

Technology

Air

How do we separate potatoes (or carrots or onions) from foreign materials to see every defect? We do it ‘in-flight.' Air Handling gives TOMRA sensors the ability to complete a very thorough and precise inspection of every potato, onion, or carrot while also detecting foreign material and unsafe produce.

Why air handling is perfect for whole vegetables

Why does a lumpy, uneven vegetable suit air inspection so well?

It’s the potato’s mass, shape, and motion.

Potatoes and other similarly shaped and weighted products maybe be asymmetrical, but the mass compared to their size allows inertia so they can travel.

Because of the potato’s uneven shape, the air resistance around the product fluctuates, which means it doesn’t fall straight, like a tomato or a berry. Similarly, it’s heavy mass compared to its size means inertia sends it flying further than other vegetables.

What’s more, air handling allows for very high capacity sorting and enables the removal of large foreign material

The result: a potato gives the time and perspective for a thorough and precise inspection without creating interference with the sensors.

Why choose Air handling

Sort up to 100 tons per hour with maximum uptime and a long service lifetime. By its nature, the Air portfolio requires fewer moving parts, so your machines can keep up with your business. 
A dual sided inspection of every object combined with machine learning-powered processing delivers expert foreign material detection whether the product is dirty, dry, washed, or peeled. 
Dive in deep into every product’s detailed size, geometry, shape, color, subtle blemishes, and damage, and set your tolerances with machine-learning powered processing and TOMRA’s finger reject system. Keep the good product while discarding the bad and eliminating foreign material. 

Watch the Air portfolio at work

Working principles for the Air portfolio

TOMRA 3A

Potatoes are loaded onto the entire width of the conveyor and progress towards the inspection area. Air inspection ensures every single potato is inspected. While in the air, the potatoes are scanned by Pulsed LED sensors and cameras. A few milliseconds later, high speed ejection fingers remove the foreign material and defective products to the reject conveyor. The good products continue to a soft landing on the next conveyor. 

 

A visual explanation of how the TOMRA 3A sorts potatoes from infeed to sensing to ejection streams

 

TOMRA 5A

The produce is spread uniformly onto the infeed belt and is scanned in air by cameras on both sides. A few milliseconds later, the defects are rejected by intelligent finger ejectors, positioned on the end of the infeed belt, while the good produce continues its way along the sorting line.

The following visual explains:

An explanation of the TOMRA 5A working principle from infeed to grading

A) Infeed

B) Sensors

C) Intelligent ejection fingers

During the inspection the peel removal quality is also measured and analyzed by the optional peel control module. In case of significant differences between the measured quality and the customer-specific settings, the peeler settings are automatically adjusted

 

 

Explore the TOMRA Air portfolio

TOMRA 3A sorting machine

TOMRA 3A

Capable of unrivaled foreign material removal, this highly efficient machine is powerful and robust, easy to use and maintain, reduces storage needs, is easily movable, and saves on labor.

Applications: Field Potatoes, Fresh Pack Potatoes, Onions, Beets
discover the TOMRA 3A

TOMRA 5A

The TOMRA 5A is a premium bulk sorting and size grader. This heavy-duty, high capacity, high-performance sorter improves yields every minute it is running. 

Applications: Fresh Pack Potatoes, Beets, Brussel Sprouts, Peppers, Gherkins, Radishes, Peaches
discover the tomra 5A
flandre pomme de terre sentinel II

Sentinel II

The Sentinel II vigilantly removes defects. This cost-efficient machine is simple to operate and maintain, outperforming competitors in sorting ability, capacity, and durability.

Applications: Green Beans, Peaches, Potatoes, Tomatoes
discover the sentinel II

Learn more about associated technologies

TOMRA artificial intelligence

Artificial Intelligence

TOMRA Food has deployed everything from the simplest forms of artificial intelligence up to the most advanced deep learning in our products for over a decade. Explore the forms of AI available on your machine.
Learn more about Artificial Intelligence
TOMRA Food camera technology

Camera

Discover how TOMRA’s advanced camera-based imaging systems, featuring pulsed LED illumination technology, deliver reliable, cost-effective solutions for food sorting and grading. As pioneers in free-fall and belt sorting applications, TOMRA offers flexible, stable, and high-performance camera solutions for bulk sorting, lane grading, and quality control. Cameras detect foreign materials and sort by color, size, shape, and defects — ensuring superior accuracy across a wide range of applications.
Explore Our camera technologies
Potatoes being sorting by TOMRA 3A optical sorter
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