Loss reduction with
Quadbeam sensors
Imagine you’re at a cheese plant and you’re watching the production line, when suddenly one of the workers picks up a perfectly good cheese and throws it in the garbage!
| You watch for a while, and you notice it happens again and again. This would be a huge problem, and of course no-one’s physically going to be throwing cheeses in the garbage. But in reality, a lot of factories are throwing away valuable product and profits because they’re losing significant amounts of suspended solids down the drain, as much as 5% or even more. In dairy operations those solids aren’t necessarily a by-product, they’re essentially the actual product, so it could be the equivalent of throwing away one cheese in every twenty. Of course, most plants are calculating and monitoring theoretical yields based on incoming milk against outgoing product. But how do you identify the opportunities for improvement? Where and when are losses happening? What's their magnitude? How will you know how much to invest against a particular opportunity? Well, the good news is that these opportunities can be identified through loss reduction systems and Quadbeam’s multi-beam suspended solids sensor is a tool that can help make this happen. |  |
These sensors are NIR sensors, also called optical sensors, and if you’re thinking “oh, we’ve tried those already and it wasn’t great,” let me explain how Quadbeam sensors are different.
So, lots of people have used single-beam sensors, but with mixed success. Quadbeam sensors are multi-beam, which means they create a ratio-metric algorithm to eliminate the kinds of measurement error that single-beam sensors can’t cope with.
In simple terms, each sensor has two LED emitters and two light detectors. They’re placed in a medium, like milk. Each LED fires near-infrared light at both detectors, which detect light intensity and therefore how much light is being blocked by the solids in the medium – effectively that tells you the concentration of the suspended solids.
But sensors can get thrown off by contamination on the LEDs and components ageing. Quadbeam sensors solve this problem by using multiple light paths to create ratios of light intensity and turning those ratios into an algorithm, which self-compensates for any contamination or component ageing
So, unlike single-beam sensors, they give you a constant accurate reading.
So, lots of people have used single-beam sensors, but with mixed success. Quadbeam sensors are multi-beam, which means they create a ratio-metric algorithm to eliminate the kinds of measurement error that single-beam sensors can’t cope with.
In simple terms, each sensor has two LED emitters and two light detectors. They’re placed in a medium, like milk. Each LED fires near-infrared light at both detectors, which detect light intensity and therefore how much light is being blocked by the solids in the medium – effectively that tells you the concentration of the suspended solids.
But sensors can get thrown off by contamination on the LEDs and components ageing. Quadbeam sensors solve this problem by using multiple light paths to create ratios of light intensity and turning those ratios into an algorithm, which self-compensates for any contamination or component ageing
So, unlike single-beam sensors, they give you a constant accurate reading.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CLICK THE LINK
https://www.quadbeam.co.nz/blog/loss-reduction
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https://www.quadbeam.co.nz/blog/loss-reduction
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Check out this video from Quadbeam to help you Identify opportunities for improved efficiencies in your Dairy Process utilising optical multibeam NIR sensors.
The whole loss reduction system can generate the kind of meaningful, immediate data on results that everyone can understand, so it can help create an entire culture of loss reduction and maximise gains.
The bottom line is, that you get more product in the packaging – and that’s good for everybody!
The bottom line is, that you get more product in the packaging – and that’s good for everybody!
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