Key Technology, a member of Duravant’s Food Sorting and Handling Group, has launched the COMPASS optical sorter for fresh and IQF corn, peas and green beans.

Purpose-built for vegetable processors managing multiple SKUs, product medleys and frequent changeovers, COMPASS delivers precise, repeatable removal of foreign material (FM) and product defects across varied production requirements.

“Vegetable processors are navigating more competitive markets with tighter margins, broader portfolios and leaner workforces,” says Gina Maria Bonini, president of Key Technology – Americas. “Equipment must carry more responsibility while asking less of the people running it. COMPASS reflects our decades of food processing expertise, bringing together our deep investment in sensing science and application engineering. It raises the bar for optical sorting performance while making it easy for facility teams to run, clean and maintain.”

COMPASS features Key’s sensing architecture combines multi-channel sensor data and multi-wavelength strobing to generate up to eight streams of inspection data. Key’s proprietary Pixel Fusion detection technology uses visible and infrared data at the pixel level to further sharpen contrast for finding even the most difficult-to-detect FM and product defects. In many applications, COMPASS delivers detection capabilities comparable to laser-based sorters but without mechanical scanning components, lowering maintenance requirements and long-term operating costs.

COMPASS identifies and removes a range of FM and product defects, including stones, sticks, plastic, metal and extraneous vegetable matter, as well as discolored or damaged product and large ice or frozen agglomerates in IQF applications. Object-based recognition and shape analysis enable the sorter to distinguish FM and defects that closely resemble good product, minimizing false rejects.

For fresh corn, peas and green beans, COMPASS is configured as a belt-fed sorter for wet, debris-heavy environments where traditional optical systems often struggle to maintain consistent performance. The sorter can be installed at various points on the line as needed, including raw receiving and just ahead of freezing. Intelligent belt control offers automated belt tracking and optimal belt tensioning to minimize downtime while quick-release belt removal streamlines sanitation and maintenance.

For IQF vegetable applications, COMPASS is configured as a chute-fed sorter designed to identify and remove FM during final quality inspection. Capable of sorting virtually any vegetable including slices, dices and medleys, it can also detect product defects when sorting single-product runs. Optional high-powered ejectors provide the force needed to remove dense or heavy contaminants, including chunks of ice, while maintaining precise control to minimize false rejects.

COMPASS enables fast changeovers and transitions between SKUs through recipe-driven programming accessed via a touchscreen user interface (UI). Selecting a recipe automatically adjusts sort parameters, eliminating manual recalibration and reducing operator intervention. New product recipes can be tuned directly within the UI using product-specific recipe templates without the need for an application engineer or Key service technician. This recipe-template-driven approach helps maintain repeatable sorting performance and reduces training requirements.

COMPASS was developed with an open, washdown-ready hygienic design for harsh vegetable processing environments, with clear access to cameras and lighting for faster cleaning and protected internal components for reliable operation. It comes equipped with Key Discovery, an analytics and reporting software that collects, analyzes and shares data that can be used to reveal trends in yield, reject rates, raw material variability and upstream performance.