In the last twenty years, the main concern for processors has been to eliminate residual bones from deboned products.
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In response to this challenge, Marel introduced SensorX in 2007, the first system to reliably detect and reject bone-contaminated products. Since then, SensorX has been the standard for bone inspection in the poultry industry.
Accurate in the sense that 99% of all products with well calcified bone fragments (bigger than 2mm) are detected, and that no more than 3% of detections are inaccurate (false positive).
A lower false positive rate ensures that no valuable labor is wasted looking for bones where there are none. Consistent as all products detected with residual bone are always ejected from the product flow, day in, day out.
SensorX is efficient, requiring a minimal number of operators and providing optimal logistics for routing rejected and approved products to their respective destinations. Moreover, intelligent software ensures calibrations are conducted without disrupting production.
The second version of SensorX, released in 2010, had an integrated system for reworking rejected products, and standardized in and outfeed conveyors. These improvements addressed the pressing need to streamline logistics around bone detection to ensure process efficiency.
In 2014, in response to the growing capacity of deboning lines, the third edition of SensorX was introduced. This version featured dual lane scanning to increase throughput and was capable of handling larger-sized products.
The latest edition, released in 2022, incorporated improved components and SmartBase software to ensure consistently high performance, whereas new safety covers have reduced the risk of operator accidents to an absolute minimum.
SensorX automatically adapts the bone detection level according to the thickness of the specific product.
Now, it introduces a new standard: adaptive bone detection.
The conventional approach, used by most bone detection systems available today, requires configuring a separate bone detection program for each product type, taking into account factors like size, thickness, and more.
To achieve optimal detection results, operators must switch to the appropriate bone detection program whenever the product type changes. In contrast, SensorX now employs an innovative method that automatically adapts the bone detection level according to the thickness of the specific product it’s scanning.
This adaptive detection level ensures consistently high performance without the need for operators to switch between predefined bone detection programs.
The improvements mentioned above have established SensorX as a solution with exceptional, consistent bone detection capability and a minimal rate of false positives. It remains user-friendly, requiring straightforward operation and little maintenance, while also optimizing logistics for an efficient production process.
Furthermore, to safeguard customer investments and prolong the lifespan of existing machines, the improvements are designed to be retrofitted to earlier versions of SensorX. The improved X-ray sensor found in the latest SensorX edition, for instance, is compatible with all previous editions. ■