Start-up production line with optical sorter

Start-up production line with optical sorter
Büttelborn – Germany

Last month, Marcelissen delivered a processing line for potatoes at Funk Kartoffeln. Marcelissen made the entire processing line from A to Z.
Funk Kartoffeln came to Marcelissen with the request of a processing line suitable for baby potatoes, potatoes that need to be sliced into ½, ¼, ⅙ and oversized potatoes. All different potato products needed to be processed in one line with a continuous process with as few staff as possible. This was a challenge we were happy to accept.

Optical Sorter with six exits

What makes this production line so special, is not the use of a knife peeler or halving machine (which are included as well), but the use of our improved Optical Sorter with no less than six (!) exits and an overflow. The user-friendly Ellips interface makes sure the customer can control the quality, and therefore the peel loss and waste, of the production line himself. The Optical Sorter functions as the electronic heart of the line, so the client achieves the highest yield from his product, while reducing food waste and general waste to a minimum.

A challenging project

By means of buffer conveyors, 3 different potato sizes are collected separately, which have to be halved later. These eventually end up on a three-track conveyor belt, each size its own track, before they reach the 6-track halving machine. This 6-track halving machine is built in such a way, that the potatoes are cut in different ways per two lanes.
In addition, one exit is reserved for the further processing of baby potatoes, one exit for the further processing of the oversize and one exit for the product that doesn’t meet the quality standard, which is pulverised in a shredder.
The overflow is used for repeel potatoes which are returned to the knife peeler by means of a long transport screw.
As previously stated, it was a challenging project that we look back on with great pleasure. We would like to congratulate the Funk family and wish them good luck with their brand new Marcelissen production line.