Metal Detection

Product contamination, whether accidental or deliberate, is a threat feared by most companies. Not only can it endanger the consumer and cost millions in potential litigation or legislative action, but it can also damage a companys most precious asset its reputation or brand. There are steps a company can take to protect brand integrity, and in the high speed, fast paced and pressured environment of production, immediate action to a possible incident is crucial. Every food manufacturer should have a HACCP in place. Part of that plan is installing metal detectors and X Ray systems at various critical control points in the production line. History Toward the end of the 19th century, many scientists and engineers used their growing knowledge of electrical theory in an attempt to devise a machine which would pinpoint metal. The goal was to find ore-bearing rocks and this new invention could give a huge advantage to any miner who employed it. The German physicist Heinrich Wilhelm Dove invented the induction balance system, which was incorporated into metal detectors a hundred years later. Early machines were crude, used a lot of battery power, and worked only to a very limited degree. Physicist Alexander Graham Bell used such a device to attempt to locate a bullet lodged in the chest of American President James Garfield in 1881; the attempt was unsuccessful because the metal bed Garfield was lying on confused the detector. The modern development of the metal detector began in the 1930s. Gerhard Fisher had developed a system of radio direction-finding, which was to be used for accurate navigation. The system worked extremely well, but Fisher noticed that there were anomalies in areas where the terrain contained ore-bearing rocks. He reasoned that if a radio beam could be distorted by metal, then it should be possible to design a machine which would detect metal, using a search coil resonating at a radio frequency. In 1937, he applied for, and was granted, the first patent for a metal detector. His designs were soon put to the test in a practical way, as they were used as mine detectors during World War II. They were heavy, ran on vacuum tubes, and needed separate battery packs, but they worked. After the war, there were plenty of surplus mine detectors on the market; they were bought up by relic hunters who used them for fun and profit. This helped to form metal detecting into a hobby. One of the first metal detectors used for food applications was Goring Kerr. Goring Kerr was founded in 1947 by Bruce Goring Kerr and David Hiscock. Goring Kerr was the first company to incorporate digital signal processing (DSP) technology in metal detectors, setting the standard for detection sensitivity. Today Much of our raw materials are now harvested and processed mechanically and may contain rust, wire and other metallic objects. Faster processing machinery, operating with longer maintenance free periods leads to failures which can go unnoticed possibly causing problems with the processing plant further down the production line or perhaps more importantly with the consumer. To minimize these risks metal detection should ideally be installed after each major process and finally after the package has been sealed. This follows the guidelines of HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) and not only enables problems to be quickly identified but also allows any contaminated product to be removed before they damage equipment and harm consumers. In almost any production environment where there is a potential contaminant, there will be an understanding of its source. It may be a natural hazard, as is the situation with agricultural products, where metals can be picked up during the harvesting process or transport. In this case action needs to be taken to clean the material before it enters the production process. The detector should be located to solve the problem as near to its source as possible. Quality Control Metal detectors are a standard quality control tool, regardless of the features they incorporate. It is normal quality control practice to test their performance at specified intervals, in exactly the same way that calibration tests are

regularly made on other measuring equipment. The frequency of these tests should be established according to the companys policy or standard operating procedure to suit the particular production line/process/equipment in question. The objective of the test is to check the capability of the system to reliably detect and reject contaminated product. It is therefore a test of both the metal detector and the reject system. The American Iron and Steel Institutes (AISI) history spans more than 150 years. Their mission is to influence public policy, educate and shape public opinion in support of a strong, sustainable U.S. and North American steel industry committed to manufacturing products that meet societys needs. In the 30s, it became apparent that the industrys technical terminology had become chaotic. The Institute came to grips with the problem, and out of its efforts came the AISI steel products manuals. They provided makers and users of steel with generally recognized definitions, descriptions and practices pertaining to the manufacture, chemistry, metallurgy and adaptability of steel products. In order to achieve a comprehensive test of the system, a product sample must be prepared. In the case of nonconductive products, an artificial sample is acceptable, but in the case of conductive products the sample must generally be the product. No matter what type of product it is, real-world is always best. Non-conductive products are generally dry products for example, flower or sugar. Conductive products are generally wet or moist such as bread, cheese, condiments, etc. A whole thesis could be written on the subject of non-conductive vs. conductive products. This explanation is good for now. A metal contaminant, of the size and type specified as the level of sensitivity, is required. The metal contaminant is then introduced into the product sample, to provide the required test sample for the system. Ideally the test should be carried out with ferrous and non-ferrous contaminants. Ferrous is a metal that is reactive or magnetic such as iron or nickel. Non-ferrous is a metal that is resistive or conductive such copper or brass. Additionally, stainless steel could be in either category. Stainless steel is any of various steels alloyed with at least 10 percent chromium and sometimes containing other elements and that are resistant to corrosion or rusting associated with exposure to water and moist air. For example, AISI 300 series, most common AISI 316, is considered non-ferrous. And AISI 400 series, most common AISI 410 are considered ferrous. The metal sample contaminant should not be outside the package because the test will ignore any potential for the product to act as a screen around the sample. This is really important when testing packages utilizing metalized films and to a lesser degree other conductive products. The sample should lie on the geometric center of the aperture inside the product to test sensitivity at the worst position. How it works There are several types of metal detection technology such as magnets, eddy current decay, ferrous in foil and even x-ray systems (see x-ray for more information). The system well discuss here is called the balanced coil system. This consists of 3 coils wound on a former. The center called the oscillator coil is connected to a source of alternating current. The frequency of this current can be specified, generally from the range 50 kHz to 1 mHz. This current causes an electrical field to be generated around the coil. If two identical coils are then placed symmetrically on either side of the oscillating coil, then each will pick up approximately an equal signal from the field. This received current will in turn cause a voltage to appear across each coil. If the two coils are then connected in series, then the two signals having opposite polarity, cancel each other out leaving zero signal across the pair. A balance state is achieved by electrically compensating for the error present in the assembly. When a piece of metal is introduced on one side of this balanced assembly, the field is affected by the metal. This causes the value of the signal received on that side of the assembly to change. The system is then no longer in balance and a voltage appears across the coils which are amplified to produce the reject signal.

The coil assembly has to be housed to prevent interference with this balanced state occurring as the result of metal or electrical disturbance around it. This housing or case is critical to the performance of the final assembly. The coil completely surrounds the space or aperture for the product, and the dimensions of this case are calculated to be proportional to the aperture in every respect. The system has to have a passage for the product to pass through. This is referred to as the aperture. The field escapes outside the aperture and it is for this reason a metal free area is required on either side of the detector, in order to minimize the effect of the outside electrical interference and metal generating false signals. The severity of the effect of outside interference will depend on the effectiveness of the case as a screen. The larger the case is in relation to the coil assembly, the better the screening effect will be. Auto balance technology reduces the effect of interference on the detector and the presence of fixed metal that is electrically inert, should not have any effect on the operation of the detector as the automatic balance system should compensate for it. Various other mechanical/electrical solutions have been devised such as the fitting of internal or external field compression flanges or additional internal coils. While some manufacturers have made claims of zero metal free areas, in reality whatever action is taken, short of closing the aperture entirely, will result in some of the field escaping. The effect of ferrous metals, within the field generated by the detector drive coil, causes the field to distort, increasing the induced voltage in the receiving coil on the affected side. Permeability is the term used to describe this field intensification property of materials and the unbalanced signal resulting from this is called the reactive effect. Non ferrous metals have an opposite effect as they have a permeability of one and very little reactive effect at low frequencies. In this case the field generates eddy currents in the metal; the energy is dissipated as a loss in the form of heat. This has the effect of reducing the induced voltage in the coil on the affected side, which is processed to provide a detection signal. This is called the resistive signal. Eddy current loss is proportional to the frequency of the oscillating current applied to the center coil. It is for this reason that the higher the frequency the easier it is to detect non ferrous metals. The reason that some stainless steels are easier to detect than others is related to their permeability. AISI 316 and AISI 410 for example have very similar resistivity but the permeability of 410 makes it easier to detect. Certain products, those that are wet and are conductive, will cause an out of balance signal to be generated in the coil assembly in the same way as metal causes a signal. This signal generated by the product is referred to as product effect. There are filters available in the software to help minimize this problem. Since the product exhibits similar results as metal; there will be an optimum frequency to use for each product to obtain maximum sensitivity. Products are inconsistent by nature and do not have a constant product effect, so the adjustment is carried to cover the worst situation with probably a reduction in sensitivity to ensure that the changes in the product effect do not cause false detections when there is no metal present. Dry or electrically non conductive products can cause bulk effect, such as a bag of yeast which can also create electrical noise from the product being tested. Again, adjustments must be made to the metal detector. The sensitivity of any metal detector is proportional to the size of its aperture. Generally, the aperture of a metal detector is wider than its height, resulting in the sensitivity often being referred to as proportional to the height. In reality the sensitivity changes as the area of the aperture changes, but in practical terms it is the height which is the important factor providing the width of the aperture remains less than 500 mm or about 19 inches.

In most cases the contaminant signal has to be extracted from something which contains not only a much larger signal from the product being examined but also noise from vibration due to the product transport and rejection system, from the surrounding environment and from the sensor system itself. The accepted standard to define the sensitivity of a metal detector is the minimum diameter of a sphere that can be detected. This is because a sphere has no orientation. In reality, products are rarely contaminated with spheres. Its usually slivers of metal or a piece of wire; therefore the standard does not truly represent the problem. In order to detect a wire, it depends on its orientation in respect to the axis of the detector. In some applications two metal detectors at 45 degree angles are needed in order to detect the wire. Reject Systems In order to detect metal the product has to move through the search head. It is not a prerequisite that mechanical handling systems include a form of automatic rejection, but it is strongly recommended. Product can be passed through the detector manually, removed when the sensor detects metal manually, quarantined and recorded manually etc. Unfortunately human operators tend to be very unreliable. Depending on the particular situation they are unlikely to achieve better than 70% accuracy to be able to concentrate for more than 20 minutes at a time depending on the type of work required in this environment. Another reason for failure of manual systems is that when there are many detections they are often ignored by the operator who will often consider the system to be at fault. Therefore, in considering the application and design of the mechanical system to be used with the metal detector, automatic operation is fundamental to achieving the desired result. All detectors are provided with controls to adjust the time between detect and reject and, the time the reject is to remain open. Providing these controls are based on some form of counting they should be completely accurate. However, when the system is subject to speed variation or stopping and starting then some form of additional electronic sensor is required to monitor and compensate for the changes, with a memory, so that both the delay time and the reject open time vary. The setting of the reject delay and reject open time must take into account the size and shape of the product under inspection. If product has an odd shape, then it must be considered when setting reject times. It is essential in setting the reject times to allow for the position of the contaminant within the package, so that whether it is at the front, center or the back of the package, the time delays set so that the product will be rejected regardless. Product spacing, speed, presentation, shape, size, consistency and packaging material all have to be considered in designing the reject system to ensure a minimum quantity of product that is to be rejected each time while ensuring the contaminant is removed. Product spacing can be regulated by adjusting the speed of the metal detector conveyor relative to the delivery conveyor, returning the product speed to normal on the conveyor following the metal detector. This technique is used to reduce reject volume by either separating product so that only one item is rejected each time or reduce the volume on the belt in the case of loose products. In some cases it is essential to regulate flow to consistent levels. Once spacing has been set to achieve the stated objective, it may be necessary to consider presentation, for example either to ensure accuracy of position of the reject system, or to control orientation writing the detector to ensure product effect is reasonably constant. There are three parts to the reject process; Prevention; Rejection; Controlled quarantine. Failure in any of these will mean potential failure of the entire process. It is essential that once a product has been identified as contaminated by the detector it is impossible for anyone to remove that product from the line. It must not be touched or removed until it has been rejected and held in the reject bin. This is very important where full system checks are made by the detector system. Prevention can be achieved by having a cover over the belt beyond the reject point, to prevent access.

The reject device will need a guard to meet health and safety regulations. The reject system must have some form of automatic self check. This can be a sensing device linked to the detector, which in the case of the best digital systems can also be linked to the data collection system, thus providing further information of relevance to a due diligence defense. This device should not only check the movement of the reject but also that the movement took place at the correct time. As for the method of rejection, there is no best way that fits all product or situations. The method used will depend on many factors. Here are some of the reject methods used: Manual removal Air blast Diverter arms Flap systems Drop end systems Sweep arms Retracting bands Special Note Metalized Films More and more products are coming to us in a foil (or metalized film) pouch. To achieve detection of metal in a metalized package, it is necessary to remove the signal that is generated by a fine aluminum coating present on the plastic film. The metalized film is made up of fine dots of aluminum and as a result the surfaces do not form a conductor path. The signal generated is of relatively low value, which can be removed, either by conventional analogue phasing techniques or by digital signal processing. A very low frequency is required, which has the effect of simultaneously reducing the signals generated by other non ferrous metals particularly stainless steel. For this reason, it is best to use x-ray systems. (see X-Ray)

Metal Detection Manufacturers:

Advanced Detection Systems Anritsu Boekels Bunting Cassel Ceia Eriez Fortress Lock Loma Systems Magnet Systems International Mettler Toledos Safeline S+S Inspection Thermo Fisher Scientific