Miller Magazine Issue: 115 July 2019

ideal for projecting light onto the viewing area of an optical sorter. Based in upper Austria, about 40 kms from the regional capital Linz, Mr Arnreiter’s mill pro- duces specialized ingredients for bakeries and food processors, as well as biscuits and mues- li. The company sorts and processes a range of raw materials including different types of wheat, soya, spelt, barley, oats and poppy seeds. Mr Arnreiter points out there is already a market awareness of the quality benefits provided by LED lights. He said: “When I talk to our custom- ers in the cereal industry, they have experience with these machines and customers are already aware of the advantages of the upgrade.” LED lights are also safer to handle during maintenance with no chance of them accident- ly shattering. Installation time is scheduled for half a day and can take place during the annu- al maintenance service to reduce any potential production down time. Custom- ers switching to LED lights also benefit from not having to pay for new fluorescent tubes every year as they degrade. LED lights operate at peak performance for five years ensuring the sort- ers do not require recalibration as the lights deteriorate. Fluo- rescent tubing may also create an inconsistent illumi- nation along the length of the tube result- ing in variable sorting performance. “When using the fluorescent system the brightness can decrease over time and the Bühler SORT- EX technicians told me that the light may not be consistent with the left and right sides not being as bright as in the middle,” said Mr Arnreiter. The LED upgrade is available for the A, B and Z range of Bühler SORTEX op- tical sorters. Fluores- cent lighting is seen as an aging technol- ogy, with the chance that replacement parts will eventually become more diffi- cult to source. All new Bühler SORTEX optical sorters come with LED lights already fitted.