Sherlock Belt – 360° inspection engineered for industrial efficiency

Sherlock Belt introduces a new approach to high-performance optical sorting of French fries by combining a curved belt geometry, tilted lens architecture and true 360° product inspection without physical backgrounds (patent pending).

The curved belt stabilises, separates and optimally presents each product before releasing it into the inspection zone. Combined with strategically positioned tilted optics, this enables an unobstructed in-air, full-surround view of the product – including areas conventional belt sorters can struggle to inspect reliably.

This innovative architecture delivers more precise defect detection and ejection while reducing false rejects, helping processors retain more good product and reduce unnecessary food waste. At the same time, positioning the lower optical components away from the main product and debris flow and using virtual, AI generated backgrounds for the image processing, significantly extends cleaning intervals and reduces maintenance and operator intervention.

The result is higher operational efficiency, increased uptime, improved yield and lower maintenance requirements – delivering more consistent product quality and a significantly improved total cost of ownership (TCO) throughout the machine’s lifetime. In high volume French fry lines, this will translate into considerable cost savings overall.