Contaminant detector for food inspection

Abstract

A contaminant detection machine () including a conveyor () which causes an object under inspection () to pass through a plane () of emitted x-ray radiation. The plane is generated by an x-ray tube () that emits a lateral beam, thereby permitting the distance () between the x-ray tube and the object under inspection to be reduced. A photo diode arch mounting assembly () is placed above the object under inspection and is mated to a collimator assembly () that also serves as the mounting bracket for the x-ray generation assembly (), thereby preserving optical alignment between the photo diode detector array () and the emitted x-ray plane (). The detector array () scans the object under inspection () so as to produce a continuous series of discrete lines, each line being analyzed by an image processing unit () to determine the presence or absence of a contaminant. The conveyor () passes over a pair of slider bed surfaces () which are mounted in a hinged manner such that the leading edge () of one surface () is parallel to and spaced apart from the trailing edge () of the other surface (), thereby creating a gap that is coplanar with the collimation slot () and the emitted x-ray plane (). Each bed surface () is rigidly constrained within open ended mounting brackets (and) yet can be removed by hand without the use of tools. Similarly, the conveyor () is supported by a roller assembly () that includes a tracking block () and pivot pin () which permits the roller assembly to be mounted to and removed from flip up mounts () by hand and without the need of tools. Graphical user interfaces (and) permit a user to operate the machine () by means of a liquid crystal display touch screen ().