Vibratory Conveyor facilitates inspection of wine grapes.
Press Release Summary:
Continuous-flow Wine Grape Inspection Shaker presents grapes at optimal speed for spotting and removing undesirable fruit and field debris. Adjustable speed control allows standard shaker to handle 0-5 tons/hr and larger shaker to handle up to 10 tons/hr. Gentle vibratory conveying prevents bruising and tannin release, while stainless steel construction satisfies sanitation demands. Shaker allows winemakers to optimize quality control, using only flawless berries.
Original Press Release:
Key Technology Introduces Wine Grape Inspection Shaker
September 14, 2005 - Key Technology introduces its new Wine Grape Inspection Shaker, a gentle, continuous-flow, maintenance-free vibratory conveyor that presents grapes at the ideal speed for spotting and removing undesirable fruit and field debris from the must. The Wine Grape Inspection Shaker allows winemakers to achieve efficient quality control, putting only flawless berries behind their labels, not leaves, bugs, raisined clusters, or Material Other than Grapes (MOG).
Compared to stationary tables and belt conveyors traditionally used to inspect wine grapes, Key's Wine Grape Inspection Shaker improves production efficiencies and enhances product quality.
"We love the fact that Key's Inspection Shaker is easy to clean; that's an important thing for us," stated John Giannini, Winemaker at California State University, Fresno, which operates a full production winery within a teaching environment. "We're sticklers for sanitation. If equipment is difficult to clean, the possibility of microbial growth is greater and that can have an impact on wine quality. Key's stainless steel vibratory shaker is easy to clean, which is a very important factor."
Key's Wine Grape Inspection Shaker features an adjustable speed control that allows the standard shaker to handle from zero to five tons of product per hour; larger shakers with a capacity of up to ten tons per hour are available. Optimizing the feed rate allows the shaker to display product evenly for thorough hand inspection and protects the grapes from being crushed under the weight of other grapes. "Key's shaker spreads the grapes out evenly over the table," noted Giannini. "Since we get a better visualization of grapes going by, we can better remove the clusters and other things we don't want in the must." Additionally, the shaker presents an even flow of product to downstream destemming/crushing equipment to further improve line performance and product quality.
Gentle vibratory conveying prevents bruising and tannin release. Stainless steel construction satisfies the most stringent sanitation demands. Fast and easy cleaning reduces downtime when the line changes from one varietal to another. Key's Wine Grape Inspection Shaker offers dependable, maintenance-free performance and comes with a two-year warranty that covers system components to guarantee superior reliability.
The ergonomic design features integrated, non-vibrating support rails and adjustable height for feeding downstream equipment of any make or size.
The specialized Wine Grape Inspection Shaker belongs to Key's proven Iso-Flo® family of vibratory conveyors. Other winemaking technology from Key includes Impulse(TM) Electromagnetic Conveyors for precise metering of product, Jack Removal Shakers, Bin Dumpers, 2X Air Cleaners for removal of debris, fines and leaves, and Optyx® optical sorting systems, which automatically detect and remove all types of defects and foreign materials from the product stream.
About Key Technology, Inc.
Key Technology, an ISO-9001 certified company, is a leading designer and manufacturer of process automation systems, integrated electro-optical inspection and sorting systems, and processing systems. Key® systems help processors to improve quality, increase yield, and reduce cost. With worldwide sales representation, the company maintains demonstration and testing facilities at its headquarters and manufacturing divisions in Walla Walla, Washington, USA, and at Key Technology BV in Beusichem, the Netherlands. The company's common stock trades on the Nasdaq National Market tier of The NASDAQ Stock MarketSM under the symbol: KTEC.
Reader Inquiries To:
Anita Funk, Corporate Communications Manager
Key Technology, Inc.
150 Avery Street
Walla Walla, WA 99362 USA
Tel: 509 529 2161
Fax: 509 527 1331
Email: afunk@key.net
URL: www.key.net
