Control Your Process, Don't Just Check It
Grab samples tell you what one handful of product looked like, minutes ago. Between checks, the line keeps producing, and drift in moisture or fat becomes off-spec product before a result comes back.
The MCT700 Series closes that gap. Food-grade, non-contact NIR sensors measure moisture, oil/fat, temperature, and color continuously as product moves under the sensor, up to 100 readings per second, so operators can hold the spec in real time. It complements the reference analysis your QC lab already does, holding on the line the targets your lab defines.
- Up to 100 readings per second, non-contact
- Moisture accuracy +/- 0.1%, oil/fat +/- 0.2%
- Food-grade stainless steel, IP67 and IP69K options
- Feeds live data to your PLC or SCADA
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From Receiving to the Finished Product
One sensor platform serves QC, production, and engineering, working alongside your lab.
What it Measures
Proven Across Food and Snack Production
The MCT Series monitors moisture, oil/fat, and temperature during production for a wide range of products, including:
- Potato chips, corn chips, and tortillas
- Cookies, crackers, and pretzels
- Extruded and puffed snacks, popcorn, pork rinds
- Breakfast cereals, doughs and dough sheets, bread crumbs
- Ground meat, rendering products, sausage skins
- Flours, starches, potato flakes, milk powders
- Coffee, tea, cocoa powders, sugar, and salt
The MCT790 adds integrated color measurement on the same platform, for applications where product color matters alongside composition.
Built to Fit the Line You Already Have
An in-line sensor earns its place only if it fits both your control system and your material handling. The MCT Series is built to drop into existing plant systems and mount over the equipment you already run.
Connects to your control system:
- Industrial protocols: Ethernet TCP/IP, Ethernet IP, EtherCAT, ProfiNet, ProfiBus, Modbus TCP, Modbus RTU, DeviceNet, OPC-DDE Server, and USB.
- Isolated 4-20mA and 0-10V analog outputs feed data straight to your PLC or SCADA.
- SensorVu software connects multiple MCT sensors in a location for centralized monitoring, calibration, and diagnostics, and the Cal Check Standard transfers calibrations between sensors to standardize results across lines and sites.
Mounts to your process:
- Belt conveyors: mounted 200-450 mm (8-18 in) above the product.
- Augers & screw conveyors: installed offset to the shaft, with software that cancels the influence of the passing flights.
- Bins & chutes: sapphire sight windows enable look-in analysis of flowing product.
- Full-width scanning: the optional food-grade Guardian-HD traversing frame analyzes across the entire belt width.
- Segmented product: high-speed gating measures only when product is present, so non-continuous flow (cookies, snack cakes, granola bars, individually packed noodles, freeze-dried portions) is measured accurately at full line speed.
Food-Grade, Built to Stay on the Floor
A sensor over a food line has to survive the environment and pass the audit.
- Food-grade enclosures: rugged stainless steel with IP67 (MCT700) and IP69K (MCT750, MCT790) options for washdown environments.
- Durable optics: Kel-F (MCT700) or sapphire (MCT750, MCT790) sensor windows.
- Stable measurement: a proprietary temperature-controlled detector holds readings steady as conditions change; optional water or air cooling supports high-temperature applications up to 80 °C (160 °F).
- Low maintenance, high uptime: fully modular with field-replaceable components, plus on-board diagnostics for lamp life, motor life, vibration, and window contamination.
- Two-year limited warranty.
From Measurement to Control
This is what a lab or bench instrument can't do: act on the line while the product is still being made. Because the MCT Series reads continuously and outputs live data, its measurements can feed directly into your process.
- See drift as it happens. Real-time moisture, oil/fat, and temperature trends on a 7-inch touchscreen and in SensorVu software, logged for review.
- Adjust the process live. Operators can respond immediately, tuning oven, fryer, or dryer settings to bring product back to target before a batch goes off-spec.
- Feed your control system. Isolated 4-20mA and 0-10V outputs and industrial protocols let the sensor push data straight to your PLC or SCADA for automated control.
Specifications
For complete technical specifications, download the MCT700 Series brochure.
Related Information
NIR analyzers are nondestructive sensors that monitor moisture and fat inline or at-line during production. They offer several benefits to food manufacturers, including improved process control, consistent product quality, cost savings, and better compliance with regulations.
NIR stands for Near Infrared, which is a non-destructive analytical technique that uses light to determine the composition of food products. NIR analyzers use this technology to analyze food products for various properties such as moisture, protein, and fat content.