Detection of Metal Contaminants in Food using High Tc SQUIDs Magnetometer

摘要

A PC controlled food contaminant detection system for practical use was designed and constructed. The system we have developed is the High-Tc SQUID based system, which is covered with waterproof stainless steel plates and acceptable to HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) program. The outer dimension of the system is 1500L mm x 477W mm x 1445H mm and the acceptable object size is 200W mm x 80H mm. This system employed a double-layered permeable metallic shield with thickness of 1 mm as a magnetically shielded box. The distribution of the magnetic field in the box was simulated by FEM; the gap between each shield layer was optimized before fabrication. Then the shielding factor of 732 in Z-component was achieved. This value is good enough to operate the system in a factory. As a result, we successfully detected a steel ball as small as 0.3 mm in diameter with a distance of 75 mm.