Development of defective fish egg sorting machine with colour sensor for trout facilities

The most important problem at the top of the list faced by trout producers is broken eggs. In this study, a further improved machine that is capable of distinguishing defective eggs from good ones with colour sensors is developed. The most important parts for the machine's operation are the colour sensor, a vertically rotating CD‐like disk, a water spray valve, and a motor‐pump to reuse the used water in the system. The process of separating robust and defective eggs from their own chambers uses a simple motor‐driven spraying valve that produces a water gun level pressure. The water that these valves require is circulating within the system. Since the device uses a simple motor‐pump and the PLC connected to the sensors draws low electrical currents, the energy consumption is also very low. The improved device has been tested in a trout production facility with a production capacity of 499 tons/year and has been observed to be successfully distinguishing the eggs.