Operator's Guide

INTRODUCTION TO SYSTEM CONTROL

Control of the LOMA Superscan Micro is easily achieved once the basic principles of operation are
understood. The following two pages show diagrams of the User Interface and of the Menu Map.
Certain keys on the User Interface control movement around the Menu Map such that any menu entry
can be reached quite simply from any other.
The Menu Map is organised into four logical groups: Setup, Change, Calibrate and Results. These
menus can all be accessed via the dedicated keys on the User Interface. To become completely
familiar with the operation of the LOMA Superscan Micro, it is necessary that the Operators Guide
Menu Map is fully understood. Spend some time now looking at the diagram of the Menu Map on
page 3 and observe some of the possible routes to perform frequent tasks.
Following a more complete description of the User Interface Menu Map is a Product Setup example
showing how to set the metal detector up for a new product. Use this example to gain familiarity with
the unit before attempting to operate the machine under production conditions.

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SUPERSCAN MICRO USER INTERFACE

16 Character Display Up Key Down Key

(showing signal level against threshold)

Loma Superscan Micro ISC

T*500 SIG 247 ▲ ▼

● RUN DETECT
CANCEL ENTER ❍ CALIBRATE

❍ ❍ ❍ ❍ ❍ SYSTEM FAULT
CHANGE SETUP CALIBRATE RESULTS
❍ RUN ERROR

Main Menu Keys Status LEDs

Each of the four main menu
keys has an LED which shows
the main menu that is being
accessed at any time
• The Run Detect LED indicates that the detector is
searching for metal
• The Calibrate LED indicates that the detector is
performing a calibration cycle
• The Run Error LED indicates that a run error has
been logged
• The System Fault LED indicates that a system
fault has been logged

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 T xxxxx S xxxxx

5-4
LOCK KEYBOARD?
Operator's Guide

CHANGE SETUP CALIBRATE RESULTS MENU MAP

PRODUCT SETUP ✱ PRODUCT NO _ _

SCROLL SELECTION UPDATE?
OPERATOR'S GUIDE

RUNNING PROD
✱ NAME _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
FULL CALIBRATE? PROD NAME
✱ DRY PRODUCT
X REJECTS
✱ FLOW LEN
X GOOD PACKS

2
1
DISABLE REJECT? ✱ REJ DELAY
X PACK COUNT
✱ REJ DWELL

Notes
RESET BATCH?
PV TEST SETUP
STATUS REPORT?
FULL CALIBRATE?
RUN PV TEST?

PASSWORDS ✱ KEYCODE 1234 VIEW CONTAMS

CONTAMINANTS
✱ CHANGE 1234 CLEAR CONTAMS?
CALENDAR
✱ PV TEST 1234
RUN ERRORS VIEW ERRORS

CLEAR ERRORS?
MACHINE DETAILS

This diagram shows the basic menu map

SYSTEM FAULTS VIEW FAULTS

See Menus A-Z for an expanded menu map

SERVICE CLEAR FAULTS?

(more entries may exist for your configuration)

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SYSTEM CONTROL

Gaining entry to the system and basic sensitivity control

In order to gain entry to the system and adjust the sensitivity follow the basis steps set out below.

Step One

If the keyboard is locked, ie. none of the settings can be accessed or adjusted without the correct key
code having first been entered, the display will show:

T 1000 SIG 245

in which case go to step two (note, that no “✱” is shown in the display and that the actual numbers
shown will vary depending upon the application).
If the display shows:

T*1000 SIG 188

then the keyboard is already unlocked (note, that an “✱” is shown on the display), in which case go to
step four.
If the display shows neither of these texts, push the [CANCEL] key until it does, and then go to step
two or four depending upon the display shown. If this still fails to show either of the above displays,
then the machine has probably not been fully commissioned - see the Commissioning section of this
manual.

Step Two

In order to unlock the keyboard press the [ENTER] key, at which point a password will be prompted
for and the display will show:

PASSWORD* 0

Step Three

The password required to gain entry will have been formerly setup via the Password menu, Keycode
entry in the SETUP menu. Simply use the [▲] and [▼] keys to adjust the number shown on the right
hand side of the display. Once the number shown is equal to the Key code press the [ENTER] key.

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The display will now show:

T* 1000 SIG 330

Step Four

The display shows the product signal (number on the right hand of the display) against the threshold.
You will notice that the product signal either updates continually or only when product passes if a
photo eye is fitted, and that whenever the product signal exceeds the threshold the reject activates.
This simple mechanism is used to judge whether there is metal in the product or not. In the display
example shown, the signal value would have to exceed 1000 before a reject occurred.

Manual adjustment of the sensitivity is achieved by adjusting the threshold value, smaller thresholds
giving greater sensitivity and larger ones less sensitivity.

To adjust this threshold press the [ENTER] key. The display will now show:

T 1000 *SIG 255

Notice how the "✱” has moved to the left hand side of SIG.

Step Five

Use the [▲] and [▼] keys to adjust the threshold, remembering that smaller thresholds give greater
sensitivity and higher ones less. It is important that the value chosen for the threshold should be low
enough enable the desired size of test stick to be detected, but not so low that uncontaminated product
is rejected (false rejects).

In this example the threshold has been reduced from 1000 to 750, so that the display will show:

T 750 *SIG 255

At this point you should make sure that there are no false rejects, ie. uncontaminated product rejected,
and that the detector can detect the desired size of test stick in accordance with your company
specifications.

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Step Six

Once you have finished adjusting the sensitivity, press the [ENTER] key again to save the new
threshold and allow movement around the rest of the menu map. The display should now show:

T* 750 SIG 255

In order to get the most out of the detector it is necessary to make sure that it is correctly setup for
your product, or number of products. This includes such things as setting up the reject timing and
making sure that the detector is correctly calibrated for the product which is passing through it. Please
read through the remainder of this section and follow the examples so that you can set the detector up
correctly for all your products.

Moving around the map and making adjustments

Page 3 of this section shows a menu map around which the display can be moved in order to gain
access to various parameters for adjustment. Superscan Micro ISC has four main menus, Change,
Setup, Calibrate and Results, all of which contain parameters for viewing or adjustment, commands or
further sub-menus.
If you study the menu map you will see that there are six items in the Setup menu: Product Setup,
Disable Reject, Passwords, Calendar, Machine Details and Service. Apart from Disable Reject, these
are all sub-menus, ie. you can go into them to gain access to the items within them. The Disable
Reject is in fact a command, and as such is denoted with the “✱” character.
Within the Setup menu there are no items of data, but if the Product Setup sub-menu is moved into
from the Setup menu then various parameters can be accessed. All parameters are denoted with the
“✱” character.
Moving around the menu map and adjusting parameters within it is very simple. To gain access to one
of the four main menus, simply press the key associated with it, eg. press the [SETUP] key to move
into the Setup menu. Once in one of the four main menus the LED on the associated key will
illuminate. For instance, if you press the Setup key you will move into the Setup menu where the first
entry, Product Setup, will be displayed and the LED on the Setup key will come on. Try doing this
now. The display will show

PRODUCT SETUP

To move up or down the items within a menu the [▲] and [▼] keys are used. With the display
showing “PRODUCT SETUP” keep pressing the [▼] key, and observe how the other items within the
Setup menu are shown on the display. Once at the bottom of the menu, the [▲] key can be used to
move back up the menu.
To move into a sub-menu simply press the [ENTER] key when that sub-menu is shown on the
display. For instance, suppose you want to move into the Machine Details sub-menu, firstly make sure
that you are in the Setup menu (check that the LED is on against the SETUP key, and if not press the
key), and secondly use the [▲] or [▼] keys so that the display shows:

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MACHINE DETAILS

Now press the [ENTER] key to move into the machine details menu, so that the display shows:

*MACHINE 93M1234

(The number 93M1234 shown is the machine serial number in this example).
To move out of this menu, or any other menu, all you have to do is to press the [CANCEL] key. Do
this now so that the display shows the MACHINE DETAILS menu again.
You now know how to move around the menu map, but how do you alter the data or the selection
entered within it? This is achieved in three easy steps, as demonstrated by the following example.

Step One

Suppose you with to alter the time of day, say from 9.00am to 10.00am. Use the keyboard as
described above to move to the Hours parameter. The display should show:

*HOURS 9

Notice how the “✱” character is on the left hand side of the display.

Step Two

Press the [ENTER] key to allow adjustment of the hours parameter. The display will now show:

HOURS* 9

Notice how the “✱” character has now moved to the right. This indicates that the number or selection
shown can now be adjusted by use of the [▲] and [▼] keys.

Step Three

Press the [▲] key once to change the hour from 9 to 10. The display will now show:

HOURS* 10

If you needed to alter a value substantially, for instance changing the threshold from 1000 to 2000,
the [▲] or [▼] keys can be held down to update the value rapidly.

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Step Four

Now that the correct time has been selected, press the [ENTER] key to save the value. The display
will now show:

*HOURS 10

Notice how the “✱” character now moves back to the left hand side of the display, indicating that the
value has been saved and that the menu map can again be moved around.
If, in the event, you decided that the selection that you made was incorrect at step three, simply press
the [CANCEL] key and the value/selection will revert to it’s old setting.

Commands

Within the menus there are some items known as commands, denoted by the “✱” symbol, which on
selection instruct the detector to carry out some sort of action. In order to invoke a command simply
press the [ENTER] key when that command is shown on the display. An example of this is shown in
the next section on how to set up a product for the first time, where the Full Calibrate command is
invoked.

To summarise

• Use the main menu keys to move into one of the four menus.
• Use the [▲] and [▼] keys to move up and down a menu.
• Use the [ENTER] key to move into a menu.
• Use the [CANCEL] key to move out of a menu.
• Follow the three simple steps to enter the required setting.
• Press the [ENTER] key to carry out a command.

Setting up the detector for a new product

The detector is always searching for metal in the product, but if it is to achieve the optimum
sensitivity and correctly reject the product it must be properly calibrated and have the correct reject
timing values entered.
To set the detector up for a new product, follow the steps below:
1 Press the [SETUP] key.
2 If the keyboard is locked the display will prompt you for a password by displaying:

PASSWORD* 0

3 Once the correct password has been entered, or the keyboard was already unlocked the display
will show:

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PRODUCT SETUP

4 Press the [ENTER] key to move into the Product Setup menu. The display will now show:

PRODUCT NO n

This menu entry shows the product number which is currently running, where n will be a number
from 1 to 100, I or F.

5 Press the [▼] key once to move to the product name entry:

*NAME

You can now edit the product name for your particular product, as shown Product Name menu in
the A - Z section. We’ll skip this for now.

6 Press the [▼] key again to move to the dry product entry:

*DRY PRODUCT NO

Normally this entry can be left at the default setting of NO, under which circumstances the
detector will monitor the product effect of the product and automatically decide upon the best
way to calibrate the machine. If you have calibrated the machine with a product which you
believe has no product effect, because it contains no moisture or conductive ingredients (iron
additives), but the unit fails to achieve the desired sensitivity, then this setting should be set to
YES and a recalibration carried out.
Leave this setting set to NO unless this is a pharmaceutical tablet machine, in which case the
setting should be set to YES (except where conductive additives such as iron are used).
7 Press the [▼] key again, at which point the entry shown on the display will depend on whether a
photo eye is fitted or not. If a photo eye is not fitted go to step 8. If one is fitted the display will
show:

*FLOW LEN 255MM (10" if imperial)

Press the [ENTER] key again, to make the “✱” move across the display so that the length of the
pack to flow, allowing for any skew, can be adjusted. Do this by moving the value up or down
with the [▲] and [▼] keys, and then pressing the [ENTER] key to save the value.

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Press the [▼] key to move down to the next entry.

8 Again, this next menu entry will be dependent upon what sort of reject mechanism is fitted to
your system. For the purposes of this example, we will assume that the mechanism requires both
a delay and dwell time. The display will therefore show:

*REJ DELAY 0.35S

Press the [ENTER] key, followed by the [▲] or [▼] keys to adjust the delay time (the time it
takes for the product to get from the head, or photo eye if fitted, to the reject). Press the
[ENTER] key again to save the new value.
If you do not know what the required delay time is skip this entry for now (you can come back to
this entry later on, and experiment with the timing until it is correct for your system).
9 Press the [▼] key again, so that the reject dwell time is displayed:

*REJ DWELL 0.25S (actual value machine dependent)

Adjust this value to suit your system - again leave this until later if required.
10 Press the down key to move to the display:

PV TEST SETUP

This menu only appears if the option is enabled via the OPTIONS menu. PV TEST SETUP
contain five system relative entries and four product relative entries. In order to use PV Test the
entries must be completed, details relative to each entry can be found in the A-Z Menus section of
this manual. If its use is not required then either go to the OPTIONS menu and answer NO to PV
Test or:

11 Press the down key to move the display to:

FULL CALIBRATE?

At this point make sure that you have some product ready to calibrate the machine with. The
product must be representative of production, and ideally several samples should be used,
rather than a single pack.
Press the [ENTER] key to start the calibration cycle, and keep passing the product until the
calibration cycle is complete - the display will prompt you as necessary. Please refer to the Full
Calibration menu in the A - Z section for details of any warning messages.
The display will now jump to the top of the menu map, so that you can fine tune the sensitivity as
required. The detector is now fully calibrated for your product.

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Operator's Guide

(Calibration of the detector will set the head power, the detection mode and the compensation
value to minimise the product signal for your product - please refer to the Principles of Operation
Section if you would like to gain a better understanding of this).
To set up other products, up to one hundred in all, repeat the above process with the product number
set as required. The product number can either be changed by using the Change product menu (see
below), or by altering the product number in the Product Setup menu and initiating a full calibration
from the Product Setup menu.

Changing products

Superscan Micro can be pre-calibrated for up to one hundred different products, which will all
initially be setup using the above new product setup procedure. Once you have set up two or more
products, you will wish to switch between the two as the product in production changes. This is
achieved using the product [CHANGE] key:
1 From any menu position press the product [CHANGE] key. The display will now show the
current product number selected and the name of the product.
2 Use the [▲] and [▼] keys to move up and down the list of one hundred products.
3 Once the display is showing the desired product, press the [ENTER] key to accept that choice.
The display will indicate that the product been changed and then return to the top of the menu
map, showing the product signal. Refer to the Change menu in the A - Z section for details of any
warning messages given.

Recalibrating the detector

In the course of operating the detector, you may find that certain situations require the calibration
details of the product to be altered. Examples may include where the temperature or ingredients of the
product have changed, or where an existing product number is to be used for a new product.
Two sorts of calibration cycles are available to cater for all eventualities, Full Calibrate and Update
Calibrate. Update Calibration will fine tune the compensation value (see Principles of Operation) to
minimise the product signal whilst still checking for metal in the product, whereas Full calibration
will completely calibrate the detector which necessitates turning detection for metal off during the
calibration cycle.
Use Update Calibration to minimise the product signal when the production line is running if false
rejects are occurring because the product signal has “drifted”.
Use Full Calibration in all other circumstances, or when an Update fails to produce the required
results.
When PV Test is in use, recalibrating the detector using either Update or Full Calibration will not
reset the False Threshold value.
Update Calibration can be accessed from the Calibrate menu only, whereas Full Calibration can be
accessed from the Calibrate and the Product Setup menus.

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Quick Setup Operator's Guide
T xxxxx S xxxxx

LOCK KEYBOARD?

CHANGE SETUP CALIBRATE RESULTS

SCROLL SELECTION PRODUCT SETUP ✱ PRODUCT NO _ _ UPDATE? RUNNING PROD

✱ NAME _ _ _ _ _ _ _ FULL CALIBRATE? PROD NAME
✱ DRY PRODUCT X REJECTS
✱ FLOW LEN X GOOD PACKS
DISABLE REJECT? ✱ REJ DELAY X PACK COUNT
✱ REJ DWELL RESET BATCH?
PV TEST SETUP STATUS REPORT?
FULL CALIBRATE?
RUN PV TEST?
PASSWORDS
CONTAMINANTS
RUN ERRORS
CALENDAR
SYSTEM FAULTS

MACHINE DETAILS

SERVICE

Adjusting the sensitivity:
• Move to the top of the map, if not already there,
by pressing the [CANCEL] key as necessary.
• Press the [ENTER] key once.
• Use the [▲] or [▼] keys to move the threshold
up or down. Higher thresholds give lower
sensitivity and lower ones higher sensitivity.
• Press the [ENTER] key once to save the new
value.
Changing a product:
• Press the [CHANGE] key once.
• Press the [▲] or [▼] key to scroll through the
product selection to the desired product.
• When the correct product is displayed, press the
[ENTER] key once.
Recalibrating a product:
• Press the [CALIBRATE] key once.
• Press the [ENTER] key once.
• Keep passing product until the display indicates
that the calibration cycle is complete.
Setting up a new product:
• Press the [SETUP] key once.
• Press the [ENTER] key twice.
• Use the [▲] and [▼] keys to select the desired
product number.
• Press the [ENTER] key once to save the product
number.
• Move down through the product setup list and
adjust the values as necessary. The Flow Length
entry will only appear if a photo-eye is
connected to the system, in which case the
length to flow of the product should be entered.
* The PV Test Setup entry will only appear if the
Performance Validation System is enabled, in
which case entries should be made in the menu
to programme the system.
• At the bottom of the list, when 'FULL
CALIBRATE' is displayed, press the [ENTER]
key once and pass product until the display
indicates that the calibration cycle is complete.
Moving around the menu map:
• To move into one of the four main menus,
Change, Setup, Calibrate or Results, press the
key with the menu name on it.
• To move down the map, press the down key.
• To move up the map, press the up key.
• Press the [ENTER] key to move across the map
to the right.
• Press the [CANCEL] key to move across the
map to the left.
• To adjust a parameter shown on the display,
press the [ENTER] key to move the ✱ to the
right, and then adjust the setting with the [▲]
and [▼] keys.
• Press the [ENTER] key to save a new setting.

May be obtained separately as Part No. 811124 issue level A 9/8/95

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