Size Grading for Dried Fruit, Nuts and Vegetables: How Each Line Does It

Size grading means separating product by size into commercial fractions; across Albion’s lines it is also called sizing. The machine changes from product to product, but the questions stay the same: how many sizes you need, what happens before the sizer, and where each size goes afterward. This guide goes product by product: which lines grade by size, into how many sizes when the model defines it, and which machine does the work.

Why size-grade?

The line specifications give three reasons:

1. Commercial sizes. Each size is a different sales option. The prune sizers range from 7 to 15 sizes, and the specs put it simply: more sizes, more differentiated price points per kilogram.
2. Uniform product for packing. A uniform batch is easier to pack and sell. For fresh potatoes, onions and carrots headed to the supermarket, sizing is part of what is required before packing in bags, nets or trays.
3. Preparation for the next process. For walnuts, sizing prepares cracking: well-sized walnuts reduce kernel breakage and increase halves recovery.

What comes before matters too: on the prune lines, cleaning upstream preserves sizing accuracy, and on the onion, potato and carrot lines, operators remove defective product on an inspection conveyor before sizing.

Product by product

Raisins

For raisins, size grading is part of the destemming lines (D), after destemming and aspiration. The washing and finishing lines (L) do not size-grade.

• PUA 300 D (250–300 kg/h): the Vibrating Sizing Screen sits below the conical destemmer and the aspirator, using gravity and saving floor space. It classifies the raisins into commercial sizes.
• PUB 600 D (550–600 kg/h): the Sizing Screen (3 sizes) delivers the raisins in three commercial sizes, ready for washing or packing.
• PUB 2000 D (1,800–1,900 kg/h): with two conical destemmers in series, it ends in a Sizing Screen that classifies the raisins into distinct commercial categories.
• PUA 5000 D (3,000–3,500 kg/h): the Size Grader has two interchangeable screens that release quickly, with perforations chosen by the customer, and cross conveyors that discharge each fraction separately. After sizing, an elevator takes the raisins to a screen and the Mega Vac for final cleaning.

Prunes

Prunes have the most sizing lines: fourteen. All of them end in an N-Caliber Sizer with interchangeable perforated plates (on most models, with hole diameters chosen by the customer) and an Automatic Mobile Cart, whose rubber paddles keep the sizing surface clean. Between models, what changes is the number of sizes and what comes first:

Lines	Sizes	Before the sizer
CA 1000 7T, CA 1200	7	An elevator only: for fruit that arrives already clean
CA-E 1000	9	An elevator only
CD 1200, CD 1500	7	Bin tipper, elevator, cleaning screen and vacuum aspirator
CE 1200, CE 1500, CE 1800	13	Same as the CD lines
CE-E 1200, CE-E 1500, CE-E 1800	15	Same as the CD lines
CF 1200, CF 1500, CF 1800	13	Same as the CD lines, plus an inspection conveyor

The pitting lines (CD 4, CD 6 and CD 8) do not include a sizer: their pitters have a head that adjusts to any prune size.

Walnuts

Walnuts go through sizing at two points: in-shell and, after cracking, as kernel.

In-shell, the CR family: hydraulic bin tipper, bucket elevator and a perforated rotary cylinder sizer. The suffix gives the number of sizes: 5T sorts into five and 6T into six (5 lateral + 1 at the end).

• CR 800 5T (450 kg/h) and CR 800 6T (600 kg/h): Rotary Cylinder Sizer Ø800.
• CR 1000 5T, CR 1000 6T and CR 1000 6T BC (900–1,000 kg/h): Rotary Cylinder Sizer Ø950.
• CR VC 2000 6T (1,800–1,900 kg/h): Multiple Ø1000 Rotary Drum Sizers (6 sizes), working in parallel.

The CR 800 and CR 1000 lines discharge through lateral outlets for bag filling; the CR 1000 6T BC instead routes each size to central bins.

Kernel, the AP lines: after the inspection conveyor, an elevator carries the kernel to the machine that classifies it by size: the Quarters and Pieces Separator on the AP 300, and the Kernel Separating Screen (butterflies, quarters and pieces) on the AP 700 and the AP 700 without bin tipper. The screens are vibrating and chosen not to damage the kernel: the goal is to keep the butterfly as whole as possible.

Almonds

For almonds, what gets sized on the line is the kernel. After the inspection conveyor, the ALP 300 ends in a Sizer that separates whole kernels from broken kernels; the ALP 700 uses a Kernel Separating Screen (whole and broken). Capacity on both is measured in calibrated in-shell almond: if yours doesn’t arrive calibrated, let us know when you get in touch.

Garlic

All three garlic sizing lines start with a bin tipper and a pre-cleaning screen, then pass through a roller loader before the sizer.

• T 900 CMZVC (2,000–2,500 kg/h): adds a brusher; its roller loader separates clumped heads and aligns them for sizing, and the line ends in the Garlic Sizer – 5+1 Sizes: 5 commercial sizes and 1 reject fraction.
• T 1200 CMZV 7T (3,500–4,000 kg/h): Garlic Sizer – 6+1 Sizes, with a larger cross-section.
• T 1200 CMZIV 7T (3,500–4,000 kg/h): also a Garlic Sizer – 6+1 Sizes, with an industrial cross-section, and the loader integrated into an illuminated inspection conveyor.

Onions

The LCC 6000 6T (3,000 kg/h) brushes the onions and runs them over an inspection conveyor, where operators remove split, sprouted or rotten bulbs. At the end, the Onion Sizer separates them into 6 defined commercial sizes, ready for net, bag or tray packing.

Potatoes

On the PC 4000 (4,000 kg/h), potatoes go through a receiving hopper, elevator, brusher and inspection conveyor before the Potato Sizer – 3+1 Sizes: 3 sizes and 1 reject fraction. A distribution conveyor then routes each size to its packing station, and the line closes with the conveyor with bagging hopper and the weigher.

Carrots

On the ZC 8000 (6,000–8,000 kg/h), after washing, a roller discard unit drops out-of-size carrots and broken pieces, and operators remove roots with serious defects on the inspection conveyor. An accumulation disc keeps the sizing rate steady, and the Sizer separates carrots by size according to the defined commercial matrix.

The hazelnut and dried tomato lines do not include a sizer. On the AV 10000, the trommel performs a coarse size classification before washing and removes stones and soil clumps.

Summary table

Product	Line(s)	Number of sizes	Sizing machine
Raisins	PUA 300 D	several commercial sizes	Vibrating Sizing Screen
Raisins	PUB 600 D	3	Sizing Screen (3 sizes)
Raisins	PUB 2000 D	distinct commercial categories	Sizing Screen
Raisins	PUA 5000 D	depends on the screens chosen	Size Grader
Prunes	CA 1000 7T, CA 1200, CD 1200, CD 1500	7	7-Caliber Sizer
Prunes	CA-E 1000	9	9-Caliber Sizer
Prunes	CE 1200, CE 1500, CE 1800, CF 1200, CF 1500, CF 1800	13	13-Caliber Sizer
Prunes	CE-E 1200, CE-E 1500, CE-E 1800	15	15-Caliber Sizer
In-shell walnuts	CR 800 5T and 6T, CR 1000 5T, 6T and 6T BC	5 (5T) or 6 (6T)	Rotary Cylinder Sizer Ø800 or Ø950
In-shell walnuts	CR VC 2000 6T	6	Multiple Ø1000 Rotary Drum Sizers
Walnut kernel	AP 300	several commercial categories	Quarters and Pieces Separator
Walnut kernel	AP 700, AP 700 without bin tipper	butterflies, quarters and pieces	Kernel Separating Screen (butterflies, quarters and pieces)
Almond kernel	ALP 300	whole and broken kernels	Sizer
Almond kernel	ALP 700	whole and broken	Kernel Separating Screen (whole and broken)
Garlic	T 900 CMZVC	5+1	Garlic Sizer – 5+1 Sizes
Garlic	T 1200 CMZV 7T, T 1200 CMZIV 7T	6+1	Garlic Sizer – 6+1 Sizes
Onions	LCC 6000 6T	6	Onion Sizer
Potatoes	PC 4000	3+1	Potato Sizer – 3+1 Sizes
Carrots	ZC 8000	per the commercial matrix	Sizer
Carrots	ZCR	multiple output lanes	ZCR Mechanical Roller Sizer

Is the sizer available as a standalone machine?

Albion’s individual equipment (the VB 500 bin tipper, elevators, inspection conveyor and PES 25 weigher bagger) does not include a sizer: sizing comes built into the lines. The exception is carrots. The ZCR is a mechanical roller sizer offered as a standalone unit, to add to the washing and packing line you already have: carrots travel along rollers with progressively increasing spacing and drop by gravity when the gap between rollers matches their size. Its capacity is defined by how it integrates with your line.

For other products, if you only need the sizing stage, the shortest configurations are the CA prune lines (elevator, sizer and mobile cart) and the CR walnut lines (bin tipper, elevator and sizer).

Next step

To recommend a sizer, tell us:

1. Which product you grade and what condition it arrives in: clean or carrying soil and debris, pre-sorted or straight from harvest.
2. How many sizes your buyers ask for.
3. What volume you process per season and how you pack each size: bags, bins, nets or trays.

Each product has its own guide covering all of its lines: raisins, prunes, walnuts, almonds, garlic, onions, potatoes and carrots. With those details in hand, reach us through the contact page to start your quote.