The Neptune RHO machine is designed to work with thawed Pacific roe herring. It opens each fish and removes the cured roe skeins from the fish without damage to the roe and at a speed much faster than processing each fish individually by hand. The machines are used on mixed ocean run seine caught fish and are even more efficient when operated on female only fish. All fish are opened and the milt from the male fish is removed along with the roe. The RHO unit was designed to fit the Neptune HD1SU Sex Sorting Conveyor or operate with its own infeed conveyor. It is also designed to accept the Neptune OTTO Auto-Feeder. The Auto Feeder is used for both for sex sorting fresh herring and opening thawed fish.
Method of Operation
Herring are placed on the INFEED CONVEYER, nose against the front rail with the belly facing forward. The fish are carried along and transferred into synchronized pockets on the TRANSFER CONVEYER, belly down. The fish are aligned, held and transferred into the MAIN POCKET CHAIN. Body locking pins are activated. The fish is cut and the carcass pulled apart. Shaped rollers in the ROE ROLLER section gently push the roe from the carcass. The carcass is discarded separately and the steady stream of roe can be inspected and graded on its way to further processing.
Performance
The usual rule of thumb is that one RHO popping machine usually does about 1000 tons over the typical 10 to 12 week popping season. This is based on B.C. herring in a typical mix of seine and gillnet and an average production rate just over 2 tons per hour. The RHO machine will operate at up to 300 fish per minute if the loaders can keep the belt full. The 2 tons per hour figure is calculated at 250 fish per minute and about 135 gm average fish size. Larger fish or keeping the infeed belt full will give more tons per hour. There have been more than 40 machines built since 1992 and they are used by almost all processors in British Columbia since 1995.