When a filter is used to remove the foreign substances included in such a fibrous fruit material or fluid as the above, the filter will be unusable if clogged with the fibrous constituents.
For this reason, Patent Document 1 proposes a device for removing any foreign substances included in a fluid, the device being constructed so that the fluid to be inspected is gravitationally guided into a plurality of narrow flow pathways first, then the foreign substances in the fluid are detected during the flow of the fluid through the narrow flow paths by a detector, and during the detection of the foreign substances, valves in each of the flow pathways with the detected foreign substances are opened in accordance with a detection signal to discharge the foreign substances. The device in Patent Document 1 uses a distributor to distribute the fluid to the plurality of narrow flow pathways within a flat plate after passing the fluid through a flow controller.
Also, Patent Document 2 proposes a foreign substance inspection system that detects and removes any foreign substances included in a fluid which contains fibrous constituents. The system in Patent Document 2 has light-transmissive inspection sight glass in a pipeline through which the fluid flows, and is constructed so that the foreign substances that have been detected using a light source and/or an imager are eliminated together with the fluid by a valve device provided in the pipeline.
In addition, Patent Document 3 proposes a foreign substance removal device that introduces a fluid into a distributor and after distributing the fluid to a large number of flow pathways, discharges the distributed fluid from each flow pathway.    Patent Document 1: JP-A-10-43695    Patent Document 2: JP-A-2000-235004    Patent Document 3: JP-A-2004-156960
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