High output confectionery cooking
Date: 21 January 2003
Maximising the performance of automated control systems.
A high-output version of the 'Microfilm' swept surface confectionery cooker has been developed by Baker Perkins. It enables confectionery companies to maximise the potential of the latest generation of automated control systems.
The 'Microfilm' cooker is regarded as the industry standard for high boiled candies, butterscotch, and milk and cream candies. It is widely used for low boilings such as caramels, toffees and fudges, and can also be utilised for high-solids jellies and gums. Several hundred machines are at work throughout the world.
The latest development features two cooker rotors on a single skid, and is capable of maximum outputs up to 3,000 kg/hour. It can feed the market-leading Baker Perkins series of servo-controlled depositors, which provide higher throughputs via increased flexibility, with rapid changeover between products, and fine-tuning 'on the run'.
Flexible Microfilm cookers are available with a wide choice of options, and systems are specified to match individual requirements. The latest option is a SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) software system, linked to the fully automatic Microfilm control system that has been available for some time.
SCADA systems cover the complete line, from pre-mixing through to packaging, bringing benefits in process and business efficiency. With a picture of the total process available at a central point, key parameters such as vacuum, steam pressure, flow rate and cook temperature can be monitored and adjusted with benefits in consistency of product quality. Recipe management means that all the settings for each product are stored and recalled electronically, with real impact on speed of changeover and start-up.
The 'Microfilm' rotor has hinged blades which sweep the inner surface of the tube. The sugar is spread in a very thin film and moved through the cooking tube by a combination of gravity and the design of the hinged blades.
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