Baking & Snack - June 2006 - 59
PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY
ᮡ By elevating the bowl and adding a discharge
tool to the design, this double-spiral mixer can
automatically transfer dough into a mobile trough
waiting below.
GEMINI BAKERY EQUIPMENT
to basics to build an open-frame machine. A decade earlier, it had successfully introduced similar openframe designs for sigma-arm mixers
supplied to the cookie, cracker and
corn tortilla industries.
Removal of the outer stainless-steel
cladding from the mixer's design accomplished a number of objectives,
according to the company's Illinoisbased sales manager. "The original
intent was to make manufacturing
of the mixer more affordable in light
of the run-up in stainless steel costs,"
he said. The tubular frame also improved sanitation of the system, and
it simplified maintenance access to
machine components.
Other aspects of mixer design
continue to evolve. Engineers seek
to reduce the number of mechanical
parts to drive down the cost of maintenance and spare parts inventory.
For example, direct drive motors eliminate the belts and chains
of older models. "The mixing shaft
is powered directly from the drive,"
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explained the sales manager from Illinois. He observed that his mixer's
double-end drive system makes it
more efficient than those with belts.
"In other words, the direct drive design does not lose efficiency to belts
and chains," he said. "The difference
in efficiency may be only a few percentage points, but it all adds up."
Direct drive of the mixer shaft is
one feature made possible by a new
generation of variable speed drives
(VFDs). As more than one equipment manufacturer stated, VFDs
use less energy than 2-speed motors.
"And they permit better control,"
one supplier noted.
"VSDs allow mixer operators to
control power consumption," another supplier stated. "VSD technology
can minimize spiking in electricity
draw, which means conservation of
energy and lower utility costs. We
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For more information, see Page 129
64 / BAKING & SNACK / June 2006
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