Baking & Snack - September 2015 - 112

REFRIGERATION/FREEZING

Today's belts provide enhanced durability and better sanitation in freezers.
Ashworth Bros.

It's not exactly an act of kindness - nor a sign
of chutzpah - to invest for success, especially
in a system such as a freezer that can quickly
become a pain in the bottleneck.
Ashworth Bros., Inc., Winchester, VA. "Or they may
design the spiral freezer to have two different conveyor
belts in the same unit so they can run two products
through one freezer."

Selecting proper technology
Some systems are simpler to expand than others. "Linear
systems, such as impingement technology, tend to be the
easiest to expand from a mechanical perspective, assuming the facility has additional length," observed Dylan
Comer, freezer applications engineer, JBT FoodTech.
"However, there is nothing that can be done if you want
to expand capacity without expanding footprint, outside
of supplying a colder temperature."
Structurally supported - or large spiral technology
- freezers are the most difficult systems for adding future capacity, said Brandon Somerfield, JBT's product
line manager. That's because each of the spiral's tiers
needs to be supported by a rail structure, which means
any future vertical expansion requires much more than
just installing additional belting. Besides being laborintensive, "adding height to the system can often pose
safety concerns to the contractors performing the expansion work," he observed.
Cryogenic freezers provide bakers and pizza producers with flexibility. "Since belt speed and temperature
can both be controlled, systems can be designed to accommodate future capacity needs," said Mark DiMaggio,
head of food & beverage, Linde LLC, Murray Hill, NJ.
"Processing temperature might be adjusted from 0°F to
-200°F, for example, or the belt speed can be increased
or decreased to accommodate varying production rates
and product line changes. Leading technology suppliers
can help bakeries make those adjustments."
Modular designs of cryogenic freezers can create
much-needed capacity by simply adding a section that

112 Baking & Snack September 2015 / www.bakingandsnack.com

increases the time the product spends
freezing. Additionally, Mr. DiMaggio
said, combining a cryogenic-assist or cryomechanical tunnel system with an existing spiral - or other type of freezer - can raise a line's
total volume.

Boosting a freezer's uptime
Yet another way to bump up throughput involves slashing the time it takes to defrost a freezer. "Sequential defrosting is a great way on continuous 24/7 production,"
Mr. Morris suggested. "When purchasing a freezing system, the customer should make the manufacturer aware
what production time is available for the defrosting
process. The manufacturer should then design a system
that, if required, will automatically start defrosting a set
of evaporators while keeping the others running. This
gives the customer 24/7 production without the worry
of shutting down for defrosting."
In some freezers, condensation results in major food
safety concerns, but these issues can be resolved. "Entry
and exit vestibules can limit and prevent condensation and will vary, depending on the application," Mr.
Salsone said. Bakers should also consider the spiral blast
freezer temperature, plant environment, system capacity
and energy costs, just to name a few. "If sanitation can
be addressed satisfactorily, the operation can be continuous with no downtime required," he added.
Surface flour also can give birth to food safety issues,
noted John Bauer, freezer applications engineer with
JBT. "Flour can get sucked into the belt mesh, restricting collapse or accumulate on the floor and become difficult to clean," he said. If the flour dust accumulates on
the freezer's coils, it may also significantly reduce heattransfer capabilities.
However, sequential defrosting and clean-in-place
(CIP) systems that keep the operation up and running
between sanitation cycles may affect the belt's performance, which is one of the biggest components in spiral
freezers, according Bryan Hobbs, Ashworth's sales and
service manager of North America.
CIP systems continuously clean equipment parts
that sanitation personnel can't access easily - making
freezers more reliable and less likely to have an unexpected breakdown. But is there a downside to increasing uptime? Probably not. That said, greater diligence
is required when running longer periods between
maintenance.
"You have to prepare for more thorough inspections

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Baking & Snack - September 2015

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