Baking & Snack - October 2010 - 85

OVENS

at the market offerings and found areas that we could
significantly improve the operation and add value to the
oven," Mr. Domenicucci stated. "Our most innovative
design is the track. Most conveyorized final proofers and
ovens require periodic replacement of the chain track,
especially the curved sections. This is costly in material,
labor and especially downtime."
AMF's patent-pending 2-piece curved track has outside and inside radius tracks. When installed, the outside
radius is welded to the straight sections to eliminate any
oil leaks. The inside radius has a bolt flange that matches
the outside radius and also a wear strip on the inside to
prevent the shear effect of the horizontal bearing against
the track. "In the event the curve ever has to be replaced,"
Mr. Domenicucci said, "all you have to do is relieve the
tension on the chain, clamp the chain to the outside
radius and unbolt and replace the inside radius - no
cutting, grinding or welding."
AMF also designed a redundant drive system for conveyorized ovens. "If you have to change-out a motor and
gear box, all you have to do is just swap the chain," Mr.
Domenicucci explained. "The motor, gearbox, tensioner
and sprockets are all in place and easily accessible from
the top of the enclosure."
PRODUCT FLEXIBILITY. Because each product requires a different amount of radiant, convection and
conduction heating, RBS works to design each oven to
best meet the needs of the customer and to provide the
flexibility within that oven so that the baker or snack
manufacturer is not limited to baking only one product
in that oven, according to Mr. Moye. He said the company uses its Science and Innovation Center and Scor-

pion technology to design flexible ovens that meet its
customer's requirements.
"We provide flexibility in our ovens by providing optimal radiant, convection and conduction components,
so we can move these thermal characteristics around for
different products," he said.
Also designed for product flexibility is an oven from BakeTech that steams bagels in the front section of the oven.
"We got the best-looking bagels out of it," said Mr. Walker,
pointing out that the same oven could make either soft or
chewy traditional bagels. Bakeries often demand flexible
equipment, and such ovens can run hard rolls, bagels and
soft rolls, he added.
QUICK INSTALLATIONS. RBS's goal is to get ovens up
and running quickly by completely prebuilding oven sections prior to delivery. "We just connect the sections with
zone dividers, and they are off and running," Mr. Moye
noted. "It makes our oven installations very rapid."
Turkington also greatly reduced installation times for
the 960 oven. Mr. Barnes said that the time the company
requires for installing and commissioning a new oven is
about two-thirds of what was previously needed. "The
modular design configuration gives us greater ability for
preassembly at our shop floor," he added.
Mr. Foran noted that some of the lastest design trends for
ovens are stainless-steel washdown interiors and clean-inplace sanitation systems. Also, C.H. Babb's fire prevention systems set it apart from others oven manufacturers, he added.
A lot is happening with regards to ovens for the baking
industry. Innovations to industrial ovens will prove beneficial as bakeries seek improvement in product quality
and reduction in their carbon footprints.
◾

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AMF

AMF offers a full line of industrial ovens including traY

and tunnel ovens in direct and indirect fired configuration

Featuring advanced combustion systems including
Direct Spark Ignition (DSI), opposite side sensing

and dual gas valve burner design

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Headquarters:

2115 W. Laburnum Ave. Richmond,VA 23227
Tel: 1-800-225-3771 or 1-804-355-7961

Fax; 1-804-342-9724

www.amfbakery.com
For more information, see Page 113

BAKING & SNACK / October 2010

http://www.amfbakery.com

Baking & Snack - October 2010

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