Baking & Snack - February 2015 - 92

OVENS

By combining different
types of heat into one long
tunnel oven, bakers can
make a wider variety of
higher quality products.
AMF Bakery Systems

have that static technology, it's hard to get heat evenly to
the sides of the product, especially the closer they are together or if they are tall products. If you have air movement, that will bring the heat in between the product."
Turbulence not only helps create a uniform bake but
it also speeds things up. "The air movement strips away
the cooler surface layer on the product allowing it to
bake quicker," said Jim Diver, director of sales, Dunbar
Systems, Inc., Lemont, IL. By speeding up the bake, the
oven can get more throughput.
The last step of the oven imparts the final color onto
the product and controls the final moisture content.
For this, bakers can rely on indirect-fired or impingement technology. "An indirect-fired baking oven with

With different types of oven
technology combined into one
oven, bakers benefit from the
controls afforded by both.
air turbulence in the end of the oven cycle [in the back
end zones] will also give the product a more controlled
and uniform bake with the desired color control," Mr.
Morabito said.
Spooner Vicars Bakery Systems, Plano, TX, builds
moisture and color control in the design of its hybrid
ovens with the direct force convection part of the oven
being an impingement design. Air nozzles bring the hot
gases closer to the products. "Other convection style
ovens use a heat source and fan that moves the hot air
into the baking chamber and not directly to the product," said Jeff McLean, sales manager, North America.
"We move the hot air through a series of nozzles to bring
it directly to the product, breaking the air barrier around
the product." The low velocity combined with high volume of hot air enables bakers to get control of the final

92 Baking & Snack February 2015 / www.bakingandsnack.com

moisture
and
radiant
dampers control color
on their baked foods.
While the heat from direct gas-fired ovens
may be great for the initial oven spring, a more highintensity drying heat is necessary for removing the
final moisture from a product such as crackers. With
some products it can be difficult to remove the moisture without over-coloring. "In many cases, the oven
operator has difficulty balancing the correct product
color with the correct final moisture content," said Tim
Clark, president and CEO, Radio Frequency Co., Inc.,
Millis, MA. "The lighter the desired color, the more
difficult it is to reach the correct dryness."
Radio Frequency's Macrowave dryers address this
by preferentially heating directly where the moisture
is. This eliminates the need for an excess zone in the
oven while bringing uniform moisture levels to challenging products.

Targeted control
Multiple zones provide bakers the ultimate level of control in their ovens. In each zone, the baker can control
temperature, humidity and air movement to achieve the
perfect baking curve for the specific product.
In the Gashor tunnel oven, represented in the US by
Cinch Bakery Equipment, Clifton, NJ, each zone is controlled by a different burner tower instead of one tower
for the entire oven. The baker can control each burner
tower for the perfect temperature changes throughout
the oven.
The PU Integral oven from Koenig Bakery Systems
USA, Ashland, VA, features independent baking zones
that can be controlled as if they were several single ovens. This allows the baker to establish and follow precise
baking curves every step of the baking process. With
servo driven technology guiding the oven's mechanics,
each step is fast and controlled, which enables a wide
window of possible bake times.
With different types of oven technology combined
into one oven, bakers benefit from the controls afforded
by both.
"There's a certain amount of flexibility built into a

http://www.bakingandsnack.com

Baking & Snack - February 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Baking & Snack - February 2015