Baking & Snack - April 2021 - 68

OVENS

Today's HMI controls,
new burner technology
and better insulation
enhance an oven's
efficiency, reduce
energy and improve the
overall baking process.
Mecatherm

aging production gaps and lowering oven gas usage
when this occurs. "
On legacy systems that are 20 years or older, the ovens may operate adequately, but time takes its toll unless
they're properly maintained.
" First and foremost, it is important to target poor insulation because statistics show us that 10-15% of energy
loss is due to this, " said Marie Laisne, marketing manager, products, Mecatherm.
RBS offers newer ovens that come with better insulation constructed from a dense mineral wool to maximize energy usage.
" The type of insulation selected can be very important to the oven's efficiency, " Mr. Hartranft said. " At RBS,
we pre-build our ovens to ensure the insulation is fitted
tightly to the oven for maximum efficiency. "
Mecatherm also improves an oven's performance by
better managing its kinetic energy.
" If the oven can reach the desired temperature in a
shorter time frame, then we can reduce downtime, " Ms.
Laisne said. " Additionally, we can use modern burners
that can be adjusted for a larger range while operating
at a lower rate, thus avoiding frequent burner stoppages
and restarts that generate overconsumption. "
She added that energy loss can also occur during
loading and unloading of products. Another critical area
involves adapting the oven to product demand.
" By providing easy access to HMI panels, we can balance the settings in each module, prevent parasitic air
flows and limit energy losses, " Ms. Laisne observed.
" Additionally, good humidity management inside the
oven ensures the air transfers are smooth while protecting the integrity of the finished product. "

Maxing out savings
Time is money when it comes to baking. Maybe that's
why cost-conscious chief financial officers push their

68 Baking & Snack April 2021 / www.bakingbusiness.com

operations to run their production lines as close to the
maximum of 168 hours a week while avoiding downtime, changeovers or bottlenecks that fail to keep their
systems full at any given moment. When the oven isn't
running, no sales are coming. Digital controls can prevent such interruptions.
" Keep in mind that process controls must include a
holistic approach, including not only the programmable
controller but also the burner and gas train design, " Mr.
Barnes advised. " Taken together, they can allow for a
much finer degree of control via the ability to regulate
energy output, known as turndown. "

WHEN THE OVEN ISN'T
RUNNING, NO SALES
ARE COMING. DIGITAL
CONTROLS CAN PREVENT
SUCH INTERRUPTIONS.
He added that product quality benefits directly
when these process controls deliver higher levels of
consistency, even in the face of production gaps or frequent changeovers.
" Modern convection oven design can provide much
greater control with fewer burners required, dramatically reducing the number of maintenance points, and
thereby improving equipment uptime and utilization, "
Mr. Barnes said.
Auto-Bake ovens are designed with one burner per
zone maximum, noted Scott McCally, president of
Auto-Bake Serpentine, a Middleby Bakery company. As
a result, he added, the return on investment when upgrading to more energy-efficient burners with a higher
turndown ratio and digital controls is less than three
months in most cases.

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