Baking & Snack - July 2022 - 74

OVENS
ment ones, don't suffer from that flash-heat effect. "
Mr. Johnson also recommended considering an indirect
gas-fired oven because it uses approximately 30%
less energy than a DGF one. Energy is transmitted to
products more efficiently with convection than with radiant
heat only.
" Bake temperatures in convective zones are cooler due
to this more efficient heat transfer, " he added. " Gemini/
W&P's turbulence zones provide for lower bake temperatures,
less energy usage and a more uniform bake. "
He said the zones feature evenly spaced carbon steel
Bakers are exploring
ways to save energy
through better
maintenance or even
new technology
that provides better
efficiency.
Babbco
tubes that form the upper and lower oven heating plenums.
A mesh belt support grid is located on top of the
bottom pipe plenum. Heating gasses then flow through
the tube plenums and radiate energy into the baking
chamber. Recirculated bake chamber air passes through
spacing between these plenum pipes. Moreover, that
variable-speed airflow is reversible and can be from topto-bottom
or bottom-to-top for different products.
Since introducing convection ovens more than a decade
ago, Auto-Bake has converted many of its older
thermal oil ovens to convection.
" Generally speaking,
cake producers have been
averse to using convection heating because it causes the
product to crack and creates issues with the crust, " Mr.
McCally said. " Because of the way we can control top
and bottom convection, we can virtually eliminate all
the air flow on top of the product, which causes those
problems, and produce a much better product than a
radiant-type oven. They can bake the product faster, and
instead of increasing temperature to drive heat into the
product, we can turn the temperature down and the fan
speed up and use the fan as the mechanical force to drive
heat into the pans. "
Ms. Laisne said the M-TA oven from Mecatherm can
offer multiple heat transfer modes, such as convection,
radiant heat or a combination of both in each independent
heating zone.
" By providing just the right quantity of required energy
in a minimum baking time to reach the required
product quality criteria, this oven offers an optimal energy
consumption solution, " she said.
Mr. Johnson pointed out that Gemini/W&P provides
an oven with radiant heat only, some zones with a combination
of radiant/turbulence/convection heating or all
zones with a combination of radiant/turbulence/convection
heating. Turbulence zones come with two or four
blowers for enhanced convection.
Mr. Barnes said hybrid ovens have been around for decades
and compared their versatility to a Swiss army knife.
" Hybrid ovens give you multiple tools in your pocket
to deploy based on the product, helping to make the
oven future-proof, " he observed.
" In today's marketplace, producers
have to be very quick in
adapting to consumers' tastes. "
Mr. Zaleski said DGF ovens
bake primarily with low-level
radiation and convection air
currents. The product develops
and bakes in a still air and humid
environment. Mixing and
matching technology allows
bakeries to tailor the baking
profile to heighten the attributes
of specific products.
" Many hybrid ovens use this
very gentle heat to create their
products' texture and flavor
profiles in the front oven zones
and change to a much more aggressive,
higher air flow environment
in the last zones of the
oven for drying the product to
the final moisture content, " he
explained. " Convection energy
is more efficient in this drying
area as heated air impinges directly
on the product, provid74
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Baking & Snack - July 2022

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