Key cookie ingredients: sugar, flower, butter and ABB VSDs.

In industrial-scale bakery machines, consistency is vital. Any alteration along the mixing and baking process will deliver wildly different results. Manufactures fully automated biscuit-making machines require efficient and reliable speed and torque control to deliver this consistency.

Industrial machinery complements a chef’s skill or a baker’s passion. It helps them overcome the challenges of complex, large-scale biscuit making by ensuring the process is continuous. In mixing, the correct speed plays a vital role, regardless of which stage in the baking process.

All the stages are linked to each other, regardless of whether it’s receiving the actual ingredients that go into cookies or passing them on to the next stage. Each step requires specific, individual speeds to ensure all types of cookies are baked with consistent quality.

Maintaining quality

For instance, butter and sugar are mixed at high velocity, whereas flour must be mixed in at a slow speed. ABB UK variable speed drives provide the pre-defined mixing patterns and accurate speed control at these stages necessary to maintain the quality customers expect from each biscuit. They make the processes simpler and more reliable whilst also reducing the energy used during the process.

High quality was the most important thing to both the machine builders and customers. To accomplish this, they provide the option of placing the variable speed drives under manual control, ensuring a fine speed variation depending on each different biscuit. The drives adapt to varying mixing loads accordingly, constantly monitoring the torque each mixing motor requires and adjusting it when necessary.

Controlling the torque

This isn’t just important in creating perfect biscuits. It avoids sudden, unpredictable changes which can cause mechanical breakdowns of mixers. For instance, mixers might get jammed if the biscuit mixture is too thick, especially at the outset of the process. With drives monitoring and controlling the torque, however, they deliver high start-up torque.

VSDs have also succeeded in making mixers quieter. With their adaptive switching frequency, the noise can be minimised; the drive regulates the output voltage fed to the mixer, which in turn switches to the appropriate higher switching frequency. This results in a bakery floor that’s more comfortable to work and avoids distractions for the operators.

RELIABILITY

The choice of ABB variable speed drives helps lower maintenance and component costs. They provide increased reliability at each stage, reducing the less risk of the equipment breaking down and the waste caused to the producer of the lost batch.

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