Baker saves 'dough'
21 Sep 2006
Ingredients producer British Bakels has reported a 40% reduction in energy consumption from replacing traditionally used trace heating units with a low- voltage heating system designed to provide enhanced temperature control and more uniform heating.
British Bakels manufactures a wide range of ingredients for industrial and in-store bakeries. The most widely used ingredient in its production process is glucose — a highly viscous substance that requires careful heating to enable it to flow.
The Oxfordshire company decided to upgrade the heating and insulation on two tanks containing 30,000 litres of glucose. The product has to be kept at a temperature of 56°C to enable it to flow smoothly through the production process.
British Bakels selected Inditherm of Rotherham to design a heating system using a patented low-voltage carbon polymer technology. The system features two pads, which were wrapped around the base of the tanks in two circumferential bands, each around 10-metres long and one-metre high.
Special heating pads were also fitted to the conical base of the tanks to provide low level heating. The pads were thermally insulated with mineral wool and over-clad with profiled plastisol to provide external protection.
To control tank temperature, Inditherm supplied a control system that was designed specially to enable British Bakels to set the optimum temperature for bulk glucose storage. This was backed by a controlling thermostat and high and low temperature thermostats to ensure that the product would not drop in temperature, over-heat, or generate localised hot spots.
According to Nick Luxemburg, British Bakels' engineering manager, the resulting heating system is "a reliable, low energy usage heating system which meets our criteria of maintaining the glucose in the tanks at a temperature that maximises production efficiency."
British Bakels manufactures a wide range of ingredients for industrial and in-store bakeries. The most widely used ingredient in its production process is glucose — a highly viscous substance that requires careful heating to enable it to flow.
The Oxfordshire company decided to upgrade the heating and insulation on two tanks containing 30,000 litres of glucose. The product has to be kept at a temperature of 56°C to enable it to flow smoothly through the production process.
British Bakels selected Inditherm of Rotherham to design a heating system using a patented low-voltage carbon polymer technology. The system features two pads, which were wrapped around the base of the tanks in two circumferential bands, each around 10-metres long and one-metre high.
Special heating pads were also fitted to the conical base of the tanks to provide low level heating. The pads were thermally insulated with mineral wool and over-clad with profiled plastisol to provide external protection.
To control tank temperature, Inditherm supplied a control system that was designed specially to enable British Bakels to set the optimum temperature for bulk glucose storage. This was backed by a controlling thermostat and high and low temperature thermostats to ensure that the product would not drop in temperature, over-heat, or generate localised hot spots.
According to Nick Luxemburg, British Bakels' engineering manager, the resulting heating system is "a reliable, low energy usage heating system which meets our criteria of maintaining the glucose in the tanks at a temperature that maximises production efficiency."
