Baking & Snack - November 2019 - 88

SEASON/SPRAY/TUMBLE

An accurate, uniform spray
across the entire band
eliminates overspray while
seasoning all products.
GOE-Amherst Stainless Fabrication

cording to Josh DeVoll, director of market solutions,
Spraying Systems Co. Likewise, sunflower, soy or even
palm oil with a higher melt point may need heating to
maintain the proper viscosity and precise application.
"Slurries with particulates are challenging for nozzles
because you're putting something through a small orifice and trying to create a pattern out of that," he said.
"The orifice has to be sized to handle the largest particulate to make sure you don't have any clogging."

Even-steven seasoning
Fortunately, a host of technologies provides the trick to
overcoming these challenges. In many cases, Mr. Bell
recommended snack manufacturers supply the process
specification and details to custom design the seasoning
system before testing it to ensure that commissioning of
the operation goes as smoothly as possible.
Overall, the process begins with a coordinated feeding of snacks into sprayers and tumblers. Heat and
Control initially relies on its WeighBack gravimetric or
volumetric infeed device to ensure uniform seasoning
of products. "This arrangement sends a signal from the
infeed device to the coating system, ensuring we always
know what the base rate of product is coming into the
system so the PLC can adjust the liquid and dry application to 'follow' the base rate accordingly," Mr. Bell explained. "This ensures product always remains in specification even if there is a variation of infeed rates to the
coating system."
Heat and Control uses its horizontal motion conveyor, the FastBack, or a belt conveyor to transfer products.
"We also pay special attention to transitions between
product handing conveyors as well as in and out of the
coating system to ensure that we are deterring breakage
on product, especially delicate ones," Mr. Bell said.

88 Baking & Snack November 2019 / www.bakingandsnack.com

Moreover, he added, the flights - triangle-shaped
lifting devices inside the coating drums - are designed
according to product shape to deter breakage while still
maximizing exposure to the liquid and dry seasonings
for optimal product coverage.
If baked products are especially fragile, Mr. De la
Force suggested alternative drum designs to limit the
product drop heights during the tumbling action. "The
TNA Roflo HM distribution conveyor can aid reduction in breakage, as it quickly, yet gently, transports the
product throughout the production line," he noted. "The
sweeping motion and gateless design of the pans minimizes product breakage with careful handling of coated
and fragile products."
For uniform salt and sugar coverage of cookies, crackers and snacks, Reading Bakery Systems (RBS) offers
Omega I and Omega II units that top in a volumetric fashion.
"The units have precision-machined components to
ensure an even feed across the width of the machine,
down to the end product," said Tremaine Hartranft,
director of technical sales, RBS.
To control waste, he added, the salt or sugar is dispensed across the total width of product and the excess
that goes in between each of the pieces before it passes through the wire mesh and is ultimately reclaimed
through an automated recovery system.
Zero waste start-up is a standard feature on the
FastBack Revolution On Machine Seasoning (OMS)
system. "Its algorithm handles the time delays at startup and primes the tumble drum with a set amount of
seasoning so all product out of the drum, even at the
beginning, is within the customer's seasoning specification," said Blake Svejkovsky, general manager, product
handling systems, Heat and Control.

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Baking & Snack - November 2019

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