If you experience inconsistent product quality, moisture retention, or uneven baking in your commercial oven, consider heat flux profiling with a state-of-the-art data logger from Reading Thermal.
Located in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania, our team has focused on measuring and understanding the commercial baking process for over 25 years. We manufacture and support the SCORPION® 2 Profiling System and Data Logger, which is a standard in the baking industry and offers you an easy way to monitor actual oven in-process conditions.
Why Is Heat Flux Profiling Important?
The characteristics of specific products are defined by the amount and type of heat applied to the product during the baking process. The differences explain why one oven bakes differently than another. And analyzing and controlling these differences are critical to understanding how the finished characteristics of a product will be affected.
Heat flux profiles are often used when trying to produce the same product on two different lines, or when trying to transfer product from one line to another. When the heat flux component profiles are matched, the two lines will produce the same product.
The SCORPION® 2 Heat Flux Sensor is designed to measure convective and radiant heat fluxes at product level, and display the results in Btu/hr·ft2 or W/m2. Convective and radiant heat is absorbed by the band, which serves as the conduction mechanism to the product. The sensor travels through the process with the product, and the oven under full load, producing a precise profile of heat flux components the product experienced.
Mechanically, the Heat Flux Sensor is comprised of two copper spades and a bulk air temperature sensor. The black spade provides a measurement summation of convective and radiant heat fluxes, and the gold spade provides a measurement of only the convective heat flux component. The gold-plated temperature sensor provides a measurement of the free stream air temperature associated with convection.
Analyzing the Results
From above the conveyor, the Heat Flux Sensor measures the flow of energy experienced by the product and identifies which modes of heat transfer are predominant.
Raw data from the sensor consists of several temperature measurements at precise locations in the sensor assembly. A mathematical model representing the physical measurement system is applied to the measured values via the SCORPION® Software (SV8). The resultant heat flux components – Qradiant, Qconvective, and Qtotal – are displayed in a 2D Line Graph against time, distance, or % travel through the process.
A heat flux sensor is an excellent investment. It will provide a better way to measure energy transfer in your oven and help you avoid producing baked goods of poor quality.
Bake your products to perfection with a heat flux data logger from Reading Thermal. Contact us online or call us at (610) 678-5890 Ext. 2 for more information.