You’ve nailed the bake – color’s beautiful, texture is spot-on – and then the crunch fades on the way to packaging. The usual culprit is condensation in the cooling tunnel. The fix isn’t guesswork; it’s measuring and managing humidity and airflow where cooling actually happens. Reading Thermal’s SCORPION® 2 platform is built for temperature and humidity monitoring for commercial bakery ovens in the UK and around the world.
Aim For Dew Point Control, Not Just “Colder”
Cranking down temperature alone can make sweating worse. What you want is a humidity profile that keeps surrounding air’s dew point safely below the product surface temperature throughout early cooling.
Reading Thermal’s SCORPION® 2 Digital Humidity Sensor rides through cooling with your product and shows the real moisture conditions zone by zone – proofers, ovens, dryers and cooling tunnels included. With that picture, you can tune exhaust, make-up air, and line speed to keep the surface above the dew point until the crust is out of the danger window.
Profile Your Cooling Tunnel Like A Process Step
Cooling is a process step, not an afterthought. Map conditions at product level using the SCORPION® 2 Temperature Sensor Array to see air and conveyor temperatures across the width, then overlay humidity from the same run. You’ll spot patterns quickly – maybe the center lane is cool enough but the edges flirt with the dew point because of belt loading or drafts.
Tie in product-core measurements during trials to verify that internal heat isn’t outgassing moisture right where the tunnel air is most saturated. When the data logger, arrays, and humidity sensor travel together, you get a clean before-and-after story for every change you make.
Balance Airflow To Prevent Local Fogging
Uneven air movement creates pockets where humid air lingers, and that’s where condensation shows up first. The SCORPION® 2 Digital Air Velocity Sensor Array gives you a side-to-side picture of airflow in ovens and cooling tunnels, so you can see if one lane is starved while another is overpowered. Small damper tweaks or fan speed adjustments often clear the bottleneck without over-cooling the entire tunnel. Pair airflow maps with humidity profiles and you’ll know whether to increase dilution, add a short purge between zones, or simply adjust belt loading to open up the boundary layer around products.
Protect Your Gear, Extend Your Run Time
Even in cooling, electronics need the right protection to survive long passes and sanitation. Reading Thermal’s Thermal Barriers shield the SCORPION® 2 data logger and humidity sensor when you’re profiling hotter sections or extended dwell times, so you capture the full journey from exit to pack without cutting runs short. The barrier line includes humidity-sensor–specific options and dwell-time charts to help you choose the right size for your conditions. It’s one of those behind-the-scenes choices that keeps your data – and your crunch – consistent.
Turn Measurements Into SOPs
Once you’ve got a clear view of cooling, lock it in. Use your “golden” humidity and airflow profiles as start-up targets, then train the team to verify them at shift changes or after maintenance. If your flour moisture or ambient weather swings seasonally, build a short checklist for bumping exhaust or line speed to keep the dew-point gap intact.
Because the SCORPION® 2 ecosystem captures temperature, humidity, airflow and energy transfer, it’s easy to diagnose whether a crunch problem started in the oven or in the tunnel – and fix it fast with the right knob.
Call Reading Thermal at (01) 610-678-5890 or use our online form for more information on our products designed for temperature and humidity monitoring for commercial bakery ovens in the UK.