When you are concerned about temperature profiling for your baking processes, look no further than Reading Thermal for answers. We can help you bake your products to perfection.
Located in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania, Reading Thermal has measured the commercial baking process for over 25 years. We manufacture the SCORPION® 2 Profiling System and Data Logger, a standard in the baking industry that offers you an easy way to monitor actual oven in-process conditions.
Connecting our different smart sensors and sensor arrays to the SCORPION® 2 Data Logger and passing them through the oven with your product enables the system to capture the four main baking parameters: temperature (including the temperature of both the air and the oven belt surface), heat flux (energy transfer), humidity, and airflow (velocity).
Importance of Oven Temperature Measurement
Oven temperature causes physical and chemical reactions in dough/batter, and temperatures that are too low or too high during baking can lead to changes in fermentation and humidity levels and undesirable changes in surface coloring, texture and flavor.
If you produce bread, artisan bread, rolls, hamburger buns, cakes, biscuits, or other bread products, you understand that several stages of the process are temperature-dependent, such as oven-spring, drying/dehydration, and color formation.
Too much heat coming from one direction in the oven can cause the bottoms of the loaves to burn before the crusts brown properly. An oven that is too cool usually produces a heavy and unappealing loaf with a pale or soft crust.
Measuring and controlling internal food temperature is also key to achieving food safety. The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) requires commercial bakeries to provide validation of process controls, or thermal kill steps, in an effort to reduce food borne pathogens, such as Salmonella spp, in ingredients and finished products.
Reading Thermal’s Innovative Solution
The Reading Thermal SCORPION® 2 Temperature Sensor Array measures temperature at product level, in fixed positions across the conveyor, and delivers a true representation of what your product is experiencing over time.
Different types of pluggable sensors are available, including one designed for solid or tight mesh conveyors and one for open mesh conveyors.
The sensor array is connected to the SCORPION® 2 Profiling System and Data Logger and travels through the oven with the product (with the oven under full load), producing an exact picture of temperature from side-to-side and end-to-end.
There are 2 types of pluggable temperature sensors. An Air/Conveyor sensor is designed for solid or tight mesh conveyors and measures air and band temperatures. An Air/Air sensor is meant for open mesh conveyors and is designed to measure upper air temperature immediately above the conveyor, and lower air temperature of the air rising through the conveyor.
Get in touch with Reading Thermal to learn more about the importance of temperature profiling for your baking processes and how the SCORPION® 2 Profiling System can help you make adjustments that will achieve superior products. Contact us online or call us at (610) 678-5890 Ext. 2.