Improve your cookie production process by thermal profiling your commercial ovens with the SCORPION® 2 Profiling System from Reading Thermal.
At Reading Thermal, our heat transfer experts have been studying, measuring, and understanding the commercial baking process for more than 25 years. We manufacture and support the SCORPION® 2 Profiling System that measures and maps key baking parameters and has become a standard in the baking industry.
Why Thermal Profiling is Important
Product level temperature throughout an oven can make the difference between optimum quality and throughput – and wasteful, under-baked, or burnt product. The process of fermentation, product swelling, moisture evaporation, flavor development, and surface coloring are all time and temperature dependent. For example, during the baking process:
- Insufficient heat can cause crusts to be brittle or dry,
- Insufficient heat can create products that are too light in color.
- Insufficient heat can create a structure that is too dense.
- Excessive heat can cause the bottoms of loaves to burn before the crusts are properly browned.
- Excessive heat will cause moisture to evaporate too quickly and the dough will not rise evenly.
State-of-the-Art Reading Thermal Sensors
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).
Heat Flux: Oven heat flux is the best indicator of oven performance during baking in terms of the product. Many bakers use oven heat flux profiles when trying to produce the same product on two different lines. (The heat flux profiles must match.) 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.
Temperature: Oven temperature has an impact on oven-spring, drying/dehydration, and color formation during baking. Insufficient or excessive heat can also lead to unwelcome changes in texture and taste. The Scorpion® 2 Temperature Sensor Array is designed to measure temperature at product level, in fixed positions across the conveyor, and delivers a precise picture of temperatures from side-to-side and end-to-end.
Humidity: Humidity in a thermal process interacts with the product. The moisture in the environment often comes from the product itself and represents a delicate balance that affects finished product quality in many ways (crust, texture, shelf life, etc.). The SCORPION® 2 Digital Humidity Sensor is designed to measure the moisture content of the thermal environment in both heating and cooling processes. It is applicable to proofers, ovens, dryers and cooling tunnels.
Air Velocity: In convection ovens, the airflow comes primarily from the air distribution plenums. In radiant ovens, the airflow comes from the moving conveyor, the exhaust system, and natural combustion air currents. Measuring the oven air velocity with the SCORPION® 2 Air Velocity Sensor will help you spot airflow differences between baking zones and unwanted air currents at the entrance or exit of the oven that result in inconsistent baking.
Prevent poor-quality cookie production by investing in thermal profiling for your commercial ovens. Reading Thermal’s solutions will help you improve your products and processes. Call us at (610) 678-5890 Ext. 2 or contact us online to learn more.