GEA has announced it has concluded tests that prove the effectiveness of its Callifreeze system which improves product quality and provides energy savings by automatically controlling and monitoring the condition of frozen products as they exit the freezer.
The Callifreeze tests, which took place in January 2019 at Bergia Frites, a French fry manufacturer from Roermond, the Netherlands, were performed on 7mm x 7mm shoestring, 9mm x 9mm straight-cut and 13mm x 13mm crinkle-cut fries. The results showed that savings can be achieved when freezing French fries by increasing the evaporating temperature and via the continuous monitoring and control of the product’s level of frozenness (LOF) according to quality targets.
The Callifreeze uses Aquantis sensors, so that food processors can ensure accurate product quality control and avoid unnecessary product wastage. The system calibrates freezer parameters through the continuous measurement of product LOF. This allows retention time, air temperature and fan speeds to be controlled so that the required and precise level of freezing can be achieved with minimum energy consumption. To date, Callifreeze is said to be the world’s first in-line system to autonomously monitor and control frozen product quality in this manner.
For example, the ability to increase the evaporation temperature by 30 Celsius for crinkle-cut fries, would result in reduced energy usage of roughly EUR41,000 per year, for a company operating a 10 tones/hour plant, without affecting quality. This translates into an 18-month Return of Investment (ROI) period for the Callifreeze equipment. The level of energy reduction represents an important contribution to the sustainability of a plant and can make a significant contribution to the reducing industry’s overall energy usage if applied globally.
During the same trials, it was demonstrated that product LOF variation followed the same trend as product temperature. With continuous measurement and logging product LOF, and the correlation between LOF and temperature, Callifreeze provides a solution for in-line product quality tracking. This significantly reduces the product waste often associated with batch systems operating via manual control.
GEA will show off the Callifreeze from May 4 to 9, 2019 at IFFA, which will take place in Frankfurt, Germany.
During the fair, the company will also showcase the GEA Toolings for its several food processing machines. GEA Toolings are quickly available with minimum capital investment and very short implementation time. The main advantages are reductions in manufacturing costs, extended lifetime of new tools and greater flexibility to get new products to market as well as enlarging the product range.
What’s more, visitors at the event will also be able to check out the GEA FormPlate Creator, which is a unique free service that contains a huge variety of shapes that can be turned into a custom form plate. After receiving some details, including the machine type, choice of raw material, choice of plate material, average product weight, and proposed production volume, a PDF drawing of the form and form plate and a cost estimate is made available within minutes. With GEA’s FormPlates, customers can make every gram of their product count.
GEA will also put on the display its bag forming sets for SmartPackers, with which customers can lower their operational costs. High tech composites used for GEA Shoulders ensure lower wear rates and up to 10 times longer life as compared to stainless steel shoulders. The new standard forming set is delivered as a fiberglass-reinforced version with an insert. The version is stronger than the conventional forming set and therefore ensures less wear, extra protection, and longer operation life. Finally, each forming set is equipped with a rigidized surface to ensure smooth running in a moist/wet environment.
GEA’s Holeplates, Knives, and Precutters for GEAs grinding equipment will also be present at IFFA 2019. They ensure the highest product quality by grounding products to different mixes, like a rough one or to an emulsion.
Last but not least, GEA will put the Thermoformer with original Diesets on display. GEA Diesets are custom-designed for a perfect fit, precisely engineered, with the possibility to upgrade and add applications.
