Warming role at chocolate maker

During production, moulds must be pre-heated to a specific temperature before the chocolate is poured. The the 18kW carbon medium wave infra-red cassette installed pre-heats the moulds from 16°C to 30-32ºC at a line speed of up to 14 moulds per minute. The infrared cassette is split into two zones, each of which contains three emitters, and each zone is individually controlled by an optical pyrometer.

Alan Milligan, engineering manager at Ashbury, says: "Previously, we had trouble with the metal element system and frequent breakdowns resulted in rejected product. The new system, which was easy to retrofit, has proved to be extremely reliable. As the polycarbonate moulds absorb the infrared heat completely, all the mould is at virtually the same temperature so that the chocolate quality has also improved. In addition, the fast response of the carbon system means that our control is now much better.”