Mepaco Blog

Mepaco® engineers equipment for the specific application in every project, providing high-performance equipment.  The ThermaBlend ® Cooker has a lot of customization options to fulfill the production goals of the food processor.  In fine tuning the specifications for a cooking solution, Mepaco® provides a consultative approach to the parameters around production, operation, product, process, safety, and automation.

Production
Discussions around production goals will define the capacity and size of the unit.  Other considerations that also factor into the capacity of the equipment are mixing time, cooling time, and how long it takes to load and unload the cooker.  Mepaco® will consider the total batch time and how many batches in an hour / day can be maximized for the new cooking solution.

Operation
Operational considerations are the physical requirements of the equipment.  What equipment is loading the cooker? How is it loading and what is the loading height?  Are there footprint limitations or existing plant requirements?  Which configuration, the single or the double agitator, is best for the application?  What equipment will the cooker discharge into and what is the discharge height?

Product
Mepaco® has significant experience in many food processing industries which may influence application direction. Considerations also include product type and size, moisture, protein, density, viscosity, and composition. With new products, Mepaco® encourages customers use our test cooker at their facility to determine the process and effectiveness of the ThermaBlend® cooker.

Process
Next, Mepaco® must discover the processes required for the cooking application. The ThermaBlend® Cooker is a versatile unit that is capable of mixing, blending, cooking, cooling, searing, caramelizing, sautéing.  The mixing or blending action and speeds are determined in defining the process. Also, scraper systems may be considered depending on the food product and process. The loading temperatures, cooking temperature, and unloading temperatures are all calculated to determine how the equipment will process the batch. Depending on the application, the process may require vacuum, cryogen, direct and/or indirect steam.

Safety
Under safety, Mepaco® will collect food safety and personnel safety requirements for the system.  Sanitary design and sanitation requirements are determined, as well as construction materials, exterior and weld finishes, and guarding needs are all added to the project scope.

Automation
After the equipment solution is determined, the controls and automation strategy can be developed. Controlled processes, recipe programming, steam, glycol, or water control, and certifications, if necessary, are planned for the controls solution.

The ThermaBlend® Cooker is designed specifically for large-scale batch operations. All components from the tub to the agitators are custom designed to meet the needs of the application.  The ThermaBlend® is designed with standard and modifiable options that include:

• A wrap-around steam jacket that provides up to 50% more heat transfer area than hemispherical kettles or other conventional jacketed cookers which results in highly efficient cooking cycles.
• Industry proven, application-specific agitator designs that provide quick homogeneous blending while minimizing shear.
• A durable, bi-directional scraper system that keeps the heat exchange surface clean, minimizing burn-on while optimizing heat transfer.
• The massive heat transfer area, highly efficient agitators and patent pending scraper system dramatically reduce process time over conventional batch cookers.
• Optional vacuum cooking and cooling can reduce process time.
• Reversing agitators w/VFD Speed Control from 6-30 RPM

Start a conversation with one of our consultative sales managers for more information. 

Click here to download infographic above.

The type and viscosity of food product, thermal processing technology, desired texture, and cooking/processing cycle times are considered when specifying the agitator solution. Primary consideration for mixing or blending agitator solution begins with the ability for the food product to self-level. Agitator configurations also include scrapers with indirect cooking applications.

In some applications, the agitator itself may not significantly affect throughput improvement, but the overall solution does. The driving forces for throughput in batch processing is cycle times, loading, and discharging.

However, the wrong agitator solution will not mix or blend the product well. Solids need to be homogeneous and remain intact during processing operations. Further, the product must remain in a mixed state throughout the process and discharge operations.

During project discussions, Mepaco’s application team defines mixing as adding ingredients for the correct mix and consistency, while blending provides a change of the food product's properties.

The thermal processing solution is customized to the specific application. The PLC is programmed to include agitator speeds, pauses, and direction changes for the desired results. Further, the Mixer or Blender equipment will be sized for the batch volume required along with options (vacuum, cooling, searing, caramelizing) to meet the batch cycle times, quality and throughput goals for the processing solution.

Visit Mixers or Visit Cookers

Introducing our newest video: Comparing Kettle Cooking to the ThermaBlend Cooking Process. This video explains the heat transfer differences between a traditional kettle cooker and the ThermaBlend.  It also highlights some of the capabilities of the cooker that make it such a versatile solution for large batch cooking, such as:

• Efficient agitators and patented scraper system that minimizes burn-on
• Unique agitator designs provide quick homogeneous blending while minimizing shear
• Direct steam injection and indirect heating customized to the application
• Options for vacuum cooking and cooling to reduce process time

Learn more about the ThermaBlend Industrial Cooker here!