If you struggle to bake your products to perfection, don’t overlook the performance of your industrial bakery oven. Consider the innovative SCORPION® 2 Profiling System from Reading Thermal to determine the important heat flux measurements.
Reading Thermal, a Reading Bakery Systems brand, has been focused on measuring the commercial baking process for more than 25 years. We manufacture and support the SCORPION® 2 Profiling System and Data Logger which enables you to monitor actual in-process conditions and get the critical information you need to correct problems and maintain optimum process control.
About Heat Flux
Oven heat flux refers to energy transferred per unit area per unit time from or to a surface. It is the best non-intrusive indicator of the performance of ovens during baking in terms of the product.
Heat transfer follows three different modes of heat transfer during baking – radiation, convection, and conduction – and heat flux involves all three components. Every product will have its unique mix of these components and its own heat flux profile. There is no single optimal heat flux profile for all products.
Some product characteristics are defined by the amount and type of heat applied during the baking process. The differences explain why one oven bakes differently than another. And analyzing and controlling these differences is critical to understanding how the finished product characteristics will be affected.
The SCORPION® 2 Heat Flux Sensor measures convective and radiant heat fluxes at product level and displays results in Btu/hr·ft2 or W/m2. Convective and radiant heat is absorbed by the band, which serves as the conduction mechanism to the product. While traveling through the oven with the product (in a fully loaded oven), the sensor produces a precise profile of heat flux components the product experienced.
Mechanically, the Heat Flux Sensor is comprised of two copper spades and a bulk air temperature sensor. The black spade provides a measurement summation of convective and radiant heat fluxes, and the gold spade provides a measurement of only the convective heat flux component. The gold-plated temperature sensor provides a measurement of the free stream air temperature associated with convection.
Analyzing the Results
From above the conveyor, the Heat Flux Sensor measures the flow of energy experienced by the product and identifies which modes of heat transfer are predominant.
Raw data from the sensor consists of several temperature measurements at precise locations in the sensor assembly. A mathematical model representing the physical measurement system is applied to the measured values via the SCORPION® Software (SV8). The resultant heat flux components – Qradiant, Qconvective, and Qtotal – are displayed in a 2D Line Graph against time, distance, or % travel through the process.
Start baking your products to perfection with a heat flux recorder and data logging system from Reading Thermal. Contact us online or call us at (610) 678-5890 Ext. 2 for more information.