Recommendations for drying chambers for meat and fish sticks, sausages and pet food
1. The principle of the active dehydration stage: The basic principle of active dehydration drying is the method of forcing the required amount of moisture from the product by means of cold air.
2. Dehydration chamber set for drying snacks: the set includes a dehydration chamber measuring 6000×3000 mm, which can accommodate 4 trolleys with 60 trays each. The product weight ranges from 450 kg to 700 kg at a time.
3. Technical characteristics of the chamber: the chamber is constructed of sandwich panels and includes a filler, Cooper&Hunter industrial ducted air conditioner with ventilation system, bactericidal recirculator and industrial dehumidifier.
4. Temperature range for dehydration: The temperature range used for dehydration is 14°C to 38°C.
5. Closed-loop recirculation: No additional ventilation is required for the dehydration process in the snack and sausage drying chamber, as it operates on a closed-loop recirculation principle.
6. Maintaining the shape of the product: to ensure that the shape of the product remains oval and resembles a circle in cross-section, a process of slow moisture removal over a narrow temperature range is used. After removing a certain amount of moisture at a given rate (taking into account the technological conditions so that the surface is smooth, wrinkle-free and does not flatten into a strip), the levelling process is applied.
7. Recommendations for chamber size: we recommend avoiding increasing the size of the loading chambers. As the size increases, the power consumption increases exponentially by a factor of 3.3. For example, to create a chamber with a capacity of 8 trays and a weight of 1000 kg of incoming raw material, you will need 3.3 times more power, not just twice as much. Consequently, the cost of such a dryer would be more than double the cost of our current model. The size and capacity we have chosen are aimed at avoiding frequent underloads. In addition, the drying process can start twice as fast with 4 trays instead of 8.
8. Energy consumption and recycling: The total energy consumption during peak load is 3.7 kWh. In addition, the free heat energy generated during continuous operation of the equipment can be utilised (recovery method), which allows heating the production area or using it for other purposes.
