Chocolate cooler: Chip & Chunk moulding line CCM 1500

Chocolate chip and chunk forming

Few if any categories of baked snack have undergone such an explosion in popularity as cookies. While local taste differences remain in some areas and people still enjoy their own regional biscuits, cracker and other snacks, the real butter cookie is now recognised, eaten and enjoyed the world over.

Unsurprisingly, North America is the #1 market, closely followed by Asia Pacific and Europe, with Central & South America and Middle East & Africa following on behind. Overall growth of the cookie market is projected to be in the region of 5% over the next few years, with the emerging economies of China and India growing even faster.

For Western markets such as the US, Germany and the UK, the growth in sales is expected to be driven by premium products such as chocolate cookies, and this trend has seen a number of major bakeries look at bringing chocolate chip production in house.

One of the first to recognise this demand was IPCO, a leading supplier of specialised handling, processing and forming systems for the chocolate industry and best known in the bake industry for its market-leading steel bake oven belts.

Versatile chocolate forming systems

IPCO produces versatile forming systems for both industrial (chunks, chips and blocks) and decorative (rolls, shavings, blossoms etc.) chocolate products. These systems are designed tomaximise productivity while also ensuring a premium quality end product.

The company’s portfolio includes depositors, extruders, cutters and decorative forming systems, as well as high performance steel belt conveyors and economical plastic belt systems. By combining these different elements, IPCO can offer process lines suitable for everything from low cost, rapid deployment start-ups to high performance, multi-layer systems.

At the heart of every IPCO high speed, high capacity chocolate forming system is the Rotoform rotary depositor. This consists of a heated cylindrical stator and a perforated rotating shell that turns concentrically around the stator. Chocolate drops are deposited across the whole operating width of a continuously running cooling belt.The circumferential speed of the Rotoform is synchronized with the speed of the belt so drops are deposited without deformation. The heat of the drops is transferred to cooling air blown onto the product and also to the belt itself.

CCM1500 chip and chuck production

IPCO’s CCM1500 system is an innovative chocolate moulding line based around the

Rotoform andfeatures an exchangeable outer shell enabling production of chips in sizes from 30,000-300 pcs/kg.

The drops are deposited onto a 1500 mm steel belt conveyor and transported through the cooling tunnel. They are carried back on the underside of the return stand before being removed onto an FDA PVC conveyor. They travel back through the tunnel for a third time and are discharged for downstream processing.

This triple pass cooling concept enables throughput rates of more than 3 000 kg/hour from a compact system with a low floorspace requirement – total length is approx. 35 m.

The line also incorporates a separate strip extruder and software adjustable servo cutter capable of up to 1 000 cuts a minute (16 cuts per second) for chunks from 5x5x5 mm up to 10x6x15 mm.

Walk-through cooling tunnel

This high productivity Triple Pass Steel Belt Cooler is designed on a walk-through principle. This means that the system, while contained in an outer enclosure, is fully accessible with internal lighting and easy access to all parts. This is the most accessible, ‘open’ cooling tunnel on the market.

The enclosed design of the system also serves to create a contained environment for a stable, rapid cooling process with no risk of moisture.

· Triple pass steel belt cooling tunnel

· Chips from 30 000-300 pcs/kg

· Chunks from 5x5x5 mm to 10x6x15 mm

· High output >3000 kg/hour

· Flexible/quick changeover <30 min

· Servo cutter

· Minimum footprint – 35 m long

· Walk-through design, easy access

· High OEE and efficiency

· Low maintenance, easy cleaning

· Requires only standard utilities / compressed air