Frigoscandia Equipment

Northfield /Stein / DSI

John Larson
FMC FoodTech
Industrial Refrigeration Consortiums
Research & Technology Forum
January 19-20, 2006 Madison Wisconsin

FMC FoodTech is a global, full-line food technology provider including harvesting, preparing, processing,
packaging and preservation systems. Market leading position in thermal processing, sterilization, cooking,
frying and freezing systems, citrus and tomato processing, vegetable harvesting and processing, conveying
and distribution systems.
TECHNOLOGIES OF OUR GROUP
First in Freezing

Northfield

Structure Supported Spiral Freezing

Technology
Leaders in Coating, Frying, and Cooking

Proven Specialists in Waterjet Cutting

Global Leader in Citrus Technology

Trusted Technology for Food Processors

Superior Aseptic Technology

Commanding the Worlds Vegetable
Harvesting
Innovative Solutions from Processing
To Packaging
Experts in Potato and Snack Processing

GC27 - 05/00MC

The Best Food Freezing Technology Depends On a

Number of Factors - Tell Us About Your Product
Unit Dimension - Range from 1/8 dia crumbles to 50 lb cases.
Required to determine tier space, belt style and belt loading.
Unit Weight - Ranges from a few grams to 20 lbs or
more. Required to determine belt loading
Packaging - Ranges from bare, raw products to fully
packaged cased products. Required to determine dwell time,
cleaning requirements, dehydration and belt style
USDA/Cleanliness - Ranged from minimal cleaning requirements
needed to keep the machine operating properly to very stringent
HACCP microbial control for ready to eat, fully cooked products.
Affects spiral construction, materials of construction and choice of
cleaning system.
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More about your Product

Capacity - This is the primary concern when defining a
spiral. Ranges from less than 1,000 lbs. per hour to greater
than 15,000 lbs per hour. Affects spiral size, coil size, belt
speed
Product Components - Primarily moisture content. If this
is a processed food with several different ingredients, such
as a pizza, it is important to know the various components
and the temperature and moisture content of each. Thermal
conductivity affects freezing time

Still More about your Product

Inlet Temperature - Affects refrigeration load and dehydration rate
Outlet Temperature - Affects refrigeration load, freezer operating
temperature
Loading Pattern - This can be regimented or random loaded. We
need to understand the loading pattern to size the spiral correctly.
Constitution, Color, Etc. - Is it soft? Is it sticky? Is it white? Is it
crumbly? This will help define the cleaning system required, belt style
and a variety of design considerations

Common goals:

freeze product quickly at a low cost

What Factors Affect Freezing Duration?

Product load
Inlet temperature, moisture content, packaged/unpackaged

Air Flow Configuration (freezer type)

Vertical (up or down)
Horizontal
Impingement (Air Velocity)

Heat Transfer Coefficient

Ability of the freezer to remove heat from the product
Conductive? Convective?
Mechanism: Moving Water (280 17 000 W/m2 * k), Moving Air
(11 55 W/m2 * k), Still Air (3 23 W/m2 * k)

Methods to Determine Freezing Duration

Guess
Mathematical estimation
Must know heat transfer coefficient

Trial and Error

Vary hold time and measure out feed temp.

Measure freezing curve

Call your friendly equipment supplier

Product Temperature Characteristics

Through Freezer
+68F

Before
entering

+68F

At freezer outfeed
-13F
14F

Half way through freezer

5F
+40F

Equalization
0F

0F

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Freezing Curve
Core
Surface
Average

Freezing
time
Time

32F
0F

Air temp.
Pre-cooling

Latent zone

Subcooling

Equalize
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Freezing Curve
Fully Cooked, Breaded 9-cut Chicken
190
170

130
110
90
70
50
30
10
-10
140

120

100

80

60

40

20

-30
0

Temperature ( F)

150

Time (minutes)

12

Heat Transfer
Valid for vertical airflow
Double-sided action

Frigoscandia
Impingement
freezers

Optimized technology to reach

acceptable power consumption

200

Heat transfer coefficient

[W/m2 C]

250

150

100

50
GyroCompact Spiral freezers

0
0

10

20

30

Air velocity m/s

40

50
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Other Considerations in Freezer Design

Floor Space
Headroom
Indoor or Outdoor location
Desired infeed and outfeed location
Operation schedule
Refrigeration available
Utilities available (power, water, drains, steam)
Noise limits
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Once the above factors are considered a

decision can be made as to the type of
freezer is best suited.
Far and away the most common type of
mechanical air blast selected is some type
of spiral freezer. The spiral has the most
flexibility of design and the ability to
handle virtually any product and
production rate.

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Technology Alternatives
Spiral
Self stacking spirals - GYRoCOMPACT Freezers
Non-self stacking spirals (structure supported spirals)
SuperTRAK, LST

Impingment
Advantec, FLoFREEZE

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Technology Alternatives
Dwell
times

Belt
Width

Belt
Speeds

Belt
Loading

[min]

[in]

[ft/min]

[lb/ft2]

Self stacking spiral

(Gyrocompact)

10-150

14 40

1 98

Low Tension Spiral

(SuperTRAK)

15-500

12 60

Low tension Spiral

(LST)

15-500

Straight Impingement
(Advantec)
Straight
IQF(FLoFREEZE

Technology

Coil Size

TD

[tons]

[F]

12

60 370

15

1 150

17

60 300

10

12 60

1 150

5 10

60 300

10

1-5

49 70

2-78

1-2

40-200

15

6-12

49

1-125

1-5

90-480

15

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Air Blast Spiral Freezer Belt Support Systems

Self stacking spiral

19

GYRoCOMPACT Spiral Freezer

Self-stacking belt

20

Self Stacking Spiral Belt

21

Vertical Airflow in a GYRoCOMPACT Freezer

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Northfield Spiral Belt Freezers

Northfield SuperTRAK Spiral

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Northfield Spiral Belt Freezers

Northfield LST Design (Large Spiral Technology)

Applications

Wide belt
High belt speed
Large tier spacing
Heavy loading
Sequential defrost
Multi-level decking
and baffling

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Impingement Freezing and Chilling

25

Patented Impingement Technology

Thousands of high velocity air
jets strip away the boundary of
air that holds heat around the
product, resulting in extremely
fast freezing time
Boundary of air

HOT PRODUCT

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ADVANTEC AIRFLOW PATTERN

27

Frigoscandia ADVANTEC Freezer & Chiller

True impingement means no thermal

boundary layer

Retention time is now dependent upon heat

conductivity in the product

Product thickness plays important role and

there is a natural limit for freezing
applications of approx. 1 inch

The effects of cryogenics have been reached

and exceeded but with a completely
different level on costs and flexibility

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Air Distribution - FLoFREEZE M and S

5

1. IQF Track
2. Pulsator (optional equipment)
3. Fan

4. Evaporator
5. ADF
1

29

Fluidization
1. Product infeed

1
2

2. Track 1

3. Weir
4
5

4. Track 2
5. Belt agitation

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Fluidization

Particles in natural repose

Particles in fluidized state

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Freezing green peas in FloFreeze M freezer

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Industry Trends in Food Freezing

Belt width
end-users are seeking wider belts to accommodate increased line capacity

Plastic belts
lower weights results in
lighter and less costly freezer
reduced parasitic power costs (reduced friction and lower belt tension)
reduced product contamination black specs
less product sticking

Extended operating run time

requires ability to manage coil frosting: air defrost, sequential defrost

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Industry Trends in Food Freezing

Sealed enclosures
fully welded enclosure construction

Enhanced hygiene
Clean-in-place designs
Steam santization

Extended operating run time

requires ability to manage coil frosting: air defrost, sequential defrost

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ADF - Air Defrost System

35

F.A.S.T Sequential Defrost System

Isolates each freezer coil so it

can defrost individually with no
moving parts.
Automatically controlled by the
freezers PLC.
Preprogrammed sequence
defrosts during normal freezer
operation.

36

Welded Enclosure, GYRoCOMPACT M-series

freezers

37

Hygiene
GYRoCOMPACT
Clean In Place (CIP)

38

Hygiene
Run Cold
Belt Washer

Recirculating Cleaning System

Rail & Drum

Cleaning
39

Questions or comments?

40

www.fmcfoodtech.com

Additional Information

Horizontal Air Flow

Large coil face proportional to spiral cross section

Can accumulate frost for a long time between defrosts
Little air baffling required
Low cost axial fans
Good for flat and heavily packaged products
Can defrost with Hot Gas only

Vertical Air Flow

Gives highest heat transfer at given air velocity

Creates higher pressure drop
Good for most bare products
Reduces dehydration losses
Quiet backwardly inclined cetrifugal fans
Helps prevent light products from lifting off belt (SVAD)

HAF - Horizontal Air Flow

SVAU or SVAD - Single
Vertical Air Flow, Upwards
or Downwards
DVA Dual Vertical Air Flow

Spiral Design Constraints

Conveyor belt must adequately support product and leave
no unacceptable markings or damage product. Belt and
drive system must be strong enough. to sustain the
system tension (radius weight) or the stack weight.
BELT
TENSION RATING
Flat Wire Belt w/heavy duty double bar links
300 lbs.
Leading Edge Performance Grid
300 lbs.
Fatigue Resistant Omni-Flex
400 lbs.
Leading Edge Performance Link
700 lbs.
Plastic Belts
400 lbs

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Spiral Design Constraints

Must have adequate belt and coil, fans and refrigeration supply
to meet capacity requirements while freezing product to the
specified temperature without product damage or shrink.
Coil must be designed to collect frost while running at design
capacity for the required number of hours
Must fit in the space allowed
Tier pitch or link height must allow adequate space for product
clearance and mechanical clearance with enough safety factor
to prevent product jams

46

Plastic Spiral belts from all the major suppliers of modular belting,
KVP, Intralox, Habasit as well as from Ashworth, the originator of
the low tension spiral belt.
Acetal now is the material of choice for most spiral applications. All
vendors continuing to develop new products to meet various
product requirements.

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Advantages of Plastic Belts

Lower weights results in lighter and less costly freezer
Lower weight results in lower power costs
Reduced friction results in lower belt tensions
Easily repairable
Reduced product contamination black specs
Less product sticking
In certain applications allows elimination of UHMW wear
strips

48

Disadvantages of plastic belts

Reduced thermal conductivity results in longer freezing time
for some products
The materials which make the best belts (acetal) are
extremely flammable and give off toxic fumes
Slightly less cleanable than metal and more prone to surface
scratching
Difficult to detect broken belt pieces in product stream with
existing equipment
Higher initial belt cost

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Extended Freezer Run Times

Changes in USDA rules are allowing and
encouraging plants to keep freezers cold
longer and run for longer production runs
between freezer cleanup. The only way to
achieve this is to find ways to remove
accumulated frost from the coils to maintain
performance. For example a freezer running
15,000 lbs per hour of a hot product could
generate 300 lbs of frost per hour.

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Enclosure and floor development.

In the US there has been great interest in
using enclosure with urethane foam cores
and stainless steel on both the inside and
outside surfaces. These enclosures are
designed for all interior and exterior joints
to be fully welded. All penetrations through
the enclosure for refrigeration lines,
conduit, conveyor openings are also fully
seam welded.

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Freezer Steam Sanitation

Desire on the part of users to raise temperatures in freezers
to above 150 F and hold them for 15 minutes as a kill step
against bacteria.
Need specially designed enclosures and equipment to
withstand enormous temperature swings
Provide instrumentation in freezer to verify that all surfaces
reach required temperatures.

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