Starfrost Scoops Major Award for Three Zone Spiral
04 July 2007 10:48
Freezing and chilling equipment specialist Starfrost is celebrating after its revolutionary Three Zone Spiral scooped a major food industry award.
The innovative system won the Technological Development of the Year category in the Food Processing Awards. The judging panel was impressed by the unique design of the new system, which ensures more than twice the frost tolerance compared to a conventional spiral. This allows the system to operate continuously for three to seven days between defrosts.
Starfrost’s Three Zone Spiral is designed to offer fast and efficient freezing and chilling. A unique development in refrigeration technology allows the system to operate for extended running times, minimising downtime, boosting production and reducing costs.
Commenting on the award, Starfrost’s Sales Director John Wadeson says: “We are proud to have won the Technological Development of the Year category. Starfrost has always focused on innovative new technology to maximise efficiency. The Three Zone Spiral forms a key part of our mission to offer the very latest in freezing and chilling equipment technology to customers worldwide.”
Starfrost’s Three Zone Spiral offers rapid freezing and chilling, with impingement of air from above and below the product. It is suitable for food items such as pizza, ready meals, poultry, meat and fish, as well as pastry products, desserts and ice-cream.
The system’s controlled airflow ensures a fast heat transfer from the food product. The revolutionary evaporator design allows the Three Zone Spiral to operate around the clock for up to a week before defrosting is required, boosting the utilisation of factory assets.
The Three Zone Spiral can also be combined with a fast defrost system to greatly reduce equipment downtime. When installed in conjunction with a reverse cycle defrost, the evaporator can be defrosted in just 30 minutes.
Starfrost recently supplied a Three Zone Spiral chilling system to a leading food manufacturer in Spain. The company was looking to replace an existing in-line tunnel chiller that operated on nitrogen gas and generated high running costs.
Starfrost’s UK engineering team designed and built a Three Zone Spiral for the Spanish company. The system is designed to chill cooked pizzas from +60°C to +2°C and is capable of processing just under 2,000kg per hour. The chiller is 5.5m in height and features a 660mm belt rotating upwards around a central drum with 36 tiers.
This bespoke Three Zone Spiral system can operate continuously for seven days between defrosts. It is estimated that the new chiller has generated an 80% saving in running costs for the Spanish firm compared to the previous nitrogen system.
Established in the UK in 1984, Starfrost has supplied mechanical freezing and chilling equipment to food processors in over 50 countries. As well as designing automated systems to boost manufacturing efficiency, many Starfrost installations are now driven by the customer’s need to reduce escalating nitrogen freezing costs.
Starfrost’s freezing and chilling equipment range includes the Spiral Helix, Starlite HT (Hybrid Tunnel), Turbo IQF and StarContact system. The company specialises in low to medium capacity in-line freezers and chillers, as well as larger site-built systems for major manufacturers.
In addition to its UK headquarters and manufacturing facility in Lowestoft, Starfrost has sales offices and agents in Poland, Russia, Norway, Italy, the USA, South America and the Middle East.
For more information on this company:
Starfrost - Industrial Freezing and Chilling, Spiral Freezers, IQF Tunnel Freezers, Contact Freezers and CIP Sanitising Systems
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