CHOCOLATE MOULDING
the design where air could get trapped,” he says. “Also, cooling spots on tablets or bars can be reduced by selecting the most suitable surface structure or curvature of the horizontal areas of the mould.”
Markus goes on to point out that, for industrial chocolate
manufacturer’s reliability and safety are still a vital consideration. He says: “A line stop caused by crashing moulds is unacceptable to most confectioners today as it can lead to long production line downtimes to clean the line and make sure that no broken mould parts remain. In addition, often whole batches many need to be discarded, leading to costly product wastage. “Modern moulding lines for industrial operations need to avoid such situations occurring by reducing the mechanical stress on the moulds that, traditionally, has been caused by vibration, knocking and twisting of the moulds.” In the past it was common practice that intensive vibration was applied on purpose, to ensure even distribution of chocolate in the mould cavity after dosing. Modern moulding lines avoid this by using multiple nozzles instead of just one, to more evenly distribute the chocolate – in some equipment the nozzles can even move in parallel with the moulds which requires much less vibration.
Vibration in the moulding process should always be kept to
a minimum. While it is a necessary evil, to allow the chocolate to flow into the mould cavities and to enable entrapped air to escape, vibrations also put high levels of mechanical stress onto the moulds.
“Even though vibration cannot be avoided, a modern line should be able to control the level of vibration, so that each product gets the minimum stress of vibration required. Mould design has also improved over the years. Different materials
24 Kennedy’s Confection October 2022
“A line stop caused by crashing moulds is unacceptable to most confectioners today as it can lead to long production line downtimes to clean the line”
are available which are better able to handle the levels of stress that may be placed on them throughout the moulding process. Moulds are also now designed to avoid breakage risks by avoiding sharp edges specifically on the back side of the mould.”
Technology advances Like the moulds themselves, moulding lines have also improved through the years, as John Micelli, Sales Director at Egan Food Technologies, explains: “Several decades ago, manufacturers moved from mechanical pistons to servo-controlled ones, which can provide extremely accurate deposits and can adjust volume and timing of piston motion while the line is in operation, and without the need for any mechanical changes to be made. “Similarly, servo-controlled depositors allow depositor heads to follow moulds accurately, and to be programmed for non-traditional motions. This reduces dripping outside of the mould cavity,” continues John. “Further, the advent of one-shot technology enables chocolates with soft centres to be deposited
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