Category: News
WMH has been working with a major European vegetable processor to develop an inline, flexible hygienic grilling unit for adding a finishing colour and taste to cooked sliced vegetable for use in the food-service industry.
WMH has been building inline infrared grill units for many years and used their small trial unit to develop a solution to suit the needs of the end user. The final production unit features a 10.5-metre-long fine pitch wire belt conveyor, running through an 8-metre long grilling chamber with 6 independently controlled, 72kW grill panels able to process up to 600kg of vegetables per hour.
The flexible design of the grill incorporates multi-height grill panels to cater for varied product sizes, and independently controlled panels which enable the browning of the product to be fine-tuned to achieve the exact final product finish. The unit is also fitted with product turning to ensure all-round product browning.
With all food production machines hygiene is of paramount importance and this new grill unit is no exception being fitted with integrated belt wash units, wheel-out undertrays for removal of debris and removable heater panels to enable the inside of the grill chamber to be thoroughly cleaned without risk of damage to sensitive electronic components. In addition, the extraction ducting is fitted with hatches for inspection and cleaning to reduce the fire risk.
Control of the grill unit is via a touch screen HMI with operator and engineer controls and diagnostics including an element feedback loop which will shut down a cassette panel if a single element fails and allows the remaining panels to be adjusted to compensate in the short term until a replacement can be fitted.
“We have been very pleased to work with this new client who came to use after seeing our website. By carrying out extensive testing and working closely with the customer we were able to develop a solution tailored to their needs” said Tom Tomlinson project manager for the project.