Flow Meters In The Food Industry

• Using flow meters in manufacturing processes, such as food and beverage production, helps improve dosing of flavorings, dyes, and more.
• Flow meters provides manufacturers with greater control, accuracy, and repeatability when compared to using dosing pumps alone.
• Aside from liquid dosing systems, we offer a Vapor Generation System that allows manufactures to produce highly accurate and controllable vapor streams, for example, in aseptic packaging processes.

In the food and beverage industry, there are many processes in which gas flows or liquid flows need measurement and control. For example, flow meters or flow controllers are critical in aeration processes for beverages or ice creams. In addition, they are important for dosing applications such as adding ingredients – like flavorings, colorants, and aromas – in confectionery products. But besides use in food production applications, flow control is also useful in sterilization processes of packaging.

In this blog, we share some applications stories in more detail.

Flow Meters for Additive Dosing

There is a huge variation in candy available on the market. For example, each brand has its own taste, texture, and appearance. Erwin Broekman discusses flow control needs with Haas-Mondomix (NL), a specialist machine builder for the food industry. With ultrasonic, volumetric flow meters, Haas-Mondomix measures the amount of additives – flavorings and colorings – that are added to the production process. Please read the blog to learn more about this application.

In the chocolate confectionery industry, there are numerous variations in flavors. Liquid flow meters in combination with a dosing pump are an ideal solution for dosing flavors and functional ingredients. Read more about dosing flavor into chocolate here: https://psctexas.com/the-importance-of-flow-control-in-chocolate-production/.

Flow Meters for Aeration Process

Aeration is an important part of the production process of ice cream and industrial cake processing. Producers make ice cream by freezing and simultaneously blending air into a brewage of fat, sugar, and milk solids. To create an optimal texture, air makes up anywhere from 30-50% of the total volume of ice cream. Moreover, it is crucial to have a stable inlet gas flow in the production process with a consistent cream/air ratio. Mass flow controllers can also help achieve a stable gas flow in these types of applications. Read the blog about ice cream aeration.

Furthermore, aeration is also used in the production of whipped cream. For these kinds of applications, the company Hansa Industrie-Mixer has mixing machines and foam generators available. For example, technical director of Hansa Industrie-Mixer, Hans-Georg Frenzel, explains in a guest blog how they use mass flow controllers for aeration purposes.

Sterilization of Food Packaging to Reduce Food Waste

However, all of this food production does have a downside; food waste. Globally, food is lost or becomes waste at different points in the supply chain. To reduce spoilage of food and increase the shelf life, using sterile, aseptic packaging is critically important. However, this is the point where Controlled Evaporation Mixing (CEM) systems come into the picture to improve flow processes.

Our Vapor Generation System is an advanced alternative to traditional glass bubblers that improves process accuracy and repeatability. With an all in one design and a user-friendly touchscreen interface, users have unprecedented control over their vapor generation processes. It’s ideal for low flow applications such as use in research laboratories, deposition processes such as coatings, CVD, semiconductor manufacturing, and more.

• highly accurate and repeatable process control
• ethernet enabled for data logging, remote monitoring, and WebMI capabilities
• continuous operation or totalizer mode for batching
• heat tracing to maintain vapor phase