One of the most crucial aspects of the manufacturing operations in the pharmaceutical, food, and beverage industry is the mixing technology. Mixing technology refers to the process of blending heterogeneous ingredients and raw materials into one homogenized end product.
Faulty mixing systems will significantly waste raw materials, time, and energy. In the following article, we mention the necessity of mixing technology in today’s growing market and also provide a thorough guide of the mechanisms of commercial mixers.
Advantages of mixing technology
Mixing technology has several advantages. Since it is a critical process, the mixing quality highly determines the quality of the end-product.
Processing of high-quality homogenous products
Mixing technology allows the combining of different raw materials into a homogenous product. Materials in their solid, liquid, or gas forms are broken down into smaller particles, combined, and homogenized into the desirable end-product.
Multifunctional in terms of application
Most of the industrial mixers are highly customizable. Therefore, mixers can fit the demands of the producer and can produce batches in desired volume and sizes. You choose the ratio of the ingredients as well as the batch sizes. Ginhong mixers are highly customizable and provide a wide variety of multifunctional blending machines.
Batch cycles are shorter
Since industrial mixers have the capacity to combine and homogenize products in large quantities, you do not need to repeat batches. This, in turn, reduces batch cycles.
Operational costs are lower
Since batch cycles are significantly reduced, the energy consumption is also lessened. This reduces operational costs.
Commercial mixers
Commercial mixers go hand in hand with bulk processing. Therefore, if you are looking to buy a commercial mixer that best suits your demands, you need to have a perfect knowledge of these mixers before delving to conclusions.
Anatomy
Most commercial mixers have similar components and features. The anatomy consists of front and rear covers, a safety guard, a mixing device for combining heterogeneous products, a bowl lift wheel or lever, a bow container, and lastly powder and speed control.
Types
Commercial mixers can broadly be categorized into three types:
Planetary Mixers
The planetary mixer is also referred to as “all-purpose” mixer since it provides a diverse functionality and can prepare anything ranging from mashed potatoes to cream sauce. It is a vertical mixer where the mixing bowl is stationary. The whip, beater, and hook are removable attachments, therefore they provide a more flexible functionality.
Vertical Cutter Mixers
The vertical cutter commercial mixers are widely used in the large-scale food industry, small food supply chains, and bakeries. They add great productivity to the whole mixing/cutting process. The functionality of these mixers range from cutting, mixing, chopping, stirring, kneading, blending, emulsifying, pureeing, and grating. If you are looking for fast, bulk production, this is the mixer for you!
Dough Mixers
The dough commercial mixer is also referred to as a “spiral mixer” and is mostly used in food chains and bakeries since its prime function is to mix dough ingredients. Dough mixers consist of a covered mixing bowl, a beater, a guard, a tilting handle, and power controls. The motor of this mixer has high horsepower. It has spiral agitators which remain stationary. The spiral design makes this mixer a great fit for bulk processing.
Features
Most of the industrial mixers are customizable. However, you need to know the features that they provide in order to be able to customize them for your needs.
The drive system
Industrial mixers either have a gear-driven or a belt-driven system. Both these drive systems are beneficial for commercial usage. However, both have their disadvantages. Belt-driven systems can have “slips” between the belt and drive, reducing velocity and disrupting the whole processing. They are cheaper than gear-driven systems. Gear-driven systems tend to be very costly in terms of repairs.
The Mixer Speed
MIxers come with different operational speeds. This affects how quickly the agitator or the mixing bowl revolves. Some mixers tend to slow down the process. You also need to check whether the mixer lets you change the speed of the revolving bowl while it is in operation. Some mixers are not designed in a way that they let you change speed during the flight.
The Horsepower
Since larger commercial mixers blend bulk ingredients at a time, they tend to have better horsepower than other mixer types. These large mixers deal with doughs of thick and stiff consistency, therefore they need better strength to combine the dough with the ingredients.
The Bowl-Lift
Bowl lifts can be majorly categorized into two types, i.e. Electrical and manual bowl lifts. As the name implies, manual mixers lift the bowl using a lever while electric bowls are raised with the help of power control buttons.
Conclusion
With the given guidelines in mind, we hope that you buy a commercial mixer that best suits the requirements of your business. Since industrial mixers require a huge investment, we recommend that you do your research and analyze the mixing technology market before buying anything. We want you to get your money’s worth!