A vital stage in the preparation of a food product is the accurate addition and correct mixing of the various ingredients that make up the recipe. It is usual that heat will be required, subsequent cooling and chilling are often needed for preservation. The Armfield Multi-purpose Processing Vessel is able to carry out these actions with very small quantities of ingredients. The facilities to mix, emulsify, heat, pasteurise, incubate, cool, chill and cure are all built into this purpose-designed unit. As well as preparation of food products for further processing, the facilities allow production of finished products in batch sizes from five to 20 litres.

The Armfield FT66 Neutraliser/Washer/Bleacher is a floor-standing batch processing vessel capable of performing the pre-refining stages on small quantities of crude edible oils and facilitates practical research and development.

The FT74XA is compact, mobile and easy to install. It has an integral pressurized hot water generator and requires only electricity and cooling water to operate making it ideal for confined spaces with limited services such as laboratories. Operation with either plate or tubular heat exchangers means a wide range of product viscosities can be handled. A progressive cavity feed pump ensures that flow rates are independent of viscosity / backpressure changes and allow a maximum operating pressure of 10 bar. Typical processing flow rates are 10-20 L/h with holding temperatures up to 150°C. At pasteurization temperatures flow rates of up to 60 L/h are achievable. Cleaning is in place (CIP) using the feed pump in high flow rate mode and there is a centrifugal pump CIP option (FT74-52) which generates very high cleaning velocities to deal with products that are particularly difficult to clean. Sterilization (SIP) of the system is controlled from the touchscreen. System sterilization time and temperature are defined and key temperature sensors are monitored to ensure the entire system satisfactorily completes the SIP cycle. Automatic pre-heat control (FT74-46) offers an independent hot water circuit and the product pre-heat temperature is set via the touchscreen. The system is well instrumented for both process and services with all sensors displayed on the touchscreen and recorded values can be seen graphically and saved to USB datastick for further analysis.

The Armfield Microwave UHT /HTST unit has been developed for the rapid heating of various types of viscous, non-viscous and even non-homogeneous products. Product temperatures up to 160°C can be reached. The Armfield FT84-12 can be used with an Armfield FT174X, FT74X, FT74XTS or FT94X to provide a rapid microwave final heating stage.

The Armfield FT94X HTST/UHT Mini Pilot system extends the range of continuous operation scaled-down units offered by Armfield to 200 l/hr (30-100 l/hr standard format). The unit combines full flexibility – plate and tubular heat exchanger options – with comprehensive instrumentation demanded of research and development equipment. The FT94X is designed for operation as both a standalone unit and also for seamless integration into a full processing system with the capability of aseptic packaging of processed product.

Industrial Process Controllers. Each practical work study system consists of a bench top process demonstration unit and a control console, that contains the power supplies and interfacing for all measurement and actuation signals. Specific industrial controllers are available as accessories to further develop the practical instruction courses possible.

The TH range is designed to introduce students to the fundamental principles of thermodynamics. Exploring basic concepts such as temperature and pressure measurement, plus an introduction to the relationships between these fundamentals; first and second low, the principles of reversibility, entropy, enthalpy etc. The equipment enables the student to gain a true understanding of these difficult concepts, which are so important in all aspects of engineering.

The ASD LabSpec line of laboratory instrumentation offers laboratory-grade performance in a ruggedized, portable design suitable for benchtop analysis or transport to the sample location. ASD LabSpec analytical instrumentation performs rapid, non-destructive materials analysis for qualitative and quantitative applications.

The ASD LabSpec 4 product line utilizes the same spectrometer configurations as ASD’s FieldSpec line of spectroradiometers, long recognized as the “gold standard” in portable near-infrared (NIR) field spectroscopy. Employing this state-of-the-art NIR technology, these portable lab instruments can quickly and nondestructively measure a wide range of materials with absolute precision.

The ASD LabSpec spectrometer is easily adaptable for a wide range of analytical applications. For those applications requiring a spectrophotometer, the ASD LabSpec is available with a built in fiber optic light source.

Optimized for rapid analysis, ASD LabSpec 4 spectrometers are the ideal analytical instruments for fast-moving laboratory environments, providing instant results with no sample preparation.