Conveyor oven

dryingcuringheat treatment

Overview
Industrial infrared ovens and tunnels designed for the food & beverage industry to perform surface thermal treatments such as browning, braising, gratiné-finishing, drying and under-packaging pasteurisation. Sopara medium-wave infrared (MIR) technology targets only the product surface at high speed to optimise texture, colouring and hygiene while avoiding cooking the product core.

Key benefits

• Surface-only treatment at speeds unreachable by convection, enabling shorter ovens and faster throughput.
• Improved texture and controlled colouring without excessive mass loss.
• Hygienic, food-industry-compliant design for humid/saline environments and intensive cleaning cycles.

Thermal challenges in food processing
Food processing combines constraints such as living products with variable thermal behaviour, humid and saline environments, aggressive high-frequency cleaning, and strict foreign-body control (no glass in the food chain). Sopara infrared systems are engineered to address these constraints while preserving product quality.

Hygiene & safety
100% stainless steel construction, zero-retention-zone design, and exclusion of glass components to comply with food-industry safety. Designs include removable conveyors and removable stainless-steel meshes between emitters and product to enable high-pressure cleaning and rapid maintenance without rework.

Thermal solutions and technologies
Sopara provides a portfolio of thermal technologies suited to food processing applications, notably medium-wave infrared (MIR) as the reference technology for most food surface treatments, with short-wave IR reserved for specific protected packaging cases. Key solution features include:

• HPagro MIR emitters developed for resistance to fat splatter and intensive cleaning.
• Ribbon elements stapled onto insulating plates; staples are steel and detectable by metal detectors (regulatory requirement vs glass-based short-wave systems).
• Short-wave IR used selectively for transparent packaging or when wavelength reflection strategies are applied (e.g., light-coloured trays that reflect SWIR).

Performance
Sopara MIR systems provide large gains vs electric resistance ovens: processing time halved, oven length halved for equivalent capacity, and mass losses nearly halved. Example throughput for braising operations: 1 to 2 tonnes per hour in high-density configurations.

Hygienic design and maintainability

• Conveyor fully removable from the oven for external high-pressure cleaning.
• Removable stainless-steel mesh between emitters and product to stop fat splatter.
• Low thermal inertia: oven cools to safe temperature in 5–10 minutes (vs ~30 minutes for hot-air ovens), reducing cleaning downtime.

Applications
Sopara infrared ovens are applied across a wide range of food-surface treatments: braising and meat charcuterie, ready-meal gratiné-finishing in PET trays, bakery and pastry browning (meringues, crème brûlée, blinis, breads), cheese rind formation and drying, surface pasteurisation under packaging to extend shelf life, and compatibility with diverse packaging materials (PET, laminated cardboard, cellulose capsules).

Medium-wave infrared (MIR): reference technology
MIR handles ~80–90% of food applications (browning, braising, gratiné-finishing). It is the de facto standard where glass is prohibited in the food chain. MIR systems include protective design elements to withstand intensive cleaning and fat exposure.

Selected application notes (case study summaries)

• Meat & charcuterie braising — industrial challenge: electric-resistance ovens too long/slow with high mass losses. Solution: high-density HPagro MIR emitters, separable two-piece oven, fully removable conveyor; impact: processing time ÷2, oven length ÷2, mass loss ÷2, capacity up to 2 t/h.
• Gratiné-finishing in plastic trays — challenge: aluminium tray limitations. Solution: SWIR with wavelength selection or masking/stencil to protect tray edges enabling PET/laminate conversion; impact: switch to lower-cost packaging and microwave-ready finished products.
• Under-packaging thermal decontamination — challenge: replace alcohol injection for shelf-life extension. Solution: short-wave IR through sealed transparent film raising surface to 70–90°C for 2–5 minutes; impact: shelf life ×3–×5, no alcohol, no recontamination.
• Decorated lids — challenge: strong temperature differential between coloured zones with SWIR. Solution: double-sided MIR with enhanced reverse-side power and scalable pilot oven; impact: reduced thermal differential, predictable uniform treatment, predictive maintenance enabled.

Credentials & industrial deployment
Sopara has decades of field experience in food thermal processing (braising, gratiné-finishing, browning, cheese rind formation, under-packaging decontamination). Laboratory qualification is performed for each product/time/power/throughput combination before installation. Predictive maintenance (ThermalCloud™) is deployed on multiple industrial sites to monitor line speeds, temperatures and production stability.

Caractéristiques / spécifications techniques

• Primary technology: Medium-Wave Infrared (MIR) — HPagro emitter range for the food industry.
• Alternate technology: Short-Wave IR for protected transparent-packaging applications (wavelength selection and masking solutions).
• Construction: 100% stainless steel; zero-retention-zone design; removable conveyors and meshes.
• Safety: No glass components in MIR configuration; ribbon elements stapled to insulating plates; steel staples detectable by metal detectors.
• Cleaning & downtime: Oven cool in 5–10 minutes enabling fast cleaning cycles.
• Throughput example: Braising capacity up to 1–2 tonnes per hour.
• Performance vs electric resistance ovens: processing time ÷2, oven length ÷2, mass losses nearly ÷2.
• Packaging compatibility: PET trays, laminated cardboard, cellulose capsules, decorated lids — strategies exist to protect sensitive packaging.
• Control & monitoring: ThermalCore™ cabinet control intelligence and ThermalCloud™ centralised predictive maintenance (multi-site monitoring deployed in industrial use).
• Scalability: Scalable oven architectures with free slots for future extensions and modular pilot ovens for line-speed validation.