Ipco chocolate processing and belt systems set for Pack Expo showcase
Global chocolate moulding and belt systems business, Ipco, is set to offer a major showcase of its capabilities at this year’s Pack Expo event in Chicago, US, writes Neill Barston.
The business, which has developed lines for industrial ingredients as wide ranging as chips, chunks, drops and blocks – and decorative products such as shavings, rolls, pencils, plaquettes, is anticipating a strong showing at the key regional show taking place between 3-6 November at McCormick Place.
As the firm detailed, it will use PackExpo to highlight its ability to supply cost effective solutions for everything from low cost, rapid deployment start-ups to high capacity multi-layer systems. Visitors to the show can also learn more about the company’s steel belt-based cooling systems for confectionery products.
Notably, as the business explained, at the heart of all IPCO’s high capacity systems is the Rotoform, a rotary drop depositor consisting of a heated stator – which is supplied with liquid chocolate – and a perforated rotating shell that turns concentrically to deposit drops of chocolate onto a continuously running steel belt.
Chips are highly uniform in shape and size, and are free flowing for easy handling, storage and dosing. Chips of different sizes – from 30,000 to 300 pcs/kg – can be produced by simply changing the shell.
Moreover, IPCO has developed a range of triple pass cooling systems that enable high throughput rates while minimising floorspace requirements. The product is deposited on the first belt and adheres to the underside for the second pass. It is then removed on to a second conveyor for a third pass.
The company can also supply an innovative piston depositor for producing wide and/or thick circular wafer products. This can be installed alongside Rotoform and extrusion equipment on IPCO CCM (Chip and Chunk Moulding) triple pass steel belt coolers, enabling three depositing systems to be integrated on a single line.
Significantly, the business has been supplying steel belts for use in confectionery and chocolate processing for almost 100 years, in applications ranging from simple conveying to continuous processes such as cooling/solidification, conditioning, drop-forming and casting.
Products processed this way include caramel, chocolate, hard melt candy, nougat, nut brittle and more. In each case, the product is applied to the belt as a melt, either through casting or drop depositing, and solidified as it passes through a cooling tunnel.
