Breaking the mould for moulded ice cream
By innovative the traditional design, the Tetra Pak Rotary Moulder 27 A4 takes ice cream moulding to new heights, both figuratively and literally. With improved food hygiene, product quality, and next-level automation – this is the change the ice cream world has been waiting for decades for.
This specific rotary moulder is engineered to support medium-capacity needs, but can be delivered with many high-end features previously only available on Tetra Pak’s high-capacity models. Thanks to this combination, we are able to configure the machine to whatever is most important to you. Need to keep your investment costs to a minimum? No problem, just start with the basic version. Need it to work with as few operators as possible? Don’t worry; our upgraded automation tools have you covered.
The start of an ice cream revolution
As far as ice cream rotary moulders go, not much has happened in over a decade. We’ve had a good thing going, and why fix something that isn’t broken, right? Well, as it turns out, there was more room for improvement than first met the eye.
“It all started when discussing new developments in our rotary moulder for ice cream producers in the medium-capacity segment,” says NielsFogh Nielsen, product manager at Tetra Pak. “When talking to some of the ice cream producers we work with, we realised that the enclosed design of the rotary moulders made it hard to keep the area under the machine clean. So, some significant design changes needed to be made.”
Designing for a more hygienic world
As we started looking at what changes we could make to the design, we found ourselves in the midst of a global pandemic. Suddenly, hygiene and cleanliness became a top priority for both companies and consumers – and naturally, they became a top priority in our design process as well.
The most significant change to the design of the new moulder is that it has a conical open tank rather than the traditional design’s cylindrical enclosed tank. We’ve also upgraded the platform setup to make it more accessible as well. These changes might sound small, but the difference they make in daily production is huge.
“By opening up the tank and making it conical, we eliminate any hard-to-clean areas – and make it a lot easier to spot even small amounts of spillage and clean it up before bacteria has a chance to grow”, NielsFogh Nielsen explains. “In turn, the more ergonomic platform setup gives the operator a better visual overview of the equipment. Thanks to the design being more ergonomic, it also makes monitoring the production a more natural part of the daily workflow.”
The open-tank design also allows for easier access to defrosting components, and as we save space under the tank, we can fit the pumps under it while still making sure they’re accessible. This means that the new tank design helps improve the hygiene in your production area, saving you from any potential disasters that might come from spills in and around the rotary moulder.
Sprinkle in some automagic
Another important aspect of the Tetra Pak Rotary Moulder 27 A4 is that we’ve included an updated complete servo control, giving you next-level automation. The new automation includes automatic indexing of the mould tables, extraction of the products, indexing the products, and dipping into chocolate or dry coating.
One of the keys here has been switching out the mechanical cam drives from the previous generation of moulders to servo drives. This allows the machine to be programmable from product to product, enabling fine-tuned movements and adjustments whenever needed. The startup and shutdown sequences can also be automated based on each individual recipe.
The servo-driven extractor is another key feature. All the mechanical cams have been replaced with a new drive system consisting of a 4 + 1 servo axis. The result? Your extraction and dipping processes are made more precise than ever and can be individually programmed for each recipe.
“Not only does that mean that your production process needs less staff to operate, but it also makes operating the machine a lot easier since a lot of the things that used to be manual are now automated,” says Steen Gyldenloev, product manager at Tetra Pak. “As a pretty great bonus, the more predictable startups and shutdowns, combined with the precise dipping processes, also lead to less waste of valuable ingredients like chocolate – saving you significant money over the long-term.”
In other words, the updated automation gives you more consistent product quality with less stress while also allowing you to easily fine-tune each recipe – giving you more possibilities and control over your final product.
The world of ice cream moulders just got even(ly) cooler
Speaking of more consistent product quality, we have also redesigned the nozzle plate using a completely new freezing analysis technique. “This exciting new method allowed us to measure the freezing visually – kind of like watching a lake freeze over,” says NielsFogh Nielsen. So what’s that good for, you may ask? “Well, it doesn’t necessarily change the actual freezing process, but it does help us understand it better and, therefore, also optimise it to ensure more even freezing across the table”, Niels continues.
We know that it’s essential for all of your ice creams to freeze at the exact same rate every step of the process. The same goes for defrosting. Since the tank is circular, perfecting the cooling flow is complicated – but crucial. If the temperature is uneven, you might end up with ice cream sticks not going in correctly or not staying in at all. Keeping this in mind, we’ve designed the machine to be easy to operate and made most of the steps automated. That way, you get a more reliable and sturdy operation with consistent product quality. And who doesn’t want that?
Here’s what our partners have to say about it
"This new technology has helped us reduce losses during the production process while allowing us to increase our production capacity. It's incredibly important to us that the equipment we use maintains our products' quality and safety – and we obtained good results by implementing Tetra Pak's new rotary moulder, improving the efficiency of the line and the availability of the product for the market."
– Willy Chirinos, project manager, Chile.Empresas Carozzi S.A.
New possibilities in moulded ice cream
The medium-capacity Tetra Pak® Rotary Moulder 27 A4 is innovation for safer, more reliable and more profitable production. Its revolutionary “open” brine tank design supports hygiene of the operating environment by eliminating hard-to-clean areas, making it easier to see dirt and spills, and improving service access.
