An In-Line Consistency Meter for Dough-like Materials

Abstract

A recording in-line consistency meter has been developed primarily for testing bread dough flowing in pulses from a continuous dough mixer. Its use is based on the measurement of the torque required to rotate a sensor paddle at a constant speed in the flowing product. An electrical signal related to consistency has been obtained from a dynamometer used to constrain one output of a differential gear, while the other output is driving the sensor paddle. Interference due to pulsating flow has been removed by a combination of electrical and mechnical damping. Products of widely different consistencies (e.g. bread dough and pumpable oatflour slurry) can be tested by using paddles of different sizes and shapes, by varying their speed of rotation, and by choosing a dynamometer of appropriate sensitivity. In-line factory tests on bread and pastry doughs, and on compound fat, have shown the instrument to be accurate to ±2 % and to give consistent results which are relatively insensitive to changes in product flow rate. The instrument can be made compact, so that it can be installed in a confined space on the processing plant. The novel features of this meter are embodied in a patent (British Patent application No. 34805-67).