A new oven which uses carbon infra-red heaters has enabled Oscar Mayer to eliminate maintenance problems, improve energy efficiency, and save floor space at its plant at Chard, Somerset.

Oscar Mayer's potato-topped and crumb-topped ready meals need to be pre-browned without any after-cooking of the product. Until now, this has been done using long-wave, metal-sheathed, infra-red heaters. However, the need to replace heating elements meant the production line often had to be stopped for repairs.

Heraeus Noblelight, which produces energy sources from ultra-violet to infra-red, worked with Protech Food Systems to design and install a new oven which incorporates the latest carbon infra-red technology.

Ideal for applications in the food industry such as surface browning, carbon infra-red delivers medium-wave radiation which evaporates water from products at a very high power density. So, food moisture can be driven out and browning effected without any possibility of after-cooking.

The new oven, built by Protech, features two Heraeus Noblelight infra-red cassettes -- one fitted with seven 7kW emitters; the other with seven 7kW emitters and six 500W emitters to supplement the energy at the edges of the oven.

Not only has the new system proved to be more reliable than that previously used, it takes up far less room.

In addition, energy savings have been achieved due to the fact that the carbon infra-red system switches on and off virtually instantaneously.

Contact: Heraeus Noblelight,

Tel: 0151 353 2710