Efficient Flow Control in Ice Cream Production

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Aeration - the supply of air bubbles - is essential in commercial ice cream manufacturing, either in large-scale continuous production or in the batchwise artisan way as in your local ice cream shop. Aeration is done by freezing a liquid cream mixture containing fat, sugar, milk solids, water and several additives, and simultaneously blending air into this mixture to make it sufficiently fluffy.

The ‘overrun’, the amount of air supplied to the ice cream, affects its density and texture, and hence its taste and mouthfeel. Therefore, machines for ice cream production need to have an accurate air flow controller that can deliver the necessary amount of air. This is where Bronkhorst mass flow controllers come in.

Application requirements

To guarantee the right consistency and structure to get a fully flavoured ice cream, the delicacy must contain the correct amount of air bubbles. Even more important than accurate air flow control is its repeatability. After all, in continuous as well as batchwise production, the ice cream needs to have a constant quality.

Important topics

Continuous or batchwise ice cream manufacturing.

Accuracy and repeatability.

Self-cleaning purge capabilities.

Process solution

Bronkhorst MASS-STREAM mass flow controllers make sure that a specifically predetermined amount of air is purged into the liquid cream mixture to make it fluffy. These reliable devices make use of a thermal mass flow sensor that measures directly inline in the main flow channel. They are ideally suited for applications where high repeatability and robustness is more important than the ultimate measurement accuracy. Due to the straight flow channel, there is virtually no risk of clogging by particles.

In large-scale industrial continuous production, the liquid flow and the air flow always need to have the same ratio. To this end, a possible configuration is that the sensor of a liquid mass flow meter in the liquid mixture in real-time provides input to the MASS-STREAM air mass flow controller, in order to control, correct, and ensure the perfect amount of air supply into the process. For small-scale batchwise production, either an on-and-off valve or a weighing scale is used to control/measure a specific quantity of the liquid mixture, and the Bronkhorst mass flow controller purges the air.

The robustness of the MASS-STREAM mass flow controller is also demonstrated by its self-cleaning ability. When operating the ice cream manufacturing machine, customers occasionally have experienced that the final fluffy ice cream product accidentally floats back into the air delivery instrument. However, any clogging compounds present in the relatively large straight flow channel of the MASS-STREAM air mass flow controller can be flushed with the same air. This air blows-out the obstruction and the device returns to its original behaviour. Essentially, this way the MASS-STREAM can be cleaned in-situ by the end users themselves rather easy. Quite a sanitary performance, thus cost-effective and very attractive to this type of industry.

This is a way to clean the air purge device itself. Please contact us if you have specific cleaning-in-place or steaming-in-place (CIP/SIP) requirements for your equipment, for surfaces that get into contact with the ice cream product.

And - as we started this story - for commercial whipped cream and other similar productions, a comparable setup can be used as for ice cream production. Possibly with a higher air/whipped cream ratio, but the processes are comparable, since they are based on dairy products.

“The MASS-STREAM mass flow controller offers a cost-effective and hygienic solution with its self-cleaning capability, allowing us to easily maintain our equipment in perfect working condition, thereby reducing downtime and maintenance costs.”