Continuous Smoking-Cooking-Chilling Line

SORGO continuous systems combine smoking, cooking, showering and blast chilling in one modular industrial line built for 24/7 operation. Single- or double-row lines move trolleys, racks or hanging products synchronously through the process zones and deliver the finished product at a defined core temperature. While one batch is being cooled, the next is already in the smoking or cooking zone, avoiding transfer and waiting times. Typical uses are smoking-cooking-chilling lines and cooking-chilling lines for hanging and horizontally placed products.

Two process sections

• Section 1 – smoking and cooking: curing colour development, drying, hot smoking, cooking, scalding, hot-air cooking and venting, or a dedicated cooking zone.
• Synchronised airlock: fully insulated lifting or hinged doors separate the zones, open in step with the conveying sequence and limit energy losses.
• Section 2 – blast chilling: recirculating cold air, cooling shower, optional mist shower and drying down to the defined core temperature; cooking is optionally available here as well.

Lines are available from 2+2 to 20+20 trolleys and beyond, with tunnel or parallel loading.

Loading and transport

Automation ranges from manual loading to fully automatic receiving, transfer and discharge, following the plant's logistics and hygienically linking production and packaging.

• Floor-guided trolley transport with monitored rack-and-pinion drives, push rods and carriers.
• Overhead rail: suspended trolleys are taken over from the customer's rail system and guided through the chamber to unloading.
• Roller conveyors and transfers: internal roller conveyors for very heavy trolleys, plus infeed/outfeed conveyors and automatic transfer stations.

The vertically opening SORGO jet door keeps the area in front of the line free, can be synchronised with automatic trolley transport and integrated with SORGO TrolleyFlow; it needs a room height of at least 4.5 m.

Project modules

• Air recirculation: one fan per trolley position with central suction; two-speed or stepless recirculation and shaped nozzles.
• Heating and cooling: electric, gas, oil or HP steam; with steam, cooking uses LP saturated steam at 0.5 bar.
• Cooling shower and mist: integrated shower in the cooling zone; optional stainless steel two-fluid nozzle per trolley.
• Doors and hygiene zones: pneumatic lifting doors pressed against the frame in sync with conveying; fail-safe function and interlocking between low-risk and high-risk areas are standard.
• Smoke and exhaust: friction, smouldering or wood-chip smoke fully integrated; smoke intensity, dampers and the frequency-controlled exhaust fan are set per process, and smoke paths can be cleaned.
• CIP, X1 and INSPECT: sections cleaned separately; SCS X1 panels at the inlet and outlet; SORGO INSPECT documents programmes, batches, curves, messages and alarms in the browser.

Construction

Modular stainless steel sections with smoke- and vapour-tight welds, full insulation and temperature- and acid-resistant seals; 1.4301 or 1.4571 depending on the zone. Smooth, heavily reinforced floors, trolley guides and monitored drains support load capacity, hygiene and safe operation.

Heating

The heat source is chosen to match the plant's energy supply:

• HP steam: finned-tube coil built in-house by SORGO from stainless steel 1.4301. The spiral fins give a far larger heat-transfer surface than smooth tubes and therefore a higher efficiency.
• Electric: heating coil made entirely of chromium-nickel steel 1.4876, installed in the upper part of the system.
• Gas or oil: SORGO tubular heat exchanger of thick-walled, heat-resistant steel 1.4876 in the upper part of the system, fired by a high-performance gas or oil burner and designed for low flue-gas temperatures.

Supplementary electric heating is available as an option, for example for weekend operation without steam, for using solar power or for specially designed higher process temperatures.

CIP cleaning

Standard in section 1 (hot smoking, including smoke pipework and smoke generator) and optional in section 2; cleaning, contact time and rinsing are controlled separately per section.

• One central cleaning station supplies several connected systems and cleans them automatically one after another.
• Detergent dosing adjustable from 1 to 10 %.
• A stainless steel booster pump delivers approx. 10 bar cleaning pressure, independent of the mains water pressure.
• Automatic fresh-water rinse after cleaning and contact time.
• External distribution in stainless steel Mapress pipe with stainless steel valves.

All performance and dimension data are indicative; the airlock, door system, transport and installation conditions are defined for each project.