Orthos blender has the gentle touch
New from UK company Orthos (Engineering) is the Lindor 10l gentle touch blender, said to be suitable for pilot plant and laboratory applications for the production of small or trial batches, special orders and experimental work. The table-top mixing machine has the same internal blending drum design as full-size Lindor machines of 70-1400l, enabling its mixing results to be used when scaled up.
It has a horizontally mounted rotating drum which is entirely free of separately moving parts such as mixing blades and impellers that apply shear forces to the product and cause deterioration both mechanically and as a result of friction-induced heating. Instead, blending is achieved by tapered scoops that are an integral part of the inner surface of the drum along its whole length. These scoops induce a non-degrading, 3-dimensional figure-of-eight flow pattern in the product. Mixing times are between one and four minutes, which also aids product protection.
The drum has no 'dead' spaces, ensuring that all material is equally blended, while the machines are self-emptying with virtually 100% discharge, the company says.