GERMANY- Brabender, a manufacturer of measurement and process engineering solutions for the testing of raw materials, recently introduced a new FarinoGraph with newer features and optimized user friendliness.
Recently acquired by Austrian leading technology firm Anton Paar, Brabender holds a distinguished reputation for its measurement and process engineering solutions, tailored to test a wide spectrum of raw materials and facilitate recipe and process development.
The FarinoGraph, which determines the water absorption capacity of flour and the rheological properties of dough, is the successor to the Farinograph-TS and features a slim and ergonomic design.
“Measurements with the new FarinoGraph are now even more automated and timesaving. For instance, we have implemented an artificial intelligence based on previous measurements to predict the measurement curve and added a function to save measurement time,” said Viktor Schäfer, business development manager software solutions at Brabender.
According to the company, Brabender Prediction is the name of the feature that checks and calculates the evaluation points during the measurement and predicts the torque curve in real time.
With the help of this live feedback, the measurement can be stopped prematurely and the predicted values may be used instead. The AutoStop function ensures that the device stops after the measurement is complete, saving time.
“Many customers plan a buffer time for the measurements so that the measurements are complete,” Schäfer said. “With the Autostop function, this time is now eliminated as soon as all evaluation points have been reached.”
The new device does not only save space in the laboratory, but also guarantees long spare parts availability in the future.
Like its predecessor models, it consists of a drive unit with infinitely variable speed control and a connected measuring kneader for kneading the dough to be tested.
“The FarinoGraph measures the kneading resistance as a function of the viscosity of the dough as torque,” Schäfer said. “This makes it possible to map water absorption, dough development time, dough stability, and the degree of dough softness.”
A built-in sensor measures the sample temperature of doughs and it detects the temperature in the environment and displays the humidity in the room via an additionally available temperature tracker, which can be connected via Bluetooth.
The FarinoGraph is suitable for all types of dough, whether gluten-free, sponge dough, soft and hard wheat according to standard specifications or for harder doughs made from rye flour and hard biscuit dough, for example.
Brabender also has optimized the AquaInject, an automatic water dosing system for everyday laboratory use, as an optional accessory.
The automatic dosing system eliminates the usual titration by hand, including the laborious and time-consuming refilling of the burette.
With the new AquaInject, automatic and precise titration curves also can be created, saving manual experiments.
Additionally, evaluations of the instrument are even more efficient with the EvaluationEditor and SmartCorrelation functions.
“Personalized evaluations of mathematical operations with measured values can be displayed via the EvaluationEditor, presenting useful comparisons and analyses,” Schäfer said. “With the correlation function, different measurement data can be compared and reference curves can be created by the user.”
The MetaBridge software solution, already known from other Brabender devices, also is installed on the new FarinoGraph.
It offers flexible data access via a web browser or the integrated remote maintenance and feedback function for the fastest possible support by Brabender technicians.
It also enables the automatic transfer of measured values between the FarinoGraph and other Brabender devices.
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