Dough extruders and methods

摘要

A dough extruder is disclosed that is configured to provide a continuous dough rope suitable for cracker products using a straight extended low friction compression chamber and a die plate oriented substantially perpendicular to a laminar flow of the dough. In one embodiment, the extruder can have a compressive force sufficient to extrude a plastic mass in a laminar flow in the range of about less than 120 psi; a compression chamber providing for an interior coefficient of friction in the range of about 0.2 and 0.35; and a die plate horizontally aligned with the longitudinal axis of the compressive force.

主权项

1. An extruder, comprising:
a compression generator configured to extrude a plastic mass in a laminar flow with a pressure in a range of less than 120 psi; a compression chamber having an upstream opening to receive the plastic mass from the compression generator, wherein at least a portion of an interior of the compression chamber having a coefficient of friction in a range of about 0.2 and 0.35; a die plate attached to a downstream opening of the compression chamber, the die plate being horizontally aligned with a longitudinal direction of a compressive force and the laminar flow of the plastic mass; and wherein the die plate has a plurality of lands across a front face and is oriented downstream of the compression generator at a distance to minimize turbulence and pulsing of the plastic mass while maintaining the laminar flow and minimizing a pressure drop, wherein the die plate is configured to maintain about 5 to 15 percent density uniformity of the plastic mass across the front face of the die plate.