Fries, potato wedges, potato croquettes, rösti rounds, potato slices. Every year, Aviko produces one hundred thousand tons of these types of frozen potato products. All products are pre-fried in large ovens with oil. In this part of the production process, the risk of fire was not yet fully under control. But thanks to the expertise and solution provided by Mactwin, this is now a thing of the past.

At the production location in Lomm (Limburg), we are invited to observe the solution we developed in practice. Marc Rossel, SHE Manager for Aviko’s production locations in Lomm and Cuijk, explains that when producing fries, there is always a fire risk, and Aviko has already taken many precautions. “But in some areas, the risk of fire is higher than in others, particularly where we apply an extra coating layer to our potato products to keep them crispy,” says Rossel. “A specific risk is posed by the tray where the leftover coating falls. These residues are still warm and mixed with oil. Combined with the high ambient temperature near the ovens, this waste can start to smolder and eventually ignite. To prevent a fire, we looked for a way to detect the rising temperature in the tray—the smoldering process.”

Bringing together knowledge and experience

Jeroen Helders, Insurance Risk Manager at parent company Cosun, continues: “Mactwin has extensive experience in thermally detecting smoldering in the waste industry. Since we were dealing with a similar risk here, we turned to their expertise. We combined our knowledge of the baking process with Mactwin’s knowledge and experience with thermal cameras. Together, we developed a test setup with two thermal cameras for one of our production lines. The goal: to detect smoldering in the tray containing the waste. We were well aware from the start that ‘first time right’ would be an illusion, and that a process of testing and optimizing would follow. This was due to the conditions in our production hall.”

Extreme conditions require innovation

Of course, as much as possible was anticipated in advance regarding the on-site conditions. However, some unforeseen issues arose along the way. For example, the cleaning agent used to clean the machines was found to damage the camera lenses. During the testing phase, Mactwin developed a special, compact stainless steel camera housing to prevent the cleaning agent from reaching the camera lens. Additionally, the standard wall mount was not strong enough to withstand the extreme conditions, so it was replaced with a sturdier stainless steel version. Positioning the cameras was also part of the testing phase. The cameras needed to be positioned in such a way that there were no ‘blind spots’ and that smoldering in any part of the tray would be detected.

Fastest detection method

Jeroen Verheij, Technical Project Leader at Aviko Lomm, says the testing phase has now been completed and the smoldering detection system is running satisfactorily on the first production line. “The two thermal cameras now have full visibility of the waste in the tray and continuously measure the temperature. The thermal images from both cameras are displayed on screens in the operator room. As soon as the measured temperature in the waste exceeds the set threshold, our operators receive an alert (an acoustic signal), and they can take immediate action to prevent a fire from occurring. There is no faster way to detect smoldering, and our production staff and operators are convinced of this. Since the acceptance of the system by production staff is critical, we involved all operators with a key focus on safety in this project. They have further emphasized the importance of the smoldering detection system within their teams.”