As consumers buy billions of dollars of Valentine’s Day candy, did you know that an estimated 70 percent of chocolate produced in the United States is pumped through a Viking Pump? And Viking, an IDEX company, improved those chocolate pumps last year based on customer feedback.
Viking introduced new positive displacement pumps for candy factories, redesigning them with double O-ring seals to eliminate leaking, which had been necessary to lubricate shaft packing in the past, but which wasted valuable chocolate and made a mess.
In its first year, the new pump design has been embraced by many major American chocolate manufacturers.
To eliminate leakage, earn hygienic certification and to reduce pump LM variation within and between plants, the Viking team designed its new chocolate pump. It includes a leak preventative seal, EC1935 compliance (an EU certification on food contact materials safety), and a single product – 224A-CHC1, which works on all chocolates thanks to flush and suckback grooves that flush chocolate behind the rotor, drilled idlers that keep the idler bushing lubricated, and steel or ductile iron rotors that can handle the range of viscosities.
Located in Cedar Falls, Iowa, Viking Pump has been a trusted partner to chocolate and confectionery processors around the world for more than a century. Known for their ability to move problematic liquids, Viking’s internal gear pumps transport, recirculate and process chocolate all over a factory – from trucks to tanks to enrobers.
The internal gear pump operates with a pump rotor and an idler. The pump rotor (outer gear) is mounted to the pump’s shaft and rotates at slow speeds, turning the idler (inner) gear on the idler pin. The gears open large spaces between their teeth as they turn, creating low pressure zones that enable atmospheric pressure to flow chocolate in. As the gears close together, the spaces collapse, and chocolate flows out the discharge port.
Check out Viking Pump’s video explaining how it all works.
