Refined tech helping equipment company fry up greater possibilities
JD Manufacturing (JDM) in Pine Bluffs, Wyoming, has come a long way from its owners’ roots in a regional snack food company. Now a global equipment manufacturer known for its automatic batch fryers geared toward kettle chip production with around 160 systems on five continents, JDM’s technological innovations have enhanced production capabilities while creating challenges.
Advancements in JDM’s high- capacity batch fryer, including a heat exchanger design that enables the blower to provide greater power without increasing its size, are the latest examples of how owner Dennis Michaud’s knack for problem-solving has directed decades of growth.
INNOVATION EVOLUTION
Dennis and brother Jerry Michaud took the first steps toward forming JDM when they took over Pine Bluffs business Rocky Mountain Snacks.
“Jerry was general manager and I was plant engineer,” Dennis Michaud said. “The company needed to grow but our equipment was outdated — all manual — from the 1950s. There was no automation and it was very inefficient. Food industry processes were still stuck in the 1950s; very few aspects were automated.
“In the potato chip industry, for instance, most people were stirring the chips with a rake by hand. We invented a stirring device to automate the stirring as they fried.”
The company was also co-packing for other businesses and manufacturing chips for companies including Nalley’s Canada, Michaud said.
“When they sent their quality control people to us and saw what we’d done, they liked it so much they wanted us to make some of that equipment for them,” he said. “Jerry and I started a side business manufacturing equipment.”
That was in 1996. In 1999, the brothers sold their interest in the snack food company to focus on making the equipment that had helped them and attracted outside interest.
“We were busier than we could handle, running the snack food company and our new equipment business,” Michaud said. “So we switched to just making the equipment and are still doing that today.”
Dennis took over Jerry’s portion of the business when Jerry retired two years ago. Dennis’ son Tim will soon take the reins of a company with 15 other employees, including Dennis’ son-in-law and controls engineer Joshua Smith.
“We have several projects in the U.S., one in Norway and one in Sweden,” Michaud said. “The batch fryers are our key product, and our new, more efficient version is a really big deal.”
FOCUS ON EFFICIENCY
With many of its clients running at full capacity, JDM has emphasized maximizing production space.
“Recently we’ve had a lot of interest in taking out older, smaller, low- capacity units and replacing them with bigger, more efficient units,” Michaud said. “Building space is expensive.”
JDM has improved fryer efficiency with several innovations, including installing special baffles to the burner tubes. Burner nozzle modifications remove pilot creep while a retracting hood holds heat in and keeps steam out. Electro-polished burner tubes clean easier and conduct heat better than the previous matte finish.
Static mixing technology enables the fryer to heat more evenly and puts less stress on the oil, while reduced exhaust temperatures mean less stress on the exhaust system and fewer potential hazards from high flue temperatures.
The advances increased fryer efficiency by more than 60%, Michaud said.
The fryers can idle on low fire with no pilot creep thanks to nozzle porting that keeps the burners from turning off due to high temperatures. Nozzle modifications also introduce a clean burn near the spark plug igniters, keep them from fouling and help protect the oil from excess heat degradation.
The retractable hood makes a seal around the fry area during cooking and simplifies cleaning. Since there is less air movement around the fryer area, a “steam blanket” forms over the chips, shortening fry times and preventing
oil oxidation.
Recent improvements show exchange efficiencies as high as 85%, Michaud said. JDM fryers built before 2020 were about 50% efficient.
Exhaust temperatures have gone from 900-1,000° F to 600-700° F. BTU (British thermal unit) requirements are now as low as 1.25 MBtu (Million British thermal units) per 300 pounds per hour.
KETTLE CONUNDRUM
Batch frying gives kettle chips — whether made from potatoes, sweet potatoes, parsnips, carrots or beets — their distinctive texture and taste. JDM’s fryers feature a heat exchanger design that boosts production capacity, but its design places substantial demands on the blower.
To meet these demands, JDM enhanced its systems with the Nautilair 12.3-inch High Energy Blower by Bison, developed for greater power without increasing the blower size.
JDM’s high-capacity batch fryer, the JD500CXI, is engineered to produce 500 pounds of chips per hour by injecting flame into an 8-inch stainless steel exchanger tube extending into the oil bath, where the chips are fried.
Air is released through an exhaust flue. Two-inch cross tubes enlarge the surface area, with static mixers inside the tubes. The features capture additional heat, but also increase back pressure, causing the blower to work harder.
Standard blowers generally support the 500-pounds-per-hour performance, but struggle when the flue system does not meet JDM’s specifications. To address
this challenge, JDM sought a more powerful blower that could integrate with their existing fryer system and withstand exposure to moisture, oil and aerosolized caustic substances.
Smith, JDM controls engineer, said JDM figured replacing 3-phase AC motors with brushless DC motors would increase power without changing the blower size. The design of the Nautilair blower’s eight backward-curved fins further boosts performance, reduces noise and maintains effective cooling.
“We upgraded from a 1 horsepower AC motor to a 7.5 HP DC motor, within the same space,” Smith said. “The power density is astounding.”
Engineers had to resolve a few early issues. For instance, the induced voltage from the fryers’ ignition transformers, which convert 120-volt power to 6,000 volts to ignite the burners, interfered with the electronics of the Nautilair brushless direct current (BLDC) drive. JDM and Bison engineers solved the problem by electrically isolating the ignition transformers.
Bison recommended enhancing the blowers with the company’s upgraded silicone electronics coating to extend their lifespan and ended up releasing a new model specifically designed to meet these requirements.
Nautilair blowers’ BLDC controllers also allow for modulation of blower speed. That gives JDM fryers control at low and high flame levels, which translates to reduced fuel costs for customers.
Even with a complex exhaust flue configuration, the Nautilair blower has increased air pressure and boosted production to 585 pounds of kettle chips per hour — a 17% improvement, according to JDM.
The company plans to integrate Nautilair blowers into its entire product line.
“This move underscores our commitment to delivering high- performance, environmentally conscious solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers,” Smith said.
