How do you come up with an industry-revolutionizing invention? Apparently, in your sleep.
Hi, My name is Dr. Bernhard Noll, and that’s how I came up with the idea for the Rapidojet. I believe this bakery equipment to be the future of mixing for baking and the food industry. Rapidojet uses a liquid jet stream and mixes free falling dry ingredients in record time, saving money for food producers while creating better products.
It came about through a stroke of inspiration, hard work and a lot of backyard testing.
During the years 1990 to 1995, I was researching baking processes with the Department of Cereal Technology at the University of Hohenheim, Germany. As a food engineer, the work ignited my passion for advancing processing steps and creating innovative baking tools.
While there, I became involved with the annual “Tagung für Bäckereitechnologie” baking conference and continued participating even after leaving the University.
On the second day of the 2001 conference, tired and late to a session, I slipped into the back of the room. As someone lectured on the basics of a dough mixer, I nodded off to sleep. I awoke with an idea flashing across my brain for the next BIG thing in bakery equipment.
Water +Energy = Rapidojet
“Is it possible to combine water and energy by using a high pressure water jet? Would this develop dough?” I remembered thinking. I smiled and thought to myself, “You are tired; it is a stupid idea. There are so many people in the room more knowledgable about baking technology. If it would work, somebody would have already done it.”
At the expense of my dream, I experienced dough monster hands.
But the idea persisted in my mind, until my wife told me to either stop talking about it or make things happen! I started experimenting with plastic boxes and a pressure washer in the garden, assisted by my then 12-year-old daughter. The makeshift experiment had a flow rate of six seconds into one kg of bread mix, and to my excitement, the dough came out ready to bake!
See the first Rapidojet in motion
Making the Rapidojet an Industry Standard for Bakery Equipment
Rapidojet’s first prototype
Then began the difficult and time-consuming process of prototype testing and production to prepare my invention for sale. It was a long journey from DIY models made in my parent’s garage to manufacturing a commercial unit. Two years after the initial test, the first industrial Rapidojet was installed in 2004, with a production capacity of 3,500 kg/h.
Rapidojet then
Like any invention, there were still advancements to be made. After many experiments and adaptations, this piece of bakery equipment has now reached a production rate of 5,000 kg/hr. The machine is now sold around the world, with some large food processing companies as clients.
Rapidojet today
Snacks, Gluten-Free…
We are working on expanding the versatility of the Rapidojet, currently taking on snack production and gluten free bread—and of course, convincing the food industry to embrace the Rapidojet as a new dough mixer. But with product improvements like a naturally longer shelf life, and production savings like lower energy costs, I’m sure there a bright future is ahead.
Learn more about my invention, the Rapidojet, the baking industry’s newest invention in bakery equipment! Visit my website, or the Rapidojet distributors: AHK Solutions in Europe and Bakery Concepts International in the U.S. and for the rest of the world.
