Patent Application
20250003599
The present embodiments relate to a gas oven cooking appliance, with particular embodiments shown for a gas oven appliance with an air frying system.
Typical gas oven cooking appliances get warm, buoyant forces come into play, whereby a pressure gradient is established and the hot air and products of combustion rise. An exhaust vent is generally disposed near the top of the volume such that the hot air and combustion products flow out of the exhaust vent. This ultimately produces a stable, steady state flow pattern through the entire cooking appliance, whereby fresh air is drawn to the gas burner and a hot mix of excess air and combustion products flow up and out through the exhaust vent.
It has been found, however, that while the air flow is being established during the warmup phase and/or during operation, combustion may be less than optimal, as are the quality and stability of the flames established at the gas burner. This is partially due to an inefficient influx of fresh air and/or air flow available to the flames and/or an inefficient evacuation of combustion products from the oven cavity and/or burner box surrounding the gas burner when additional air flows (e.g. fans) are circulated/introduced within the cavity. Thus, there is a need for reducing/minimizing the effect of air flow (e.g. heated, forced) introduced to and/or removed from the oven cavity (e.g. via the air frying system), stabilize combustion product (e.g. quality and stability of the flames generated by the gas burner), and/or separate the pulled air to the heating element and/or the forced heated air from the heating element away from the combustion products of the gas burner vented through the exhaust vent of the oven cavity.
Therefore, a need continues to exist in the art for a manner of improving combustion of a gas oven burner (e.g. a steady state flow pattern, etc.), particularly during air frying and/or forced convection cooking modes.
The herein-described embodiments address these and other problems associated with the art by providing a cooking appliance including an air frying system with venting of combustion products emitted by a gas burner disposed under the oven cavity.
In some embodiments, a cooking appliance may include a housing having an oven cavity. In various embodiments, the appliance may include an exhaust vent disposed proximate a top of the oven cavity. In some embodiments, the appliance may include a gas burner disposed under the oven cavity. In various embodiments, the appliance may include a heating element and/or a fan disposed over the top of the oven cavity. In some embodiments, the gas burner, the heating element, and the fan are configured to operate at the same time for air frying the contents within the oven cavity while maintaining a stabilized combustion product generated by the gas burner.
In addition, in some embodiments, the heating element and/or the fan may be disposed in a hood over the oven cavity. In various embodiments, the appliance may include a cover having a plurality of apertures positioned between the hood and the oven cavity. In various embodiments, the plurality of apertures of the cover may be at substantially the same elevation as the exhaust vent. In some embodiments, the plurality of apertures of the cover may be distal from the exhaust vent. In various embodiments, the plurality of apertures of the cover may include one or more exhaust apertures surrounding one or more intake apertures. In some embodiments, the one or more intake apertures may be centrally located within the cover. In various embodiments, the one or more exhaust apertures may be proximate opposing sides in a direction towards sides of the oven cavity and/or proximate a front side in a direction towards a front of the oven cavity. In some embodiments, the exhaust vent may be disposed proximate a back of the oven cavity. In various embodiments, the appliance may include a hood disposed over the top of the oven cavity and containing the heating element and the fan. In some embodiments, the hood may include a top wall with depending side walls connecting to the top of the oven cavity. In various embodiments, the hood side wall may be configured to direct air flow away from the exhaust vent. In some embodiments, the appliance may include a cover disposed over an opening defined by the depending side walls of the hood. In some embodiments, the cover may include an intake aperture and an exhaust aperture spaced outwardly from the intake aperture. In various embodiments, the exhaust aperture may be configured to direct air flow away from the exhaust vent. In some embodiments, the exhaust aperture may be spaced away from the exhaust vent in a direction towards a front of the oven cavity.
In some embodiments, a cooking appliance may include a housing including an oven cavity. In various embodiments, the appliance may include an exhaust vent disposed proximate a top of the oven cavity. In some embodiments, one or more gas burners may be disposed under the oven cavity. In various embodiments, the appliance may include a hood disposed over the top of the oven cavity. In some embodiments, the hood may include a top wall and depending side walls extending from the top wall to the top of the oven cavity. In some embodiments, the hood and/or top wall may define an opening. In various embodiments, the appliance may include one or more covers with at least one intake aperture and/or at least one exhaust aperture may be disposed over the opening. In some embodiments, the cover may be proximate the top of the oven cavity to position at least one exhaust aperture at or above the top wall containing the exhaust vent. In various embodiments, the appliance may include a heating element and/or a fan disposed over the top of the oven cavity within the hood.
In addition, in some embodiments, the cover may be without at least one exhaust aperture between at least one intake aperture and the exhaust vent. In various embodiments, the exhaust vent may be adjacent a rear of the oven cavity, and wherein at least one exhaust aperture may be adjacent a side of the oven cavity and/or a front of the oven cavity, and not adjacent the rear. In some embodiments, an air flow from at least one exhaust aperture may be directed radially outward and/or downwardly from the cover but not towards the exhaust vent. In some embodiments, in a direction from a rear of the oven cavity towards a front of the oven cavity, the exhaust vent may be positioned in the top of the oven cavity, followed by at least one intake aperture in the cover, and then followed by at least one exhaust aperture in the cover. In various embodiments, at least one exhaust aperture may be at the same elevation as the top wall containing the exhaust vent. In some embodiments, a plurality of the exhaust apertures may be adjacent the side wall of the hood distal from the exhaust vent.
In some embodiments, a method of air frying in a gas range appliance may include providing a gas oven appliance having a housing including an oven cavity. In various embodiments, the appliance and/or method may include an exhaust vent disposed proximate a top of the oven cavity. In some embodiments, the appliance and/or method may include a gas burner disposed under the oven cavity. In various embodiments, the appliance and/or method may include a hood disposed over the top of the oven cavity. In some embodiments, the appliance and/or method may include a heating element and/or a fan positioned within the hood disposed over the top of the oven cavity. In various embodiments, the appliance and/or method may include a cover disposed proximate the top of the oven cavity and having a plurality of apertures in fluid communication between the hood and the oven cavity. In some embodiments, the method may include drawing air into the exhaust vent adjacent a first side of the oven cavity. In various embodiments, the method may include forcing heated air through the plurality of apertures from the hood adjacent a second side of the oven cavity different from the first side.
In addition, in some embodiments, drawing air into the exhaust vent may be upwardly along the first side of the oven cavity. In various embodiments, forcing air through the plurality of apertures from the hood may be downwardly along the second side of the oven cavity. In some embodiments, the method may include operating the heating element and/or the fan concurrently with the gas burner. In various embodiments, the method may include maintaining a stabilized combustion product generated by the gas burner. In some embodiments, the method may include reducing countercurrent flow from the forced heating air through the plurality of apertures relative to the air drawn into the exhaust vent. In various embodiments, the exhaust vent may be adjacent the top and the first side of the oven cavity without the plurality of apertures adjacent the top and the first side. In some embodiments, the plurality of apertures may be at substantially the same elevation as the exhaust vent.
These and other advantages and features, which characterize the invention, are set forth in the claims annexed hereto and forming a further part hereof. However, for a better understanding of the invention, and of the advantages and objectives attained through its use, reference should be made to the Drawings, and to the accompanying descriptive matter, in which there is described example embodiments of the invention. This summary is merely provided to introduce a selection of concepts that are further described below in the detailed description, and is not intended to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in limiting the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Turning now to the drawings, wherein like numbers denote like parts throughout the several views,
Cooking appliance 10 may also include various user interface devices, including, for example, control knobs 7 and/or a control panel 8 for controlling the oven 3, air frying system 20, and/or burners 2. It will be appreciated that cooking appliance 10 may include various types of user controls in other embodiments, including various combinations of switches, buttons, knobs and/or sliders, typically disposed at the rear or front (or both) of the cooking appliance. Further, in some embodiments, one or more touch screens may be employed for interaction with a user and/or a display for providing visual feedback as to the activation state of the cooking appliance. As such, in some embodiments, the display may be touch sensitive to receive user input in addition to displaying status information and/or otherwise interacting with a user. In still other embodiments, cooking appliance 10 may be controllable remotely, e.g., via a smartphone, tablet, personal digital assistant or other networked computing device, e.g., using a web interface or a dedicated app.
The display may also vary in different embodiments, and may include individual indicators, segmented alphanumeric displays, and/or dot matrix displays, and may be based on various types of display technologies, including LEDs, vacuum fluorescent displays, incandescent lights, etc. Further, in some embodiments audio feedback may be provided to a user via one or more speakers, and in some embodiments, user input may be received via a spoken or gesture-based interface.
As noted above, cooking appliance 10 of
In turn, a cooking element may be considered to include practically any type of energy-producing element used in residential applications in connection with cooking food, e.g., employing various cooking technologies such as electric, gas, light, microwaves, induction, convection, radiation, etc. In the case of an oven, for example, one or more cooking elements therein may be gas, electric, light, or microwave cooking elements in some embodiments, while in the case of a stovetop, one or more cooking elements therein may be gas, electric, or inductive cooking elements in some embodiments. Further, it will be appreciated that any number of cooking elements may be provided in a cooking appliance (including multiple cooking elements for performing different types of cooking cycles such as baking, air frying, and/or broiling, including multiple bake and/or multiple broiler cooking elements, as well as one or more convection cooking elements), and that multiple types of cooking elements may be combined in some embodiments, e.g., combinations of microwave and light cooking elements in some oven embodiments. In the one embodiment shown, the cooking element may include at least a gas burner element 13.
A cooking appliance consistent with the invention also generally includes one or more controllers configured to control the cooking elements and otherwise perform cooking operations at the direction of a user.
As shown in
Controller 42 may also be interfaced with various sensors 58 located to sense environmental conditions inside of and/or external to cooking appliance 40, e.g., one or more temperature sensors, humidity sensors, air quality sensors, smoke sensors, carbon monoxide sensors, odor sensors and/or electronic nose sensors, among others. Such sensors may be internal or external to cooking appliance 40, and may be coupled wirelessly to controller 42 in some embodiments. Sensors 58 may include, for example, one or more temperature sensors for sensing an air temperature within an oven cavity, including, for example, a temperature sensor for sensing temperature in a center of the oven cavity and/or one or more temperature sensors for sensing temperature in the top and/or bottom of the oven cavity, as well as one or more flame detectors, e.g., flame sense rods or other suitable types of flame detectors capable of sensing a flame emitted by a gas burner.
In some embodiments, controller 42 may also be coupled to one or more network interfaces 60, e.g., for interfacing with external devices via wired and/or wireless networks such as Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, cellular and other suitable networks, collectively represented in
In some embodiments, controller 42 may operate under the control of an operating system and may execute or otherwise rely upon various computer software applications, components, programs, objects, modules, data structures, etc. In addition, controller 42 may also incorporate hardware logic to implement some or all of the functionality disclosed herein. Further, in some embodiments, the sequences of operations performed by controller 42 to implement the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented using program code including one or more instructions that are resident at various times in various memory and storage devices, and that, when read and executed by one or more hardware-based processors, perform the operations embodying desired functionality. Moreover, in some embodiments, such program code may be distributed as a program product in a variety of forms, and that the invention applies equally regardless of the particular type of computer readable media used to actually carry out the distribution, including, for example, non-transitory computer readable storage media. In addition, it will be appreciated that the various operations described herein may be combined, split, reordered, reversed, varied, omitted, parallelized and/or supplemented with other techniques known in the art, and therefore, the invention is not limited to the particular sequences of operations described herein.
Numerous variations and modifications to the cooking appliances illustrated in
As noted above, in a cooking appliance 10 that relies on gas burners 13 as oven cooking elements, the appliance is generally designed to incorporate a path for drawing in fresh air for combustion and/or for venting the products of that combustion while air frying.
Each gas oven burner 13 may include an associated flame detector, igniter, and flame spreader. In addition, burner box 110 may also include one or more vents 16a provided in oven bottom 16 to vent the combustion products and excess air into oven cavity 14.
In some implementations, the appliance 10 and/or air frying system 20 may force (e.g. circulate) heated air towards (e.g. radially outward, downwardly, etc.) the contents to be air fried and/or towards the food container/drawer 1, if used, containing the contents within. The heated/forced air (e.g. intake air A1, exhaust air A2 relative to the air fryer system) may be incorporated before, during, and/or after the gas burner 13 is operating (e.g. combustion, flame, heating, exhausting oven cavity air A3). It will be appreciated that the heated air A2 may be forced into the cavity 14 and/or air intake A1 of the system 20 while the gas burner 13 is operating and/or when exhausting air A3 from the cavity 14 via an exhaust vent 11. For example, while not disrupting the combustion and/or air flow from the gas burner and exiting through the exhaust vent 11. As shown in the Figures, the appliance 10 and/or air frying system 20, or portions thereof, may include a hood or housing 30 positioning one or more heating elements 70 and a fan 80 therein. The hood 30 may position the one or more heating elements 70 and/or fan 80 proximate the top 15 (e.g. wall) of the cavity (e.g. above the oven cavity and/or top wall). The hood 30, heating element 70, and/or fan 80 may be positioned or disposed above/over the oven cavity 14 and/or top wall 15 of the oven cavity 14. The hood 30 may be separated from the oven cavity 14 by the oven top 15 and/or a cover 90. In some embodiments not shown, the hood 30 may be integral to the top wall 15 (e.g. deep drawn emboss). The heating element 70 and fan 80 may be disposed in the hood 30 over or above the cooking cavity 14. The housing or hood 30 may include a top wall 32 and depending side walls 34. The hood 30, or portions thereof (e.g. top wall, side wall) may direct air flow away from the exhaust vent 11. The side walls 34 (e.g. distal ends) may engage or connect or be proximate to the top 15 of the oven cavity 14 and/or cover 90. The side walls 34, cover 90, hood 30, and/or top 15 may define one or more openings 22 between the hood 30 and the oven cavity 14. One or more covers 90, if used, may be disposed on or over the opening 22. The hood 30, cover 90, and/or top wall 15 may define or include a plurality of apertures 92. The apertures 92 may be positioned or in fluid communication between the housing 30 and the oven cavity 14. The cover 90 and/or one or more apertures 92 (e.g. intake 93, exhaust 94) are positioned proximate the top wall 15 and/or exhaust vent 11. As shown in the one embodiment in
It should be understood that the hood 30 may be a variety of shapes, sizes, quantities, and construction and still be within the scope of the invention. The hood 30 is shown as having a planar top wall 32, however the top wall may be domed in some embodiments. Further, the one or more depending side walls 34 of the hood may be vertically orientated rather than being flared/angled outwardly as shown in the one embodiment. Although the hood 30 is shown as rectangular in shape and opening downwardly to define the 22, other shapes may be used such as, but is not limited to, circular, spherical, semi-spherical, or oval shape.
It will be appreciated that, when bake gas oven burner 13 is ignited and emitting a flame, a natural flow generally develops over time, in part due to the injection of gas and sometimes additional primary air to the internal volume of the appliance, which displaces the air within the volume. As the appliance gets warm, buoyant forces come into play, whereby a thermal gradient is established and the hot air and products of combustion rise. An exhaust vent 11 is generally disposed near the top of the volume or oven cavity 14 and/or proximate the back 17 of the oven cavity such that the hot air and combustion products A3 flow out or are drawn out of the exhaust vent 11. This ultimately produces a stable, steady state flow pattern, represented by the arrows in
In some implementations, upon operation of the air frying system 20, or portions thereof, the gas movement/combustion may be less controlled, slower, or may be counter to the steady state flow pattern that is established to exhaust the combustion A3 through the exhaust vent 11. Embodiments consistent with the invention, however, may incorporate the hood 30 and/or cover 90 (e.g. aperture(s), 93, 94) to direct air flow into and/or out of the air frying system 20 (e.g. hood, apertures) to improve or maintain the steady state flow paths through the exhaust vent 11. The air frying system 20, or portions thereof, may assist in, but is not limited to, stabilizing the flame of the gas burner 13, stabilize the combustion product generated by the gas burner 13, and/or reduce the drag force of the countercurrent flow between air A3 passing through the exhaust vent 11 from the oven cavity 14 and the air (e.g. force/heated, A1, and/or A2) in fluid communication (e.g. passing into and/or out of) with the air frying system 20 (e.g. cover, hood, exhaust apertures, intake apertures).
In some implementations, the cover 90, hood 30, and/or apertures 92 may reduce the effect on the exhaust air A3 through the exhaust vent 11 and/or combustion (e.g. characteristics, desired, optimal), etc. The air intake and/or exhaust via the cover/hood/apertures (e.g. intake/exhaust)/fryer may not be in the immediate vicinity of the exhaust vent 11. The cover 90/hood 30/apertures 92/intake 93/exhaust 94/fryer, or portions thereof, may be at and/or above the exhaust vent 11 and/or top wall 15 (e.g. substantially the same elevation and/or above). The hood 30/apertures 92/cover 90 may be configured to direct air flow A2 (e.g. heated) away from the exhaust vent 11 and/or reduce the effect on the gas/air A3 exiting the exhaust vent. The hood 30/apertures 92/cover 90 may be configured to direct air flow A1 (e.g. pulled) away from the exhaust vent 11 and/or reduce the effect on the gas/air A3 exiting the exhaust vent. The hood 30/apertures 92/cover 90 may be configured to direct both air flow A1 (e.g. pulled) and air flow A2 (e.g. heated) away from the exhaust vent 11 and/or reduce the effect on the gas/air A3 exiting the exhaust vent. As shown in the one embodiment, the plurality of apertures 92 (e.g. intake 93, exhaust 94) and/or cover 90 may be at substantially the same elevation as the exhaust vent 11 and/or top wall 15 of the oven cavity 14. At least one exhaust aperture 94 may be at substantially the same elevation as the top wall 15 and/or exhaust vent 11 (e.g. defined/confined by the top wall). At least one intake aperture 93 may be at substantially the same elevation as the top wall 15 and/or exhaust vent 11. The cover 90, of portions thereof, may be at substantially the same elevation as the top wall 15 and/or exhaust vent 11. The plurality of the apertures 92 (e.g. intake, exhaust, etc.) of the cover 90 and/or air flow A1/A2 may be distal or spaced away from the exhaust vent 11 (e.g. in the horizontal plane) and/or air flow A3. For example as shown in the one embodiment, the exhaust aperture 94 may be spaced away from the exhaust vent 11 in a direction (e.g. horizontal) towards the front 19 of the oven cavity (e.g. in the horizontal plane). The one or more exhaust apertures 94 of the cover 90 may surround or be radially spaced outwardly from the one or more intake apertures 93 of the cover 90 (e.g. horizontally, in the horizontal plane) in some embodiments. In the one embodiment shown, the intake aperture 93 may be spaced away from the exhaust vent 11 in a direction (e.g. horizontal) towards the front 19 of the oven cavity (e.g. in the horizontal plane). The one or more intake apertures 93 may be centrally located within the cover 90 and/or distal/spaced from the exhaust vent 11. Further for example, as shown in the one embodiment, the exhaust apertures 94 may be spaced away from the exhaust vent 11 in a direction (e.g. horizontal) towards one or more sides 18 (e.g. first side, second side) of the oven cavity 14 (e.g. in the horizontal plane). The one or more exhaust apertures 94 may be proximate the opposing sides or lateral sides 18 and/or the front 19 (e.g. side) in a direction towards the front of the oven cavity 14. The one or more exhaust apertures 94 may be adjacent the one or more side walls 34 of the hood 30 distal from the back 17 of the oven cavity 14 and/or exhaust vent 11, not the hood side wall adjacent the exhaust vent. The one or more intake apertures 93 may be adjacent the center of the hood 30 distal from the back 17 of the oven cavity 14 and/or exhaust vent 11 and/or not adjacent the hood side wall 34 adjacent the exhaust vent 11. The one or more exhaust apertures 94 and/or intake apertures 93 may not be adjacent the back or rear 17 of the oven cavity 14 and/or air flow A3. Further, as shown in the one embodiment, the cover 90 may be without the exhaust aperture(s) 94 between (e.g. in a direction) the exhaust vent 11 and the intake aperture(s) 93. In some embodiments as shown more clearly in
In some implementations, the one or more intake apertures 93 may axially receive air A1 from the oven cavity 14 (e.g. within the center of the cover/hood, not adjacent the exhaust vent 11 and/or air flow A3 (e.g. vertically)) and/or one or more exhaust apertures 94 may exhaust forced/heated air A2 radially outwardly and/or vertically into the oven cavity 14 (e.g. adjacent one or more side walls of the hood/cavity, not adjacent the exhaust vent 11 and/or air flow A3 (e.g. vertically)).
In some implementations, the air frying system 20 and/or gas oven appliance 10 may draw air A3 into the exhaust vent 11 adjacent a first side/portion (e.g. side(s) 18, front 19) of the oven cavity 14 and force heated air A2 from the cover 90 and/or exhaust aperture(s) 94 and/or hood 30 (e.g. heating element, fan) adjacent a different or second side/portion of the oven cavity 14 different from the first side. Alone, or in combination with the air flow A2 configuration, the system 20 and/or gas oven appliance 10 may pull air A1 into the cover 90 and/or aperture(s) 93 and/or hood 30 (e.g. heating element, fan) adjacent a different or third side/portion of the oven cavity 14 different from the first/second side/portion or the same as the second side. The air frying system 20 (e.g. heating element, fan, cover), or portions thereof, may operate (e.g. exhaust air, intake air) when the gas burner 13 is concurrently operating. It is contemplated that the air frying system 20 may operate during a variety of operating conditions of the gas burner (e.g. not operating, operating after initial warm-up period, operating after steady-state natural convection has been established, timed operation, etc.). The fan and/or heating element may operate during, before, and/or after various operating states of the gas burner and/or portions of the oven. The air A3 drawn into the exhaust vent 11 may be along the first side (e.g. back 17) of the oven cavity 14. The forced air A2 may exhaust through the apertures 94 of the hood/cover 30, 90 downwardly along the second side (e.g. side wall(s) 18, front 19, center) of the oven cavity 14. The intake air A1 may be pulled through the apertures 93 of the oven cavity 14 upwardly along the third/second side (e.g. side wall(s) 18, front 19, center, etc.) of the oven cavity 14. When operating, the air frying system 20 may reduce the countercurrent flow or drag from the forced heated air flow A2 through the aperture(s)/cover and/or drawn in air flow A1 through the aperture(s)/cover relative to the air A3 drawn into the exhaust vent 11. In some embodiments, the exhaust vent 11 may be adjacent the top 15 and first side (e.g. back 17) without the aperture(s) (e.g. exhaust, intake) being adjacent to or in the vicinity of the top 15 and first side (e.g. back 17).
Although the heating element 70 is shown as a cal-rod type heating element, it should be understood that a variety of heating elements may be used and still be within the scope of the invention. For example, a heating tube with graphite element may be used in some embodiments. Further, for example, a heating tub with quartz element may be used. In some embodiments, the heating element may be positioned around the fan blade or in front of the fan blades to heat up the intake air. Although the heating element is shown in the one embodiment as circular, it should be understood that the heating element may be a variety of constructions or other geometries such as, but is not limited to, a rectangular shape or oval shape with different passes.
The fan or blowing structure 80 may be a variety of structure, constructions, positions, shapes, and sizes and still circulate air flow relative to the air frying system such as, but is not limited to, an impeller, a flow-through type fan, a turbine-type fan, etc. The motor driven fan 80 (e.g. blades), or portions thereof, may be inside and/or radially inward from the heating element 70 as shown, however the fan may be in a variety of positions relative to the one or more heating elements 70 and still be within the scope of the invention. The motor may be positioned over the hood 30 in some embodiments.
In some implementations, the air frying system 20 and/or appliance 10 may include a structure to reduce the volume of the cooking cavity acted upon by the air frying system. As shown in the one embodiment, a container/drawer 1 may be used to isolate the air frying volume/contents. The container 1 (e.g. rim, opening) may be adjacent the cover 90, hood 30, and/or top wall 15. The opening of the container may be larger than the cover and/or radially outside the one or more apertures 92 (e.g. exhaust, intake). The container may be a variety of shapes, sizes, quantities, and constructions and still be within the scope of the invention.
It will be appreciated that various additional modifications may be made to the embodiments discussed herein, and that a number of the concepts disclosed herein may be used in combination with one another or may be used separately. Therefore, the invention lies in the claims hereinafter appended.
