Patent Grant
10962230
N/A
N/A
The present invention relates to ovens for the preparation of food, and in particular, to a multi-zone oven providing independent control of the temperature and use of steam in each zone.
Combination steam and convection ovens (“combi-ovens) cook using combinations of convection and steam. In convection cooking, heated air is circulated rapidly through the cooking compartment to break up insulating, stagnant layers of air around the food, thereby increasing the rate of heat transfer. Higher velocity air typically increases the rate of heat transfer from the air to the food by further disrupting the insulating, stagnant layers of air around the food, as does striking the largest surface of the food with air delivered from in a generally perpendicular direction to the food, since perpendicular air is more disruptive to such insulating, stagnant layers of air than air gliding across the largest surface of the food. High humidity further enhances the rate of heat transfer to the food as a result of the high specific heat of water compared to dry air, and such humidity may be used at temperatures approximating the boiling point of water (often called “steam-cooking”) or in a superheated state well above the boiling temperature of water (often called “combi-cooking”). Steam can also reduce water loss from the food. Combi-ovens are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,307,244 and 6,188,045 assigned to the assignee of the present invention and hereby incorporated by reference.
Professional kitchens are often called upon to simultaneously prepare a wide variety of dishes, each one optimally being cooked for different periods of time at different cooking temperatures, optimally according to a schedule that enables multiple different dishes to emerge from the oven at the same time for the purpose of coordinating simultaneous delivery of a variety of “fresh out of the oven” food items to different customers at the same table. U.S. Pat. No. 9,677,774, also assigned to the assignee of the present invention and hereby incorporated by reference, describes a multi-zone convection oven that can provide independently temperature, blower speed and cook time controlled cooking cavities for this purpose. In one embodiment of this invention, the zone sizes may be changed by removal of the shelves.
The present inventors have determined that multi-cavity ovens can be successfully cleaned by placing distributed spray nozzles in the individual cavities thus permitting simplified cleaning without removal of partitions between the cavities. The smaller cavity size makes it possible little as for a single spray nozzle to adequately cover the interior of the cavity particularly when augmented with fan and steam operation. Each nozzle requires a only the share of water needed for that cavity, allowing a single pump to simultaneously supply recycled cleaning solution to each cavity.
Specifically, in one embodiment, the invention provides a multi-cavity oven having a housing defining an interior cooking volume subdivided into multiple cooking cavities, the cooking volume being surrounded by insulated outer walls and having at least one door that may open and close to provide access to the interior cooking volume. Each cavity may provide a separate heater and a thermal sensor. The multi-cavity oven may further include a controller receiving a user command to independently set temperature of the different cooking cavities. The multi-cavity oven further includes at least one spray nozzle in each of the cooking cavities controlled by the controller to direct water at walls of the cooking cavities for cleaning the cooking cavities.
It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to simplify the cleaning process of a multi-cavity oven without removal of partitions between cavities.
The water jets may extend from a side wall of the cooking cavity.
It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to provide a cleaning system that does not interfere with removal of the partitions or add unnecessary height to the oven.
The cooking cavities may include an upper wall and lower wall spanned by at least four vertically extending sidewalls including a front sidewall provided by an inner surface of the door and the at least one spray nozzle may be positioned to spread water over each of the upper wall, lower wall, and four vertically extending sidewalls by direct impingement or splashing. In one embodiment, the spray nozzles are stationarily fixed with respect to walls of the cooking cavities.
It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to provide a simplified cleaning system that does not require auxiliary mechanical distribution of the water, for example, through the use of sprinkler arms, for complete cleaning.
At least one of the one upper and lower walls may be removable.
It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to provide a cleaning system that does not require removal of shelves or disassembly of the oven.
The multi-cavity oven may further include a set of fans circulating air independently through the cooking cavities in isolation from the other cooking cavities and the controller may operate the fans during operation of the spray nozzles to promote dispersion of water over each of the upper wall, lower wall, and vertically extending sidewalls.
It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to exploit the multiple fan system of the multi-cavity oven to improve dispersion over that which could be provided, for example, by a central fan system.
The multi-cavity oven may further include a spray nozzle outside of the cooking cavity within an air channel communicating between the cooking cavity and a fan associated with the cooking cavity
It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to employ the air distribution system as a separate water source to provide more complete coverage of the interiors of the cavities, particularly when jet plate systems are used.
The controller may operate the heater during operation of the spray nozzle to promote heating of the water.
It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to boost the water temperature of the cleaning materials for improved cleaning.
Each of the water jets may connect to a common manifold receiving water from a source controlled by the controller and providing a spray nozzle in each of the cooking cavities for injection of water into the cooking cavities for cleaning.
It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to simplify the water cleaning system through the use of the centrally controlled manifold.
Each cavity may connect to a drain port providing a drain conduit leading to a common drain receptacle positioned below a lowermost cooking cavity, and the multi-cavity oven may further include an electric pump controlled by the controller, the electric pump communicating with a common drain receptacle for pumping water from the drain into the manifold and wherein the drain provides separate connections to each of the cooking cavities.
It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to provide individual drains from each cavity permitting the use of a single pump for recycling of liquid from the cavities without the need to create direct cavity to cavity connections that would breach the thermal and humidity isolation.
The drain ports may communicate with the common drain receptacle through respective backflow limiters blocking conduction of steam between the cooking cavities through the drain ports.
It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to permit a shared drainage handling system without providing a path of steam transfer between the cavities that would defeat separate humidity control.
The backflow limiter may be a P-trap.
It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to provide a simple backflow limiting device that allows free passage of excess liquid from the cavity without presenting a direct path for steam.
The common drain receptacle may provide a user accessible opening for the introduction of cleaning chemicals to the water.
It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to provide a simple method of introducing cleaning materials into the wash water.
The water jets may be positioned on a same side of each cooking cavity as the drain port.
It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to maximize the round-trip movement of water through the cavity for improved cleaning.
The multi-cavity oven may further include a steam generator system introducing steam into selective cooking cavities according to an electric signal; and the controller may further operate the steam generator system during the activation of the water jets.
It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to employ high temperature steam for removing material such as grease from the cooking surfaces.
These particular objects and advantages may apply to only some embodiments falling within the claims and thus do not define the scope of the invention.
Referring now to
The walls 14 enclose a generally rectangular cooking volume 16 having an opening 18 through a front wall 14f to provide access to the cooking volume 16 for inserting and removing food. The cooking volume 16 may be subdivided into cooking cavities 20a, 20b, and 20c (for example) from top to bottom, by means of shelf assemblies 22 as will be described in more detail below.
The perimeter of the opening 18 and a front edge of each shelf assembly 22 support an elastomeric gasket 24 that may seal against an inner surface of a glass panel 26 providing an inner surface of a door 28. The door 28 hinges about a vertical axis at the front edge of wall 14b to move between open and closed states, the latter sealing the cavities 20a-c with respect to the outside air and with respect to each other. The door 28 may be held in the closed state by a latch mechanism and handle 29 as is generally understood in the art. In one embodiment the glass panel 26 of the door 28 extends as a continuous surface over the openings of each of the cavities 20, however the invention also contemplates separate glass panels or suffer doors associated with each of the cavities 20.
An upper portion of the front wall 14f may support user controls 30 including input control such as one or more dials and output display such as an LCD display for communicating with the user. A condensation tray 32 may extend forward from a lower edge of the front wall 14f to catch condensation from the inner surface of the glass panel 26 when the door 28 is being opened or closed.
Referring now also to
An uppermost component of the shelf assembly 22 is a wire rack 34 having an outer wire element 36 forming a generally rectangular perimeter defining an edge of the shelf assembly 22. The outer wire element 36 supports a set of parallel wire rods 38 between a front and rear edge of the wire element 36 that may support food items while allowing ample airflow therearound.
The outer wire element 36 has, in each corner, a downwardly extending foot 40 serving to support the wire rack 34 in spaced elevation above a generally rectangular and planar upper surface of a lower jet plate 42.
The lower jet plate 42 provides an upper surface perforated by slots and openings 44 and stiffened upwardly extending ribs 46 between a front and rear edge of the lower jet plate 42. A jet plate 42 of this general design is discussed in US patent application 2016/0356506 assigned to the assignee of the present invention and hereby incorporated by reference. As discussed in this reference, the lower jet plate 42 provides an internal channel beneath the upper surface of the jet plate 42 conducting air from a rearward opening edge of the jet plate 42 through the jet plate 42 to exit from the slots and openings 44 as a set of structured air jet 50 openings 44. Referring momentarily to
The lower surface of the jet plate 42 in the shelf assembly 22 rests on a humidity wall 52 being a generally rectangular panel sized to extend the full lateral and front to back dimensions of the cooking volume 16 and operating to seal moisture against passage between cooking cavities 20. The lower left and right edges of the humidity wall 52 have downwardly extending elastomeric gaskets 54 that may be supported on a flange 56 extending inwardly from the inner surfaces of the left and right inner walls of the cooking volume 16. This ledge surface may be tipped from horizontal as it travels toward the rear of the cavity 20 by an angle 59 so that the upper surface of the humidity wall 52 slopes rearwardly and optionally downward from left to right as indicated by drainage arrow 57. The slope promotes water flow to a rear edge and right corner of the humidity wall 52.
A front edge and rear edge of the humidity wall 52 also support an elastomeric gasket 58 extending forward and rearward therefrom as will be discussed in greater detail below.
Positioned beneath the humidity wall 52, is an upper jet plate 42′ of the next lower cavity 20. This jet plate 42′ has openings 44′ on its under surface to direct structured air jets 50′ downwardly and may be identical in structure to jet plate 42 but simply inverted for ease in manufacturing and field use. This upper jet plate 42′ may be independently supported on a ledge 60 to be removed and inserted without adjustment or removal of the rack 34, the lower jet plate 42, or humidity wall 52.
Referring now to
Referring again to
Referring now to
The front edge of the wire rack 34, lower jet plate 42, and humidity wall 52 may then be pressed downward as indicated by arrow 71 compressing the sealing portion 67 of the gasket 54 against the flange 56 along the full length of that flange 56 to provide a good sealing engagement. Generally, the shelf assemblies 22 are intended to be installed and removed repeatedly without damage and without the need for tools.
Referring now to
In this position, closure of the door (shown, for example, in
Referring now to
Referring now to
The right and left sides of the jet plate 42 in position on the humidity wall 52 will be slightly undersized to reveal small channels 77 on the left and right sides of the jet plates 42 exposing the upper surface of the humidity wall 52. These channels 77 provide for a path to conduct grease and water off of the upper surface of the jet plate 42 following a general slope of the upper surface of the humidity wall 52 indicated by arrow 57 toward a rear right corner of the cavity 20. In this regard, a small lip or slope 85 (shown in
A drain tube 82 is positioned at an orifice through the rear or side wall of the cavity 20 adjacent to the drainage surface of the humidity wall 52 above the location of the rear gasket 58 and side gasket 54 to receive that drainage. In this way, the cavities 20 beneath a given cavity 20 need not be pierced to provide a path of drainage, for example, of steam, condensation, or the like.
Referring now to
The front tray 32 may also communicate with the condenser sump 86 which holds a pool of cooling water, for example, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,997,730 assigned to the assignee of the present invention and hereby incorporated by reference. In this regard, the condenser sump 86 may provide for a grease trap, for example using a divider wall 91 extending slightly downward into the water 90 to block the passage of grease to a water drain 93. The lowest cavity 20 does not employ a humidity wall 52 or drain tube 82 but instead provides a central tubular drain 92 extending directly down into the condenser sump 86 slightly beneath the surface of the water 90 to provide an effective trap mechanism similar to P-traps 84. It will be appreciated that other backflow limiting mechanisms may be used to prevent the interchange of gases between cavities 20 including, for example, one-way valves, resistive constrictions, and the like.
Referring now to
Referring to
Referring also to
Referring to
Passive insulation such as fiberglass 130 may surround the outside of the side channel 126 and be positioned between the motor 106 and the fan 94 and over the rear walls of side compartment 123 and right-side walls of cavity 20. The insulation between the fan 94 and the motor 106 provides the motor 106 with a heat-isolated environment which may be vented by a vent fan 131 or the like.
Referring again to
Referring now to
Referring now also to
When one or more of the cavities 20 is providing steam-augmented cooking (either steam or combi cooking), the controller 140 may control the valves 138 to open the valves 138 associated with any cavity 20 having dry cooking (D) when it is adjacent to a cavity 20 having steam or combi-heating (S/C). This control of the valves 138 scavenges any moisture leaking through the humidity walls 52 into the dry cooking cavities 20. Those cavities 20 using steam or combi-cooking normally have their valves 138 closed during that steam application. This is also true for cavities 20 having dry cooking when there is no adjacent steam cooking cavity. Thus, for example, looking at the third column of
Referring now to
Multiple such manifolds 141 may be provided to ensure complete coverage of the cavities. In one embodiment, a second manifold 141′ may pass into the air channels communicating between the cavity 20 and the blower 95 (shown in
Referring now to
Controller 140 also provides a control signal to the freshwater valve 128 discussed above with respect to introducing water to the helical heater tube 122 to create steam. The controller 140 also controls a freshwater valve 156 providing makeup water to the sump 86, for example, by monitoring the signal of a temperature probe 158 measuring the temperature of that water. In this regard, the controller 140 may add additional water to the sump 86 when the temperature of the water in that sump rises beyond a predetermined level allowing excess heated water to overflow through a drain pipe. The controller 140 also controls the pump 146 to affect the cleaning process described with respect to
The controller 140 may also adjust a control strategy upon the removal of a shelf assembly 22, for example, by combining readings of associated temperature sensors 155 of the combined cavity 20, for example, by using to an average reading or selecting a maximum reading among temperature probes. In addition, the controller 140 may control fan speed for the two fans 94 of the combined cavity 20 to coordinate the operation of those fans 94 to accommodate the different airflow patterns associated with larger cavities. This is described generally in US patent application 2017/0211819 assigned to the assignee of the present application and hereby incorporated by reference. Significantly, in the present invention, when cooking cavities 20 are combined, the generation of steam as described above may be coordinated between the two different helical heater tubes 122, for example, using only one heater 122 for the combined cavities to reduce excess moisture and using the remaining heater 122 to provide improved heat recovery or alternatively alternating between the heaters 122 when steam is generated to reduce scaling buildup and the like. Under this coordination, the generation of steam or the control of heat or the control of venting is no longer independent for the steam generators, heaters, or vents of the combined cooking cavity 20.
Referring now to
Each of the modules 162 may have a self-contained and independently operable helical heater tube 122, fan 94, motor 106, and temperature sensor 155 (for example, seen in
By using this modular approach, different size ovens can be readily created by insertion of different numbers of modules into an appropriately sized cabinet 160.
Certain terminology is used herein for purposes of reference only, and thus is not intended to be limiting. For example, terms such as “upper”, “lower”, “above”, and “below” refer to directions in the drawings to which reference is made. Terms such as “front”, “back”, “rear”, “bottom” and “side”, describe the orientation of portions of the component within a consistent but arbitrary frame of reference which is made clear by reference to the text and the associated drawings describing the component under discussion. Such terminology may include the words specifically mentioned above, derivatives thereof, and words of similar import. Similarly, the terms “first”, “second” and other such numerical terms referring to structures do not imply a sequence or order unless clearly indicated by the context.
When introducing elements or features of the present disclosure and the exemplary embodiments, the articles “a”, “an”, “the” and “said” are intended to mean that there are one or more of such elements or features. The terms “comprising”, “including” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements or features other than those specifically noted. It is further to be understood that the method steps, processes, and operations described herein are not to be construed as necessarily requiring their performance in the particular order discussed or illustrated, unless specifically identified as an order of performance. It is also to be understood that additional or alternative steps may be employed.
References to “a microprocessor” and “a processor” or “the microprocessor” and “the processor,” can be understood to include one or more microprocessors that can communicate in a stand-alone and/or a distributed environment(s), and can thus be configured to communicate via wired or wireless communications with other processors, where such one or more processor can be configured to operate on one or more processor-controlled devices that can be similar or different devices. Furthermore, references to memory, unless otherwise specified, can include one or more processor-readable and accessible memory elements and/or components that can be internal to the processor-controlled device, external to the processor-controlled device, and can be accessed via a wired or wireless network.
It is specifically intended that the present invention not be limited to the embodiments and illustrations contained herein and the claims should be understood to include modified forms of those embodiments including portions of the embodiments and combinations of elements of different embodiments as come within the scope of the following claims. All of the publications described herein, including patents and non-patent publications, are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
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