Patent Application
20080083728
Referring to
Referring to
According to an exemplary embodiment, the convection heat source is located at openings 18 and includes two blower units (not shown) located horizontally adjacent to one another opposite the oven door 28 and are mounted on a back wall 34. Such a convection or flow-through oven, for example, may incorporate any number of adjacent blowers to adapt to the size of oven chamber 12. Similarly, the oven can be adapted to any suitable dimension of a substantially enclosed oven chamber. According to an alternative embodiment, the oven is provided without a convection heat source such that heating of the oven cavity is provided by the heating element assembly.
Heating element assembly 20 is configured to provide radiant heat to oven cavity 14. Heating element assembly 20 is mounted below bottom wall 24 of oven cavity 14 in an open space 36 defined by bottom wall 24 (of cavity 14), a front wall 38, side walls 26, a rear (angled) wall 40, and a sub wall 42. Heating element assembly 20 includes a base bracket 44, a top bracket 46, an insulation shield 48, and a heating element 50. Base bracket 44 provides structural support to the other components and mounts to the oven sub wall 42. Top bracket 46 couples to base bracket 44 (e.g., by snap fit, fasteners such as screws, bolts, rivets, etc.) to enclose or encapsulate heating element 50. According to an alternative embodiment, the heating assembly is mounted adjacent to any of the other walls.
Insulation shield 48 is coupled to base bracket 44 and/or top bracket 46, and is manufactured to be thermally non-conductive. For example, insulation shield 48 is preferably made from thermally non-conductive material such as fiberglass. Also, insulation shield 48 is designed to be shaped to be thermally non-conductive (e.g., generally planer, thin wall thickness, etc.). Alternatively, any of a variety of thermally non-conductive materials or configurations may be used.
Heating element 50 emits heat by providing a resistance to a current passing through element 50 (e.g., made of a resistive element such as a Calrod heating element). According to an exemplary embodiment, heating element 50 comprises a continuous member, a mounting bracket 54, and an electrical connector 56. The continuous member is formed to have a front portion 58, at least one middle or side portion 60, and a rear portion 62. Preferably, member 52 is formed into a “U” shape or rectangle/square. Alternatively, the member may have any of a variety of shapes and configurations. Alternatively, the heating element comprises other types of heat source, such as infra red source, gas-fired sources, of the like. By acting as a thermal non-conductive conduit, shield 48 allows the element 50 to be formed into a more efficient shape.
Referring to
Radiant heat is provided to oven cavity 14 by heat energy emitted from heating element 50 being absorbed by top bracket 46 and then insulation shield 48. Insulation shield 48 absorbs the heat energy rather than bottom wall 24 of cavity 14 directly absorbing the heat energy from heating element 50. The thermal conductive properties of insulation shield 48 spreads the heat energy throughout and across its surface to minimize or reduce localized areas of higher temperature (hot spots).
According to a preferred embodiment shown in
Referring to
The oven may be operated in one of a plurality of modes, depending on the type of cooking desired. Although not to be considered as limiting, one basic operating method which may generally apply to each of the various operating modes may include heat being provided by heating element assembly 20 and/or convection heat source 18. The heat sources may be turned on by the control module only when desired or at certain times during the cooking operation.
While the components of the disclosed embodiments will be illustrated as a heating element for use in convection oven built in a wall, designed for other oven arrangements, the features of the disclosed embodiments have a much wider applicability. For example, the heating element assembly is adaptable for other oven applications such as stand-alone ranges, grills and other home, consumer, commercial, or industrial ovens which employ a storage space configured to rotate relative to a base. Further, the size of the various components and the size of the oven and/or heating element can be widely varied.
It is also important to note that the construction and arrangement of the elements of the oven heating element as shown in the preferred and other exemplary embodiments are illustrative only. Although only a few embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail in this disclosure, those skilled in the art who review this disclosure will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible (e.g., variations in sizes, dimensions, structures, shapes and proportions of the various elements, values of parameters, mounting arrangements, materials, colors, orientations, etc.) without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of the subject matter recited in the claims. For example, the oven may be a wall mounted single or dual oven, incorporated in a range, a stand alone appliance, or the like. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims. The order or sequence of any process or method steps may be varied or re-sequenced according to alternative embodiments. In the claims, any means-plus-function clause is intended to cover the structures described herein as performing the recited function and not only structural equivalents but also equivalent structures. Other substitutions, modifications, changes and/or omissions may be made in the design, operating conditions and arrangement of the preferred and other exemplary embodiments without departing from the spirit of the present invention as expressed in the appended claims.
