BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a front view of a fryer according to the present disclosure;
FIG. 2 is a side cross-sectional view of the fryer of FIG. 1, shown across the indicated sectional line;
FIG. 3 is a side view of the fryer of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a front cross-sectional view of the fryer of FIG. 1, shown across the indicated sectional line;
FIG. 5 is a bottom perspective view of the fryer of FIG. 1;
FIG. 6 is a top perspective view of the fryer of FIG. 1;
FIG. 7 is a bottom perspective view of the frypot of FIG. 1 with in-shot burners;
FIG. 8 is a front view of the frypot of FIG. 7;
FIG. 9 is a front perspective cross-sectional view of a frypot of a second embodiment of the fryer of the present disclosure; and
FIG. 10 is a front perspective cross-sectional view of a frypot of a third embodiment of the fryer of the present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE
The present disclosure features a fryer that comprises a frypot with a corrugated bottom surface that provides relatively cool regions in the troughs of the corrugations. Directed burners transfer heat through the peaks or crests of the corrugations and into the cooking oil. The cool regions along the bottom collect food product debris and prevent scorching of the debris, which could ruin the oil and shorten its life. Oil life is thus lengthened without use of a deep cold zone, which would require considerably more oil volume. The lower oil volume used affords the operator considerable savings by reducing the volume of waste oil, and by lowering utility costs as less oil is heated to the cooking temperature. The fryer also includes an open frypot with no submerged heating elements or tubes passing through the contained oil medium. The fact that there are no heating element or tubes disposed within the frypot makes it much easier to maintain and clean.
Referring to FIGS. 1 through 5, a fryer 10 of the present disclosure is shown. Fryer 10 has frypot 20 with interior volume 25. During fryer operation, interior volume 25 of frypot 20 is filled with a cooking medium, such as oil. The user would insert the food products to be cooked into the top of frypot 20.
Frypot 20 has a bottom with a number of corrugations 30 that define a plurality of cool zones or troughs 35, which are disposed between opposing peaks 32. A plurality of burners 40 are disposed under fryer 10 and frypot 20 so that the tops of burners 40 direct heat into peaks 32 of corrugations 30. In the shown embodiment, peaks 32 of corrugations 30 have an angular top that comes to a point. The present disclosure, however, contemplates the use of a number of shapes for corrugations 30, including, but not limited to, sinusoidal, semi-circular, or semi-oval. The shape of corrugations 30 that are best for a particular fryer will depend on the associated complexity and cost of the necessary tooling.
Referring to FIG. 6, the floor of fryer 10 is designed with a collector region 50 at one end of the bottom of frypot 20. Collector region 50 is fitted with a drain port 55 to allow frypot 20 to drain completely without oil being trapped between the corrugations. The floor of the frypot 20 can be slanted toward drain port 55 to facilitate draining. These features dramatically ease the cleaning process.
The present disclosure contemplates the use of several different kinds of burners in fryer 10. These include ribbon burners 40 that direct flame to the corrugation crests, shown in FIGS. 1 through 6. Additionally, as is shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, a plurality of in-shot burners 140 that direct conical flames toward the peaks 32 of corrugations 30 of frypot 20 can be used. Conventional tube inlet burners that will allow combustion products to migrate to the top of the crests can also be used in the fryer of the present disclosure, as can any other kind of burners that are suitable for this purpose.
Referring to FIG. 9, a frypot using such conventional burner tubes is shown. Frypot 120 has a plurality of burner tubes 140. Burner tubes 140 have troughs 135 that are disposed between opposing peaks 132. Thus, during operation of the fryer, ignited combustion gases enter burner tubes 140, and migrate to peaks 132 of burner tubes 140, transferring heat to the oil in frypot 120, and leaving the oil located in troughs 135 relatively cool. Frypot 120 can also have a plurality of flat plates 137 positioned part way between burner tubes 140, resulting in a floor between each tube partially down the diameter of each tube. Burner tubes 140 remain complete, but have some percentage of their circumference outside the interior of frypot 120 and the remainder of their circumference inside frypot 120. This makes the frypot easier to clean than other standard tube fryers, and still provides the cool regions of the present disclosure.
Referring to FIG. 10, a third embodiment of a frypot of the present disclosure is shown. Frypot 220 has shields or covers 238 that protect troughs 235 of the corrugations 230 from the heat of the burner. Similarly to the frypots of previously discussed embodiments, burners (not shown) disposed below frypot 220 direct heat into peaks 232 of corrugations 230. Covers 238 follow the shape of trough 235, and are spaced away from trough 235 toward the burner body 240 so as to provide an insulating air gap 239 between cover 238 and the bottom of frypot 220. This would allow the oil residing in trough 235 to remain cooler for an even longer period than in the embodiment discussed above, thereby extending its life.
The fryer of the present disclosure can further have a blower either at the front or the rear of the fryer as part of the combustion system, designed so that accumulated flue gasses are ensured to pass to a flue collector at the rear of the fryer. This blower can comprise a tube that runs along the length of the pot. Such a design could offer higher thermal efficiency because it aids in the mixing of the combustion gases.
Many configurations for the fryer system are possible. There can be from one to twelve frypots within the fryer cabinet. Also, the fryer can optionally contain single or multiple built-in filter systems. These filter systems draw oil in from the frypot, remove any impurities, and recirculate the cleaned oil back into the frypot.
The present invention having been thus described with particular reference to the preferred forms thereof, it will be obvious that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.
Patent Application
20080022994
