Patent Application
20220128238
The present subject matter relates generally to oven appliances, and more particularly, to oven appliances having heating elements configured for localized, high-heat cooking.
Conventional residential and commercial oven appliances generally include a cabinet that includes a cooking chamber for receipt of food items for cooking. Multiple gas or electric heating elements are positioned within the cabinet for heating the cooking chamber to cook food items located therein. The heating elements can include, for example, a bake heating assembly positioned at a bottom of the cooking chamber and a separate broiler heating assembly positioned at a top of the cooking chamber. Typically, the such broiler heating assemblies have a relatively small footprint (e.g., as defined by lateral width and transverse depth) in relation to the dimensions of the cooking chamber.
Typically, food or utensils for cooking are placed on wire racks within the cooking chamber and above the bake heating assembly. When the bake heating assembly is activated, heat from the bake heating assembly is thus forced to rise through an air gap, and any other intermediate elements, between the bake heating assembly and the wire rack before the utensil on the wire rack can be heated. Heat is within the cooking chamber is relatively diffuse, and the temperature is generally consistent about the item or items on the rack. If the broiler heating assembly is activated, heat is generally directed downward and can be focused on a sub-portion of the wire rack.
Although these conventional configurations are useful for many types of foods, there are certain disadvantages. For instance, certain food items, such as pizzas or breads, may benefit from very high, localized (i.e., non-diffuse) heat for a relatively short amount of time. Some such cooking operations are commonly referred to as short-cycle cooking operations. Oftentimes, stone or specialized high-heat pans are used for trapping heat against the bottom of flat-breads or pizza. Although such food items and pans may benefit from localized or focused heat, if such heat is not received by all of the food items or pan, the food items may not cook properly or evenly.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide an oven appliance or methods for safely generating high heat that can be localized, yet evenly distributed across a specific cooking surface within the oven appliance (e.g., without unduly trapping heat or causing damage to the oven appliance or cooking surface).
Aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the following description, or may be obvious from the description, or may be learned through practice of the invention.
In one exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, an oven appliance is provided. The oven appliance may include a cabinet, a plurality of chamber walls, a top heating element, and a cooking plate. The plurality of chamber walls may be mounted within the cabinet and define a cooking chamber. The plurality of chamber walls may include a back wall, a top wall, a first side wall, a second side wall, and a bottom wall. The top heating element may be mounted within the cabinet to heat the cooking chamber. The top heating element may define a horizontal heating profile within the cooking chamber. The cooking plate may be disposed within the cooking chamber below the top heating element. The cooking plate may define a cooking surface having a horizontal cooking profile. The horizontal cooking profile may be matched to the horizontal heating profile.
In another exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, an oven appliance is provided. The oven appliance may include a cabinet, a plurality of chamber walls, a rack, a top heating element, and a cooking plate. The plurality of chamber walls may be mounted within the cabinet and define a cooking chamber. The plurality of chamber walls may include a back wall, a top wall, a first side wall, a second side wall, and a bottom wall. The rack may be disposed within the cooking chamber. The top heating element may be mounted within the cabinet to heat the cooking chamber. The top heating element may define a horizontal heating profile within the cooking chamber. The cooking plate may be removably disposed on the rack below the top heating element. The cooking plate may define a cooking surface having a horizontal cooking profile. The horizontal cooking profile may be matched to the horizontal heating profile. The cooking plate may be a nonpermeable plate comprising a ceramic, aluminum, or steel material.
These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description and appended claims. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
A full and enabling disclosure of the present invention, including the best mode thereof, directed to one of ordinary skill in the art, is set forth in the specification, which makes reference to the appended figures.
Reference now will be made in detail to embodiments of the invention, one or more examples of which are illustrated in the drawings. Each example is provided by way of explanation of the invention, not limitation of the invention. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope of the invention. For instance, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment can be used with another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present invention covers such modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
As used herein, the term “or” is generally intended to be inclusive (i.e., “A or B” is intended to mean “A or B or both”). The terms “first,” “second,” and “third” may be used interchangeably to distinguish one component from another and are not intended to signify location or importance of the individual components. The terms “upstream” and “downstream” refer to the relative flow direction with respect to fluid flow in a fluid pathway. For example, “upstream” refers to the flow direction from which the fluid flows, and “downstream” refers to the flow direction to which the fluid flows.
Oven appliance 10 is provided by way of example only and is not intended to limit the present subject matter in any aspect. Other oven or range appliances having different configurations, different appearances, or different features may also be utilized with the present subject matter as well (e.g., double ovens, electric cooktop ovens, induction cooktop ovens, etc.).
Thus, the present subject matter may be used with other oven appliance configurations (e.g., that define one or more interior cavities for the receipt of food or having different pan or rack arrangements than what is shown in
Oven appliance 10 generally includes a cooking assembly. In particular, the cooking assembly may include one or more heating elements. For example, in some embodiments, the cooking assembly, and thus the oven appliance 10 includes an insulated cabinet 12 with an interior cooking chamber 14 defined by an interior surface 15 of cabinet 12. Cooking chamber 14 is configured for the receipt of one or more food items to be cooked. As shown, chamber 14 is generally defined by a back wall 52, a top wall 54, and a bottom wall 56 spaced from top wall 54 along the vertical direction V by opposing side walls 58 (e.g., a first wall and a second wall).
Oven appliance 10 includes a door 16 rotatably mounted to cabinet 12 (e.g., with a hinge—not shown). A handle 18 may be mounted to door 16 and assists a user with opening and closing door 16 in order to access cooking chamber 14. For example, a user can pull on handle 18 to open or close door 16 and access cooking chamber 14.
In some embodiments, oven appliance 10 includes a seal (not shown) between door 16 and cabinet 12 that assists with maintaining heat and cooking fumes within cooking chamber 14 when door 16 is closed as shown in
In some embodiments, baking rack 24 defines a receiving zone on or within which a cooking plate 60 is disposed (e.g., removably mounted or, alternatively, fixedly mounted). Generally, cooking plate 60 may provide a cooking surface 62 on which a food item (e.g., bread or pizza) may be received. Cooking plate 60 may be provided as a solid-nonpermeable member or, alternatively, define one or more apertures through which air may pass. In some embodiments, cooking plate 60 includes or is formed from a heat-retaining material, such as clay, stone (e.g., cordierite), ceramic, aluminum (e.g., aluminum alloy), cast iron, or ceramic-coated carbon steel.
As shown, oven appliance 10 includes one or more heating elements 40, 42 to heat chamber 14 (e.g., as directed by a controller 50 as part of a cooking operation). In certain embodiments, a gas fueled or electric bottom heating element 40 (e.g., a gas burner, a resistive heating element, resistance wire elements, radiant heating element, electric tubular heater or CALROD®, halogen heating element, etc.) is positioned in cabinet 12, for example, at a bottom portion 30 of cabinet 12. Bottom heating element 40 is used to heat cooking chamber 14 for both cooking and cleaning of oven appliance 10. The size and heat output of bottom heating element 40 can be generally configured based on, for example, the size of oven appliance 10.
In additional or alternative embodiments, a top heating element 42 (e.g., a gas burner, a resistive heating element, resistance wire elements, radiant heating element, electric tubular heater or CALROD®, halogen heating element, etc.) is positioned in cooking chamber 14 of cabinet 12, for example, at a top portion 32 of cabinet 12. Top heating element 42 is used to heat cooking chamber 14 for both cooking/broiling and cleaning of oven appliance 10. Like bottom heating element 40, the size, shape, and heat output of top heating element 42 can be configured based on for example, the size of oven appliance 10.
Generally, oven appliance 10 may include a controller 50 in operative communication (e.g., operably coupled via a wired or wireless channel) with one or more other portions of oven appliance 10 (e.g., heating elements 40, 42) via, for example, one or more signal lines or shared communication busses, and signals generated in controller 50 operate oven appliance 10 in response to user input via user inputs 122. Input/Output (“I/O”) signals may be routed between controller 50 and various operational components of oven appliance 10 such that operation of oven appliance 10 can be regulated by controller 50. In addition, controller 50 may also be inoperative communication (e.g., wired or, alternatively, wireless communication) with one or more sensors, such as a first temperature sensor (TS1) 64 or a second temperature sensor (TS2) 66. Generally, either or both TS1 64 and TS2 66 may include or be provided as a thermistor or thermocouple, which may be used to measure temperature at a location within or proximate to chamber 14 and provide such measurements to the controller 50. Although TS1 64 is illustrated as being mounted on cooking plate 60 and TS2 66 is illustrated on a back wall 52 between top heating element 42 and bottom heating element 40, it should be appreciated that other sensor types, positions, and configurations may be used according to alternative embodiments.
Controller 50 is a “processing device” or “controller 50” and may be embodied as described herein. Controller 50 may include a memory and one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICS), CPUs or the like, such as general or special purpose microprocessors operable to execute programming instructions or micro-control code associated with operation of oven appliance 10, and controller 50 is not restricted necessarily to a single element. The memory may represent random access memory such as DRAM, or read only memory such as ROM, electrically erasable, programmable read only memory (EEPROM), or FLASH. In one embodiment, the processor executes programming instructions stored in memory. The memory may be a separate component from the processor or may be included onboard within the processor. Alternatively, controller 50 may be constructed without using a microprocessor (e.g., using a combination of discrete analog or digital logic circuitry; such as switches, amplifiers, integrators, comparators, flip-flops, AND gates, and the like) to perform control functionality instead of relying upon software.
As shown in
In additional or alternative embodiments, the oven appliance 10 additionally includes a cooktop 100. Cooktop 100 may be disposed on the cabinet 12 such that the total volume of cabinet 12 is generally divided between the cooking chamber 14 and cooktop 100. As shown, cooktop 100 may include a top panel 104. By way of example, top panel 104 may be constructed of glass, ceramics, enameled steel, and combinations thereof. Heating assemblies 106 (e.g., induction heating elements, resistive heating elements, radiant heating elements, or gas burners) may be mounted, for example, on or below the top panel 104. While shown with four heating assemblies 106 in the exemplary embodiment of
As shown, certain embodiments of oven appliance 10 includes a user interface panel 120, which may be located as shown, within convenient reach of a user of the oven appliance 10. User interface panel 120 is generally a component that allows a user to interact with the oven appliance 10 to, for example, turn various heating elements (such as heating elements 40, 42, 106) on and off, adjust the temperature of the heating elements, set built-in timers, etc. Although user interface panel 120 is shown mounted to a backsplash fixed to cabinet 12, alternative embodiments may provide user interface panel 120 at another suitable location (e.g., on a front portion of cabinet 12 above door 16).
In some embodiments, a user interface panel 120 may include one or more user-interface inputs 122 and a graphical display 124, which may be separate from or integrated with the user-interface inputs 122. The user-interface element 122 may include analog control elements (e.g., knobs, dials, or buttons) or digital control elements, such as a touchscreen comprising a plurality of elements thereon. Various commands for a user to select through the engagement with the user-interface inputs 122 may be displayed (e.g., by touchscreen at the inputs 122 or by the graphical display 124), and detection of the user selecting a specific command may be determined by the controller 50, which is in communication with the user-interface inputs 122, based on electrical signals therefrom. Additionally or alternatively, graphical display 124 may generally deliver certain information to the user, which may be based on user selections and interaction with the inputs 122, such as whether a one or more heating elements 40, 42 within cooking chamber 14 are activated or the temperature at which cooking chamber 14 is set. In certain embodiments, a discrete bake input is included with the inputs 122. User engagement of the bake input may activate the oven appliance 10 or initiate heating within cooking chamber 14 (e.g., such that cooking chamber 14 is directed to a default temperature setting).
As shown, one or more temperature sensors (e.g., TS1 64) may be mounted to cooking plate 60, for instance, to detect the temperature within cooking plate 60 or at cooking surface 62. As an example, TS1 64 may be disposed on a bottom surface of cooking plate 60 (e.g., via a mechanical fastener, clip, or hook). As an additional or alternative example, TS1 64 may be held within a recess in cooking plate 60. As an additional or alternative example, TS1 64 may be embedded within cooking plate 60.
Additionally or alternatively, one or more temperature sensors (e.g., TS2 66) may be disposed within the cabinet 12 proximate to or within chamber 14 and above cooking surface 62, for instance, to detect the (e.g., general or diffuse) temperature of chamber 14 below top heating element 42. Optionally, TS2 66 may be mounted between the top heating element 42 and the bottom heating element 40. In some embodiments, TS2 66 is mounted to a chamber wall. Specifically, TS2 66 may be laterally positioned between the side walls 58 or vertically positioned between the top wall 54 and bottom wall 56. As an example, TS2 66 may be disposed on back wall 52 (e.g., via a mechanical fastener, clip, or hook). As an additional or alternative example, TS2 66 may be held within a recess in back wall 52. As an additional or alternative example, TS2 66 may be embedded within back wall 52.
When assembled, the temperature sensor(s) TS1, TS2, may be operably coupled to controller 50. Moreover, the controller 50 may be configured to control top heating element 42 or bottom heating element 40 based on the temperature detected at the temperature sensor(s) TS1 64, TS2 66 (e.g., as part of a cooking operation, such as a short-cycle cooking operation). In some embodiments, a cooking operation initiated by the controller 50 may thus include detecting one or more temperatures of TS1 64 and TS2 66, and directing heat output from (e.g., a heat setting of) top heating element 42 or bottom heating element 40 based on the detected temperature.
Turning now generally to
Cooking surface 62 of cooking plate 60 may have or generally define a horizontal cooking profile 140 on which items (e.g., food items) may be supported. When cooking plate 60 is received within cooking chamber 14, horizontal cooking profile 140 may be defined in a horizontal cooking plane 142 perpendicular to the vertical direction V. Additionally or alternatively, horizontal cooking profile 140 may be parallel to the horizontal heating profile 130. Within the horizontal cooking plane 142, horizontal cooking profile 140 may be delineated or defined by the horizontal perimeter 144 (e.g., horizontal extrema) of the cooking surface 62. Thus, horizontal cooking profile 140 may be established by the horizontal footprint of cooking surface 62 in the horizontal cooking plane 142.
In some embodiments, the horizontal heating profile 130 is matched to horizontal cooking profile 140. Thus, horizontal heating profile 130 may have a similar or identical two-dimensional shape in the horizontal heating plane 132 to the two-dimensional shape defined by the horizontal cooking profile 140 in the horizontal cooking plane 142. As an example, and turning in particular to
As an alternative example, and turning in particular to
Returning generally to
In certain embodiments, planar element area AE is near in magnitude to planar plate area AP. As an example, planar plate area AP may be less than or equal to 110% of planar element area AE. Additionally or alternatively, planar plate area AP may be greater than or equal to 80% of planar element area AE. Further additionally or alternatively, planar plate area AP may be greater than or equal to 90% of planar element area AE. Optionally, planar plate area AP may be substantially equal (e.g., within a 2% margin) to planar element area AE.
Advantageously, top heating element 42 may be able to quickly (e.g., in less than 15 minutes) and efficiently heat cooking surface 62 to a relatively high temperature (e.g., between 340° Celsius and 385° Celsius) without heating the rest of cooking chamber 14 to an undesirably high temperature (e.g., above 315° Celsius).
This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the invention, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they include structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal languages of the claims.
