Claims
- 1. A recycling cooking oven for cooking food at least in part by hot air flow and providing a substantially closed but vented environment, comprising:
- A. a cooking chamber for receiving a stream of hot air from a thermal plenum via a plurality of openings in said cooking chamber, said cooking chamber cooking food therein at least partially with hot air from the plurality of openings and the cooking of such foods adding oxidizable components to the hot air;
- B. means forming a thermal plenum located upstream of said cooking chamber and including heating means for supplying hot air into said cooking chamber via said plurality of openings;
- C. means for causing the stream of hot air to circulate in substantially a continuous travel path including said thermal plenum, said plurality of openings and said cooking chamber;
- D. a main catalytic converter disposed in said continuous travel path of the stream of hot air for flamelessly oxidizing oxidizable components in the hot air of the stream leaving said cooking chamber, thereby both to remove them from the hot air of the stream and to release at least some additional heat energy into the hot air of the stream;
- E. vent means communicating with ambient atmosphere and said main catalytic converter for diverting an auxiliary vent stream of hot air from said main catalytic converter into said vent means; and
- F. an auxiliary catalytic converter disposed in said vent means, downstream of said main catalytic converter, for flamelessly oxidizing oxidizable components in the hot air of the auxiliary vent stream passing through said vent means, thereby to further remove oxidizable components from the hot air of the auxiliary vent stream and so release a relatively clean auxiliary vent stream of hot air from said vent means into the ambient atmosphere.
- 2. The oven of claim 1 wherein said thermal plenum maintains said reservoir of hot air at least 325.degree. F.
- 3. The oven of claim 1 wherein said main catalytic converter has an inlet temperature of at least 325.degree. F.
- 4. The oven of claim 1 wherein said oxidizable components include grease, fats, oils and like hydrocarbons produced by cooking food in said cooking chamber.
- 5. The oven of claim 1 wherein said oxidizable components are oxidizable essentially to carbon dioxide and water.
- 6. The oven of claim 1 wherein said vent means communicates substantially directly with said main catalytic converter.
- 7. The oven of claim 1 wherein said vent means communicates with said main catalytic converter only via said thermal plenum.
- 8. The oven of claim 1 wherein said auxiliary catalytic converter has an inlet temperature of at least 325.degree. F.
- 9. The oven of claim 1 wherein said plurality of openings is in a top of said cooking chamber, and said heating means supplies hot air downwardly into said cooking chamber via said plurality of openings.
- 10. The oven of claim 1 wherein a single pass of an auxiliary vent stream of hot air through said auxiliary catalytic converter lowers the level of the oxidizable components in the hot air more than would a single pass of the stream of hot air through said main catalytic converter.
- 11. A recycling cooking oven for cooking food at least in part by hot air flow and providing a substantially closed but vented environment, comprising:
- A. a cooking chamber for receiving a stream of hot air from a thermal plenum via a plurality of openings in a top of said cooking chamber, said cooking chamber cooking food therein at least partially with hot air from the plurality of openings and the cooking of such foods adding oxidizable components including hydrocarbons produced by cooking foods in said cooking chamber, to the hot air;
- B. means forming a thermal plenum located upstream of said cooking chamber and including a heating means for supplying hot air downwardly into said cooking chamber via said plurality of openings, said thermal plenum maintaining a reservoir of hot air therein;
- C. means for causing the stream of hot air to circulate in substantially a continuous travel path including said thermal plenum, said plurality of openings and said cooking chamber;
- D. a main catalytic converter disposed in said continuous travel path of the stream of hot air, downstream of said cooking chamber and upstream of said thermal plenum, for flamelessly oxidizing oxidizable components in the hot air of the stream leaving said cooking chamber, thereby both to remove them from the hot air of the stream and to release at least some additional heat energy into the hot air of the stream;
- E. vent means communicating with ambient atmosphere and said main catalytic converter for diverting an auxiliary vent stream of hot air from said main catalytic converter into said vent means; and
- F. an auxiliary catalytic converter disposed in said vent means, downstream of said main catalytic converter, for flamelessly oxidizing oxidizable components in the hot air of the auxiliary vent stream passing through said vent means, thereby to further remove oxidizable components from the hot air of the auxiliary vent stream and so release a relatively clean auxiliary vent stream of hot air from said vent means into the ambient atmosphere.
- 12. The oven of claim 11 wherein said vent means communicates substantially directly with said main catalytic converter.
- 13. The oven of claim 11 wherein said vent means communicates with said main catalytic converter only via said thermal plenum.
- 14. The oven of claim 11 wherein said auxiliary catalytic converter has an inlet temperature of at least 325.degree. F.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/304,921, filed May 4, 1999, itself a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/863,671, filed May 27, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,927,265.
US Referenced Citations (13)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
56-44536 |
Sep 1979 |
JPX |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
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Parent |
863671 |
May 1997 |
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Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
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304921 |
May 1999 |
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