US 2003/0111069 A1Published application

Convection fan assembly for a cooking appliance

AssigneeMaytag Corporation

InventorsKerry O. Austin, Jeffrey K. McLeod, Jimmy C. Roden, Steven M. Swayne

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Abstract

A fan assembly for a convection cooking appliance defines a self-contained unit including a housing, an internal fan unit, and a cover. The cover is provided with a centrally located, unobstructed opening for directing air to an inlet for the fan unit. The area of the inlet opening is equal to or larger than the sum of the cross-sectional inlet area of fan unit. During operation, air is drawn into the fan housing through the opening, directed radially outwardly through housing, and lead out through radial, peripherally spaced holes of the housing. The overall construction of the fan assembly eases manufacture and assembly, while defining a high performance convection system by establishing an efficient recirculating airflow, with relatively high air flow, pressure and velocity operating parameters.

Claims16

Dependent claims

In a convection cooking appliance including an oven cavity, at least one heat source for heating the oven cavity, and a control panel for setting a desired cooking operation, a fan assembly comprising:

a housing including front, back and peripheral side portions, said housing being secured within the cooking appliance, with the front and peripheral side portions projecting into the oven cavity;
an inlet opening provided in the front portion of the housing, with the inlet opening having an intake area;
a fan unit rotatably mounted within the housing, said fan unit including a plurality of blades and a fan inlet adjacent the inlet opening of the housing, wherein each adjacent pair of said plurality of blades defines an area portion of the fan inlet and a sum of the area portions for the plurality of blades defining a total inlet area for the fan unit, with the intake area being at least equal to the total inlet area;
and
a plurality of air exit holes provided in the peripheral side portion of the housing wherein, during operation of said fan assembly, a flow of air is drawn into the housing through the inlet opening, lead to the fan inlet, re-directed within the housing, and directed out the exit holes.

2 more elements

In a convection cooking appliance including an oven cavity having a back wall provided with an enlarged opening, at least one heat source for heating the oven cavity, and a control panel for setting a desired cooking operation, a fan assembly comprising:

a housing including front, back and peripheral side portions, wherein the back portion of the housing is defined by a backplate, both the front and peripheral side portions of the housing are defined by a fan cover having a peripheral flange portion secured to the backplate, and the peripheral side portion of the housing is defined by an annular, radially sloping portion of the fan cover, said housing being secured within the cooking appliance about the peripheral flange portion, with the front and peripheral side portions projecting into the oven cavity;
an inlet opening provided in the front portion of the housing, with the inlet opening having an intake area;
a fan unit rotatably mounted within the housing, said fan unit including a plurality of blades and a fan inlet adjacent the inlet opening of the housing;
and
a plurality of air exit holes provided in the peripheral side portion of the housing wherein, during operation of said fan assembly, a flow of air is drawn into the housing through the inlet opening, lead to the fan inlet, re-directed within the housing, and directed out the exit holes.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.