Baking Device With A Cooled Longitudinal Strut

Baking apparatus (1) for producing baked edible products, comprising:

• a baking apparatus frame (21) with a baking apparatus housing (20) and a baking chamber (2) arranged inside the baking apparatus housing (20);
• an endless baking tong chain (3) which circulates continuously along an inherently closed path and moves through the baking chamber (2), the chain extending from a front deflection point (5) arranged in a pre-head (4) to a rear deflection point (6), the baking tong chain (3) comprising coupled-together baking tong carriages (7) with openable and closable fold-out and fold-in baking tongs (8) and a plurality of rollers (9);
• at least one longitudinal strut (10) that supports and/or guides the baking tong chain (3), wherein the rollers (9) roll at least along a part of the path on the at least one longitudinal strut;
• a cooling duct (11) through which cooling air flows and which cools the at least one longitudinal strut (10), wherein the cooling duct (11) defines at least one convection opening (12) located exclusively in the region of the rear deflection point (6) that opens into the baking chamber (2);
• and
• a convection fan (25) that generates a convection flow in the baking chamber (2) and conveys the cooling air through the cooling duct (11) so that the cooling air flows through the convection opening (12) from the cooling duct (11) of the at least one longitudinal strut (10) to produce an artificial convection through the baking chamber (2).