High efficiency frying apparatus with supercharged burner system

A fryer apparatus for cooking food comprising:

• (a) a frypot including container forming front and rear endwalls, opposing sidewalls, and a bottom wall, said opposing sidewalls shaped to form first, second, and third integral portions, the first portions extending vertically upwards from the second portions for forming a main cooking chamber, the second portions sloping inwardly and downwardly to the third portions, and the third portions extending vertically downwardly to the bottom wall whereby, the third portions and bottom wall coact to form a narrow well for the frypot;
• (b) a heat exchanger means, said heat exchanger means including a duct having a sidewall body portion exteriorly spaced from the second portion of a first one of the frypot opposing sidewalls, said sidewall body portion having first and second ends and first and second sides, said first end engaging the frypot front endwall and the second end forming a duct outlet for the rear endwall and the first side in closing engagement with a first portion of the first one of the frypot opposing sidewalls, and the second side forming an inlet for combustion gases entry into the duct;
• and combustion gases directing, turbulating, and heat transfer means operatively mounted within the duct for dividing incoming combustion gases, directing the combustion gases toward the front and rear endwalls and returning the combustion gases from the front end to the rear end for discharge with the combustion gases directed toward the rear endwall;
• and
• (c) a forced flow gas burner means having a fuel distribution plate, a combustion surface, and a combustion chamber, said distribution plate and combustion surface forming opposed interior flow channels for even distribution of the fuel-air mixture through the combustion surfaces into the combustion chamber, said combustion chamber operatively connected to a portion of the frypot well above a bottom portion thereof and to the open end of the duct means, whereby responsive to the heat transfer of the burner means and heat exchanger means to the container's oil, a cold zone remains in the well's bottom portion for minimizing cooking debris circulation and a thermal gradient is formed in the oil above the cold zone for improved oil circulation for heating in the main cooking chamber.

In a freestanding commercial type frying unit for using at least from about twenty five to about fifty pounds of cooking oil and having a back end adapted to be placed against a building wall and a front end adapted to face a work space, the front and back ends defining a horizontal depth, and opposite sides adapted to be placed against other similar commercial cooking equipment, the opposite sides defining a width somewhat less than the horizontal depth, the high efficiency improvement comprising:

• means forming a frypot for holding the quantity of cooking oil, the frypot having:
• a substantially open top having dimensions corresponding generally to the width of the unit and a substantial portion of the horizontal depth of the unit,
• a cool zone formed in a lower portion of the frypot which is substantially narrower than the width of the unit, and
• at least one heat transfer surface extending substantially from a front wall at the front end to a back wall at the back end of the frypot and providing a generally vertical transition from the cool zone upwardly toward the open top of the frypot, each heat transfer surface including a primary heat transfer area and a secondary heat transfer area,
• the primary heat transfer area extending substantially from the front end to the back end of the frypot and from the cool zone upwardly over only a portion of the heat transfer surface, and the secondary heat transfer area being above the primary heat transfer area and including substantially the remainder of the respective heat transfer surface;
• elongated fuel-fired radiant burner means disposed adjacent to and extending for substantially the front-to-back length of the primary heat transfer area for combusting a fuel-air mixture supplied under pressure and transversely directing the hot gases of combustion and radiant energy from the burner means along and over substantially all of the primary heat transfer area;
• combustion gas flow control means for collecting the gases of combustion from the burner means and directing the collected gases of combustion over the secondary heat transfer area to a vertical flue extending upwardly along the back end wall of the unit, the combustion gas flow control means directing at least a significant portion of the gases from the burner means first forwardly from a point of collection of the gases substantially to the front end of the heat transfer surface and then rearwardly to the back end of the heat transfer surface, along said secondary heat transfer area, and thence to said vertical flue;
• and
• fuel/air mixture delivery means disposed generally at the front of the means forming the frypot and including a blower for delivering a combustible fuel-air mixture to the burner means at an elevated pressure sufficient to force the fuel/air mixture and gases of combustion through the burner means and combustion gas flow control means to the flue in a manner such that said primary heat transfer area is significantly radiantly heated along its length, and a large portion of the heat in the collected gases of combustion is efficiently transferred to said second heat transfer area prior to the discharge into said flue of the collected gases of combustion.