Apparatus for heating and cooling food articles
OwnerVincent P. Tippmann, Joseph R. Tippmanninventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus is disclosed for heating or cooling food articles including a chamber containing a plurality of vertically spaced-apart supports for food articles, each support has a plurality of spaced apart tubular members connected to first and second plenums. Supply and return headers are connected respectively to each first and second plenum of each support and by conduit to a fluid reservoir and pump to circulate a fluid in a closed loop fluid transfer circuit through each support. A heating and cooling apparatus for the fluid is also provided and controls for controlling operation of the heating and cooling apparatus individually or in a predetermined sequence and at a preselected temperature are also included.
Claims10
An apparatus for transferring heat to food articles container within a chamber comprising:
- a) a chamber having at least two vertically upstanding, spaced-apart side walls and adjacent top and bottom walls, and at least one closure member permitting access to said chamber;
- b) a plurality of pans for holding said food articles within said chamber;
- c) a plurality of vertically spaced-apart support means between said walls, each of said support means being made of heat conductive material and supporting one of said pans, said support means including a plurality of spaced-apart tubular members, each tubular member having one end thereof connected to a first plenum and the other end thereof connected to a second plenum, said first and second plenums and each of said tubular members engaging said respective pan in heat conductive relationship;
- d) supply header means connecting said first plenums of each of said support means and return header means connecting said second plenums of each of said support means;
- e) means for circulating a heated transfer fluid through said supply and return header means and said support means;
- and
- f) means projecting into each of said tubular members from at least one of said first or second plenums, said means having an orifice sized to equilibrate the flow of said transfer fluid through said tubular members of each of said support means to ensure even heating of said food articles on each said pans.
An apparatus for transferring heat to food articles contained within a chamber comprising:
- a) a chamber having at least two vertically upstanding, spaced apart side walls and adjacent top and bottom walls, and at least one closure member permitting access to said chamber;
- b) a plurality of pans for holding said food articles within said chamber;
- c) a plurality of vertically spaced-apart support means between said walls, each of said support means being made of heat conductive material and supporting one of said pans, said support means including a plurality of spaced-apart tubular members, each tubular member having one end thereof connected to a first plenum and the other end thereof connected to a second plenum, said first and second plenums and each of said tubular members engaging said respective pan in heat conductive relationship;
- d) supply header means connecting said first plenums of each of said support means and terminating at an inlet near the bottom of said chamber and return header means connecting said second plenums of each of said support means and terminating at an outlet near the top of said chamber to thereby ensure that air trapped in said fluid can rise through said supply and return header means and said support means and be discharged;
- e) fluid pump means having an inlet and an outlet;
- f) reservoir means on the top of said chamber for holding a quantity of heat transfer fluid, said reservoir means being connected to said inlet of said fluid pump means;
- g) conduit means connecting said outlet of said pump to said header means to said reservoir and said outlet of said pump to said inlet of said supply header means to form a closed-loop fluid transfer means;
- h) means for heating said fluid in said reservoir means;
- i) control means connected to said heating means for controlling the desired temperature to which the fluid is to be heated and maintained by said heating means;
- and
- j) means projecting into each of said tubular members from at least one of said first or second plenums, said means having an orifice sized to equilibrate the flow of said transfer fluid through said tubular members of each of said support means to ensure even heating of said food articles on each of said pans.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.