Commercial hot air impingement cooking apparatus

A heated air impingment cooking griddle comprising:

• a housing having an upper side wall with an opening formed therein;
• a heated conductive, relatively large area griddle plate member horizontally supported within said opening and adapted to support a food item to be cooked;
• and
• heated air recirculating means for creating within said housing a recirculating flow of heated air;
• and
• jet forming means, spaced downwardly apart from said griddle plate member within said housing, for converting a portion of said recirculating flow of heated air into a mutually spaced series of upwardly directed, relatively high velocity heated air impingement jets which laterally diffuse and at least partially overlap prior to striking the bottom side surface of said griddle plate member to thereby evenly blanket it with heated air in a manner uniformly transferring heat from said recirculating air to said griddle plate member at an accelerated rate.

A heated air impingement cooking griddle comprising:

• a housing having a base portion with an opening in an upper side wall thereof, and a hollow lid portion having an opening in a lower side thereof, said lid portion being supported on said base portion for movement relative thereto between open and closed positions;
• an upper griddle plate member carried within and extending across said lid portion opening;
• a lower griddle plate member carried within and extending horizontally across said opening in said base portion, said upper and lower griddle plate members cooperating, when said lid portion is in its closed position, to contact upper and lower side surfaces of a food item positioned therebetween;
• upper supply plenum means, positioned in said lid portion and spaced upwardly from said upper griddle plate member, for receiving heated, pressurized air from a source thereof and discharging the received air in the form of a spaced series of downwardly directed, relatively high velocity heated air impingement jets which laterally diffuse and at least partially overlap prior to striking the top side surface of said upper griddle plate member to thereby evenly blanket it with transversely directed heated air in a manner uniformly transferring air heat to said upper griddle plate member at an accelerated rate;
• lower supply plenum means, positioned in said base portion and spaced downwardly from said lower griddle plate member, for receiving heated, pressurized air from a source thereof and discharging the received air in the form of a spaced series of upwardly directed, relatively high velocity heated air impingement jets which laterally diffuse and at least partially overlap prior to striking the bottom side surface of said lower griddle plate member to thereby evenly blanket with transversely directed heated air in a manner uniformly transferring air heat to said lower griddle plate member at an accelerated rate;
• and
• means for flowing recirculating heated air through said housing and causing said recirculating heated air to operatively traverse said upper and lower supply plenum means.

Heated air impingement grill apparatus comprising:

• a housing having a base portion with an opening in an upper side wall thereof, and a hollow lid portion having an opening in a lower side thereof, said lid portion being supported on said base portion for movement relative thereto between open and closed positions;
• an upper grate member carried within and extending across said lid portion opening;
• a lower grate member carried within and extending across said base portion opening, said upper and lower grate members cooperating, when said lid portion is in its closed position, to contact upper and lower side surfaces of a food item positioned therebetween;
• upper supply plenum means, positioned in said lid portion and spaced upwardly from said upper grate member, for receiving heated, pressurized air from a source thereof and discharging the received air in the form of a spaced series of downwardly directed, relatively high velocity heated air impingement jets which laterally diffuse and at least partially overlap prior to striking the top side surface of said upper grate member to thereby evenly blanket it with heated air in a manner uniformly transferring air heat to said upper grate member at an accelerated rate;
• lower supply plenum means, positioned in said base portion and spaced downwardly from said lower grate member, for receiving heated, pressurized air from a source thereof and discharging the received air in the form of a spaced series of upwardly directed, relatively high velocity heated air impingement jets which laterally diffuse and at least partially overlap prior to striking the bottom side surface of said lower grate member to thereby evenly blanket it with heated air in a manner uniformly transferring air heat to said lower grate at an accelerated rate;
• a chamber positioned within said base portion generally below said lower supply plenum means;
• and
• means for flowing recirculating heated air through said housing and operatively through said upper and lower supply plenum means, including:
• a supply section having a fan therein which is drivable to force air into and through said upper and lower supply plenum means,
• a heating section for receiving air and having heating means therein for heating the received air, the interior of said heating section communicating with the interior of the supply section, and
• a return section for receiving a return flow of recirculating air and flowing it into said heating section,
• said supply, heating and return sections being positioned in a side-by-side relationship within said chamber and being removable therefrom through said base portion opening.