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US 5,434,390 AGranted
Quick-cookig oven
AssigneeTurboChef, Inc.
InventorsPhilip R. McKee, Earl R. Winkelmann
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An oven for cooking by hot air impingement includes a housing defining a cooking chamber adapted to receive a food product for cooking, a hot air plenum configured and dimensioned to hold a volume of air and a conduit for providing gaseous communication therebetween. Associated with the plenum is a thermal energy source for heating gas disposed in the plenum.
Claims41
An oven for cooking a food product at least partially by hot gas flow, comprising:
- (A) a housing defining a cooking chamber adapted to receive a food product for cooking, a hot gas plenum configured and dimensioned to hold a volume of gas, and conduit means for providing gaseous communication therebetween;
- (B) associated with said cooking chamber, impingement-causing means for causing impingement of gas from said plenum onto the food product in said cooking chamber, and return means for causing return of at least a portion of the gas from said cooking chamber to said plenum;
- (C) associated with said plenum, a thermal energy source for heating gas disposed in said plenum
- (D) blower means for selectively and variably causing the flow of gas from said return means, through said plenum, and to said impingement-causing means and
- (E) control means for variably actuating said blower means.
2 more elements
An oven for cooking a food product at least partially by hot gas flow, comprising:
- (A) a housing defining a cooking chamber adapted to receive a food product for cooking, a hot gas plenum configured and dimensioned to hold a volume of gas, and conduit means for providing gaseous communication therebetween;
- (B) associated with said cooking chamber, impingement-causing means for causing impingement of gas from said plenum onto the food product in said cooking chamber, and return means for causing return of at least a portion of the gas from said cooking chamber to said plenum;
- (C) associated with said plenum, a thermal reservoir and actuatable heating means for maintaining said thermal reservoir at a high temperature;
- (D) blower means for causing the flow of gas from said return means, through said plenum, and to said impingement-causing means;
- and
- (E) control means for independently actuating said heating means and said blower means, said control means including means for maintaining a substantially constant temperature of gas supplied from said plenum despite substantial periodic thermal transfers to gas passing through said plenum.
3 more elements
An oven for cooking a food product at least partially by hot gas flow, comprising:
- (A) a housing defining a cooking chamber adapted to receive a food product for cooking, a hot gas plenum configured and dimensioned to hold a volume of gas, and conduit means for providing gaseous communication therebetween;
- (B) associated with said cooking chamber, impingement-causing means for causing impingement of gas from said plenum onto the food product in said cooking chamber, and return means for causing return of at least a portion of the gas from said cooking chamber to said plenum;
- (C) associated with said plenum, a thermal reservoir and actuatable heating means for maintaining said thermal reservoir at a high temperature;
- (D) blower means for causing the flow of gas from said return means, through said plenum, and to said impingement-causing means;
- and
- (E) control means for independently actuating said heating means and said blower means, said control means including means for actuating said heating means in response to at least one factor selected from the group consisting of a drop in the temperature of said thermal reservoir, a drop in the temperature of the top surface of the food product in said cooking chamber, a calculated thermal loss from said oven, and combinations thereof.
3 more elements
An oven for cooking a food product at least partially by hot gas flow, comprising:
- (A) a housing defining a cooking chamber adapted to receive a food product for cooking, a hot gas plenum configured and dimensioned to hold a volume of gas, and conduit means for providing gaseous communication therebetween;
- (B) associated with said cooking chamber, impingement-causing means for causing impingement of gas from said plenum onto the food product in said cooking chamber, and return means for causing return of at least a portion of the gas from said cooking chamber to said plenum;
- (C) associated with said plenum, a thermal energy source for heating gas disposed in said plenum;
- (D) blower means for selectively and variably causing the flow of gas from said return means, through said plenum, and to said impingement-causing means;
- and
- (E) control means for variably actuating said blower means, said control means including means for causing said blower means to blow gas from said plenum through said impingement-causing means at a predetermined flow rate appropriate to the particular food product for cooking during an initial portion of a cooking cycle, and thereafter adjusting the predetermined rate to provide at various points in the cooking cycle appropriate temperature differentials between the temperature of said plenum and the temperature of the top surface of the particular food product in said cooking chamber for the particular food product.
3 more elements
An oven for cooking a food product at least partially by hot gas flow and at least partially by microwave cooking, comprising:
- (A) a housing defining a cooking chamber adapted to receive a food product for cooking, a hot gas plenum configured and dimensioned to hold a volume of gas, conduit means for providing gaseous communication therebetween, and means for generating microwave energy and directing the microwave energy to the food products in said cooking chamber;
- (B) associated with said cooking chamber, impingement-causing means for causing impingement of gas from said plenum onto the food product in said cooking chamber, and returns means for causing return of at least a portion of the gas from said cooking chamber to said plenum;
- (C) associated with said plenum, a thermal energy source for heating gas disposed in said plenum;
- (D) blower means for causing the flow of gas from said return means, through said plenum, and to said impingement-causing means;
- and
- (E) control means for independently actuating said thermal energy source, said microwave generating means, and said blower means;
- the gas from said plenum being discharged in a given direction from said impingement-causing means and the microwave energy from said microwave generating and directing means being discharged in the opposite direction to the given direction.
4 more elements
An oven for cooking a food product at least partially by hot gas flow, comprising:
- (A) a housing defining a cooking chamber adapted to receive a food product for cooking, a hot gas plenum configured and dimensioned to hold a volume of gas, and conduit means for providing gaseous communication therebetween;
- (B) associated with said cooking chamber, impingement-causing means for causing impingement of gas from said plenum onto the food product in said cooking chamber, and return means for causing return of at least some of the gas from said cooking chamber to said plenum;
- (C) associated with said plenum, a thermal energy source for heating gas designed in said plenum;
- (D) blower means for causing the flow of gas from said return means, through said plenum, and to said impingement-causing means;
- and
- (E) control means for actuating said blower means;
- said return means including a filter box disposed intermediate the food product and said plenum, said filter box having a cross section greater than an upstream portion of said return means and a bottom surface cooler than the gas entering said filter box, whereby the gas is slowed and cooled to convert gasborne grease into liquid form, the grease in liquid form being trapped by said filter box bottom surface.
4 more elements
An oven for cooking a food product at least partially by hot gas flow, comprising:
- (A) a housing defining a cooking chamber adapted to receive a food product for cooking and maintain the food product stationary during cooking, a hot gas plenum configured and dimensioned to hold a volume of gas, and conduit means for providing gaseous communication therebetween.
- (B) associated with said cooking chamber, impingement-causing means for causing impingement of gas from said plenum onto first areas of the stationary food product in said cooking chamber, said impingement-causing means being stationary during cooking, and return means for causing return of at least a portion of the gas from said cooking chamber to said plenum, said return means enabling the return of gas from the first areas to said plenum only by passage of the gas over and in heat-transfer relationship with at least a portion of the other areas of the food product;
- (C) associated with said plenum, a thermal energy source for heating gas disposed in said plenum;
- and
- (D) blower means for causing the flow of gas from said return means, through said plenum, and to said impingement-causing means.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.