Rethermalization pass through oven system
AssigneeAmana Company, L.P.
InventorsRichard H. Edgar, Larry M. Engebritson, Mary J. Heitzman, J. Scott Petty, Nelson J. Ferragut
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A pass through oven system using a microwave oven with doors and a conveyor belt passing through the oven cavity. A sensor system detects the food item on the conveyor belt and identifies the food item. A controller in response to the sensor system moves the conveyor so that the food item is positioned within the cavity of the microwave oven, automatically engages the oven for a preset duration depending upon the identity of the food item and then moves the conveyor to remove the food item from the cavity.
Claims10
A pass through oven system comprising:
- a oven having an internal cavity capable of receiving an item to be heated;
- a conveyor system having a belt which passes through the cavity and a motor for moving the belt;
- a sensor system for detecting and identifying the item to be heated and providing output signals, the sensor system including a first sensor for detecting the item to be heated on the conveyor belt and providing a first output signal and a second sensor for detecting the item to be heated on the conveyor belt at the point of entry into the oven cavity and providing a second output signal;
- a controller receiving the first and second output signals and providing a move signal to the conveyor system to move the belt a distance sufficient to place the item to be heated within the cavity and providing a heat output signal to the oven to operate the oven based upon the item identified;
- and
- the controller receives the first and second output signals and in response thereto determines the amount of time to provide the move signal to operate the motor to position the item to be heated at the center of the cavity.
A method for controlling a pass through oven system having a oven with a cavity, a conveyor system having a belt which passes through the oven cavity and a motor for moving the belt, a sensor system for detecting and identifying an item to be heated and a controller for operating the conveyor system and the oven, comprising the steps of:
- detecting the presence of an item to be heated on the conveyor belt;
- determining the distance the conveyor belt must travel to position the item to be heated within the oven cavity;
- moving the conveyor belt to position the item to be heated within the oven cavity;
- identifying the item to be heated;
- stopping the conveyor belt;
- and
- automatically operating the oven for a predetermined length of time depending upon the identity of the item to be heated.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.