Food grilling system for oven cavity with byproduct removal
AssigneeMaytag Corporation
InventorsIsaac P. Sargunam, Robert H. Williams, Jr., Richard J. Arntz
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A grilling system for an oven includes a removable grilling platform defined by a food supporting rack, a basin, and a heating element positioned between the rack and the basin. The basin includes a bottom surface which is sloped in order to direct liquid byproducts of the grilling operation either into a collection container or to an auxiliary heating element used to vaporize the liquid byproducts. An exhaust system is provided to purge the oven cavity of gaseous and airborne byproducts.
Claims28
In a cooking appliance including an oven cavity having an open frontal portion, a door for selectively sealing the open frontal portion, at least one heating element disposed adjacent a bottom portion of said oven cavity and controls for regulating an activation state of said heating element, a combination grilling and byproduct removal system comprising:
- a grilling platform mounted within said oven cavity, said grilling platform including a rack for supporting food items to be grilled, a basin arranged below the rack and adapted to catch liquid byproducts generated during grilling, and an additional heating element extending between at least a lower portion of the basin and the rack, said additional heating element being adapted to be operated to grill food items on the rack;
- and
- an exhaust system having an inlet opening into the oven cavity and an outlet leading from the oven cavity, said exhaust system including a fan for drawing grilling byproducts out of the oven cavity.
In a cooking appliance including an oven cavity having an open frontal portion, a door for selectively sealing the open frontal portion, at least one heating element disposed adjacent a bottom portion of said oven cavity and controls for regulating an activation state of said heating element, a combination grilling and byproduct removal system comprising:
- a grilling platform mounted within said oven cavity, said grilling platform including a rack for supporting food items to be grilled and an additional heating element arranged below the rack, said additional heating element being selectively actuatable for grilling food items on the rack;
- means, located adjacent the bottom portion of said oven cavity, for vaporizing at least a portion of liquid byproducts, developed in the oven cavity during a grilling operation, into grilling byproducts;
- and
- an exhaust system having an inlet opening into the oven cavity and an outlet leading from the oven cavity, said exhaust system including a fan for drawing the grilling byproducts out of the oven cavity.
A method of grilling food in an oven cavity provided with at least one selectively actualable heating element comprising:
- supporting a food item upon a rack, provided as part of a grilling platform, within the oven cavity;
- operating an additional heating element, also provided as part of the grilling platform and arranged beneath the rack, to effectuate grilling of the food item, while developing liquid and gaseous byproducts;
- vaporizing at least a portion of the liquid byproducts into gaseous byproducts;
- and
- operating an oven cavity exhaust system to remove the gaseous byproducts.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.