Conveyor oven with doors and sensors and mehod of operating same

A conveyor oven for baking food items, comprising:

• a baking oven including a main oven and a baking oven extension chamber the baking oven extension chamber at a downstream end of the baking oven, the baking oven having an entrance door that rotates at a first flexion region to an opens position inwardly into the interior of the main oven thereby defining an inlet opening and having an exit door situated at a downstream end of the baking oven extension chamber thereby defining an outlet opening, the exit door rotating open at a second flexion region outwardly in a direction away from the interior of the main oven to an open position, the inlet opening defining a plane on which the first flexion region at least partially lies, the outlet opening defining a plane on which the second flexion region at least partially lies,
• a conveyor traversing the baking oven and the entrance and exit doors;
• an entrance door sensor upstream of the entrance door;
• an exit door sensor situated at the baking oven extension chamber upstream of the exit door, the exit door sensor sensing items on the conveyor as the items pass through the baking oven extension chamber, the exit door and the entrance door operating independently of one another;
• a controller for receiving signals from the entrance sensor and from the exit sensor and in response to these signals controlling when the entrance door and when the exit door are actuated, the controller programmed to actuate the entrance door and the exit door independently.

A method of operating a conveyor oven for baking food items, the method comprising:

• (a) passing food items on a conveyor through a baking oven, the baking oven having a main oven and a baking oven extension chamber;
• and
• (b) minimizing heat escaping from the baking oven by
• rotating an entrance door open on a first flexion region to an open position inwardly into the interior of the main oven to define an inlet opening, the inlet opening defining a plane on which the first flexion region at least partially lies, whenever a food item crosses an entrance optical beam situated upstream of the entrance door, the entrance optical beam generated by an entrance door sensor,
• rotating the entrance door closed after the food item enters the baking oven, the entrance door in a closed position not situated in the main oven,
• rotating an exit door at an exit end of the baking oven extension chamber outwardly away from the interior of the oven at a second flexion region to an open position to define an outlet opening whenever the food item crosses an exit optical beam in the baking oven extension chamber, the exit optical beam generated by an exit door sensor, the outlet opening defining a plane on which the second flexion region at least partially lies,
• rotating the exit door closed after the food item leaves the baking oven extension chamber, and
• urging at least one of the entrance door and exit door to an open position so that the at least one of the entrance door and exit door defaults to said open position whenever at least one of the following fails to operate:
• (i) an actuator of the entrance door or of the exit door, (ii) the exit door sensor or the entrance door sensor.

A conveyor oven kit for upgrading a conventional conveyor oven for pizza, comprising:

• an extension chamber structured to be attached to an exit end of the conventional conveyor oven;
• an inlet door structured to attach to an entrance of the conventional convenyor oven;
• an inlet door sensor;
• an outlet door structured to attach to an end of the extension chamber;
• an outlet door sensor adapted to attach to the extension chamber;
• two pneumatic pistons for actuating the inlet and outlet doors respectively;
• and
• a controller for controlling actuation of the pneumatic pistons.