AU2003260541B2

AU2003260541B2 - Food cooking oven

Info

Publication number: AU2003260541B2
Application number: AU2003260541A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Robert Fernand Bujeau; Michel Georges Foray
Original assignee: Premark FEG LLC
Current assignee: Premark FEG LLC
Priority date: 2002-05-07
Filing date: 2003-05-07
Publication date: 2006-08-24
Anticipated expiration: 2023-05-07
Also published as: CN1653300A; DE60318940T2; JP2005524824A; FR2839546A1; CA2625276A1; WO2003098117A1; DE60318940D1; EP1502058B1; EP1502058A1; FR2839546B1; ES2300605T3; AU2003260541A1; CA2484063C; CA2484063A1; MXPA04010794A; CA2625276C; US20050188982A1; ATE385303T1

Abstract

The food cooker has a fan for air circulation with a heater in the centre of the fan. The fan has at least one vane (20) rotating around a central space (21) on a circular trajectory centred on the axis of rotation (19) to mix the air within the cooker. The heater can be a gas burner.

Description

I

AN OVEN FOR COOKING FOOD The present invention relates to ovens for cooking food.

The discussion below of the background to the invention is included to explain the context of the invention. This is not to be taken as an admission that any of the material referred to was published, known or part of the common general knowledge in the art as at the priority date established by the present application.

In ovens known to the Applicant, the food for cooking is placed on trays disposed at a plurality of levels. In such ovens, the food must all cook at the same speed and with the same degree of cooking at all of the levels. It is therefore particularly important to ensure that heat is distributed uniformly within such ovens.

It would therefore be desirable to provide an oven for cooking food which improves the uniformity with which heat is distributed within the enclosure of the oven.

According to the present invention, there is provided an oven for cooking food, the oven including: walls forming an enclosure having an opening for receiving the food to be heated and for containing a cooking atmosphere, said opening being closed by at least one door; a heater device placed inside the enclosure; and a fan also placed inside the enclosure, said fan including a base member and at least one blade rotatable about an axis of rotation in order to stir the cooking atmosphere heated by the heater device, wherein said at least one blade has a proximal end attached to the base member and an opposite, distal end and extends from said proximal end to said distal end towards said heater device; wherein the heater device has a heat generating face facing the base member of said fan and being located, as seen along the axis of rotation of said fan, between said proximal and distal ends of said at least one blade.

According to the present invention, there is also provided an oven for cooking food, the oven including: WAULl\AndrSDecA200326054l Ameded Pages oc walls forming an enclosure having an opening for receiving the food to be heated and for containing a cooking atmosphere, said opening being closed by at least one door; a heater device placed inside the enclosure; and a fan also placed inside the enclosure, said fan including at least one blade rotatable about a central space, following a circular path centred on an axis of rotation in order to stir the cooking atmosphere heated by the heater device; wherein the heater device is placed facing the central space which is situated inside the circular path; and wherein the heater device is a gas burner; said oven further including a gas feed duct for feeding gas to said gas burner, an igniter for lighting the gas, and at least one electrical wire for electrically powering said igniter, wherein said wire runs within the gas feed duct.

According to the present invention, there is further provided an oven for cooking food, the oven including: walls forming an enclosure having an opening for receiving the food to be heated and for containing a cooking atmosphere, said opening being closed by at least one door; a heater device placed inside the enclosure; and a fan also placed inside the enclosure, said fan including at least one blade rotatable about a central space, following a circular path centred on an axis of rotation in order to stir the cooking atmosphere heated by the heater device; wherein the heater device is placed facing the central space which is situated inside the circular path; and wherein the heater device has a heat generating face which is placed within said central space.

Advantageously, the heat produced by the heater device is sucked in by the fan and then distributed around it in uniform manner. This can contribute to considerably improving the distribution of heat throughout the volume of the enclosure.

Preferred embodiments of the invention may optionally W1ulieAndrewvSpe 03260541 Amended Pages doc 2 include one or more of the following features: the axis of rotation of the fan is horizontal; thus, for example, the fan can be mounted to rotate on one of the vertical walls of the enclosure; the heater device is an electric element or a burner for burning gas; in the case of a burner, the burner can include a bowl and a plate, the bowl being connected to a duct for feeding gas for burning, and being closed by the plate covering its face facing towards the wall of the enclosure on which the fan is mounted, the plate being provided with orifices for passing the gas for burning; the burner can be oriented towards the wall of the enclosure on which the fan is mounted; thus, if the burner and the fan are protected merely by a simple grid, the heat generated by the burner is not emitted directly towards the food to be heated and/or cooked; the orifices in the plate of the burner are adapted so that the flames generated by burning the gas for burning are distributed over 3600 about the axis of rotation; wires for electrically powering a device for lighting the gas of the burner pass within the feed duct; in this preferred arrangement, advantage is taken .of the relatively low temperature that exists inside the feed duct, given that it is swept by the gas for burning, thereby protecting the electrical power supply wires contained therein; the plate is provided with an igniter electrode and with a flame control device, e.g. operating by ionization; and the oven includes a protective grid provided with a frame defining an opening of area greater than or substantially equal to the area of the fan when considered perpendicularly to the axis of rotation.

W:\SPECI\IRN724707 Other aspects, objects, and advantages of the invention will appear on C)reading the following description of an embodiment thereof.

The invention will also be better understood with the help of the drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view of an embodiment of an oven; Figure 2 is a diagrammatic section view of the oven shown in Figure 1, n on the vertical plane perpendicular to its back wall, intersecting the back wall Sand burner substantially in the middle; Figure 3 is a diagrammatic section in a plane analogous to that of Figure C2, showing the burner of the oven shown in Figures 1 and 2; Figure 4 is a diagrammatic plan view of the plate of the burner shown in Figures 2 and 3; Figure 5 is a diagrammatic front view of a variant of the protective grid which, in certain variants of the oven of the invention, serves to protect its burner and its fan; and Figure 6 is a diagrammatic section view through the protective grid shown in Figure In the various figures, the same references are used to designate elements that are identical or similar.

An embodiment of the oven is described below with reference to Figures 1 to4.

As shown in Figure 1, the oven 1 comprises an enclosure 2 contained in a casing 3. The casing 3 has means 4 for regulating temperature inside the enclosure 2, and a door 5 for inserting food into the enclosure 2.

The enclosure 2 is substantially in the form of a rectangular parallelepiped having a front face 6 that is open or closed by the door 5, a back wall 7 that is opposite the front wall 6, two vertical side walls 8 between the front face 6 and the back wall 7, and a bottom wall 9 and a ceiling 10 forming two horizontal walls.

As shown in Figure 2, the oven 1 also comprises a heater device 11, a fan 12, a protective grid 13, and slideways 14. The fan 12 is mounted on the back wall 7.

W:UuPOeAndreASpecr20320541 Amended Pages.doc The heater device 11 is placed inside the enclosure 2 facing the fan 12.

Advantageously it is a burner for burning gas. It is fed with gas for burning by a duct 15. The burner is ignited by an electrode 16 that is powered electrically by a wire 17 penetrating into the burner via the duct 15. The burner is described in greater detail below with reference to Figures 3 and 4.

The burner advantageously includes a flame control device 16a, e.g.

using ionization, that is connected to a control unit (not shown) by a wire 17a.

The gas for burning is advantageously a mixture of air and gas and it is delivered to the burner at small positive pressure.

The fan 12 is constituted by a disk 18 centred on an axis of rotation 19.

At the periphery of a disk 18, the fan 12 has a plurality of blades 20 that are regularly distributed angularly around the axis of rotation 19. The blades 20 are constituted, for example, by plane rectangular plates extending in planes that are substantially perpendicular to the disk 18 and that include the axis of rotation 19. While they are being rotated, they follow a circular path centred on the axis of rotation 19 and defining a central space 21. The fan 12 is rotated about the axis of rotation 19 by a motor 22, e.g. an electric motor. It serves to distribute the heat energy within the enclosure 2.

The protective grid 13 extends in a vertical plane facing the disk 18, in front of the burner 11 and the fan 12, relative to the space 23 that is to receive the food to be heated and that is situated between the burner 11 and the door W:ULdieAndrevASpe2003268041 Amended Pages doc Ten pairs of slideways 14 are disposed substantially horizontally on the side walls 8. Each side wall 8 has one of the slideways 14 of each pair. These slideways 14 enable trays to be supported, which in turn serve to carry the food that is to be heated and/or cooked.

The burner 11 is placed facing the central space 21.

Advantageously, a portion of the burner 11 penetrates into the central space 21. The enclosure 2 includes an exhaust orifice 31 for exhausting gas contained inside the enclosure 2.

As shown in Figure 3, the burner 11 comprises a bowl 24 and a plate 25. Advantageously the bowl 24 and the plate 25 are made of brass.

The bowl 24 is connected to the feed duct 15 and it is closed by the plate 25 on the side of the burner 11 that faces towards the back wall 7 of the enclosure 2.

As shown in Figure 4, the plate 25 is in the form of a ring with a central opening 26 which is extended, perpendicularly to the plate 25 to the bottom of the bowl 24 by a tube 27. The plate 25 is substantially millimeters (mm) in thickness. The zone of the ring that is situated between the central opening 26 and its periphery is pierced by orifices 28 that are regularly spaced apart on eight concentric circles A-H. These concentric circles have respective diameters of 66 mm, 74 mm, 82 mm, 90 mm, 98 mm, 106 mm, 114 mm, and 122 mm.

On these circles, there are to be found respectively 32, 32, 40, 48, 48, 64, 64, and 64 orifices 28. Each orifice 28 has a diameter that is substantially equal to 2.4 mm.

The plate 25 includes a setback 29 having a depth that is substantially equal to 3 mm. As a result, the orifices 28 are not directly flush with the surface of the plate 25 and they are thus protected in part from the turbulence generated by the fan 12. The shapes of the orifices 20 and of the setback 29 are adapted so that, under the effect of the fan 12, the flames generated by IDburning the gas extend radially relative to the central opening 26 over 3600.

0 0 The plate 25 also has two passages 30 for the igniting electrode 16 and

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for the flame control device 16a.

The burner can be varied in numerous ways without going beyond the ambit of the invention.

Thus, in a variant that is not shown, the enclosure 2 has a front face and _a rear face each of which can be opened or closed by a door. Under such n circumstances, a fan 12 is mounted, for example, on at least one of the side O walls 8, and the heater device 11 is placed facing each fan 12.

(-i C 10 In other variants, a plurality of fans and a plurality of burners are placed 0on the same wall.

(-i In yet other variants, the oven has a protective grid 13 of the kind shown in Figures 5 and 6. Unlike the grid described above, this protective grid 13 is not restricted to an area corresponding to that facing the fan 12. The protective grid 13 is supported by a metal frame 40. The frame 40 extends over a major fraction of the opening in the internal cavity of the enclosure 2 in the plane parallel to the back wall 7. The dimensions of the frame 40 are substantially equal to or greater than the dimensions of the fan 12. Thus, the cooking atmosphere flows inside the enclosure 2 by being sucked towards the centre of the fan 12 inside the frame 40, and then blown away at the periphery of the fan 12 outside the frame 40. The frame 40 may act as a reflector. By way of example, the frame 40 is held within the enclosure 2 by tabs 41 engaging the bottom 9 and the ceiling 10. In some variants, the protective grid 13 and the frame 40 can be easily removed so as to be cleaned independently of the oven 1.

W:Uul AndrewSpeo'%03280541 Amended Pages.doc

I

i 6a Throughout the description and claims of the specification, the word "comprise" and variations of the word, such as "comprising" and "comprises", is not intended to exclude other additives, components, integers or steps.

The invention described herein is susceptible to variations, modifications and/or additions other than those specifically described and it is to be understood that the invention includes all such variations, modifications and/or additions which fall within the spirit and scope of the above description.

W:\SPECI\IRN724707

Claims

1. An oven for cooking food, the oven including: walls forming an enclosure having an opening for receiving the food to be heated and for containing a cooking atmosphere, said opening being closed by at least one door; a heater device placed inside the enclosure; and a fan also placed inside the enclosure, said fan including a base member and at least one blade rotatable about an axis of rotation in order to stir the cooking atmosphere heated by the heater device, wherein said at least one blade has a proximal end attached to the base member and an opposite, distal end and extends from said proximal end to said distal end towards said heater device; wherein the heater device has a heat generating face facing the base member of said fan and being located, as seen along the axis of rotation of said fan, between said proximal and distal ends of said at least one blade.

2. The oven according to claim 1, wherein the walls include two horizontal walls forming respectively a bottom and a ceiling, and at least two vertical side walls connecting said horizontal walls; said at least one door is vertical; and the axis of rotation is horizontal.

3. The oven according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the heater device is a burner for burning gas.

4. The oven according to claim 3, wherein the burner includes a bowl and a plate, the bowl being closed by the plate on a side facing the fan, the plate being provided with orifices for passing the gas for burning.

5. The oven according to claim 4, wherein the orifices in the plate of the burner are adapted so that the flames generated by burning the gas for burning are distributed over 3600 about the axis of rotation.

6. An oven for cooking food, the oven including: WAJLiiedrewMSped20O3280641 Amended Pages doe walls forming an enclosure having an opening for receiving the food to be heated and for containing a cooking atmosphere, said opening being closed by at least one door; a heater device placed inside the enclosure; and a fan also placed inside the enclosure, said fan including at least one blade rotatable about a central space, following a circular path centred on an axis of rotation in order to stir the cooking atmosphere heated by the heater device; wherein the heater device is placed facing the central space which is situated inside the circular path; and wherein the heater device is a gas burner; said oven further including a gas feed duct for feeding gas to said gas burner, an igniter for lighting the gas, and at least one electrical wire for electrically powering said igniter, wherein said wire runs within the gas feed duct.

7. The oven according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the plate is provided with an igniter electrode and with a flame control device.

8. The oven according to any one of claims 1 to 7, further including a protective grid provided with a frame defining an opening of area greater than or substantially equal to the area of the fan when considered perpendicularly to the axis of rotation.

9. An oven for cooking food, the oven including: walls forming an enclosure having an opening for receiving the food to be heated and for containing a cooking atmosphere, said opening being closed by at least one door; a heater device placed inside the enclosure; and a fan also placed inside the enclosure, said fan including at least one blade rotatable about a central space, following a circular path centred on an axis of rotation in order to stir the cooking atmosphere heated by the heater device; WAU ie AndrevSpec20032O6041 Amended Pages doc wherein the heater device is placed facing the central space which is situated inside the circular path; and wherein the heater device has a heat generating face which is placed within said central space.

The oven according to claim 9, wherein the heater device is a burner for burning gas, said burner includes a bowl and a plate, the bowl being closed by the plate on a side facing the fan, the plate being provided with orifices for passing the gas for burning.

11. The oven according to claim 10, further including a gas feed duct for feeding gas to said gas burner, an ignition electrode for lighting the gas, and at least one electrical wire for electrically powering said ignition electrode, wherein said wire runs within the gas feed duct.

12. The oven according to claim 11, further including a flame.control device, said ignition electrode and said flame control device extending through and being supported by said plate.

13. The oven according to any one of claims 10 to 12, wherein said plate includes a central opening and an annular region which surrounds said central opening and in which said orifices are positioned, said annular region being depressed relative to a rim of at least one of said plate and said bowl.

14. The oven according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the burner includes a bowl and a plate, the bowl being closed by the plate on a side facing the fan, the plate being provided with orifices. The oven according to any one of claims 4, 5 and 7, or claim 8 when dependent on claim 4, wherein said plate includes a central opening and an annular region which surrounds said central opening and in which said orifices are positioned, said annular region being depressed relative to a rim of at least one of said plate and said bowl.

W:UuieASndnvASpeA2 00326541 Ame ded Pages doc

16. An oven according to any one of the embodiments substantially as herein described and illustrated. DATED: 16 May, 2006 PHILLIPS ORMONDE FITZPATRICK Attorneys for: PREMARK FEG L.L.C. o4^o4a W utieAdre%&S3eO I Amended PaGes dec