HK1105563B - Cooking oven for bread, patisserie and pastries or similar - Google Patents

Description

Oven for bread, pastry and cake

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an oven for bread, pastries and pastries or the like, comprising at least one baking chamber having a movable or fixed base on which said products are placed during baking, directly or through suitable baking supports, such as a plate, a mesh or a baking module, under which radiant heating means of the base, called base hotplate, are arranged.

The present invention relates to the field of ovens for bread, pastry, pastries and the like.

Background

Ovens which meet the above description are known which are not continuous or continuous in operation. In the first case, the furnace is able to contain a certain quantity of product, called load. At the end of the baking, the load is extracted from the oven, leaving room to bake a new load. In the case of a continuous oven, the products are conveyed through the baking chamber by suitable conveying means between an inlet and an outlet, the conveying time corresponding to the baking time.

For loading and removing the contents of the products in discontinuously operating ovens or also for transporting these products through continuously operating ovens, the floor of the baking chamber on which the products are placed directly or via suitable baking supports, such as trays, net panels or baking modules, can be designed to be movable, for example in the form of sliding trays, in particular in the case of floors known as removal floors or suitable baking mats. Such a mat may be of the metal type or made of synthetic material, or also using hinged stone or metal sheets.

The ovens to which the invention relates more particularly are those in which the products to be baked are in contact, directly or through their baking supports, with the floor of the baking chamber, which is subjected to suitable heating means.

In particular, a heating resistor, a heating fluid conduit or any other heat generating means can be placed under this plate.

In the following description, these heating means extending at least partially under the soleplate will be referred to as soleplate heating plates.

In this way, the products are partially baked by conduction through the soleplate, and are additionally baked by radiant and/or convective heating.

The radiation is caused by the heat diffusion from the floor and dome of the cooking cavity in which the heat source is located. In this respect, the dome is also provided with heating means.

These products can also be baked by convection caused by the movement of the hot fluid within the baking chamber. Some furnaces perform these three heating modes simultaneously: conduction, radiation, convection, in order to ensure the baking of the product. In particular, in a stove comprising a heated floor and a dome as described above, it is included that the air of the broiling cavity is agitated by suitable agitation means.

When the product is placed directly on the soleplate or through the baking support, heat is directly absorbed by the product in the contact area, and the soleplate must re-supply heat energy through the soleplate heating plate in order for the baking operation to continue. The radiation of the sole plate heating plate alone has some inertia to the sole plate heating which causes the toasting operation by conduction and radiation through the sole plate to be slowed down. This phenomenon is exacerbated when the products are placed on the floor by baking racks, which, although normally open work, provide a barrier to radiant heating and increase the inertia of heat transfer from the floor to the products.

As a result, baking on the top and sides of the product does not occur under equal conditions relative to the underside of the product that directly or indirectly contacts the floor.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention seeks to address this disadvantage by providing a solution which allows these inertia problems to be overcome when re-providing heat energy to the sole plate or delivering heat energy to the product.

Within the framework of one inventive step, it has been contemplated to combine conductive and radiant heating at the level of the floor with convective heating.

To this end, the invention relates to an oven for bread, pastry and pastries and the like, comprising at least one baking chamber with a movable or fixed floor on which the products are placed during baking, either directly or via suitable baking supports, such as trays, screens or baking modules, under which radiant heating means for the floor, called floor hotplates, are provided, characterized in that a space for closed-circuit convective circulation of a heating fluid is provided between the floor and the floor hotplate, said floor also being designed to be permeable to supplement the heating of the products by convection through the floor.

Furthermore, the soleplate is designed to be able to be heated by radiation through the space in which the convection of the heating fluid circulates.

Advantageously, the floor is defined by a plate or baking mat that is fully or partially open-worked, even by a grid plate or mesh plate, which are spaced apart with respect to the floor hotplate.

According to a preferred embodiment, said floor in the form of a baking mat is supported by the upper edge of the slide plate. The slide plate extends above the heating plate of the base plate and forms a partition.

In this way, the slide plate defines a passage in the space for convective circulation of the heating fluid.

The oven according to the invention comprises means for closed-circuit circulation of the convective heating fluid in said space.

Preferably, said means for circulating advantageously comprise agitation means, means for heating said fluid and fluid transfer means for transferring fluid from a suction opening at one end of the sole plate to a discharge opening at the opposite end of the sole plate.

The device for heating fluid is composed of a bottom plate heating plate.

The slide plate extends continuously or discontinuously from the discharge port to the suction port.

In a particular embodiment of the invention, the base plate is movable.

In this case, the slide plates are oriented substantially parallel to the direction of displacement of the bottom plate, diverging slightly on either side of the longitudinal mid-plane of the furnace in the direction of circulation of the convective heating fluid.

The invention also relates to a cooking device consisting of several modules, each of which comprises a cooking cavity, at least one module being defined by the cooking oven according to the invention.

Drawings

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments thereof, which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an embodiment of an oven according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic partial perspective view of a floor in the form of a baking mat with a floor heating plate and a space for closed convective circulation of a heating fluid according to the invention disposed thereunder;

FIG. 3 is a schematic top view of FIG. 2 with the bake pad removed;

fig. 4 is a schematic view of a toasting apparatus comprising several modules, some of which are defined by a toaster according to the present invention.

Detailed Description

The present invention relates to an oven 1, which, as can be seen in fig. 1, comprises a baking chamber 2, in which baking chamber 2 a floor 3 and suitable heating means 4 are arranged. The heating means 4 extends wholly or partly under the soleplate 3, which will be referred to as soleplate heating plate 4 in the following description. This soleplate heating plate 4 heats the soleplate 3 by radiation or conduction.

Convection heating may advantageously be added to complement existing heating equipment. For this purpose, a space is provided between the soleplate 3 and the soleplate heating plate 4 for closed-loop convection circulation of the heating fluid.

By this convection, the heat transport is accelerated and the above mentioned inertia problems are overcome.

By this space 5, in which the heating fluid circulates convectively, the soleplate 3 is advantageously designed to be heatable by radiation by the soleplate heating plate 4.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the floor 3 is designed to be permeable so as to supplement the heating, either directly or by convection with the product placed on the floor through suitable baking supports 6. These two solutions have been schematically shown in fig. 1.

In particular, this floor 3 can be defined by a fully or partially open plate machined by drilling, for example in the case of a so-called oven with a removal floor, or can be in the form of a baking mat (baking mat) as shown in fig. 1, which is spaced apart from the floor heating plate 4.

In the preferred embodiment, the floor 3 defined by the baking mat rests on the upper edge 7 of the slide 8. The slide 8 extends above the base plate heating plate 4 and forms a partition.

It should be noted that this design has the effect of maintaining or even promoting the heating by the soleplate heating plate 4 by radiation towards the soleplate 3 defined by the baking mat. In this way, with simple radiation through the soleplate, baking of the product can be ensured.

Within the space 5, the slide plate 8 defines a convective heating fluid circulation channel 9. In this way, the slides 8 are oriented substantially parallel to the circulation direction 10 of the convective heating fluid under the soleplate 3. The oven furthermore comprises means 11 for circulating a convection heating fluid in a closed circuit in said space 5. These means 11 comprise stirring means 12, such as a fan, conveying means 13 and heating means. The conveyor 13 conveys fluid from a suction opening 14 at one end 15 of the sole plate 3 to a discharge opening 16 at an opposite end 17 of the sole plate 3, while passing the agitation means 12. The heating device heats the fluid.

In particular, these heating means may comprise only a sole soleplate heating plate 4 or be used in combination with additional heating means (not shown).

The conveyor 13 is advantageously defined by the soleplate heating plate 4 itself and by the casing 18. The casing 18 completely or partially surrounds the soleplate heating plate 4, while defining a duct 19 communicating with the suction opening 14 and the discharge opening 16.

In this context, the slide plate 8 can extend continuously or discontinuously from the discharge opening 16 to the suction opening 14.

In such a configuration, the convection heating fluid, under the action of the stirring means 12 and thanks to the penetrability of the bottom plate 3, can rapidly pass through the products placed on the bottom plate 3 directly or through the baking support 6, thus not penetrating into the baking chamber 2 and altering the baking conditions of the products on top thereof.

It should be noted, however, that in the case of the oven according to the invention which does not comprise a permeable floor, convection heating has the advantage of accelerating the heat exchange between the floor heating plate 4 and said floor 3.

As explained in the introductory part, the base plate 3 can be designed to be movable, in the form of a slide or a suitable baking mat. Of course, this movable plate or the baking mat itself is designed to be unobstructed, so that the base plate meets the penetration feature according to the invention.

In the above described embodiment, the moving plate or baking mat thus extends above the slide 8, the slide 8 being oriented substantially parallel to the direction of displacement of the plate or mat. However, in order to avoid local wear of the plate or the pad, said sliding plates 8 can diverge slightly on both sides of the longitudinal mid-plane 20 of the furnace 1 and in the direction of fluid circulation, as schematically shown in fig. 2.

Moreover, such an oven 1 according to the invention can define a module. In other words, as can be seen in fig. 4, in a baking apparatus of the channel type, for example, the oven 1 can be formed with a channel length such that the floor 3 can again receive a convection heating device as described above over only a part of the channel. The invention also relates to the case in which this tunnel comprises several modules 1A, 1B juxtaposed in correspondence with the oven 1 according to the invention.

In such a configuration, it is possible to choose to put into operation, in one or more of the modules 1A, 1B, their respective stirring means 12, with or without providing additional convection heating of the bottom plate 3. In fig. 4 the agitation means 12 of module 1A are put into operation, while the agitation means 12 of module 1B are not.

As already indicated above, the invention extends to any type of oven, such as and not exclusively, a single-stage or multi-stage tunnel oven, a conventional oven or an oven with a movable or fixed floor.

Claims (6)

1. Oven for bread, pastry and pastry products, comprising at least one baking chamber (1) with a movable floor (3) on which the products are placed during baking, either directly or through suitable baking supports (6), under which floor (3) there are provided radiant heating means for the floor, called floor hotplate (4), between which floor (3) there is provided a space (5) for closed-circuit convective circulation of a heating fluid, said oven comprising means (11) for closed-circuit circulation of the convective heating fluid in said space (5), said means (11) for closed-circuit circulation comprising stirring means (12), said radiant heating means for heating the fluid, called floor hotplate, and conveying means (13) for conveying said fluid, characterized in that said floor (3) is designed to be permeable, to supplement the heating of the product by convection through which the convective heating fluid passes rapidly through the product under the action of the stirring means (12) and because the bottom plate (3) is permeable, so as not to penetrate into the cooking chamber (1), the base plate (3) in the form of a cooking mat being supported by the upper edge (7) of a slide plate (8), the slide plate (8) extending above the base plate heating plate (4), while forming a partition to define a passage (9) for the convective circulation of the heating fluid in said space (5), the slide (8) is oriented parallel to the direction of displacement of the movable floor (3), such that the channels (9) allow a closed convective circulation of said heating fluid parallel to the direction of displacement of said movable floor (3), or the sliding plates (8) diverge slightly on both sides of the longitudinal mid-plane of the furnace in the direction of circulation of the convective heating fluid.

2. Oven according to claim 1, characterized in that the floor (3) is defined by a plate which is wholly or partly open-worked or by a baking mat.

3. An oven according to claim 1, characterized in that the floor (3) is defined by a grid or mesh plate and is spaced apart with respect to the floor heating plate (4).

4. An oven according to claim 1, characterized in that the conveying means (13) convey the fluid from the suction opening (14) at one end (15) of the floor (3) to the discharge opening (16) at the opposite end (17) of the floor (3) while the fluid passes through said stirring means (12).

5. Oven according to claim 1, characterized in that the slide (8) extends continuously or discontinuously from the discharge opening (16) towards the suction opening (14).

6. Baking apparatus consisting of several modules, each comprising a baking chamber (2), characterized in that at least one module is constituted by an oven (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 5.