Conveyor oven air system
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional conveyor ovens face challenges in achieving controlled and repeatable heating along their length due to variations in the internal environment and changing thermal configurations of food products, leading to inefficiencies in cooking time and energy usage, with limited ability to reduce energy losses when operating at less than full capacity.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a burner assembly with burner tubes and passive tubes, along with a baffle strip and fan system, allowing for independent temperature sensing and air delivery to segments of the oven tunnel, enabling precise control over heating and airflow for consistent cooking results.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the conveyor oven is kept running for extended periods to maintain readiness, then the oven is ready for immediate use, but heat and noise continuously escape wasting energy and creating discomfort
Solution Approach 1:
The oven tunnel is divided into multiple independently controllable heating zones with separate burners and airflow systems. This allows the oven to maintain readiness in specific zones while reducing or shutting off heating in other zones, enabling partial operation that reduces overall energy consumption while maintaining operational readiness.
Solution Approach 2:
The oven incorporates dynamically adjustable burners and airflow systems that can be independently controlled for each heating zone. This dynamic control allows the oven to adapt its heating and airflow to match actual cooking demands, reducing energy waste during periods of lower usage while maintaining readiness capability.
2Reliability
If full heating capacity is maintained to ensure proper cooking, then cooking quality is consistent, but energy consumption increases unnecessarily during partial capacity operation
Solution Approach 1:
The heating system is segmented into multiple independently controllable zones, each with its own burner and airflow control. This allows the oven to activate only the heating zones needed for the current cooking load, maintaining cooking consistency in active zones while reducing overall energy consumption during partial capacity operation.
Solution Approach 2:
Different heating zones can be operated at different power levels based on local cooking requirements. The airflow system is also locally controlled to deliver appropriate heat distribution in each zone, ensuring cooking consistency where needed while minimizing energy use in zones that are not actively being used.
3Reliability
If the conveyor speed is reduced to extend cooking time, then more complete cooking is achieved, but productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The oven tunnel is divided into multiple heating zones that can operate independently at different intensities. This allows the conveyor to move at higher speeds through zones with lower heating intensity while still achieving complete cooking through cumulative heat exposure across multiple zones, thereby maintaining productivity while ensuring cooking completeness.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple heating zones provide continuous heat application throughout the tunnel, ensuring that food products receive consistent thermal processing regardless of conveyor speed. This continuous heating action across segmented zones allows faster throughput while maintaining cooking completeness.
4Reliability
If multiple temperature zones are created to improve heating control, then temperature consistency is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The oven is divided into multiple heating zones with independent burners and airflow controls, creating distinct temperature zones that can be independently managed. This segmentation provides precise temperature control in each zone while using modular components that simplify overall system management compared to a single complex heating system.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution allows for improved heating control and reduced cooking times, increasing cooking quality and energy efficiency by maintaining consistent temperatures and reducing energy waste, even when operating at less than full capacity.
Implementation Method 1
a burner assembly operable to emit a flame to heat air for convection cooking
Implementation Method 2
a fan in fluid communication with the compartment and operable to deliver heated air from the compartment to the oven chamber for convection cooking
Data Source
AI summary
A conveyor oven for cooking food and having an oven chamber in which food is cooked; a conveyor moveable to convey food within the oven chamber; a burner assembly operable to emit a flame to heat air for cooking food moving within the oven chamber on the conveyor; a burner tube extending into a compartment and positioned to receive at least a portion of the flame emitted by the burner assembly; and one or more passive tubes in the compartment positioned opposite the burner tube, wherein elongated baffles are located between adjacent passive tubes, wherein a baffle plate is located between the burner and passive tubes to restrict airflow from the burner tube to the passive tube, and/or wherein shelf assemblies in the oven enable movement (and in some cases removal) of a shelf with a corresponding fan and/or motor without disturbing other shelves and their corresponding fans and/or motors.