Cuboid Firebox Cooking Apparatus with False Floor for Heat Insulation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional grilling methods using charcoal or gas grills face issues such as food charring over open flames, unpleasant vapor generation, safety risks with gas handling, and inability to maintain optimal cooking temperature for extended periods, while also being unsuitable for heat-sensitive surfaces.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus with an axially symmetrical firebox and a continuous, slightly inclined heating surface that allows food to be cooked directly on it, featuring a false floor to support combustion material and reduce heat radiation, along with outlet openings for residue removal, enabling efficient combustion and thermal insulation for safe use on sensitive surfaces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Duration of action of stationary object
If a continuous heating surface is used to cook food directly, then cooking temperature can be maintained over an arbitrarily long period, but heat radiation onto the surface increases making it unsuitable for heat-sensitive surfaces
Solution Approach 1:
The false floor is nested within the firebox, creating a multi-level structure where the combustion material rests on the false floor while the heating surface is positioned above. This nested arrangement allows thermal insulation material to be placed between the false floor and heating surface, reducing heat radiation while maintaining continuous cooking capability.
Solution Approach 2:
Thermal insulation material is introduced as an intermediary between the combustion chamber (false floor) and the heating surface. This intermediary layer mediates the heat transfer, allowing the heating surface to maintain cooking temperature over extended periods while reducing the intensity of heat radiation onto the surface, making it suitable for heat-sensitive surfaces.
2Speed
If charcoal is actively ignited with combustion aids, then ignition is achieved, but vapors are generated that impair food taste and health
Solution Approach 1:
The harmful combustion aids are extracted from the system and replaced with natural ignition methods. The false floor structure enables controlled combustion of charcoal without the need for chemical ignition aids, eliminating the generation of harmful vapors while maintaining efficient ignition through proper airflow design.
Solution Approach 2:
The false floor design incorporates airflow channels that provide strong oxidant supply to the combustion material, enabling rapid and complete combustion of charcoal without combustion aids. This accelerated oxidation process achieves fast ignition while producing minimal harmful vapors through efficient burning.
3Use of energy by moving object
If a grate is used to support combustion material, then airflow is improved, but the heating surface is not continuous causing cooking issues
Solution Approach 1:
The firebox is segmented into two functional levels: the false floor for combustion material support with airflow channels, and the continuous heating surface for cooking. This segmentation allows the grate function (airflow) and heating surface function (continuity) to be separated into distinct components, achieving both improved airflow and continuous heating surface.
Solution Approach 2:
The solution moves from a two-dimensional grate structure to a three-dimensional arrangement with a false floor beneath the heating surface. This dimensional change allows airflow channels to be incorporated in the vertical dimension while maintaining the horizontal continuity of the heating surface, resolving the contradiction between airflow efficiency and surface continuity.
4Reliability
If gas is used as combustion material, then consistent burning is achieved, but safety risks and procurement difficulties arise
Solution Approach 1:
The invention uses disposable solid fuel tablets or charcoal as combustion material instead of reusable gas bottles. These short-living combustion materials can be easily procured, stored, and disposed of, eliminating the safety risks and procurement difficulties associated with gas handling while providing consistent burning through controlled combustion design.
Solution Approach 2:
The gas delivery system (valves, regulators, hoses) is replaced with a simpler mechanical combustion system using solid fuel tablets or charcoal on a false floor. This substitution eliminates complex gas handling mechanisms and their associated safety risks, while the false floor design ensures consistent airflow and combustion.
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
The apparatus maintains the advantages of charcoal grilling while reducing charring and vapor issues, providing flexible temperature control, ergonomic operation, and safe use on heat-sensitive surfaces, with efficient combustion and easy residue disposal.
Implementation Method 1
a firebox (4) which has an axially symmetrical form and includes a box wall (6) and a box edge (8), which defines the box wall, said firebox being intended for accommodating a combustion material which, during combustion, outputs the thermal energy required for cooking
Implementation Method 2
Between the box wall and the heating surface there is now arranged a false floor (14) which is intended to support the combustion material
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~6
AI summary
The present invention relates to an apparatus for cooking food products. The apparatus includes a firebox (4) with an axially symmetrical form, the firebox (4) including a box wall (6) and a box edge (8), which defines the box wall, and being intended to accommodate a combustion material which, during combustion, outputs the thermal energy required for cooking. The apparatus also includes a continuous heating surface (10) which runs substantially at a right angle to the axis (A) of the firebox (4), surrounds an opening (12) arranged about the axis and is intended for the direct cooking of the food products. As claimed in the invention, the firebox (4) is realized in the form of a cuboid, the heating surface (10) being realized in the form of a frame with a rectangular profile, or the firebox (4) having a rotationally symmetrical form, the heating surface (10) having the form of an annular surface. Between the box wall (6) and the heating surface (10) there is arranged a false floor (14), which is intended to support the combustion material. The false floor (14) and the box wall (6) have an outlet opening each (24 or 22) for removing the residue of the combustion material from the apparatus.