Low-Profile Multi-Zone Oven With Active Thermal Isolation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional multi-zone ovens with proximate-air delivery face challenges in maintaining uniform cooking due to varying food volumes and arrangements, requiring extensive chef experience and increasing oven height or reducing cooking volume with additional cavities.
Innovation Solution
A compact multi-zone oven design using extremely low profile separators between cavities, with innovative air distribution plates and thin plenums, allowing for active feedback control of cavity temperature and airflow management to maintain uniform cooking while minimizing oven height and maximizing usable volume.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If additional cavities are added to the oven, then multi-zone cooking capability is improved, but the oven height increases or cooking volume is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements nesting by placing one cavity directly on top of another cavity, with shelves serving as shared separators. The upper cavity nestles on the lower cavity through the shelf structure, allowing multiple cooking zones within a compact vertical footprint while maintaining independent temperature control for each zone
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the separator function with the shelf structure. The shelf serves dual purposes: it acts as both the cooking surface support and the thermal separator between cavities. This consolidation eliminates the need for additional separator components, reducing overall oven height while maintaining multi-zone functionality
2Adaptability or versatility
If additional cavities are added to the oven, then multi-zone cooking capability is improved, but the cooking volume is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
By nesting cavities vertically with minimal separation, the patent maximizes the use of vertical space. Each cavity is positioned directly adjacent to another, eliminating wasted space and ensuring that the total cooking volume approaches the full interior volume of the oven housing
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the plenum space from the cavity volume calculation. By positioning plenums outside the cooking cavities and using thin shelf separators, the design ensures that the full interior volume between the door and rear wall is available for cooking, maximizing usable cooking volume
3Length of stationary object
If thin separators are used between cavities, then oven height is reduced, but thermal isolation between cavities becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements active feedback control through independent temperature sensors and control systems for each cavity. The system continuously monitors temperature in each zone and adjusts heating elements accordingly, compensating for thermal leakage through thin separators to maintain reliable thermal isolation and consistent cooking temperatures
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies enhanced insulation specifically at critical locations where thermal leakage would be most problematic, such as around the shelf edges and at the interfaces between cavities. This localized insulation approach maintains thin overall separator thickness while providing targeted thermal management where needed
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 design achieves consistent and efficient cooking across different food loads and temperatures, reducing the oven's height while maintaining ergonomic usability and improving cooking performance by managing heat transfer and airflow effectively.
Implementation Method 1
Such ovens normally provide a blower blowing heated air through an opening in the wall of the cooking cavity
Implementation Method 2
each cavity provides a separate heater and a thermal sensor placed in the circulated air
Implementation Method 3
each cavity provides a separate heater and a thermal sensor placed in the circulated air after the airstream openings but before the heater
Implementation Method 4
A controller receives a control set point and a signal from the thermal sensor to control the heater
Data Source
AI summary
A multi-zone, proximate-air oven using air delivered from the shelves provides a compact height through the use of low profile shelves. Intercavity heat leakage is managed by active insulation techniques making use of the oven feedback temperature control and controlled cavity loading.