Rotating Barbeque Tray Access Without Heat Loss
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Commercial barbeque ovens face challenges with uneven cooking and unsafe access to food items due to large, stationary cooking trays that require operators to lean and reach, leading to potential burns and unsanitary conditions, as well as increased risk of fire flare-ups from grease accumulation.
Innovation Solution
A barbeque oven with a rotatable and slideable cooking tray that extends from the housing, allowing for convenient and safe access to all areas of the tray, featuring a pinion gear mechanism for rotation and a soapstone-lined chamber for even heat distribution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a large stationary cooking tray is used to cook large quantities of food, then productivity is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates as operators must lean and reach to access food
Solution Approach 1:
The cooking tray is transformed from a stationary component to a rotatable one, allowing it to rotate 360 degrees within the cooking chamber. This dynamic capability enables operators to access food items at any position on the tray without leaning or reaching, while the tray remains large enough to maintain high cooking capacity
Solution Approach 2:
The tray rotation mechanism adds a rotational dimension to the otherwise static tray system. By enabling rotation around the vertical axis, operators can access food items distributed across the entire perimeter of the tray, effectively utilizing the circular space without requiring forward reaching motion
2Ease of operation
If the cooking tray is extended out of the oven for access, then ease of operation improves, but heat loss increases and safety risks arise
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of extending the tray outward, the system rotates the tray in place within the cooking chamber. This dynamic rotation allows operators to bring food items to the accessible perimeter position without opening the oven door or extending the tray, thereby maintaining thermal insulation and preventing heat loss
Solution Approach 2:
The rotatable tray acts as an intermediary mechanism between the food items and the operator. By rotating the tray to positioned food at the nearest point to the operator, it eliminates the need to extend the tray or open the door, thus preventing direct heat loss while maintaining safe and convenient access
3Device complexity
If food remains stationary on the cooking tray, then device complexity is reduced, but harmful factors increase due to uneven cooking and fire flare-ups
Solution Approach 1:
The cooking tray is made rotatable to dynamically move food items across different heating zones. This rotation prevents grease from continuously dripping onto the same hot spot, thereby preventing fire flare-ups while maintaining a relatively simple mechanical structure with a single rotation mechanism
Solution Approach 2:
The rotatable tray enables periodic movement of food items through different positions relative to the heat source. This periodic rotation ensures that no single location receives continuous concentrated heat exposure, preventing grease accumulation and flare-ups while distributing cooking heat more evenly
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 solution ensures even cooking, reduces the risk of fire flare-ups, and enhances operator safety by allowing easy access to all food items without bending or reaching, minimizing heat loss and preventing unsanitary contact.
Implementation Method 1
a soapstone-lined chamber for even heat distribution
Implementation Method 2
featuring a pinion gear mechanism for rotation
Data Source
AI summary
A barbeque oven is provided with the capacity to cook a variety of food items. The barbeque oven of the present invention includes a cooking tray that is slideable between a first position, where the cooking tray is located substantially within the cooking chamber and the cooking tray is driven by a driving member, and a second position, where at least a portion of the cooking tray extends through an opening in the oven housing and the cooking tray is disengaged from the driving member such that the cooking tray freely rotates. As a result, unlike conventional barbeque ovens, an operator using the present invention need not bend over nor reach far to flip, rotate, or otherwise access the food items on the cooking tray.