Rotating Warming Tray for Griddle Splatter Shielding and Serving
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional countertop griddles lack functionality to manage multiple food preparations simultaneously and protect users from grease splatter, leading to exposure risks and inefficient food handling.
Innovation Solution
A hinged warming tray is integrated into the countertop griddle, allowing rotation between covering, intermediary, and open dispositions, providing protection from splatter, facilitating food manipulation, and serving as a preheated serving tray, while being selectively attachable and removable.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a conventional countertop griddle is used, then the cooking surface is simple and easy to clean, but the user is exposed to grease splatter and cannot efficiently manage multiple food preparations
Solution Approach 1:
The warming tray is designed to perform multiple functions: it serves as a protective cover during cooking to block grease splatter, acts as a warming surface using convective heat from the cooking surface, and functions as a serving tray when opened. This multi-functionality resolves the contradiction by adding protective capabilities without requiring separate devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The warming tray is hinged and rotatable, allowing it to dynamically change between closed (protective cover) and open (serving tray) positions. This dynamic design enables the same structure to adapt to different operational needs, providing grease protection during cooking while allowing easy access for serving without increasing permanent structural complexity.
2Productivity
If food items are cooked simultaneously on a conventional griddle, then cooking efficiency is limited, but adding more cooking surfaces increases device complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The warming tray serves dual purposes: it protects food during cooking and simultaneously acts as an additional cooking or warming surface. By utilizing the space above the cooking surface, the design effectively increases cooking capacity without expanding the horizontal footprint or adding separate cooking elements.
Solution Approach 2:
The warming tray utilizes the vertical dimension by positioning itself above the cooking surface rather than expanding horizontally. This vertical utilization allows for simultaneous cooking and warming operations, effectively doubling the functional capacity within the same spatial envelope.
3Temperature
If a separate serving tray is used, then food temperature is maintained, but the device requires additional components and space
Solution Approach 1:
The warming tray merges the protective cover function with the serving tray function into a single integrated component. This consolidation eliminates the need for separate serving dishes while maintaining food temperature through convective heating from the cooking surface, thereby reducing overall device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The warming tray is preheated through convection during the cooking process before food is transferred to it. This preliminary heating action ensures that food temperature is maintained immediately upon transfer, eliminating the need for additional heating elements or separate warming devices.
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
Enhances user safety by preventing grease exposure, improves food handling and cooking efficiency, and eliminates the need for separate serving dishes by maintaining food temperature and serving functionality.
Implementation Method 1
The warming tray is receiving heat energy convected from the cooking surface
Implementation Method 2
The warming tray is heated by conduction from the cooking surface when in the open disposition
Data Source
AI summary
A countertop griddle and related methods of cooking food with a countertop griddle including a warming tray. The warming tray can be rotatably attached to the countertop griddle such that the warming tray can be rotatably pivoted from a covering disposition to an intermediary disposition to an open disposition. When in the covering disposition, the warming tray can serve to protect a user from exposure to grease spatter and to receive heat conducted from a cooking surface. During cooking, the warming tray can be rotated to the intermediary disposition such that the user can manipulated the food item being prepared. Finally, the warming tray can be rotated to an open disposition defining a serving tray for receiving a cooked food item. The warming tray can be detached from the countertop griddle when the warming tray is positioned in any of the covering, intermediate or open dispositions.