V-Shaped Cooking Grate Geometry for Flare-Up Suppression
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional outdoor gas-fired cooking grills experience flare-ups due to food drippings coming into contact with gas flames or hot surfaces, leading to charring and reduced food quality, as existing solutions either fail to prevent flare-ups effectively or complicate grill design and manufacturing.
Innovation Solution
A cooking grate with elongate V-shaped elements and narrow gaps between them, where the gaps are between 5% and 18% of the element width, reduces flare-ups by bringing elements into close proximity, enhancing infrared heating and improving heat distribution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If an open cooking grate structure with more than 50% open area is used, then convective heating of food is improved, but flare-ups occur due to food drippings contacting gas flames or hot surfaces
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the geometric parameters of the cooking grate by reducing the gap width between parallel bars to 0.06-0.18 inches (1.5-4.5 mm). This parameter change creates a closed-grate configuration that blocks flame passage while preserving sufficient opening for convective heat transfer, thus resolving the contradiction between convective heating efficiency and flare-up prevention
2Object-affected harmful factors
If a closed-grate configuration with narrow gaps is used, then flare-ups are suppressed, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cooking grate is segmented into multiple parallel bar elements spaced at specific intervals. This segmentation approach allows the grate to achieve flame-blocking functionality through simple, repetitive structural units that are easy to manufacture individually and assemble, rather than requiring complex monolithic structures
Solution Approach 2:
By specifying precise gap width parameters (0.06-0.18 inches), the patent defines a manufacturing target that balances flame suppression effectiveness with manufacturing simplicity. These parameter specifications enable standard fabrication processes to produce the closed-grate configuration without requiring specialized or complex manufacturing techniques
3Temperature
If parallel bars are positioned close together, then infrared heating is enhanced, but heat distribution uniformity may be affected
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the gap width parameter (0.06-0.18 inches) to achieve a balance between infrared heating enhancement and heat distribution uniformity. This parameter range is sufficient to block flames and enhance infrared radiation while maintaining adequate openings for convective heat flow, preventing excessive temperature variations across the cooking surface
Solution Approach 2:
The closed-grate configuration creates different local thermal environments: the narrow gaps provide flame blocking and enhanced infrared heating directly beneath the food, while the overall grate structure maintains sufficient open area for convective heat distribution. This local quality differentiation resolves the contradiction between infrared heating intensity and heat distribution uniformity
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 closed-grate configuration effectively suppresses flare-ups, achieves more even heat distribution, and increases infrared heating, resulting in improved food quality with reduced standard deviation in temperature across the cooking surface.
Implementation Method 1
a plurality of elongate elements of heat resistant material, the elements being V-shaped in transverse cross-section
Implementation Method 2
enhancing infrared heating and improving heat distribution
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
Cooking grates and grills incorporating cooking grates including a plurality of elongate elements of heat resistant mateπal, the elements being V-shaped in transverse cross-section, each of the elements having a first lower edge, a second lower edge and a vertex, the first lower edge and the second lower edge being spaced from each other with the vertex being located therebetween, the vertex being operative as a cooking surface to support food duπng cooking on the cooking grate, corresponding adjacent lower edges of adjacent ones of the elements being oriented to define gaps therebetween such that a first of the gaps, defined by a first lower edge of a first element and a second lower edge of a second element, exhibits a width of between approximately 5% and approximately 18% of a distance between the first lower edge and the second lower edge of the first element.