Oven with hot air guide

• US 5,836,240 A
• Filed: 05/02/1997
• Issued: 11/17/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Koppens B.V.
• Original Assignee: Koppens B.V.
• Inventors: Kuenen, Hendrikus Antonius Jacobus
• Primary Examiner(s): Simone, Timothy F.
• Application Number:
  US08/850,514
• Time in Patent Office: 564 Days
• Field of Search: 99/352-355, 99/386, 99/443 R, 99/443 C, 99/476, 99/477-479, 34/75, 34/78, 34/147, 34/207, 34/203, 62/381, 126/21 A, 126/21 R, 198/778, 198/883, 219/388, 432/121, 432/143-145, 432/147, 432/2, 432/14, 432/58, 432/133, 432/138
• US Class Current: 99/443.00C
• CPC Class Codes: A21B 1/26 by hot air
• CPC Class Codes: A21B 1/40 characterised by the means for regulating the temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A21B 1/48 with surfaces in the form of an endless band

Abstract

An oven for preparing food products comprises a housing, a conveyor belt which is movable through the housing and on which the food products can be arranged, which conveyor belt follows a helical path, heating elements and booster devices for generating a stream of hot air through the housing in connection with heating the food products arranged on the belt. In the housing there are guide elements for guiding the stream of hot air over the belt in such a way that the products are uniformly heated in the transverse direction of the belt.

Claims

1. In an oven for preparing food products, comprising:

a housing;

a conveyor belt for supporting food products, said conveyor belt structured and arranged to move through the housing in a helical path;

heating means for generating a stream of hot air through the housing for heating food products arranged on the belt;

booster means for drawing air in the housing and conveying said air to the heating means;

the improvement wherein guide means are operatively arranged in the housing for guiding the stream of hot air over the belt in such a way that the products are heated uniformly in a transverse direction of the belt.

2. The oven according to claim 1, wherein the guide means are located above the belt at a sufficient distance such that the products on the belt are able to move along underneath the guide means.

3. The oven according to claim 2, wherein the guide means comprise at least one plate which runs approximately parallel to the belt some distance above the belt.

4. The oven according to claim 3, wherein the belt has several windings above one another, and a plate located between two windings is some distance away from the upper winding, leaving a gap for feeding hot air therethrough.

5. The oven according to claim 3, further comprising feed means inside the housing for feeding the hot air from the booster to outside of the helical path, and wherein each plate is narrower than the belt and extends in the transverse direction of the belt from the outside.

6. The oven according to claim 5, wherein each plate has on an outer edge, a depending skirt which is directed downwardly towards the belt.

7. The oven according to claim 3, wherein each plate has a front end and a rear end, and a baffle directed upwardly at at least one of its front and rear ends.

8. The oven according to claim 5, wherein the feed means form a tube which runs parallel to the axis of the helix and is open on the side facing the helical path, and the plates extend along the open side.

9. The oven according to claim 8, wherein the belt has an innermost edge and an outermost edge, the innermost edge being accommodated on the outside of a drum having a vertical axis, and the outermost edge of the belt being at least partially surrounded by a correspondingly curved jacket plate beyond a peripheral region of the belt where the plates are located.