High density universal holding cabinet

• US 8,558,142 B2
• Filed: 04/16/2010
• Issued: 10/15/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Restaurant Technologies Incorporated (Goldman Sachs Group Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Restaurant Technologies Incorporated (Goldman Sachs Group Incorporated)
• Inventors: Theodos, Michael Andrew, Cox, Joshua Michael, Ketterman, Marie Antoinette
• Primary Examiner(s): Blum, David S
• Application Number:
  US12/761,820
• Publication Number:
  US 20110253698A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,278 Days
• Field of Search: 219/385, 294/28, 165/121
• US Class Current: 219/385
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 39/006 for either storing and preparing or for preparing food on serving trays, e.g. heating, thawing, preserving
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49826 Assembling or joining

Abstract

A universal food holding cabinet for keeping precooked food warm. The food holding cabinet includes a plurality of row assemblies that each includes first and second spaced apart heater plates to form a food holding cavity. A bezel extends across an edge of the upper heating plate of a row assembly and an edge of the lower heating plate of an adjacent row assembly. The bezel includes an air duct for cooling components associated with displays carried by the bezel. The bezel is fastened to the upper heater plate and the lower heating plate with an interlock that helps to mitigate oil migration among the row assemblies.

Claims

1. A food holding cabinet for keeping pre-cooked food warm comprising:

a support structure that supports a plurality of row assemblies, wherein each of said row assemblies comprises a first heater assembly spaced from a second heater assembly to form a food holding cavity; and

an exterior side through which food may be inserted and removed from the food holding cavity, the side comprising a bezel that covers an edge of the first heater assembly of a first one of said row assemblies and an edge of the second heater assembly of a second one of said row assemblies.

2. The food holding cabinet of claim 1, wherein each of said row assemblies further comprises a layer of insulation that surrounds said first and second heater assemblies, thereby inhibiting heat transfer between said first and second heater assemblies of adjacent ones of said row assemblies.

3. The food holding cabinet of claim 1, wherein said bezel is a first bezel, and further comprising a second bezel that covers an edge of the first heater assembly of said second row assembly and the second heater assembly of a third one of said row assemblies.

4. The food holding cabinet of claim 1, wherein said bezel is formed with a material selected from the group consisting of:

plastic, metal and a combination thereof.

5. The food holding cabinet of claim 4, wherein said bezel is formed of plastic, and further comprising one or more buttons that are heat staked in said bezel so that loading from manual operation of said buttons is distributed along said bezel.

6. The food holding cabinet of claim 1, wherein said bezel is connected by an interlock to the first heater assembly of said first row assembly and the second heater assembly of said second row assembly, and wherein said interlock forms a first seal that mitigates oil migration between the first row assembly and the bezel and a second seal that mitigates oil migration between the second row assembly and the bezel.

7. The food holding cabinet of claim 6, wherein each of said first heater assemblies comprises a heater disposed on a heater plate comprising the edge of the first heater assembly, wherein each of said second heater assemblies comprises a heater disposed on a heater plate comprising the edge of the second heater assembly, and wherein said bezel is fastened by said interlock to the edge of the first heater plate of the first heater assembly of the first row assembly and to the edge of the second heater plate of the second heater assembly of the second row assembly.

8. The food holding cabinet of claim 7, wherein said interlock comprises first and second portions of said bezel that mate with a corresponding first portion of the first heater plate of the first heater assembly of said first row assembly and to a corresponding first portion of the second heater plate of the second heater assembly of said second row assembly, respectively.

9. The food holding cabinet of claim 1, wherein said support structure comprises first and second unitary side panels that support said row assemblies.

10. The food holding cabinet of claim 9, wherein said first unitary side panel carries a duct structure that guides cooling air to a plurality of fans.

11. The food holding cabinet of claim 10, wherein said duct structure comprises one or more baffles that provide separate paths for airflow from opposite edges of one of said row assemblies drawn by said plurality of fans.

12. The food holding cabinet of claim 3 wherein the cavity of the second row assembly has an opening for inserting and removing food from the cavity of the second row assembly, the opening located between the first and second bezels.

13. The food holding cabinet of claim 1 wherein the bezel comprises a display and a display component board, the bezel forming a first duct between the bezel, the first heater assembly of the first row assembly and the second heater assembly of the second row assembly, the duct for cooling the display component board.

14. The food holding cabinet of claim 13, wherein said bezel is a first bezel, and further comprising a second bezel that covers an edge of the first heater assembly of said second row assembly and an edge of the second heater assembly of a third one of said row assemblies, the second bezel forming a second duct between the second bezel, the first heater assembly of the second row assembly and the second heater assembly of the third row assembly, the second duct for cooling at least one component of the second bezel.

15. The food holding cabinet of claim 14 further comprising first and second fans and a duct system, the duct system structured to direct air through the first duct to the first fan and to direct air through the second duct to the second fan.

16. The food holding cabinet of claim 15, wherein said duct system is structured for said second fan to draw air from said first duct in the event of failure of said first fan.

17. The food holding cabinet of claim 15, further comprising a third fan, a third bezel, wherein the edge of the first heater assembly of the first row assembly is a first edge, the first heater assembly of the first row assembly comprises a second edge opposite the first edge of the first heater assembly of the first row assembly, the edge of the second heater assembly of the second row assembly is a first edge, the second heater assembly of the second row assembly comprising a second edge opposite the first edge of the second heater assembly of the second row assembly, the third bezel forming a third duct between the third bezel, the first heater assembly of the first row assembly and the second heater assembly of the second row assembly, the duct system structured to direct air through the third duct to the third fan.

18. The food holding cabinet of claim 10 further comprising a duct system comprising the duct structure, one or more air intake ports for intaking the cooling air into the duct system, and one or more exit ports separate from the intake ports for exhausting the cooling air to the environment.

19. A method of assembling a food holding cabinet comprising:

assembling a plurality of row assemblies, wherein each of said row assemblies comprises a first heater assembly spaced from a second heater assembly to form a food holding cavity;

fastening first and second unitary side panels to opposite edge portions of a base;

fastening said plurality of row assemblies to said first and second unitary side panels; and

fastening a plurality of bezels to said row assemblies, wherein at least one of said bezels covers an edge of the first heater assembly of a first one of said row assemblies and an edge of the second heater assembly of a second one of said row assemblies, wherein the food holding cabinet comprises an exterior side through which food may be inserted and removed from the food holding cavity, the side comprising the plurality of bezels.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein each of said bezels is attached to said edges with an interlock, and wherein said interlock forms a first seal that mitigates oil migration between the first row assembly and the bezel and a second seal that mitigates oil migration between the second row assembly and the bezel.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein each of said bezels is attached to said edges with the interlock by a snap in action.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

disposing on said first unitary side panel a duct structure that guides cooling air to a plurality of fans.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein said duct structure comprises one or more baffles that provide separate paths for airflow from opposite edges of one of said row assemblies drawn by said plurality of fans.

24. A method of cooling components of a food holding cabinet comprising:

cooling a plurality of displays and a plurality of component boards by drawing cooling air with a plurality of fans between a plurality of row assemblies of said food holding cabinet, wherein each of said row assemblies comprises a first heater assembly spaced from a second heater assembly to form a food holding cavity for keeping said pre-cooked food warm, a display that is exposed to said cooling air and at least one component board that is exposed to said cooling air; and

guiding said cooling air between said row assemblies and said fans via a plurality of separate paths.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising providing one or more baffles to form said separate paths.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein a first fan and a second fan of said plurality of fans draw said cooling air from at least a first one and a second one of said row assemblies via first and second ones of said separate paths, respectively, and wherein one of said baffles has an opening through which said first fan draws air from said second row assembly should said second fan fail.