Impingement oven with a plurality of variable airflow cooking zones

Abstract

Conveyor oven that uses three or more cooking zones to provide flexible baking solutions in a commercial kitchen environment. The flexibility of each zone is achieved by providing variable air velocities in the impingement jets in each zone. By increasing or decreasing the air velocity in the zone the operator can control the heat transfer rate to the food product in that zone without having to actually adjust the temperature of the oven. The airflow rate in the zones is controlled via the operator controller.

1 . A conveyor oven comprising:
 a cooking chamber comprising an entry and an exit;   a conveyor extending through said cooking chamber between said entry and said exit;   a first cooking zone and a second cooking zone adjacent one another and above said conveyor;   a first independent air delivery system located to provide a first airflow and a second independent air delivery system to provide a second airflow to said first and second cooking zones, respectively; and   a control system comprising a processor, a memory, a program module disposed in said memory and a user interface, wherein said processor executes instructions of said program module to form a cooking profile that comprises a set of heat transfer rates for said first airflow and said second airflow based on interaction with said user interface.   
     
     
         2 . The conveyor oven of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a third cooking zone located below said conveyor and beneath both of said first zone and said second zone; and   a third independent air delivery system located to provide a third airflow to said third cooking zone, wherein said set of heat transfer rates further comprises a heat transfer rate for said third airflow.   
     
     
         3 . The conveyor oven of  claim 1 , wherein said cooking profile is selected from the group consisting of: new cooking profile and modified old cooking profile 
     
     
         4 . The conveyor oven of  claim 1 , wherein said processor executes said instructions to perform operations that comprise:
 enabling a user to enter said set of heat transfer rates via said user interface; and   operating said first and second independent air delivery systems according to said set of heat transfer rates to cook a food product.   
     
     
         5 . The conveyor oven of  claim 4 , wherein said operations further comprise:
 enabling said user to enter a modified set of heat transfer rates that modify said set of heat rates to form a modified cooking profile; and   operating said first and second independent air delivery systems according to said modified set of heat transfer rates to cook a food product.   
     
     
         6 . The conveyor oven of  claim 4 , wherein said operations further comprise:
 storing said set of heat transfer rates in said memory.   
     
     
         7 . The conveyor oven of  claim 1 , wherein said heat transfer rates are velocities of said first airflow and said second airflow. 
     
     
         8 . A method of operating a conveyor oven that comprises a conveyor extending through a cooking chamber, a first cooking zone and a second cooking zone adjacent one another and above said conveyor, a first independent air delivery system located to provide a first airflow and a second independent air delivery system to provide a second airflow to said first and second cooking zones, respectively, said method comprising:
 using a processor to execute instructions of a program to form a cooking profile for a food product that comprises a set of heat transfer rates for said first airflow and said second airflow based on interaction with a user interface.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein said processor executes said instructions to perform steps that comprise:
 enabling a user to enter said set of heat transfer rates via said user interface; and   operating said first and second independent air delivery systems according to said set of heat transfer rates to cook a food product.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein said steps further comprise:
 enabling said user to enter a modified set of heat transfer rates that modify said set of heat rates to form a modified cooking profile; and   operating said first and second independent air delivery systems according to said modified set of heat transfer rates to cook a food product.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein said steps further comprise:
 storing said set of heat transfer rates in said memory.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein said heat transfer rates are velocities of said first airflow and said second airflow. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein said conveyor oven further comprises:
 a third cooking zone located below said conveyor and beneath both of said first zone and said second zone; and   a third independent air delivery system located to provide a third airflow to said third cooking zone, wherein said set of heat transfer rates further comprises a heat transfer rate for said third airflow.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein said cooking profile is selected from the group consisting of: new cooking profile and modified old cooking profile.