Oven circulating heated air

Abstract

An oven which runs on a 20 ampere single phase electrical service includes a cooking chamber comprising a top wall, a bottom wall, a first side wall and a second side wall, at least one microwave generator, at least one set of nozzles, tubes or apertures disposed above a food product disposed within the oven, at least one blower having an RPM in the range between about 3000 to about 4000 at 100 percent velocity, wherein the blower circulates at least a portion of gas from the nozzles, tubes or apertures into the cooking chamber substantially toward the food product and back to the nozzles, tubes or apertures, and a thermal energy source that heats the gas, wherein the heated gas at or near the food product disposed in the cooking chamber exhibits a flow rate of at least about 150 CFM.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A controller which controls the operation of an oven such that said oven does not draw in excess of about 20 Amperes of single phase electrical service during operation, said controller comprising:
 a microprocessor;   a memory in communication with said microprocessor;   a first heating input/output connection in communication with a first heating element;   a second heating input/output connection in communication with a second heating element,   a first magnetron input/output connection in communication with a first magnetron; and   wherein said controller activates and/or deactivates said first heating element, said second heating element, and said first magnetron independently of one another and pursuant to a cook cycle program stored in said memory and executed by said microprocessor.   
     
     
         2 . The controller according to  claim 1 , further comprising a temperature input/output connection in communication with a temperature sensor. 
     
     
         3 . The controller according to  claim 1 , wherein said first heating element is a low heating element and said second heating element is a high heating element. 
     
     
         4 . The controller according to  claim 1 , further comprising a second magnetron input/output connection in communication with a second magnetron. 
     
     
         5 . The controller according to  claim 4 , wherein said controller activates and/or deactivates said first heating element, said second heating element, said first magnetron and said second magnetron independently of one another and pursuant to said cook cycle program stored in said memory and executed by said microprocessor. 
     
     
         6 . A method for controlling the operation of an oven such that said oven does not draw in excess of about 20 Amperes of single phase electrical service during operation, said method comprising:
 (a) determining if a cook cycle calls for activation of a first magnetron and a second magnetron:
 (i) if said cook cycle calls for the activation of said first and second magnetrons, then deactivating at least one thermal heating source. 
   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 (b) determining if said oven has a temperature less than a predetermined temperature;
 (i) if the temperature is less than said predetermined temperature, activating said thermal heating source and returning to step (b); 
 (ii) if the temperature is equal to or greater than said predetermined temperature, deactivating said thermal heating source. 
   
     
     
         8 . An oven comprising:
 one or more microwave generators;   one or more heat sources; and   a controller that executes a cooking program so that said one or more heat sources is deactivated when said microwave generator is activated during said cooking program to keep a total load under 20 Amperes.   
     
     
         9 . The oven of  claim 8 , wherein said one or more heat sources is a heater.