Gas fryer and methods having uniform heat exchange and improved access for cleaning

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10912415-B2
Application number	US-201716082412-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 17, 2017
Priority date	Mar 17, 2016
Publication date	Feb 9, 2021
Grant date	Feb 9, 2021

Abstract

A gas fryer and associated methods of cooking food products are disclosed. The gas fryer includes an infrared burner and a fry pot including an interior casing defining a cooking chamber, with the interior casing including a bottom wall and opposing sidewalls that extend upwardly from the bottom wall. The opposing sidewalls include lower, central, and upper sidewall panels that are angled from one another to define a tapered profile that narrows towards the bottom wall. The tapering of a well defined at a lower chamber portions of the cooking chamber allows for a shallow depth at this portion of the fry pot and easy visibility and access for cleaning. Furthermore, the opposing sidewalls and a rear end wall of the interior casing include heat exchange fins on an external surface.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A gas fryer for cooking food products, comprising:
a fry pot including an interior casing defining a cooking chamber configured to receive cooking medium that is heated to cook the food products, the interior casing including a bottom wall, front and rear end walls extending from the bottom wall, and opposing sidewalls connected to the front and rear end walls and also extending from the bottom wall, the fry pot also including an exterior casing spaced apart from the interior casing in several locations to define a plenum for air flow around an external surface of the interior casing;
a plurality of heat exchange fins connected to the interior casing at portions of the opposing sidewalls and the rear end wall, the heat exchange fins extending between the interior casing and the exterior casing to form flow channels for air flow in the plenum; and
at least one infrared burner that generates heat energy by combustion of gas for heating cooking medium in the fry pot,
wherein the heat energy from the at least one infrared burner is transferred by radiation into the interior casing and also by convection into the interior casing based on air flow through the plenum that is heated by the at least one infrared burner, and
the plurality of heat exchange fins is arranged in a configuration that guides the air flow to make transfer of the heat energy into the interior casing and the cooking medium generally uniform across at least the opposing sidewalls and the rear end wall,
wherein each of the opposing sidewalls of the interior casing further comprises:
an upper sidewall panel extending generally vertically from an opening into the cooking chamber;
a central sidewall panel connected to and extending at an angle from the upper sidewall panel, thereby defining a flank of the cooking chamber; and
a lower sidewall panel connected to each of the bottom wall and the central sidewall panel, and extending at an angle from the central sidewall panel, thereby defining a well of the cooking chamber,

wherein the heat exchange fins are positioned along the central sidewall panels and the upper sidewall panels of the opposing sidewalls,
wherein at least a portion of the heat exchange fins are defined by U-shaped elements formed from stainless steel and fixedly coupled to the opposing sidewalls and the rear end wall to thereby increase a surface area for convection heat transfer from the air flow.

2. The gas fryer of claim 1 , wherein the heat exchange fins divide the plenum into the flow channels, and the heat exchange fins are spaced apart from one another to define a flow cross section of the flow channels that is configured to minimize a pressure drop caused by air flow through the plenum.

3. The gas fryer of claim 1 , wherein the at least one infrared burner includes first and second infrared burners positioned proximate to the lower sidewall panels of the opposing sidewalls, such that the uniform transfer of heat energy into the interior casing and the cooking medium is provided by radiation and convection along the lower sidewall panels and by convection with increased surface areas provided by the heat exchange fins along the central and upper sidewall panels.

4. The gas fryer of claim 1 , wherein the lower sidewall panels are angled from a vertical orientation by a well angle, the central sidewall panels are angled from a horizontal orientation by a flank angle, and the well angle and flank angle are both acute angles such that the flank and the well of the cooking chamber define a tapered profile that narrows in width towards the bottom wall of the interior casing.

5. The gas fryer of claim 4 , wherein the well angle is about 8° and the flank angle is about 19°.

6. The gas fryer of claim 4 , wherein the lower sidewall panels are spaced from one another to define a well width at a top of the well and a bottom wall width at a bottom of the well, the well width being at least 1.3 times a size of the bottom wall width.

7. The gas fryer of claim 6 , wherein the well width is at least 1.6 times the size of the bottom wall width.

8. The gas fryer of claim 4 , wherein the lower sidewall panels are spaced from one another to define a well width at a top of the well, and the lower sidewall panels also define a well depth in the vertical direction between the central sidewall panels and the bottom wall, with the well depth being less than or equal to 1.5 times a size of the well width.

9. The gas fryer of claim 8 , wherein the fry pot further includes a drain port communicating with the well of the cooking chamber, and the drain port is connected to the bottom wall and is oriented generally vertically.

10. The gas fryer of claim 9 , wherein the well angle and the flank angle of the lower and central sidewall panels is configured to cause any solid particulate or debris within the cooking chamber to fall to the bottom wall at the well of the cooking chamber, and wherein the well depth and well width provide sufficient space for accessing the well and the drain port in cleaning cycles.

11. The gas fryer of claim 1 , wherein the interior casing further includes a divider wall extending between the front and rear end walls to thereby separate the cooking chamber into first and second sub fry pots.

12. A method of cooking food products with a gas fryer, comprising:
filling a fry pot of the gas fryer with a cooking medium, the fry pot including an interior casing defining a cooking chamber for receiving the cooking medium, the interior casing defined by a bottom wall, front and rear end walls extending from the bottom wall, and opposing sidewalls extending from the bottom wall;
operating at least one infrared burner to generate heat energy by combustion of gas;
transferring the heat energy generated by the at least one infrared burner into the interior casing and the cooking medium to raise a temperature thereof, wherein the transfer of heat energy includes radiation from the at least one infrared burner and convection using air flow heated by the at least one infrared burner and flowed through a plenum formed along an external surface of the interior casing, wherein the fry pot also includes a plurality of heat exchange fins connected to the interior casing at portions of the opposing sidewalls and the rear end wall; and
placing the food products in the cooking medium heated by the heat energy from the at least one infrared burner, for a period of time to cook the food products,
the transferring of the heat energy from the at least one infrared burner into the interior casing being generally uniform across at least the opposing sidewalls and the rear end wall,
wherein each of the opposing sidewalls of the interior casing includes an upper sidewall panel extending generally vertically from an opening into the cooking chamber, a central sidewall panel connected to and extending at an angle from the upper sidewall panel, and a lower sidewall panel connected to and extending at an angle from the central sidewall panel, and the generally uniform transferring of the heat energy from the at least one infrared burner into the interior casing further comprises:
transferring heat energy by radiation and convection along the lower sidewall panels; and
transferring heat energy by convection along the central and upper sidewall panels, wherein the heat exchange fins are located along the central and upper sidewall panels to increase a surface area for convection heat transfer at these areas,
wherein the transferring heat energy by convection along the central and upper sidewall panels is enhanced by providing at least a portion of the heat exchange fins as U-shaped elements formed from s

Assignees

• Henny Penny Corp

Inventors

• Florkey Edward J
• Gogel Mark
• Groll Steven

Classifications

• A47J37/1257

  electrically heated (A47J37/1209 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A47J37/1276

  Constructional details (A47J37/1247 and A47J37/1261 take precedence) · CPC title

• A47J37/1261 Primary

  Details of the heating elements; Fixation of the heating elements to the frying vessel · CPC title

• A47J37/1271

  Accessories · CPC title

• A47J37/1223

  with means for filtering the frying liquid · CPC title