Alternate convection system in home cooking appliances

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11060737-B2
Application number	US-201816212756-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 7, 2018
Priority date	Dec 7, 2018
Publication date	Jul 13, 2021
Grant date	Jul 13, 2021

Abstract

A convection system in a home cooking appliance, including: an oven cavity defined by a top wall, a bottom wall, a pair of opposed side walls, a rear wall, and a front opening closable by an oven door; at least one heating source configured to heat the oven cavity; and a convection air channel that passes along the top wall of the oven cavity and then down along the rear wall of the oven cavity, the convection air channel having at least one inlet in the top wall of the oven cavity, at least one outlet configured to communicate with the oven cavity, and a fan disposed within the convection air channel at a location outside of the oven cavity. The convection air channel is devoid of an additional heating source that is separate from and in addition to the at least one heating source.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A convection system in a home cooking appliance, comprising:
an oven cavity defined by a top wall, a bottom wall, a pair of opposed side walls, a rear wall, and a front opening closable by an oven door;
at least one heating source configured to heat the oven cavity; and
a convection air channel that passes along the top wall of the oven cavity and then down along the rear wall of the oven cavity, the convection air channel having at least one inlet in the top wall of the oven cavity, a plurality of outlet ports configured to communicate with the oven cavity, and a fan disposed within the convection air channel at a location outside of the oven cavity, such that hot air from the oven cavity is drawn into the convection air channel through the at least one inlet by the fan, flows down along the rear wall of the oven cavity, through the plurality of outlet ports, and back into the oven cavity,
wherein the convection air channel is devoid of an additional heating source that is separate from and in addition to the at least one heating source, and
wherein the plurality of outlet ports comprise a plurality of columns and rows of outlet ports and at least an upper row of the plurality of outlet ports include flanges on the outlet ports, the flanges being configured to direct the hot air towards the front opening of the oven cavity.

2. The convection system in a home cooking appliance of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the convection air channel is formed by the top wall of the oven cavity.

3. The convection system in a home cooking appliance of claim 2 , wherein an exterior of the top wall of the oven cavity is formed with an inwardly recessed portion that tapers from a wide position proximate to the front opening of the oven cavity rearward to a narrower position proximate to the rear wall of the oven cavity, and wherein the inwardly recessed portion is covered by a convection channel cover to form a top wall convection channel portion of the convection air channel that passes along the top wall of the oven cavity.

4. The convection system in a home cooking appliance of claim 1 , wherein the at least one heating source comprises a bake electric heating element disposed under the bottom wall of the oven cavity.

5. The convection system in a home cooking appliance of claim 4 , wherein the at least one heating source comprises the bake electric heating element and a broil electric heating element.

6. The convection system in a home cooking appliance of claim 5 , wherein the top wall of the oven cavity comprises a broil shield, and the broil electric heating element is disposed in the oven cavity below the broil shield.

7. The convection system in a home cooking appliance of claim 6 , wherein the at least one inlet of the convection air channel comprises a plurality of elongated inlet vent slots formed in the broil shield.

8. The convection system in a home cooking appliance of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of elongated inlet vent slots are spaced along an inwardly protruding portion of the broil shield that protrudes into the oven cavity at a location adjacent to the front opening of the oven cavity.

9. The convection system in a home cooking appliance of claim 1 , wherein the at least one heating source comprises a gas bake burner disposed in a burner box located under the bottom wall of the oven cavity.

10. The convection system in a home cooking appliance of claim 9 , wherein the at least one heating source comprises the gas bake burner and a gas broil burner.

11. The convection system in a home cooking appliance of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the convection air channel is formed by the rear wall of the oven cavity.

12. The convection system in a home cooking appliance of claim 11 , wherein an interior of the rear wall of the oven cavity is formed with an outwardly recessed portion, and wherein the outwardly recessed portion is covered by a convection baffle to form a rear wall convection channel portion of the convection air channel that passes along the rear wall of the oven cavity.

13. The convection system in a home cooking appliance of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of outlet ports are formed in the convection baffle.

14. The convection system in a home cooking appliance of claim 13 , wherein the convection baffle extends from the bottom wall of the oven cavity up to a location below the top wall of the oven cavity.

15. The convection system in a home cooking appliance of claim 14 , wherein in a middle column of the plurality of outlet ports, the middle column outlet ports are elongated slots disposed horizontally, and wherein in outer columns of the plurality of outlet ports, the outer column outlet ports are elongated slots disposed at an angle with respect to horizontal.

16. The convection system in a home cooking appliance of claim 1 , wherein the convection air channel comprises a top wall convection channel portion, a rear wall convection channel portion, and a fan housing in which the fan is disposed and which is configured to join together the top wall convection channel portion and the a rear wall convection channel portion.

17. The convection system in a home cooking appliance of claim 16 , wherein the fan housing and the fan are disposed in a top rear area outside of the oven cavity.

18. The convection system in a home cooking appliance of claim 1 , wherein the fan comprises a radial fan having elongated, axially extending blades.

19. A home cooking appliance, comprising:
an oven cavity defined by a top wall, the top wall comprising a broil shield, a bottom wall, a pair of opposed side walls, a rear wall, and a front opening closable by an oven door;
a bake electric heating element disposed under the bottom wall of the oven cavity;
a broil electric heating element disposed below the broil shield; and
a convection air channel that passes along the top wall of the oven cavity and then down along the rear wall of the oven cavity, the convection air channel having at least one inlet in the top wall of the oven cavity, at least one outlet configured to communicate with the oven cavity, and a fan disposed within the convection air channel at a location outside of the oven cavity, such that hot air from the oven cavity is drawn into the convection air channel through the at least one inlet by the fan, flows down along the rear wall of the oven cavity, through the at least one outlet, and back into the oven cavity,
wherein the convection air channel is devoid of an additional heating source that is separate from and in addition to the bake electric heating element and the broil electric heating element, and
wherein the at least one inlet of the convection air channel comprises a plurality of elongated inlet vent slots formed in the broil shield.

Assignees

• Bsh Home Appliances Corp
• Bsh Hausgeraete Gmbh

Inventors

• Johnson Sean
• Jones Kenneth
• Parchman Robert

Classifications

• A21B1/26

  by hot air · CPC title

• F24C15/325 Primary

  electrically-heated · CPC title

• F24C3/128

  in baking ovens · CPC title

• F24C15/322 Primary

  with forced circulation · CPC title