Patent ID: 7867534
Filing Date: 2011-01-11
Classification: A23L,F24C

Abstract:
1. A method of forming steam in a cooking chamber of an oven having a housing having a plurality of surfaces defining the cooking chamber and an atomizer having an outlet fluidly coupled to the cooking chamber, comprising: atomizing a liquid to form a plurality of particles of the liquid that are of a size such that they are buoyant within air of the atomizer and do not immediately fall back into the liquid and stay in mixture with the air; introducing the buoyant particles into the cooking chamber by forming an air pressure gradient between the atomizer and the cooking chamber to propel the mixture of air and buoyant particles into the cooking chamber; and maintaining a temperature of the air in the cooking chamber at a temperature greater than the liquid to gas phase change temperature of the liquid and sufficient to maintain the plurality of surfaces at a temperature greater than the liquid to gas phase change temperature of the liquid, wherein the particles introduced into the cooking chamber change phase from liquid to gas to form the steam without the particles pooling on any surfaces of the housing.