Patent ID: 7235763
Filing Date: 2007-06-26
Classification: H05B

Abstract:
1. A cooking appliance comprising: a cabinet including top, bottom rear and opposing side walls; a cooking chamber including top, bottom, rear and opposing side walls and a frontal opening; a door movably mounted relative to the cooking chamber for selectively closing the frontal opening; a fan housing arranged between the rear wall of the cooking chamber and the rear wall of the cabinet; a bifurcated air plenum arranged at the top wall of the cooking chamber, said bifurcated air plenum including an angled divider defining a tapered air delivery portion and a tapered exhaust portion; an ambient air intake plenum extending below the bottom wall leading to the fan housing; an air emitter plate forming a portion of the top wall of the cooking chamber, said air emitter plate including a plurality of apertures leading to the air delivery portion and a recessed channel, integrally formed in the air emitter plate, including a plurality of openings that lead to the air delivery portion said openings passing heated air into the cooking chamber; a radiant heating device positioned in the cooking chamber and nested at least partially within the recessed channel with the openings in the recessed portion directing air currents past the radiant heating device into the cooking chamber for performing a portion of a cooking operation; a microwave heating device including a rotatable antenna arranged to deliver a microwave energy field into the cooking chamber; a convection fan arranged in the fan housing directing a convective air flow into the cooking chamber, said convection fan combining an air flow received from the cooking chamber and the air intake plenum to be directed into the air delivery portion of the bifurcated air plenum; and a conduction heating device arranged in the cooking chamber for supporting a food item, said conduction heating device being heated by the radiant heating device, the microwave heating device and the convection fan to form a combined heating process for cooking the food item.