Kitchen exhaust hood assembly

The exhaust hood assembly has a vertically disposed greast extractor which leads into a suction ventilator adapted for expelling air and odor to the outside. The assembly has a first deflector at the entrance into the grease extractor to cause a first swirl of the air loaded with grease, impurities and odors, and a first release thereof into a bucket provided below the greast extractor. Inside the greast extractor there are two deflectors to cause swirls of the air load with grease and odor and release of grease and particles into the bucket. Finally, any grease and/or impurities not released in the grease extractor are centrifugally expelled by the suction ventilator and sent through a tube which also feeds into the bucket. This device is inexpensive to produce and is much more efficient than those currently in use.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 
1. Field of Invention 
This invention relates to a kitchen exhaust hhod assembly. More 
specifically, the present invention is concerned with an exhaust hood of 
the type which is specifically designed for commercial cooking appliances, 
and for use in residential homes or small commercial installations, which 
makes it possible to provide an increased suction of grease and odor while 
evacuating only a small volume of air. More particularly, the invention 
concerns a kitchen hood assembly with ventilator which combines a 
ventilator, a hood and a grease extractor wherein drainage of the 
ventilator is carried out in the exhaust hood assembly. 
2. Description of Prior Art 
Every modern kitchen is normally provided with a ventilator hood which is 
mounted immediately above the cooking plates or stove and whose purpose is 
to remove grease and odor produced when cooking. The ventilator is also 
used occasionally for exchanging some of the air inside a residence, 
especially ambient air in the kitchen. Most of the devices used are built 
on the same principle. An air duct provided with a filter sucks and leads 
some air from its vicinity into a suction ventilator of the fan or drum 
type, which thereafter expels it to the outside via another air duct. The 
main disadvantage of this system is that it is noisy, requires a frequent 
cleaning of the filter, and is mostly unsatisfactory because it removes 
only a small portion of the grease and odor produced during cooking. Other 
disadvantages include grease build-up in the duct, poor smoke capture and 
the like. 
There is therefore a need for a piece of equipment which overcomes the 
disadvantages of the ventilators presently in use, in that it would 
eliminate most of the grease and odor produced when cooking without 
evacuating too much air, and would create an air movement that prevents 
any smoke, grease, odor from escaping out of the canopy, is not noisy when 
operating, and does not cost too much. 
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an exhaust 
hood assembly which is highly efficient and does not require the use of 
greasy filters. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a kitchen exhaust 
hood assembly which may even 10 be used in the home and which performs 
even better than the best commercial ventilators which are used in hotels 
and restaurants. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In accordance with the invention there is provided a kitchen exhaust hood 
assembly for removing grease and odor produced above a cooking surface 
when cooking, which comprises a suction ventilator, a hood, a grease 
extractor to collect grease and direct odor produced when cooking toward 
said suction ventilator, and an air discharge duct to expel air and odors 
to the exterior. The grease extractor is vertically disposed and is in 
communication with the suction ventilator. The air loaded with grease and 
odor naturally rises toward a rear portion of the hood. A first deflection 
means is provided at an entrance into the grease extractor to cause the 
air loaded with grease and odor produced above the cooking surface which 
has naturally risen upwardly therefrom towards the rear portion of the 
hood to curve downwardly in the direction of the entrance to penetrate 
therein. A second deflection means is provided inside the grease extractor 
and is arranged to cause the air loaded with grease and odor to swirl 
around the second deflection means. Means are provided enabling first 
excess grease material centrifugally expelled by the suction ventilator 
and retained thereon to be removed therefrom. The assembly finally 
comprises bucket means to receive the excess grease material released by 
the first and second deflection means and the first excess grease material 
expelled by the suction ventilator. 
In accordance with a preferred embodiment, the kitchen exhaust hood 
assembly comprises a supply of fire extinguishing material, means for 
spraying the fire extinguishing material at least towards said cooking 
surface, a fire extinguishing material duct connecting the supply of fire 
extinguishing material to the spraying means and a fire detector 
operatively disposed to detect the presence of fire in the vicinity of the 
hood and suction ventilator, and to cause opening of a valve disposed 
along the fire extinguishing material duct to deliver the fire 
extinguishing material to the spraying means. 
Preferably, the grease extractor is truncated with decreasing rectangular 
cross-section and includes a front wall, a rear wall, side walls and a top 
partition, an opening being formed in the rear wall in the upper portion 
thereof to lead into an entrance of the suction ventilator. 
In accordance with another preferred embodiment the bucket means is shaped 
to define third deflection means allowing the air loaded with grease and 
odor to rise above the bucket means and thereafter to swirl around the 
bucket means downwardly towards an entrance into the grease extractor. 
In accordance with yet another embodiment the grease extractor is 
vertically disposed in the front part of the assembly in order to 
accentuate the natural air movement coming from the cooking surface. 
Preferably, the bottom portion of the hood has inwardly upwardly inclined 
rear and front portions and a central substantially horizontal portion to 
cause a first swirling of said air loaded with grease and odor around the 
third deflection means. 
The kitchen exhaust hood assembly according to the invention may also 
comprise hooking means to mount the bucket means at a lower edge of the 
front wall of the first air duct, the bucket means having an inclined rear 
face defining the third deflection means. 
In accordance with yet another embodiment, the exhaust hood assembly 
according to the invention may comprise a door provided in the front wall 
of the grease extractor to give access inside the grease extractor. 
The exhaust hood assembly may also comprise an enclosure for the suction 
ventilator, and a tubing connected at the lower portion of the enclosure 
and terminated above the bucket means, the tubing being adapted to feed 
the expelled grease material into the bucket means. 
Preferably, the second deflection means may comprise a first vertical plate 
mounted inside the grease extractor against the front wall of the grease 
extractor and at the bottom thereof and terminating short of the rear wall 
of the grease extractor, and a second vertical plate mounted inside the 
grease extractor against the rear wall thereof and terminating short of 
the front wall. 
In accordance with yeat another preferred embodiment, the spraying means 
comprise a supply of fire extinguishing material and a duct therefor 
connected to the supply and extending through the grease extractor duct 
and over the cooking surface. Sprayers are mounted at the free end of the 
extinguishing material duct and along thereof to spray the cooking 
surface, the grease extractor and the suction ventilator.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
With reference to the drawing, it will be seen that the exhaust hood 
assembly which is illustrated includes a suction ventilator 1 operatively 
connected in known manner to a motor 3, a grease extractor 5, an air 
discharge duct 7 and a bucket 9, all contained in an exhaust hood assembly 
11. In the embodiment which is illustrated, the exhaust hood assembly is 
constructed to be mounted against a wall 13 of a kitchen, although this is 
not absolutely essential, for any kind of mounting (such as an island) can 
be used, as will be appreciated by one skilled in the art. The exhaust 
hood assembly is disposed over a cooking surface, in the present case a 
kitchen stove 15 illustrated in dotted lines. 
The suction ventilator and motor combination 1, 3 as well as the inlet 17 
therein and outlet 19 therefrom are of course conventional, and as such do 
not form part of the inventive aspect of the assembly according to the 
invention. 
Generally speaking, exhaust hood assemblyll is a box-like structure. More 
specifically, it has a rear wall 21 which, in the present case, is fixed 
against wall 13 in known manner (not shown). Neither the top wall nor the 
side walls are shown for purpose of simplification. 
The bottom partition of exhaust hood assembly 11 is of special construction 
and includes a hood with rear portion 23 which is inwardly and upwardly 
inclined as shown. The hood also includes a front portion 25 which is also 
inwardly and upwardly inclined. It will be noted, however, that for design 
purposes mainly intended at more efficiently collecting grease- and 
odor-loaded air formed in the vicinity of the cooking surface 27, the 
lower edge 29 of front portion 25 is at a substantially higher level than 
the lower edge 31 of rear portion 23. Inclined rear and front portions 23 
and 25 are joined together by means of a flat horizontal portion 32. 
The front partition of exhaust hood assembly 11 coincides with the front 
wall 33 of grease extractor 5. More specifically, front wall 33 is in the 
form of a flat plate provided with a suitable opening to mount a door 35 
in known manner therein. As will readily be appreciated by one skilled in 
the art, door 35 permits access inside the grease extractor and the 
ventilator for various reasons, such as, inspection, repair, access to 
fire spray nozzle and the like. 
As shown, front wall 33 has a lower edge which is shaped into a first hook 
37, the purpose of which will immediately be defined. Referring again to 
the drawings, more particularly to bucket 9, it will be seen that the 
latter is of a box-like open construction with a vertical front partition 
39 and a rear partition 41 which is upwardly and inwardly inclined with 
respect to the hood. Referring to vertical front partition 39 of bucket 9, 
it will be seen that its upper edge is shaped into a second hook 43 
capable of engagement with hook 37 to hold bucket 9 in the position 
illustrated in FIG. 1. Finally, in order to maintain bucket 9 in the 
position illustrated in full line in the drawing, the hood is provided 
with a vertical portion 45 which extends downwardly from secondary 
horizontal portion 47, and serves the additional purpose of blocking the 
view of the bucket and other equipment of the exhaust hood assembly. A 
support 49 is disposed against the rear face of vertical portion 45, all 
as shown in the drawing. It will be seen that to mount bucket 9 on the 
exhaust hood assembly it is merely sufficient to engage hooks 37 and 43 
while bucket 9 is upwardly tilted, and thereafter allowing front partition 
39 to rest against support 49, all as shown herein. 
To provide the grease extractor, which in the present embodiment is 
truncated with decreasing rectangular cross-section, a rear wall 51 is 
disposed as shown, to downwardly extend at the lower inlet 17 of suction 
ventilator 7. As shown, rear wall 51 extends to a level slightly below the 
lower edge of front wall and is terminated by an inwardly slanted wing 
member 53. In addition, inside grease extractor 5 formed by front and rear 
walls 33, 51, top partition and side walls not shown, there is a vertical 
plate 55 fixed against rear wall 51 at a level slightly above the entrance 
into grease extractor 5. An additional vertical plate 56 is provided at 
the lower edge of front wall 33 and is directed opposite plate 55. 
In order to feed excess grease centrifugally expelled by suction ventilator 
7 and not retained thereon, into bucket 9, a piping 61 is provided. To 
achieve this, the piping is bent at 90.degree. at 59 and is mounted as 
shown. More particularly, one end of piping 61 is connected at the base of 
ventilator enclosure 57. The horizontal part extends away from enclosure 
57 towards rear wall 51 and from bent 59 it downwardly extends to a point 
just about bucket 9 where it will feed therein the excess grease 
centrifugally expelled by the ventilator blades. 
For convenience a light bulb 65 is fixed in a socket 67 provided in the 
horizontal portion 32. 
Finally, although this is not essential, in the illustrated embodiment 
there is provided a fire extinguishing facility which may be quite useful 
in case a product or composition is ignited while the cooking surface is 
in operation. This facility which is illustrated in the drawings includes 
a supply tank 65 of fire extinguishing material in the form of a tank 
which is disposed as shown inside the hood. Tank 65 is connected to a 
fluid duct 67 which extends all the way through grease extractor 5 to a 
junction 68 at an intermediate level just above plate 55. At junction 68 
there is a horizontal extension of fluid duct 67 to a point below suction 
ventilator 1, which is followed by a further vertical extension to 
terminate into a sprayer 69, which is capable of spraying the fire 
extinguishing fluid over the cooking surface 27. Additionally, further 
sprayers 69a, 69b are provided, as shown, to spray the fluid respectively 
towards the bucket 9 and inside ventilator enclosure 57 to extinguish any 
fire therein. Finally, a fire detector 71 is disposed in a suitable 
location such as inside grease extractor 5, as shown. More particularly, 
fire detector 71 is mounted along wire element 73 which is connected to a 
thread-like element 75 which extends outside air duct 5, around pulleys 76 
mounted in known manner, to an electrical contact, not shown, inside 
control box 79, and to a valve 81 mounted at the outlet of tank, which 
remains closed when the fire detector is not activated. Upon activation of 
the fire detector in case of fire, the mechanism will cause valve 81 to 
open enabling the extinguishing fluid to be sprayed through sprayers 69, 
69a and 69b, and open electrical contacts to shut off gas valves or 
electrical appliances and close a circuit for fire alarm in the building. 
The operation of the exhaust hood assembly is as follows, it being 
understood that proper electrical controls are provided, as is well known 
to those skilled in the art, to operate it. When preparing food which 
results in the production of grease and odor, the ventilator is set in 
motion. As a result of the suction produced by the suction ventilator, in 
a specific location to capture the natural warm air loaded with grease and 
odor which, according to its natural movement, starts to ascend along the 
path shown by arrows 77, will then swirl counterclockwise as a result of 
the shape of the hood and inclined rear 10 partition 41 of bucket 9. After 
entering into grease extractor 5 the fumes will first swirl around baffle 
plate 55 and then around baffle plate 56 in the direction of arrows 79 
where a good portion of grease and solid particles will drip into bucket 9 
to accumulate at the bottom thereof. Upon reaching suction ventilator 7 
along the path of arrows 81, the fumes still loaded with grease and solid 
particles will be extracted by the centrifugal effect created by the fan 
blades and exit through piping 61 into bucket 9. The air and smell are 
sent into the outside atmosphere along the path of arrows 83. 
Once in a while the bucket is removed, emptied of its content, and cleaned 
after which it is replaced in its alloted location. 
Of course, modifications are possible within the scope and spirit of the 
present invention, and the invention is therefore not limited to the 
illustrated embodiment except as defined in the appended claims.