Abstract:
A barrier system for an internal volume of a kitchen appliance, such as a commercial oven, is provided. The barrier system includes a door pivotably mounted to a housing of an appliance, the housing enclosing an internal volume as well as components associated with controlling an environment within the internal volume. The door is configured to selectively isolate the internal volume of the appliance when in a closed configuration, and to allow access to the internal volume when pivoted away from the closed configuration. The door includes a frame rigidly supporting an outer barrier and an inner barrier spacedly positioned thereon, wherein the outer barrier is rigidly mounted to the frame, and the inner barrier is rigidly mounted to the frame, but is configured to be removable from the door upon removal of a fastener.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0001]    The subject disclosure relates to commercial restaurant equipment, and specifically restaurant equipment with an enclosed volume that must be periodically accessed. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY 
       [0002]    A representative embodiment of the disclosure provides a barrier system for an internal volume of a kitchen appliance, such as a commercial oven. The barrier system includes a door pivotably mounted to a housing of an appliance, the housing enclosing an internal volume as well as components associated with controlling an environment within the internal volume. The door is configured to selectively isolate the internal volume of the appliance when in a closed configuration, and to allow access to the internal volume when pivoted away from the closed configuration. The door includes a frame rigidly supporting an outer barrier and an inner barrier spacedly positioned thereon, wherein the outer barrier is rigidly mounted to the frame, and the inner barrier is rigidly mounted to the frame, but is configured to be removable from the door upon removal of a fastener. 
         [0003]    Advantages of the disclosed embodiments will become more apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description of embodiments that have been shown and described by way of illustration. As will be realized, other and different embodiments are contemplated, and the disclosed details are capable of modification in various respects. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0004]      FIG. 1  a perspective view of a door usable with commercial restaurant apparatus, such as a door. 
           [0005]      FIG. 2  is a rear perspective view of the door of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0006]      FIG. 3  is an exploded view of the door of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0007]      FIG. 4  is a perspective sectional view of the door of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0008]      FIG. 5  is a perspective view of an oven with the doors of  FIG. 1  in an open position. 
           [0009]      FIG. 6  is the oven of  FIG. 5  with the doors in the closed position. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0010]    Turning now to  FIGS. 1-6 , a pivotable door  10  is provided. The door is configured to be pivotably mounted to an oven  100 . In some embodiments the oven  100  may include two doors  10  that are pivotably mounted to the oven housing  120 . The one or more doors  10  are pivotably mounted to the other housing  120  such that when the doors are in the open position (as shown in  FIG. 5 , the cooking volume  110  may be accessed by the user. As shown in  FIG. 6 , the doors  10  may be pivoted to the closed position to isolate the cooking volume  110  for cooking the food product disposed therein. In some embodiments, the oven  100  is configured such that the inner surface  22  of the frame  20  of the door  10  contacts the front edge  124  of the oven  100 . The contact between the inner surface  22  of the door  10  in the front edge  124  of the oven  100  may be direct metal-to-metal contact, while in some embodiments a gasket, or spring plate, may be disposed upon the front edge  124  of the oven  100  to make contact with the inner surface  22  of the door  10 . It will be appreciated that other conventional structures for sealingly engaging one or more oven doors  10  may be provided to enclose the cooking volume  110  for efficiency and safety purposes. As will be appreciated with reference to the specification, the doors  10  may be provided on other commercial cooking restaurant appliances such as a refrigerator, a cooler, a chiller, and ice machine, or for any other piece of equipment that has an internal volume that is normally isolated but need be accessed periodically. 
         [0011]    As best shown in  FIG. 1 , the components of the door  10  are mechanically supported by the frame  20 . The frame  20  supports the outer glass, or barrier  30  which forms a portion of, or the entire, outer surface of the door  10 , and additionally supports an inner glass, or barrier  40 . The frame  20  may support the outer glass  30  and the inner glass  40  in an offset arrangement that provides a space  49  therebetween as best shown in  FIG. 4 . In some embodiments, the outer glass  30  may form the entire or substantially the entire outer surface of the door  10 , while in other embodiments the outer glass  30  may span less than entire the entire outer surface of the door  10  such that a portion of the frame  20  spans the remainder of the outer surface of the door  10 . The outer surface of the door  10  may additionally support a handle  19 . In some embodiments a pressure lock, or door seal  8  is supported on one of the two doors  10 , and establishes a seal between opposing doors  10  to prevent heat loss from the cooking volume  110 , for efficiency purposes. 
         [0012]    The frame  20  may include an inner surface  22  that supports the inner glass  40 . In some embodiments, the inner glass  40  is configured to be conveniently removable from the inner surface  22  such that the space  49  between the inner and outer glass  40 ,  30  can be easily and quickly accessed by the user of the oven  100  in the event that dirt, grease, or other liquid enters the space  49 . While the frame  20  is configured to tightly seal the inner glass  40  thereto, it will be understood that because the cooking volume  110  is maintained at a very high temperature, such as 400° F. or higher (thereby heating the inner surface  22  of the frame  20  and the inner glass  40  to close to the same temperature), other components of the door  10  may expand and contract at different rates differing heat inputs or different thermal capacities. These different rates of expansion or contraction of the components of the door  10  may, either in transient situations or permanently, cause small gaps within the door  10  that could result in foreign material entering the space  49  between the inner and outer glass  40 ,  30 . 
         [0013]    As best shown in  FIG. 3 , the inner glass  40  may be disposed within a bracket  46  that surrounds the entire, or substantially the entire, perimeter of the inner glass  40 . The bracket  46  includes at least one flange  42  at an edge thereof. As shown in  FIGS. 2 and 4 , the flange  42  may be disposed at a top edge of the inner glass  40 , while in other embodiments, the flange  42  may be disposed at one or both side edges or at the bottom edge of the inner glass  40 . In some embodiments two or three flanges  42  may be provided. 
         [0014]    The flange  42  may include one or more apertures  42   a  (best shown in  FIG. 3 ) that are aligned in registry with holes  29   a  disposed upon a bearing surface  29  of the inner surface  22  of the frame  20 . The apertures  42   a  and the holes  29   a  are configured to be aligned in registry when the inner glass  40  is positioned upon the housing  20 , as aided by engagement between the tabs  44  and the slots  27 , described below. The holes  42   a  and the holes  29   a  in the housing  20  are each configured to receive a fastener  43  therethrough to rigidly secure the inner glass  40  to the frame  20 . The fasteners  43  may be conventional screws and the like that can be easily and quickly installed and removed by the user using conventional tools. Alternatively, the fastener may be a quarter turn fastener, or a quarter turn cam latch. The holes  29   a  blindly formed upon the bearing surface  29  of the housing  20  are tapped or otherwise configured to matingly receive the fastener to fix the inner glass  40  to the frame  20 . 
         [0015]    The bracket  46  additionally includes one or more tabs  44  that extend from the bracket  46  in a direction substantially parallel to the inner glass. The tabs  44  normally extend from an edge of the bracket  46  that is opposite from the edge from which the flange  42  extends. In some embodiments, the one or more tabs  44  may be disposed such that the tabs  44  extend from the bracket  46  within the thickness of the glass  40 . 
         [0016]    As best shown in  FIG. 3 , the frame  20  may include one or more slots  26 , and preferably the same number of slots  26  as tabs  44 , with the tabs  44  configured to extend within the slots  26  when the inner glass  40  is disposed upon the frame  20 . The slots  26  and the tabs  44  are arranged such that when the tabs  44  are disposed within the slots  26 , the inner glass  40  properly engages the inner surface  22  of the frame, and the apertures  42   a  of the flange are aligned in registry with the holes  29   a  in the frame  20 . 
         [0017]    As shown in  FIG. 3 , the one or more slots  26  may be slightly recessed inwardly from the inner surface  22  of the housing such that when the tabs  44  are received within the slots  26 , the exposed surface of the inner glass  40  is either flush, or recessed within the frame  20 . As best shown in  FIG. 5 , the doors  10  are pivotably mounted to the oven with hinges  121 , that pivotably support posts  21  on the door  10 , or other conventional structure to allow the doors  10  to pivot with respect to the oven housing  120 . The inner glass  40  of each door  10  is configured to be removed from the door  10  when the door  10  is pivoted open. This arrangement is beneficial because it allows access to the space  49  within the door  10  for cleaning, by the user of the oven  100 , or other piece of restaurant equipment, rather than requiring a technician to disassemble the door  10  which was previously required for doors with more complex structures to support the inner and outer glass. The ease of cleaning within the space  49  of the door  10  is beneficial because it allows easy cleaning of this previously inaccessible portion of the door, which if messy takes away from the overall appearance of cleanliness of the facilities&#39; kitchen. 
         [0018]    In some embodiments, the doors  10  may additionally include a gasket  60  that serves as a barrier between the inner surface of the inner glass  40 , or the inner surface of the bracket  46 , and the frame  20 . In embodiments gasket seals the inner surface of the inner glass  40  to the frame  20  to prevent leakage into the space  49 . The frame  20  may include a pocket  27  disposed within the space  49  to receive, support, and properly align the gasket  60  with respect to both the inner glass  40  and the frame  20 . The proper alignment of the gasket  60  with respect to the inner glass  40  and the frame  20  assists with properly sealing the door  10  (during steady state conditions, as well as conditions where one component of the door expands or contracts at a different rate than its neighboring portions of the door  10 ) as well as maintaining the gasket  60  about the very outer perimeter of the bracket  46  (or the inner glass  40 ) to prevent the gasket  60  from being observed through the outer glass  30  and preferably the inner glass  40 . 
         [0019]    While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been described, it should be understood that the invention is not so limited and modifications may be made without departing from the invention. The scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims, and all devices that come within the meaning of the claims, either literally or by equivalence, are intended to be embraced therein.