Patent Publication Number: US-2019166850-A1

Title: Convection oven

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to ovens and specifically to forced air convection ovens having multiple cooking chambers and arrangements. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     A forced air convection oven heats objects, such as food, within the oven by transferring heat energy from a heat source to the objects by circulating a gas within the cooking cavity. Typically, the circulating gas is air, but other gases, such as steam, may also be used within the oven, depending upon the desired results. Commonly, a fan or blower is used to circulate the gas. Additionally, convection ovens often include radiant elements to supplement the heated gas. 
     Impinger ovens are a type of convection oven, and utilize jets to force pressurized hot gas onto the food within the oven. Impingement of hot gas onto the food increases cooking speed. Convection ovens may utilize a combination of hot gas circulation and impingement jets. 
     Typically, the cooking temperature of a convection oven chamber is controlled by detecting the temperature within the oven using sensors, and adjusting the gas flow and radiant elements as necessary. The temperature within the oven is impacted by cooling gradients around the food being cooked, and by the opening of oven doors. 
     It is desirable to control the moisture content within the oven cavity while cooking. When cooking at high temperatures, moist foods may not cook evenly when the moisture content within the oven is too high. Conversely, uneven cooking with overbrowning in spots may occur when the moisture content within the oven is too low. Automatic humidity controls are beneficial to ensure the optimal moisture levels within the cooking chamber. 
     Some previous convection oven designs have included a combination of radiant heating elements, blower and impingement jets to improve cooking efficiency, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 2011/0276184 A1, McKee et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,829,158, Burnham. These designs incorporate just one cooking chamber and do not allow the option of adding hyper heat. Additionally, they do not incorporate combined heat and humidity control systems, or an included internal gas and or electric cooking system. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to a first embodiment of the present invention there is disclosed an apparatus for cooking food articles comprising a casing having an interior having a plurality of cooking locations therein, a processor and a plurality of heat supply units adapted to provide a plurality of heated fluids to the interior of the casing wherein the processor is adapted to independently distribute the plurality of heated fluids to each of the plurality of cooking locations so as to not substantially effect adjacent cooking locations. 
     The plurality of heat supply units may comprise a first heater adapted to output a first stage of heated air to the interior of the casing at a rate controlled by the processor, a second heater adapted to output a second stage of superheated air to the casing at a rate controlled by the processor and a steamer adapted to output a steam supply to the casing at a rate controlled by the processor. The air supply to the first heater may be drawn from the interior of the casing. The air supply to the second heater may be provided from the output of the first heater. The air supply to the steamer may be provided from the output of the second heater. 
     The output from the first heater may be divided into a first portion distributed into an interior of the casing and wherein the second portion is distributed into a plenum in a bottom of the casing. The second portion may be discharged from the plenum by a plurality of upwardly oriented nozzles. The apparatus may further include deflectors adapted to direct a portion of air discharged from the upwardly oriented nozzles to each of the plurality of cooking locations as determined by the processor. The first portion may be discharged from a plurality of supply columns through an opening adjacent to each of the plurality of cooking locations as determined by the processor. 
     The plurality of cooking locations may comprise a plurality of locations on a rack inside the interior of the casing. A portion of the superheated air may be distributed to each of a plurality of discharge nozzles oriented towards each of the cooking locations. A portion of the steam may be distributed to each of a plurality of discharge nozzles oriented towards each of the cooking locations. The processor may be adapted to select a proportion between 0 and 100% of each of the heated air, superheated air and the steam that is directed to each of the discharge nozzles. The plurality of discharge nozzles may be adapted to provide impingement cooking of a food article located in the cooking locations. Each of the discharge nozzles may be adapted to have their angle of impingement, pattern, rate and frequency of heated air, super-heated air and steam selectably adjusted. 
     The apparatus may further comprise a plurality of cooking elements locatable at each of the plurality of cooking locations. A portion of each of the heated air, the superheated air and the steam may be distributed to a plurality of output ports positioned to engage with each of the plurality of cooking elements. The apparatus may further comprise a gas outlet and an electrical outlet positioned to engage with each of the plurality of cooking elements. Each of the plurality of cooking elements may be adapted to utilize a combination of the heated air, superheated air, steam, electricity and gas to provide a cooking output to an adjacent zone as determined by the processor. Each of a top and bottom surface of each of the plurality of cooking elements may be adapted to provide a cooking output independently of each other. The apparatus may further comprise at least one steam nozzle directed towards each of the cooking locations. At least one of the plurality of cooking elements may include a plurality of protrusions adapted to space an article to be cooked apart therefrom. The plurality of protrusions may include a bore therethrough for discharging the heated air, the super-heated air and the steam into the article to be cooked as determined by the processor. 
     The interior of the casing may be divided into a plurality of chambers. The plurality of chambers may be selectably isolatable from each other by partition walls. The partition walls may include a fixed member having a plurality of apertures therethrough and a movable partition having a plurality of apertures therethrough selectably alignable with the apertures of the fixed member. Each of the plurality of cooking locations may have a unique associated access door providing access thereto independent of any other of the plurality of cooking locations. Each of the unique access door may include a plurality of nozzles along at least one edge thereof adapted to form an air curtain across the access door when the access door is open. 
     Other aspects and features of the present invention will become apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review of the following description of specific embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying figures. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       In drawings which illustrate embodiments of the invention wherein similar characters of reference denote corresponding parts in each view, 
         FIG. 1  is a front perspective view of a convection oven. 
         FIG. 2  is a rear perspective view of the convection oven of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a top view of the convection oven of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 4  is a cross sectional view of the convection oven of  FIG. 3 , taken along the line  4 - 4 . 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram of the piping layout of a convection oven of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view of a recirculating air supply column of the convection oven of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 7  is a perspective view of a spiralator nozzle for use in the convection oven of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 8  is a schematic of a control system for use in the convection oven of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 9  is a perspective view of an oscillator nozzle for use in the convection oven of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 10  is a side view of a cooking element for use in the convection oven of  FIG. 1  having a plurality of cooking surface types. 
         FIG. 11  is a perspective view of one of the service doors of the convection oven of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 12  is a perspective view of one of the service doors of the convention oven of  FIG. 1  according to a further embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a convection oven according to a first embodiment of the invention is shown generally at  10 . The oven  10  utilizes a recirculating heat and steam generation system, as illustrated in  FIG. 5 , to heat one or more modular cooking chambers and cooking locations contained therein in a variety of configurations, as will be described in more detail below. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 through 4 , the oven  10  comprises a body  12  extending between left side  14  and right side  16 , between front  18  and back  20 , and between top  22  and bottom  24 . The body  12  is divided into two chambers, first and second cooking chambers,  30  and  60 , respectively. The first cooking chamber  30  extends substantially between the left side  14  and the centre plane  200 . The second cooking chamber  60  extends substantially between the right side  16  and the centre plane  200 . A sliding vane wall  50 , located at the centre plane  200 , separates the first and second cooking chambers  30  and  60 . When the wall  50  is in place, the oven  10  is separated into two cooking chambers,  30  and  60 , as indicated. The wall  50  may be opened to operate the oven  10  as one large chamber. When the wall  50  is closed, it may be possible to deactivate one cooking chamber and utilize the other chamber on its own, thereby improving efficiency and reducing energy usage or creating two different cooking environments using one cooking source. Although the present embodiment of the invention illustrates two cooking chambers, it may be appreciated that more chambers may be beneficial, as well. 
     A plurality of adjustable cooking locations may be located within each cooking chamber  30  and  60 . As best seen on  FIG. 4 , the first cooking chamber  30  comprises first and second cooking zones,  32  and  34  respectively. The second cooking chamber  60  comprises third and fourth cooking zones,  62  and  64 , respectively. The cooking zones may be further divided into a plurality of cooking locations by inserting elements  52  therein, as will be described in more detail below. As illustrated in  FIG. 4 , a plurality of racks  40  are distributed on either side of each cooking zone,  32 ,  34 ,  62  and  64 . A plurality of elements  52  may be inserted into the cooking chambers such that they are supported by the removable racks  40 . As illustrated, each rack may define a cooking zone although it will be appreciated that two zones may include a single rack spanning thereacross. Each of the cooking zones may be adapted to have an adjustable size by adjusting the size of the rack or by adjusting the size of the elements included therebetween as will be more fully described below. In particular, as illustrated in  FIG. 4 , the first cooking zone  32  is illustrated with a plurality of small sized cooking locations  36  and the second cooking zone  34  is illustrated with a plurality of medium sized cooking locations  38 . Both the third and fourth second cooking zones,  62  and  64 , respectively, are illustrated as large cooking locations, without any elements  52  therein. It may be appreciated that each cooking zone,  32 ,  34 ,  62  and  64 , may be divided into a variety of cooking location size combinations, by adjusting the number of elements  52  therein. In the present illustrated embodiment of the invention, each left and right cooking chamber may be divided into up to six cooking locations, for a total of twenty-four possible small sized cooking locations in the oven  10 . It may be appreciated that more or less elements may be useful, as well. It may be appreciated that the elements  52  may be larger or smaller than illustrated. By removing the removable racks  40  from the centre of a cooking chamber, a double-width element could be accommodated within the oven. It will also be appreciated that other combinations of larger or smaller elements may be utilized by adjusting the size and spacing of the racks to provide the cooking location sizes desired by a user. 
     As best seen on  FIG. 1 , each cooking chamber,  30  and  60 , may be accessed by either service doors or access doors. First cooking zone  32  may be accessed by a first service door  54 . Second cooking zone  34  may be accessed by second service door  56 . Third cooking zone  62  may be accessed by a third service door  66 . Fourth cooking zone  64  may be accessed by a fourth service door  68 . Door details such as hinge type, door handle and locking method may be designed with any method as is commonly known in the art. Each service door,  54 ,  56 ,  66  and  68 , may include a plurality of identical access doors  70 . Each access door  70  includes an window  72  and permits access to each small cooking area without the need to open the larger service doors,  54 ,  56 ,  66  and  68 , to insert and remove items to be cooked. In particular each access door  70  may be supported and rotated on geared pins so as to present a frameless seal between each door. Rotation about such pins may be powered or unpowered. As illustrated in  FIG. 11 , each service door  54 ,  56 ,  66  and  68  may include a plurality of air nozzles  71  located along a side thereof at a position adapted to be covered or uncovered by the access doors so as to project an air curtain across the opening when an access door  70  is opened. As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , each service door,  54 ,  56 ,  66  and  68 , includes 6 access doors  70 , although it may be appreciated that more or less access doors may be useful, as well. Each access door  70 , as seen in  FIG. 1  may be opened rotationally on as set out above. In the present embodiment of the invention, as seen on  FIG. 1 , the top three access doors  70  on each service door pivot upwards, while the bottom three access doors on each service door pivot downwards, to allow a larger opening between the middle access doors on each service door. It may be appreciated that other hinge configurations and door quantities may be utilized, as well. Each access door  70  is contained within an access port  74  which as illustrated may comprise a common access port for all the doors within each service door. Each access port may include a plurality of air curtain nozzles which are activated when such access door is opened, such that an air curtain restricts the amount of heat that may escape from the oven  10 , thereby increasing oven efficiency. Optionally, each service door  54 ,  56 ,  66  and  68  may include dividers  99  extending thereacross to separate the service door into a plurality of access ports  74  as illustrated in  FIG. 12 . The dividers may hingedly support the access doors  70  as is commonly known and may also include the air nozzles on one or both of the top and bottom of each access port  74  so as to be uncovered by the opening of that corresponding access door  70 . It will be appreciated that the air nozzles  71  may be located on one or both of the top and bottom. As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , the access doors  70  at the top of each service door may open in an direction and the access doors  70  at the bottom ay open in a downward direction wherein the divider  99  in the middle of the access port  74  may be omitted as illustrated in  FIG. 12  so as to create a larger access port  74  between the two middlemost access doors  70 . 
     Turning to  FIG. 5 , the recirculating air/steam process for the oven  10  is illustrated in a schematic diagram. The process is shown for the first cooking chamber  30 , although it may be appreciated that the same process may be applicable for one or more cooking chambers, with some key components utilized for both chambers. The supply fan  100  moves the air into the primary heat exchanger  102  where the air is heated to the desired temperature, which may be in a range such as, by way of non-limiting example, 500 to 700 degrees Fahrenheit, as set by the control system, as will be described below. From the primary heat exchanger  102  the heated air may be further heated by the secondary hyper heat exchanger  104 , which will be described in more detail below, or it may continue through distribution pipes to a plurality of recirculating air supply columns  108 , as will be described in more detail below, and optionally to a plurality of back wall air supply locations  114  to heat elements  52 , as seen on  FIG. 4 . The air supply columns  108  supply heated air to individual cooking locations within the first cooking chamber  30  from the four corners of the first cooking chamber  30  and to the floor plenum  110 , as will be described in more detail below. The floor plenum  110  supplies heated air to a plurality of interchangeable floor nozzles  112 , which may be distributed in any configuration on the floor of the cooking chamber  30 . The floor nozzles  112  are adjustable both for direction and flow rate therethrough, as is commonly known. 
     It will be appreciated that the floor nozzles  112  may be controlled or adjusted independently or in any grouping as desired. As seen on  FIG. 4 , a plurality of deflectors  42  within the cooking chamber deflect the heated air from the nozzles  112  to each individual cooking locations further distribute the heated air within the cooking chamber. All components supplied from the primary heat exchanger  102 , including the air supply columns  108 , the elements  52 , independent rotary heads, as set out below, and the floor nozzles  112 , expel the heated air into the first cooking chamber  30 . 
     The secondary hyper heat exchanger  104 , superheats the air, which may be in a range such as, by way of non-limiting example, 800 to 1000 degrees Fahrenheit, as set by the control system, as will be described below. The superheated air may continue through distribution pipes optionally to a plurality of individually controlled back wall hyper heat air supply locations  116  to heat elements  52 . Also optionally, the superheated air may be supplied to a plurality of mixing chambers  119 , as will be described in more detail below, which supply a plurality of discharge nozzles  118 , as shown in  FIG. 7 , which will be described in more detail below. Alternately, the independent rotary heads may comprise stationary direct spray nozzles with adjustable pattern control, or moving oscillators  170  adapted to oscillate back and forth in a direction generally indicated at  172 , as shown in  FIG. 9 . It will be appreciated that the oscillators are illustrated in  FIG. 9  as moving in the direction indicated as well as along different oscillating directions through mounting upon gimbals or the like. The superheated air may also continue from the secondary hyper heat exchanger  104  to the steam generator  106 . All components supplied by the secondary hyper heat exchanger  104 , including the elements  52  and the spiralators  118 , expel the superheated air into the first cooking chamber  30 . 
     The steam generator  106  utilizes the superheated air to produce steam from a water supply source  160  which is introduced into the system through the back wall steam ports  44  as set out above. From the steam generator  106 , the steam may continue through distribution pipes and mixed with additional superheated air from the secondary hyper heat exchanger  104  optionally within a plurality of individual mixing chambers  119  to the plurality of spiralators  118 . The spiralators  118  may be supplied either directly with heated air from the primary heat exchanger  102 , superheated air from the hyper heat exchanger  104 , steam from the steam generator  106 , as described above, or with a mixture of heated air from the primary heat exchanger  102  superheated air from the hyper heat exchanger  104  and steam from the steam generator  106 . As shown on  FIG. 5 , the steam, heated air and superheated air may be mixed within a mixing chamber  119  prior to the spiralators  118  or, alternately, they may be mixed directly within the spiralators  118 . In the current embodiment of the invention, each spiralator  118  is preceded by an independent mixing chamber  119 , and each mixing chamber  119  is independently controllable by the control system, such that each spiralator may deliver the desired mixture of steam and superheated air, independent of other spiralators within the oven. Also optionally, the steam may be supplied to a plurality of back wall steam supply locations  120  to heat elements  52 . Also optionally, the steam may be supplied to a plurality of back wall steam ports  44 , as seen on  FIG. 4 , to supply steam directly into the cooking chamber  30 . All components supplied by the steam generator  106 , including the spiralators  118 , the elements  52 , and the steam ports  44  expel the steam into the first cooking chamber  30 . 
     The combined air and steam within the cooking chamber  30  is drawn out of the chamber  30  with an extract fan  122 . As seen in  FIG. 4 , each cooking chamber,  30  and  60 , includes an extract fan  122  proximate to the top  22  of the oven  10 . The extract fan  122  moves the air and steam to a centrifugal grease separator  124  and subsequently to a catalytic particle scrubber  126 , from which the air is recirculated through the supply fan  100 , and the process is repeated as described above. It will be appreciated that a make-up air supply  99  may also provide air to the supply fan  100  to replace any air released from or lost by the system during normal operation. The grease separator  124  and catalytic particle scrubber  126  may be selected as known in the art, and may be utilized to eliminate the need for an external exhaust system. 
       FIG. 6  illustrates the recirculating air supply columns  108 . A recirculating air supply column  108  may be a hollow cylindrical shape, as illustrated, with a divider  130  therein to separate the heated airflow therethrough. It may be appreciated that other shapes may be useful, as well. The divider  130  provides two passages through the column  108 , first passage  132  and second passage  134 . The column  108  is formed with a plurality of openings  136  spaced therealong to allow the heated air within first passage  132  to exit the column  108  and enter the cooking chamber  30  at each individual cooking location. Each opening  136  is fitted with a balancing baffle  135  having a manual adjustor  137  which may be adjusted to balance the amount of heated air expelled from each opening  136 . Each opening may also include a deflector  138  having a manual adjustor  139  such as a screw or the like to adjust the direction of the airflow leaving each opening. It will be appreciate that each deflector  138  may also include an actuator controlled by the processor to adjust the air directed to each cooking location or may optionally be pre-set to a predetermined position. The baffles and deflectors may be of any shape and size that is commonly known in the art. The second passage  134  connects to an opening in the floor of the cooking chamber  30  to supply heated air to the floor plenum  110 . The floor plenum  110  may have a plurality of connected chambers, as illustrated in  FIG. 4 . The floor plenum  110  supplies a plurality of floor nozzles  112  that are adjustable for both flow and direction. The floor nozzles  112  may be distributed throughout the bottom of the cooking chamber  30  in any desirable configuration. As described above, a plurality of deflectors  42  within the cooking chamber  30  aid in distributing the heated air from the floor nozzles  112  within the cooking chamber  30  at each individual cooking location. 
     As described above, a plurality of elements  52  may be installed into the cooking chamber  30 . The elements  52  may be attached by any suitable method, as known in the art. Each element is supported by a removable rack  40 , as described above. Each element  52  may be heated with a selectable combination of heated air, superheated air, steam, gas provided heat or electrically provided heat. Gas is provided to each element  52  through a gas supply system  162  and electricity is provided by an electrical supply system  164 , as is commonly known. Each element  52  may be controlled independently, such that each element  52  may be heated to an individually selected temperature via the control system. Additionally, each element  52  may provide a different type of heat, such as described above, from the top or bottom of each element  52 , also controllable by the control system. It may be appreciated that multiple designs of elements  52  may be utilized such that they may be interchanged within the cooking area depending on the type of heating desired. 
     Turning now to  FIG. 10 , an element  52  is illustrated having a plurality of surface treatments and profiles for providing heat to a food article to be cooked thereabove or thereunder. As illustrated, the element may be formed with top and bottom plenums,  500  and  502 , respectively adjacent to the interior of the element with top and bottom surfaces,  504  and  506 , respectively thereover and thereunder. The top and bottom plenums  500  and  502  serve to distribute the heated air, superheated air and steam from the rear wall of the chambers throughout the element. The top and bottom surfaces  504  and  506  may be formed of or treated with a variety of materials selected for that particular cooking operation. By way of non-limiting example, the top and bottom surfaces  504  and  506  may be formed of and/or include therein, stones, ceramics metals or combinations thereof. The top and bottom surfaces  504  may also be solid or perforated to permit the heated air, hyper heated air and steam to pass therethrough or be contained as may be desired. 
     Each of the top and bottom surfaces may include one or more enhancement to assist with the heat delivery to the food article. By way of non-limiting example, the enhancements may comprise a griddle  508 , platen  509  or induction element  518  which may be stationary or movable or grilling racks  510 . It will be appreciated that the induction element may be electrically heated. Furthermore, pins  512  may be provided to support the food article above the top surface which may be solid or include passages therethrough to deliver heated air to the food article. Radiant or infrared heaters  514  may be provided on the top or bottom to provide a radiant heat to the food article from either the electrical or gas supplies as are commonly known. Needles  520  or nozzles  516  may also extend from the top and/or bottom surfaces to inject heat into or direct heat onto the food article. It will be appreciated that the needles and/or pins may be hollow to inject air and/or steam into the food and may optionally be heated by electricity, gas or the heated and/or steamed air. It will also be appreciated that each of the griddle  508 , platen  509  grilling racks  510 , pins  512 , infrared heaters  514  nozzles  516  induction element  518  or needles  520  may include perforations through the top or bottom surface so as to permit the heated air, superheated air or steam within the top and bottom plenums  500  and  502  to escape therethrough which may come into contact with the food articles to assist cooking. 
       FIG. 7  illustrates a spiralator  118 . A plurality of spiralators  118  may be distributed throughout the cooking chamber  30  as illustrated in  FIG. 4 . Each spiralator  118  may be a forced air impeller which includes a plurality of arms  140 , each including a plurality of nozzles  142  sized and positioned to produce a spinning motion generally indicated at  144  when superheated air or steam is passed through the nozzles  142 . It will also be appreciated that the spiralators  118  may be mounted on gimbals or the like to move in different rotations, direction or patterns. The spiralators  118  direct an automatically predetermined mixture of hot air and steam in a multi-spiral pattern directly onto the food items to be cooked. As described above, direct adjustable pattern spray nozzles, or oscillators as shown in  FIG. 9 , may be used in place of the spiralators  118 . Accordingly, although spiralators and oscillators are illustrated, other movable and stationary spray pattern devices may be utilized as a discharge nozzle. It will also be appreciated that although the spiralators are illustrated as having three arms, a different number of arms or alternative configurations may also be utilized including disk shaped and that a different number, configuration, angle, arrangement and distribution of the nozzles may also be utilized. It will be appreciated that different sizes and patterns of nozzles  142  may be utilized to achieve different movement patterns for the independent rotary heads. Additionally, the nozzles  142  and/or the entire independent rotary head may be removable and replacable so as to permit an operator to customize the desired pattern and airflow at each cooking location. 
     The oven  10  may be controlled through a plurality of touchscreen panels  150 . Each touchscreen panel  150  may be used to select the desired heat and humidity within a small cooking area  36 . Sensors  320  within the cooking locations, as illustrated on  FIG. 8 , provide information to the control panel to thereby control the heated air and steam supplied to each cooking area through the air supply columns  108 , elements  52 , spiralators  118 , floor nozzles  112  and steam ports  44 . A plurality of control valves  310 , as illustrated in  FIGS. 5 and 8 , control the amount of heated air and steam supplied to each component. Sensors, control panels and control valves may be selected as known in the art. It will be appreciated that each of the elements, spiralators, nozzles and any heating distribution or control devices described herein and utilized by the present apparatus may be controlled independently or in groups so as to provide flexibility and customization for the different cooking processes desired. 
     With the ability to control the oven  10  using the selectable combination of heated air, superheated air, steam, electric heat or gas heat, each cooking location  36  may be operated at individually desired temperatures and humidity levels, thus allowing the user to cook a variety of different foods at the same time as well as optional high speed cooking, depending on the program selected. 
     Turning now to  FIG. 8 , the convection oven  10  includes a processor  300  for operating the convection oven as set out above, and a memory  302  that stores machine instructions that when executed by the processor  300  cause the processor  300  to perform one or more of the operations and methods described herein. Processor  300  may optionally contain a cache memory unit for temporary local storage of instructions, data, or computer addresses. For example, using instructions retrieved from memory  302 , the processor  300  may control the reception and manipulation of input between a user input device  304  such as by way of non-limiting example, a key pad or touch screen and the valves generally indicated at  310  for controlling the operation of the oven  10 . In various embodiments, the processor  300  can be implemented as a single-chip, multiple chips and/or other electrical components including one or more integrated circuits and printed circuit boards. 
     The processor  300  together with a suitable operating system may operate to execute instructions in the form of computer code and produce and use data. By way of example and not by way of limitation, the operating system may be Windows-based, Mac-based, or Unix or Linux-based, among other suitable operating systems. Operating systems are generally well known and will not be described in further detail here. 
     Memory  302  encompasses one or more storage mediums and generally provides a place to store computer code (e.g., software and/or firmware) and data that are used by the oven  10 . It may comprise, for example, electronic, optical, magnetic, or any other storage or transmission device capable of providing the processor  300  with program instructions. Memory  302  may further include a floppy disk, CD-ROM, DVD, magnetic disk, memory chip, ASIC, FPGA, EEPROM, EPROM, flash memory, optical media, or any other suitable memory from which processor  300  can read instructions in computer programming languages. 
     Memory  302  may include various other tangible, non-transitory computer-readable media including Read-Only Memory (ROM) and/or Random-Access Memory (RAM). As is well known in the art, ROM acts to transfer data and instructions uni-directionally to the processor  300 , and RAM is used typically to transfer data and instructions in a bi-directional manner. In the various embodiments disclosed herein, RAM includes computer program instructions that when executed by the processor  300  cause the processor  300  to execute the program instructions described in greater detail below. The memory  302  may further have installed within the device&#39;s memory, computer instructions as a program for executing the various cooking functions of the disclosure to carry out the methods of the embodiments disclosed herein. 
     While specific embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated, such embodiments should be considered illustrative of the invention only and not as limiting the invention as construed in accordance with the accompanying claims.