Patent ID: 8006685

Claim:
A re-circulating oven for cooking a food product, comprising: a housing defining an oven cavity; a conduit means for circulating a main convection air stream of gas to and from the oven cavity; a flow means, comprising a blower, for causing circulation of the gas; a thermal means for heating the gas; a first gas directing means disposed above the food product; the first gas directing means being operably associated with the conduit means; and a second gas directing means disposed above the food product, the second gas directing means also being operably associated with the conduit means; wherein the first and second gas directing means are configured to cause the gas from the first gas directing means to collide with the gas from the second gas directing means upon the upper surface of the food product; and a bleed gas clean-up system comprising an internal cleaning gas loop operating off the main convection air stream arranged such that a portion but less than all of the main convection air stream in the conduit means is separated from the main convection stream and is diverted into the internal cleaning gas loop and cleaned during a single pass of the main convection air stream through the conduit means and oven cavity, and such that at least a portion of the cleaned diverted air is returned from the internal cleaning gas loop to the main convection air stream circulating in the conduit means.