Patent ID: 8294070

Claim:
A cooking appliance for cooking food items using multiple cooking techniques comprising: a cabinet; an oven cavity arranged in the cabinet, said oven cavity including top, bottom, rear and opposing side walls; an oven rack supported in the oven cavity, said oven rack being spaced from the bottom wall of the oven cavity; a heating element positioned below the oven rack, said heating element being spaced from the bottom wall of the oven cavity; a microwave cooking system for selectively performing a portion of a cooking operation in the oven cavity; an airflow delivery system including: an air intake including a plurality of openings located in the rear wall of the oven cavity, said air intake having a height that extends from adjacent the bottom wall to above the oven rack; an air plenum including a return plenum portion exposed to the air intake, a blower plenum portion, and a discharge plenum portion extending over the oven cavity, said blower plenum portion having a depth that is in the order of two-thirds the height of the air intake; a blower including a fan unit located in the blower plenum portion and adapted to draw an air stream from the return plenum portion and direct the air stream into the discharge plenum portion; a convection heating element positioned in the air plenum for heating the air stream; and a plurality of discharge nozzles leading into the oven cavity from the discharge plenum portion, said plurality of discharge nozzles being arranged in a geometric pattern, with a greater number of the plurality of discharge nozzles being arranged near a front portion of the discharge plenum portion than near a rear portion of the discharge plenum portion; a heating element arranged downstream of the blower and selectively operated to heat the air stream; a catalyst positioned downstream of the heating element for removing foreign particles from the air stream; and an exhaust air system including: an exhaust air tube having a first end portion exposed to the air stream and a second end portion; an air mixing tube having a first end section extending about the second end portion of the exhaust air tube and a second end section defining an exhaust outlet leading from the cabinet; and a cooling air system for developing a cooling air stream flowing within the cabinet and leading into the first end section of the air mixing tube about the second end portion of the exhaust air tube.