Patent ID: 8857321

Claim:
A roller grill for heating a pre-cooked food product, comprising: a housing that comprises side portions and a bottom portion; a plurality of tubes having outer surfaces adapted to transfer heat to the pre-cooked food product, the tubes extending between the side portions and above the bottom portion; a plurality of spur gears, each spur gear mounted on an end of a corresponding tube; a drive assembly, comprising: a motor coupled to a fan, the motor and fan mounted beneath the plurality of tubes in the bottom portion of the housing; a timing pulley coupled to a shaft having a plurality of worm gears mounted thereon; and a timing belt coupled to the motor and the timing pulley and adapted to transfer rotary motion generated by the motor into rotary motion of the tubes through contacting engagement of the worm gears with the spur gears; and a cover plate mounted within a plenum of the side portion of the housing and adjacent the worm gears and spur gears, the plenum at least partially defined by a side housing of the roller grill and being in airflow communication with an ambient space through an aperture of the cover plate, wherein the cover plate extends across a width of the plenum that is orthogonal to a length of the plurality of tubes that extend lengthwise between side housings of the roller grill, and the cover plate serves as a heat sink adapted to receive heat transferred from the tubes through the plenum, wherein the fan is positioned to circulate airflow between the plenum and the ambient space, through the bottom portion, to cool the cover plate.