Patent ID: 6967310

Claim:
A cooking appliance including a venting system for eliminating byproducts from exhaust gases comprising: an oven cavity including top, bottom, rear and opposing side walls, along with a frontal opening, said top wall including a recessed portion; a door pivotally mounted relative to the oven cavity across the frontal opening, said door selectively providing access to the oven cavity; a broil element mounted so as to establish a heated atmosphere in the oven cavity, said broil element being positioned, at least in part, within the recessed portion; a control panel including a plurality of control elements for selectively operating the broil element to perform a cooking operation in the oven cavity; and a venting system for directing exhaust gases from the oven cavity away from the cooking appliance, said exhaust system including: a plurality of exhaust openings formed in the recessed portion of the top wall, said plurality of exhaust openings directing exhaust gases, exiting the oven cavity, past the broil element, wherein byproducts present in the exhaust gases generated during operation of the cooking appliance are at least partially reduced; a baffle plate arranged above the top wall of the oven cavity, said baffle plate defining, at least in part, a smoke elimination chamber that is in fluid communication with the oven cavity through the plurality of exhaust openings, said smoke elimination chamber being heated during operation of the cooking appliance such that the exhaust gases directed into the smoke elimination chamber are heated to further reduce the byproducts; a vent duct arranged above the baffle plate, said vent duct being in fluid communication with the smoke elimination chamber and arranged to guide the exhaust gases across a portion of the top wall of the oven cavity; a vent cover leading the exhaust gases from the vent duct; a catalyst fluidly arranged between the plurality of exhaust openings and the vent cover to expose the exhaust gases to further byproduct reduction; an exhaust duct extending adjacent the rear wall of the oven cavity; and a blower for directing the exhaust gases exiting from the vent cover into the exhaust duct.