Convection oven

Abstract

An apparatus for cooking food articles comprising a casing having an interior, a processor and a plurality of cooking locations arranged within the casing. The apparatus further comprises a first heater adapted to output a first stage of heated air to the interior the casing at a rate controlled by the processor, a second heater adapted to output a second stage of superheated air to the interior of the casing at a rate controlled by the processor; and a steamer adapted to output a steam supply to the interior of the casing at a rate controlled by the processor.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus for cooking food articles comprising:
 a casing having an interior;   a processor;   a plurality of cooking locations arranged within said interior of said casing;   a first heater adapted to output a first stage of heated air to said interior of said casing at a rate controlled by said processor;   a second heater adapted to output a second stage of superheated air to said casing at a rate controlled by said processor; and   a steamer adapted to output a steam supply to said casing at a rate controlled by said processor.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein an air supply to said first heater is drawn from said interior of said casing. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 2  wherein an air supply to said second heater is provided from said output of said first heater. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 3  wherein an air supply to said steamer is provided from said output of said second heater. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein said output from said first heater is divided into a first portion distributed into an interior of said casing and wherein said second portion is distributed into a plenum in a bottom of said casing. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 5  wherein said second portion is discharged from said plenum by a plurality of upwardly oriented nozzles. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 6  further including deflectors adapted to direct a portion of air discharged from said upwardly oriented nozzles to each of said plurality of cooking locations. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein said plurality of cooking locations comprises a plurality of locations on a rack inside said interior of said casing. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 8  wherein a portion of said superheated air and a portion of said steam are distributed to each of a plurality of discharge nozzles oriented towards each of said cooking locations. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 9  wherein said processor is adapted to select a proportion between 0 and 100% of each of said superheated air and said steam that is directed to each of said discharge nozzles. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising a plurality of cooking elements locatable at each of said plurality of cooking locations. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 11  wherein a portion of each of said heated air, said superheated air and said steam is distributed to a plurality of output ports positioned to engage with each of said plurality of cooking elements. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 12  further comprising a gas outlet and an electrical outlet positioned to engage with each of said plurality of cooking elements. 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 13  wherein each of said plurality of cooking elements are adapted to utilize a combination of said heated air, superheated air, steam, electricity and gas to provide a cooking output to an adjacent zone as determined by said processor. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 14  wherein each of a top and bottom surface of each of said plurality of cooking elements are adapted to provide a cooking output independently of each other. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 15  wherein at least one of said top and bottom surface of each of said plurality of cooking elements includes a plurality of apertures therethrough for passing said heated air, superheated air and steam introduced thereinto. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising at least one steam nozzle directed towards each of said cooking locations. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein said interior of said casing is divided into a plurality of chambers. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 18  wherein said plurality of chambers are selectably isolatable from each other by partition walls. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 17  wherein said partition walls include a fixed member having a plurality of apertures therethrough and a movable partition having a plurality of apertures therethrough selectably alignable with said apertures of said fixed member.