Convection oven

Abstract

A convection cooking oven includes a cooking cavity for receiving food product to be cooked, a door movable between an open condition and a closed condition relative to the cooking cavity and a heater for generating heat. A fan system is provided for moving heated air within the cooking cavity, the fan system operable in both a first mode in which air is moved at a first rate, and a second mode in which either (i) air is moved at a second rate, which is lower than the first rate, or (ii) air is not moved by the fan system. A fan system override control is configured such that, when the fan system is operating in the first mode, the fan system is automatically switched to operate in the second mode based upon occurrence of a first predefined oven condition.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A convection cooking oven, comprising:
 a cooking cavity for receiving food product to be cooked;   a door movable between an open condition and a closed condition relative to the cooking cavity;   a heater for heating air;   a fan system for moving heated air within the cooking cavity, the fan system operable in a first mode for moving air at a first rate or in a second mode for moving air at a second rate, wherein the first rate is higher than the second rate;   a user interface including a control input for manually selecting one of the first mode or the second mode for operation of the fan system; and   a fan system override control configured such that, when the first mode is manually selected, the fan system is automatically switched to operate in the second mode based upon occurrence of a first predefined oven condition.   
     
     
         2 . The convection cooking oven of  claim 1 , wherein the first predefined oven condition comprises a call for heat condition of the oven. 
     
     
         3 . The convection cooking oven of  claim 1 , wherein the first predefined oven condition comprises a temperature condition of the cooking cavity. 
     
     
         4 . The convection cooking oven of  claim 3 , wherein the temperature condition is a temperature of the cooking cavity reaching either a temperature set point for cooking or a predefined temperature that is below the temperature set point for cooking. 
     
     
         5 . The convection cooking oven of  claim 3 , wherein the temperature condition is a temperature of the cooking cavity remaining within a predefined range of a temperature set point for at least a set time period. 
     
     
         6 . The convection cooking oven of  claim 3 , wherein the temperature condition is a temperature change condition. 
     
     
         7 . The convection cooking oven of  claim 3 , wherein the temperature condition is a rate of temperature change condition. 
     
     
         8 . The convection cooking oven of  claim 1 , wherein the first mode establishes a first effective fan motor operating speed and the second mode establishes a second effective fan motor operating speed, the first effective fan motor operating speed being faster than the second effective fan motor operating speed. 
     
     
         9 . The convection cooking oven of  claim 8 , wherein at least the second effective fan motor operating speed is achieved by pulsed operation of a fan motor associated with a fan of the fan system. 
     
     
         10 . The convection cooking oven of  claim 1 , wherein the fan system comprises both a first fan and a second fan, in the first mode both the first fan and the second fan run, and in the second mode the first fan runs and the second fan does not run. 
     
     
         11 . The convection cooking oven of  claim 1 , wherein the fan system override control is further configured such that, when the fan system is operating in the second mode as a result of the fan override control, the fan system override control will automatically switch the fan system back to the first mode based upon occurrence of a second predefined oven condition. 
     
     
         12 . The convection cooking oven of  claim 11 , wherein the second predefined oven condition comprises the absence of the first predefined oven condition. 
     
     
         13 . A convection cooking oven, comprising:
 a cooking cavity for receiving food product to be cooked;   a door movable between an open condition and a closed condition relative to the cooking cavity;   a heater for generating heat;   a fan system for moving heated air within the cooking cavity, the fan system operable in both a first mode in which air is moved at a first rate, and a second mode in which either (i) air is moved at a second rate, which is lower than the first rate, or (ii) air is not moved by the fan system;   a fan system override control configured such that, when the fan system is operating in the first mode, the fan system is automatically switched to operate in the second mode based upon occurrence of a first predefined oven condition.   
     
     
         14 . The convection cooking oven of  claim 13 , wherein the first predefined oven condition comprises a call for heat condition of the oven. 
     
     
         15 . The convection cooking oven of  claim 13 , wherein the first predefined oven condition comprises a temperature condition of the cooking cavity. 
     
     
         16 . The convection cooking oven of  claim 15 , wherein the temperature condition is one of:
 (a) a temperature of the cooking cavity reaching either a temperature set point for cooking or a predefined temperature that is below the temperature set point for cooking;   or   (b) a temperature of the cooking cavity remaining within a predefined range of a temperature set point for at least a set time period;   or   (c) a temperature change condition;   or   (d) a rate of temperature change condition.   
     
     
         17 . The convection cooking oven of  claim 13 , wherein the fan system override control is further configured such that, when the fan system is operating in the second mode, the fan override control will automatically switch the fan system back to the first mode based upon occurrence of a second predefined oven condition. 
     
     
         18 . The convection cooking oven of  claim 17 , wherein the second predefined oven condition comprises the absence of the first predefined oven condition. 
     
     
         19 . A convection cooking oven, comprising:
 a cooking cavity for receiving food product to be cooked;   a heating system including a heater and a fan for moving heated air within the cooking cavity, the fan operable in a first mode for moving air at a first rate or in a second mode for moving air at a second rate, wherein the first rate is higher than the second rate;   a user interface including a control input for selecting one of the first mode or the second mode for operation of the fan system; and   a fan override control configured such that, when the first mode is selected, the fan automatically switches to operate in the second mode based upon occurrence of a predefined oven condition.   
     
     
         20 . The convection cooking oven of  claim 19 , wherein the predefined oven condition comprises a call for heat condition of the oven.