AU727385B3 - System for removing oil deposits in an industrial kitchen canopy - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A PETTY PATENT Name of Applicant: Actual Inventor: Address for Service: Dennis Ross WILSON As above CULLEN CO., Patent Trade Mark Attorneys, 239 George Street, Brisbane, QId. 4000, Australia.

Invention Title: SYSTEM FOR REMOVING OIL DEPOSITS IN AN INDUSTRIAL KITCHEN CANOPY The following statement is a full description of this invention including the best method of performing it known to me: SYSTEM FOR REMOVING OIL DEPOSITS IN AN INDUSTRIAL KITCHEN

CANOPY

This invention relates to a system to remove oil deposits in an industrial kitchen canopy.

Industrial kitchen canopies are large metallic structures positioned above or to one side of a stove top or cooker. A motor sucks air from around the cooker, through the canopy and through an outlet which is usually positioned external to the building. The grease and oil laden air passes through filter pads in an attempt to trap these particles. These filter pads are supported by large steel backing plates.

An appreciable quantity of hot oil and grease does not pass through the exhaust. Instead, the oil or grease coats the inside walls of the canopy. For this reason, the canopies are shaped such that the oil or grease runs along the internal wall of the canopy by surface adhesion and into a lower collection gutter. The gutter can extend along the lower peripheral edge of the canopy. The gutter is typically fitted with an outlet to drain the fat or grease.

Cooking oil deposits build up in the gutter and can overflow when the gutter is full. This creates a health, fire and safety hazard. Some of the grease deposits solidify quite readily and will block the drain hole in the gutter. Therefore, from time to time it is necessary to scrape out these internal gutters, which requires an operator to clamber into the canopy area to clean the internal gutters.

If the gutters are not cleaned regularly, the oil and grease deposits become a source of bacterial build up which reduces the kitchen hygiene and can result in unpleasant or foul odours. If the gutters are allowed to overflow, oil can drip onto the kitchen floor providing a slippery and hazardous surface. Hot oil can also drip into the cooker fire promoting a fire hazard or hot oil can drip onto a person to cause a burn. Old and waste oil can also overflow from the gutter into the food being prepared on the stove which contaminates the food.

Regular manual cleaning of the gutters is a time consuming and messy job, and interferes with the normal day-to-day running of the kitchen.

Attempts to keep the oil or grease in a liquid state and therefore able to be drained through the drain hole is not always possible as this requires the canopy to be kept heated for prolonged periods of time which is energy intensive. Also, some forms of greases solidify quite readily even at elevated temperatures.

Attempts to prevent oil or grease build up on the inside surfaces of the canopy by improving air flow through the canopy have met with limited success due to the increase in noise, energy consumption and the disadvantages associated with extremely large volumes of air passing over the cook stove and into the canopy.

It is an object of the invention to provide a kitchen canopy which may overcome the abovementioned disadvantages or provide the public with a useful or commercial choice.

In one form, the invention resides in a kitchen canopy which has a gutter for trapping oil deposits, the gutter containing an oil absorbent strip which, when laden with oil, can be removed from the gutter.

In another form, the invention resides in an oil absorbent strip adapted for placement within a gutter in a kitchen canopy.

The oil absorbent strip can be made from fibre or fibrous material. The fibrous material can act like a sponge to soak up any oil in the gutter. The strip material may be formed of material which will function under the temperatures in the gutter, will retain its strength when laden with oil (so that it does not fall apart when removed from the gutter), and may be made from fire resistant or fire retardant material. Non-woven plastics or composite fibrous materials are preferred. The strip may be reinforced with a netting or other type of reinforcement means to allow the strip to be removed from the gutter without falling to pieces.

It is preferred that the strip is formed as a roll of strip material which can be cut to length and inserted into the gutter. The strip is preferably approximately the same width of the gutter and substantially fills the lower portion of the gutter to maximise its oil absorbing capability.

The strip suitably has a thickness which is less than the depth of the gutter which means that the strip does not protrude from the gutter. It is also preferred that the strip is not flush with the top of the gutter and it is particularly preferred that the strip has a thickness which is about two-thirds of the height of the gutter. This provides a safety factor as when the strip is laden with oil, and is unable to absorb any more oil, oil will begin to pool above the strip without overflowing from the gutter and a visual inspection will then determine that the strip needs to be removed. By having the strip below the top of the gutter, oil can pool on top of the strip without overflowing the gutter.

The strip may be impregnated with anti-bacterial agents, and odour control agents such as charcoal.

An embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the following drawings in which Figure 1 is a front view of an industrial kitchen canopy.

Figure 2 is a side view of a canopy positioned above a cooker.

Referring to the figures, the canopies have a flue exhaust section 10 through which air is drawn. Below the flue exhaust section is a large hood 11 which extends over a stove top or cooker 12. Inside the hood are large rectangular filter sections 13 which are known and which function to trap the oil and fat aerosols. The hood is angled towards a lowermost internal gutter 14. Oil or fat running along the inside walls of the canopy will ultimately flow into a respective gutter 14. Inside gutter 14 is an oil absorbent strip Strip 15 is made of a fibre that conforms with Australian health, fire and safety standards. The fibre strip has a cross-section which is the same as that of gutter 14 to allow it to substantially fill the bottom of the gutter. The thickness of the strip does not exceed two-thirds of the height of the internal gutter.

This enables the kitchen staff to know when the strip has reached its maximum soakage which is when oil begins to pool on top of the strip. When the strip is completely sodden with the used cooking oil, it can be removed from the gutter and disposed of in an appropriate way. A replacement strip can then be inserted. The strip is provided as a roll of strip material and can be cut to length and pushed into the internal gutter.

The canopy with the oil absorbent strip overcomes many of the disadvantages described above and reduces the health, fire and safety hazard caused by overflowing gutters.

It should be appreciated that various other changes and modifications can be made to the embodiment described without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

Claims (3)

1. A kitchen canopy which has a gutter for trapping oil deposits, the gutter containing an oil absorbent strip which, when laden with oil, can be removed from the gutter.

2. The canopy of claim 1, wherein the strip has a thickness which is less than the depth of the gutter.

3. The canopy of claim 1 or claim 2 substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the drawings. DATED this 9th day of March 2000 Dennis Ross WILSON By his Patent Attorneys CULLEN CO.