GB2380923A

GB2380923A - Multi-deck bakery ovens

Info

Publication number: GB2380923A
Application number: GB0122267A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Brent Miller
Original assignee: MILLER S BAKERY MACHINERY
Current assignee: MILLER S BAKERY MACHINERY
Priority date: 2001-09-14
Filing date: 2001-09-14
Publication date: 2003-04-23
Also published as: GB0122267D0

Abstract

The present invention provides a bakery oven including:-<BR> ```a plurality of oven decks (5, 10, 15, 20 and 25) each oven deck being<BR> operable independently of the other oven decks,<BR> ```a single control panel 40 for inputting separate control instructions for each respective oven deck, and<BR> ```a controller, linked to said control panel and said oven decks, for controlling each respective oven deck independently of the other oven decks. In this way it is possible for an operator to control all of the oven decks (independently of each other) by inputting instructions at a single control panel. The panel controls the heating elements, steam production and steam evacuation of the oven decks.

Description

IMPROVED BAKERY OVEN This application relates to ovens and more particularly to bakery ovens having a plurality of decks. Such ovens are used in the baking industry for baking bread and other such products and can be seen in the bakery departments of modern supermarkets.

Generally bakery ovens have a plurality of oven decks, arranged one on top of the other and operable independently of each other. Each oven deck is a separate chamber within the bakery oven insulated from the other oven decks and having its own heating means (e. g. an electric heating element).

Historically such deck ovens have always had a separate set of controls for each deck. This configuration has inherent disadvantages regarding the operation of the oven. On some ovens, the top deck can be as high as 1750 millimetres from the ground and the bottom deck can be as low as 300 millimetres from the ground. As the controls for these decks are adjacent with the decks themselves, they are awkward to operate as it is necessary for tall people to stoop down to address the settings of the lower oven decks and small people are unable to reach the upper decks.

Furthermore the controls, often in the form of knobs and dials can be unsightly and protrude from the casing of the oven. Generally a separate control has to be adjusted for each parameter (e. g. there is a separate control knob for each of: oven deck temperature, baking time, steam

injection etc). However, often the same combinations of settings are required again and again as generally there is a standard set of settings for each particular type of product. Thus with these prior art ovens it is necessary to make numerous adjustments when switching between two frequently used settings-e. g. if an oven deck which has been used for baking a standard white loaf is subsequently to be used for baking a granary loaf or croissant all of the control knobs will have to be adjusted. If the oven deck is then later used for baking a standard white loaf again all of the settings will have to be changed back.

The present invention aims to overcome, or ameliorate to a certain extent, some or all of the above problems.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a bakery oven including :- a plurality of oven decks, each oven deck being operable independently of the other oven decks, a single control panel for receiving separate input control instructions for each respective oven deck, and a controller, linked to said control panel and said oven decks, for controlling each respective oven deck independently of the other oven decks.

In this way it is possible for an operator to control all of the oven decks (independently of each other) by inputting instructions at a single control panel. The bakery oven may also be provided with other control means separate from the control panel (e. g. an on/off switch for the entire oven or separate controls for an oven display if a display is provided separately from the

control panel). The important thing is that it is possible to input control instructions for each oven deck from a single control panel, rather than having to operate separate control panels for each oven deck as in the prior art.

As it is possible for an operator to address all of the ovens from a single control panel, the operator need only concentrate on a small input area, e. g. a small area of the oven casing on which the control panel is mounted or alternatively the screen of a computer connected to the oven and displaying a control panel. Preferably the height of the control panel is not more than three times, more preferably not more than twice, its width. This ensures that the control panel is confined to a small area.

Preferably the oven decks are electrically powered (e. g. they are provided with electric heating elements). They may also be provided fans for distributing heat within the oven deck and/or any other heating means conventionally used in multi-deck ovens.

Preferably the control panel is positioned at such a height that it is easily accessible by a human operator standing next to the oven. This takes full advantage of the single control panel, which enables all of the oven decks to be controlled at from one location, by positioning it in an especially convenient place.

Preferably the control panel is mounted on or integrated with the oven. More preferably still the control panel is

integrated with an external surface of the oven such that it is flush with that surface.

Preferably the control panel is positioned at eye level so that it can easily be seen and reached by all operators. The"eye level"of each individual operator will obviously be different, but generally in the range of 1400-1650mm (above the floor or bottom of the oven) so the control panel should be positioned somewhere in this range. In a preferred embodiment the control panel is positioned 1605mm above the ground.

Preferably the control panel is a touch sensitive panel.

The panel may be of the type, used e. g. on microwave ovens, having a plurality of switches each operable by the application of a small amount of pressure and covered by a flat (e. g. plastic) panel bearing markings relating to the operation the switches and overlying said switches so that the panel can be operated by depressing the relevant areas of its surface. A touch sensitive display panel has the advantage that it requires minimal effort from the operator and that it may be made flush with the surface of the oven so as to provide an attractive finish without protrusions which may otherwise get caught, knocked, accidentally activated or worn and degraded through use.

More preferably still the control panel is a touch sensitive display screen. The display screen maybe of any appropriate type, e. g. LED or LCD and is capable of displaying symbols relating to control instructions for said oven decks and capable of transmitting a control

instruction to the controller when an area of the screen relating to said control instruction is pressed.

Using a touch sensitive display screen as the control panel has the advantage that the control panel can be modified by changing the display so that the control interface can be interactive with the user. For example the control panel may work on a menu system initially providing a first menu with a list of options (e. g. change oven temperature, change oven baking time, change steam input rate, select preset baking program etc) and change to a sub menu corresponding to the selected option when one of the options from the first menu is selected.

The sub menu would have a further list of options (e. g. raise or lower oven temperature, raise or lower oven baking time, or a list of preset baking programs available for selection). Alternatively selecting e. g. change oven temperature from the first menu, could result in a numeric key pad being displayed on the screen so that the desired temperature can be entered by touching the'keys'displayed on the screen.

Preferably the control panel is an LCD touch screen. This is aesthetically pleasing and allows easy operation of the controller. It is also easy to link a LCD touch screen to computer software for operating said controller as LCD screen technology is well developed and used e. g. in many laptop computers.

Preferably the control panel includes means for controlling the temperature and baking time of each respective oven deck independently of the other oven

decks. The baking time of an oven deck is the time for which it is to be actively maintained at a raised temperature.

Preferably each oven deck is capable of sustaining different temperatures at its top and bottom ends and the control panel provides means for inputting separate control instructions for the top temperature and for the bottom temperature of each oven deck. The top temperature and bottom temperature of the oven deck can then be different and any general reference to the oven deck temperature should be taken as meaning the average of the top and bottom temperatures. In preferred embodiments different top and bottom temperatures are achieved by providing each oven deck with an upper heating element and a lower heating element, said upper and lower heating elements being controllable separately from each other, and the control panel includes means for controlling the upper and lower heating elements of each respective oven deck independently of the heating elements of the other oven decks.

Preferably each oven deck is provided with water injection means for producing steam in the oven deck and the control panel includes means for controlling the water injection means of each respective oven deck independently of the water injection means in the other oven decks. Steam is used in the oven decks to help form a crust on bread which is being baked. Preferably the water injection means injects atomised water into the oven deck, e. g. it sprays water in the form of a fine mist into the oven deck where it quickly evaporates and

turns into steam. In the bakery oven business a water injection means used for producing steam is often referred to as a "water mist injection system".

Preferably each oven deck is provided with steam evacuation means and the control panel includes means for controlling the steam evacuation means of each respective oven deck independently of the steam evacuation means in the other oven decks. The steam evacuation means may be in the form of a flume or damper outlet for exhausting moisture from the oven deck. The steam evacuation means may be provided at the back of the oven deck, e. g. opposite an oven deck door provided at the front of the oven deck.

Preferably the control panel includes display means for displaying operating data relating to each respective oven deck. The display means may be an LED, LCD or any other appropriate type of display. The operating data may include the temperature of an oven deck, the baking time of an oven deck, the top and bottom heat of an oven deck and/or the rate of water mist injection and rate of steam/moisture evacuation.

Preferably each oven deck has its own error diagnosis system which is linked to the control panel display means so that when an error occurs in one of the oven decks a fault indication relating to that oven deck is displayed on the control panel display means.

Preferably the controller is provided with one or more preset baking programs, wherein the control panel has

means for selecting a preset program for use in an oven deck, said preset program containing instructions for controlling at least the temperature and baking time of an oven deck. More preferably still the preset program (s) also contains instructions for controlling the water mist injection means and steam evacuation means of an oven deck.

Most preferably the controller is provided with a plurality of preset programs and the control panel has means for allowing the operator to select one preset program from said plurality of preset programs for use in an oven deck.

The preset programs enable even an unskilled operator to operate the oven easily by merely selecting the desired program.

Preferably each program contains all the oven deck parameters (e. g. oven temperature, top heat, bottom heat, water mist injection means, steam evacuation means and baking time) to be used for baking a particular type of bread, cake or other bakery product.

Preferably the controller is programmable so that said preset programs can be altered. The controller may be in the form of an EPROM, EEPROM, other suitable write-able chip or even computer, possibly a P. C.

Preferably the controller includes a programmable control means and an oven deck control means, the programmable control means being connected to the control panel and

containing data relating to said preset programs, the oven deck control means being connected to and in use interfacing between said programmable control means and said oven decks.

The oven deck control means may be in the form of hard wired electronics and interfaces directly with the oven decks (i. e. it interfaces directly with e. g. the heating elements, water injection means etc).

The programmable control means can be any appropriate write-able microchip or computer and various possibilities (e. g. EEPROM, Personal Computer) will be apparent to a person skilled in the art. Preferably the programmable control means is a computer, more preferably a computer which is compatible with conventional office desktop computers as this enables the software to be easily updated. In a preferred embodiment the programmable controller operates using a windows based system, more particularly it is programmed in one of the 'visual'languages such as visual basic or visual java.

Such languages are easy to update and well suited to providing a control interface for the oven and also for creating a display interface for an LCD touch screen.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the following accompanying drawings: Fig. 1 is a front view of a multi-deck bakery oven according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram showing components of a bakery oven according to an embodiment of the present invention ; and Fig. 3 is a front view of a touch screen control panel.

A bakery oven 1 has five oven decks 5,10, 15,20, 25 positioned one above the other as shown in Fig. 1. The oven decks are insulated from each other so that they can operate independently and are surrounded by a casing 30, 31,32, 33. Each respective oven deck has a door 5,10, 15,20, 25,30 which can be opened by use of an adjacent lever which is mounted on or in the oven casing. In Fig 1 oven deck doors 5,10, 15,20 and 25 are linked to levers 50,51, 52,53 and 54 respectively, the levers being mounted on the oven casing 31 to the left of the oven decks.

Each oven deck is insulated from the others so it is possible for one oven deck to be"on"while an adjacent oven deck (above or below) is"off"or operating at a lower temperature. Each of the oven decks is connected to and controlled by a controller 100 shown in Figure 2. The controller controls each oven deck independently so that it is possible e. g. to vary the baking time and temperature of each oven deck independently of the other oven decks.

The controller is connected to a control panel 40 shown in Figures 1,2 and 3. The control panel is used to input control instructions to the controller which controls the oven decks.

Each of the oven decks 5, 10, 15,20 and 25 can be independently controlled from the single control panel 40 which is mounted on an exterior surface of the oven at eye level, approximately 1500mm above the base 33 of the oven which rests on the bakery floor. The control panel 40 is in the form of an LCD touch screen which is embedded with and flush with the oven casing 30.

The LCD touch screen has a toughened glass touch sensitive surface fitted flush with the stainless steel casing 30 of the oven. All functions of the oven can be controlled by touching this screen. There is no need for any switches, push buttons, control knobs or any other control means protruding from the casing of the oven.

Each oven deck has a top heating element and a bottom heating element (not shown), which can be controlled independently, so as to produce a heat gradient between the top and the bottom of the oven deck. This temperature gradient can be varied depending on the type of product which is being baked. The heating elements are powered electrically. Each oven deck also has its own water mist injection system (not shown) for injecting atomised water into the oven deck. The atomised water is heated and turned into steam which aids formation of the crust of the bread being baked. Each oven deck is also provided with a steam evacuation means (not shown) in the form of a flume at the back of the oven deck.

Each oven deck also has its own fault diagnosis system.

When a fault is detected in an oven deck this is reported to the controller which causes an appropriate fault

indication to be displayed on the display screen of the control panel. The fault indication indicates which oven deck is at fault and may also provide some information about the fault (e. g. that a thermostat is broken, a heating element blown or the water mist injection system broken).

Fig. 2 shows the bakery oven in schematic form. The five oven decks are each connected separately to the controller 100. The controller 100 monitors and controls temperature, top heat, bottom heat, steam injection and steam evacuation in each of the oven decks. The controller 100 is linked to the control panel 40 and sends appropriate control signals, derived from control instructions input at the control panel, to each oven deck.

The controller 100 has two parts: a main computer 105 which may be PC based and an oven deck controller 110 which is in the form of hardwired electronic circuitry.

The LCD screen 40 (the control panel) interfaces directly with the main computer 105 which is connected to the oven deck controller 110 by any suitable means, e. g. a serial link.

The main computer 105 controls the overall operation of the bakery oven and stores product baking information. In particular it stores preset baking programs. Each baking program contains instructions for controlling the oven deck temperature, baking time, water injection etc for the duration of the program and is tailored for baking a particular type of product. The main computer 105 is

programmable so that the preset baking programs can be changed.

The main computer 105 issues control commands to the oven deck controller 110 based upon the control instructions input at the control panel 40 by a human operator. Thus if the human operator selects a particular baking program the main computer will issue control commands based on the instructions contained in that program. If, on the other hand, the human operator has entered parameters such as the oven deck temperature, baking time, steam injection and evacuation rates directly at the control panel 40, then the main computer 105 will issue control commands to the oven deck controller 110 based on these instructions.

The oven deck controller 10 sets and monitors oven deck parameters such as temperature, water injection and steam evacuation via commands issued by the main computer 105.

The oven deck controller 110 controls each oven deck directly, more specifically it connects directly to the various components (e. g. heating elements, water injections means, steam evacuation means etc) of each oven deck. Thus the oven deck controller controls each oven deck by sending control signals to the oven deck components e. g. it sends control signals in the form of appropriate voltages which are understood by the oven deck components.

The display of the touch sensitive LCD screen 40 (the control panel) may take various forms. In fact as the LCD

display is controlled by the main computer 105, it can be changed and updated and this flexibility is one of the advantages of this embodiment of the invention.

An example of a possible configuration of the control panel 40 is shown in Figure 3, other possibilities will be apparent to a person skilled in the art. The control panel 40 displays a plurality of representations which are arranged in rows 45,46, 47,48, 49 and columns 41, 42,43, 44. Each row represents one of the oven decks.

Thus the first row 45 represents the first oven deck 5, the second row 46 represents the second oven deck 10 etc, and all of the oven decks are simultaneously represented on the touch sensitive screen 40.

The first column 41 indicates which oven deck each row relates to. The second column 42 indicates the preset program (e. g. program no. ) which each oven deck is running. The third column 43 has an up arrow and down arrow in each row, the program selected for each oven deck can be changed (program no. incremented or decreased) by pressing the up or the down arrow in the row relating to that oven deck. The fourth column 44 indicates the baking time remaining for each oven deck.

Whilst the invention has been described with reference to one specific embodiment, this is intended by way of example and not limitation and the skilled person will appreciate that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.

Claims

Claims: 1. A bakery oven including :- a plurality of oven decks, each oven deck being operable independently of the other oven decks, a single control panel for inputting separate control instructions for each respective oven deck, and a controller, linked to said control panel and said oven decks, for controlling each respective oven deck independently of the other oven decks.
2. The bakery oven of claim 1 wherein the control panel is positioned at such a height that it is easily accessible by a human operator standing next to the oven.
3. The bakery oven of claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the control panel is a touch sensitive panel.
4. The bakery oven of claim 3 wherein the control panel is a touch sensitive display screen.
5. The bakery oven of claim 4 wherein the control panel is a touch sensitive LCD screen.
6. The bakery oven of any one of the above claims wherein the control panel includes means for controlling the temperature and baking time of each respective oven deck independently of the other oven decks.
7. The bakery oven of any one of the above claims wherein each oven deck is provided with an upper heating element and a lower heating element, said upper and lower heating elements being controllable separately

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from each other and wherein the control panel includes means for controlling the upper and lower heating elements of each respective oven deck independently of the heating elements of the other oven decks.
8. The bakery oven of any one of the above claims wherein each oven deck is provided with water injection means for producing steam in the oven deck and wherein the control panel includes means for controlling the water injection means of each respective oven deck independently of the water injection means in the other oven decks.
9. The bakery oven of any one of the above claims wherein each oven deck is provided with steam evacuation means and the control panel includes means for controlling the steam evacuation means of each respective oven deck independently of the steam evacuation means in the other oven decks.
10. The bakery oven of any one of the above claims wherein the control panel includes display means for displaying operating data relating to each respective oven deck.
11. The bakery oven of claim 10 wherein each oven deck has its own error diagnosis system which is linked to the control panel display means so that when an error occurs in one of the oven decks a fault indication relating to that oven deck is displayed on the control panel display means.

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12. A bakery oven according to any one of the above claims wherein the controller is provided with one or more preset baking programs, wherein the control panel has means for selecting a preset program for use in an oven deck, said preset program containing instructions for controlling at least the temperature and baking time of an oven deck.
13. A bakery oven according to claim 12 wherein the preset program also contains instructions for controlling the water injection means and steam evacuation means of an oven deck.
14. A bakery oven according to claim 12 or 13 wherein the controller is programmable so that said preset programs can be altered.
15. A bakery oven according to claim 14 wherein said controller includes a programmable control means and an oven deck control means, the programmable control means being connected to the control panel and containing data relating to said preset programs, the oven deck control means being connected to and in use interfacing between said programmable control means and said oven decks.
16. A bakery oven according to claim 15 wherein said programmable control means is a computer.
17. A bakery oven substantially as described herein with reference to Fig. 1 and/or Fig. 2.