Cooking oven with steam generator inside cooking cavity
A cooking oven has a cooking cavity and a steam generating system. The steam generation system includes a water reservoir received and support in a reservoir-receiving space of a reservoir rack inside the cooking cavity. Thermal energy is provided to the water reservoir by a heater inside the cooking cavity. The heater can include thermal block made of a thermally conductive material in thermal communication with a heating element. The heater can be positioned such that it intimately contacts the water reservoir to deliver thermal energy thereto to convert water contained therein to steam, which can be used to cook a food item inside the cooking cavity.
1. A cooking oven comprising a cooking cavity and a steam generation system, the steam generation system comprising:
a heater fixed within the cooking cavity;
a reservoir rack configured to be inserted into the cooking cavity to a cooking position and withdrawn from the cooking position within the cooking cavity; and
a water reservoir configured to be supported by said reservoir rack for insertion and removal from the cooking cavity so that said water reservoir is in conductive thermal communication with the heater when the water reservoir is supported by said reservoir rack and said reservoir rack is in said cooking position within the cooking cavity, and is not in conductive thermal communication with the heater when said reservoir rack, supporting the reservoir therein, is withdrawn from said cooking position in the cooking cavity.
2. The cooking oven according to claim 1 , said reservoir rack comprising a reservoir-receiving space configured to receive and support the water reservoir.
3. The cooking oven according to claim 2 , the reservoir rack comprising a cooking grid that can support a food item to be cooked while the water reservoir is received in the reservoir-receiving space.
4. The cooking oven according to claim 2 , the reservoir-receiving space being at a rear of the reservoir rack, and being effective to constrain movement of said water reservoir in at least five directions when received in said reservoir-receiving space.
5. The cooking oven according to claim 1 , the reservoir rack being movable between said cooking position wherein the reservoir rack is fully inserted into the cooking cavity, and a loading position wherein the reservoir rack is at least partially withdrawn from the cooking cavity.
6. The cooking oven according to claim 1 , the heater comprising a thermal block comprising a thermally conductive material in thermal communication with a resistance heating element.
7. The cooking oven according to claim 6 , the resistance heating element being embedded in said thermal block.
8. The cooking oven according to claim 6 , arranged such that an upper surface of the thermal block contacts a bottom surface of the water reservoir to establish said conductive thermal communication.
9. The cooking oven according to claim 1 , the heater comprising a resistance heating element arranged to contact an outer surface of the water reservoir to establish said conductive thermal communication.
10. The cooking oven according to claim 9 , said resistance heating element being arranged to contact a rearward-extending thermal-contact portion of said water reservoir to establish said conductive thermal communication.
11. The cooking oven according to claim 1 , the heater being fixed to a rear wall of the cooking cavity.
12. The cooking oven according to claim 6 , the thermal block being fixed to a rear wall of the cooking cavity.
13. The cooking oven according to claim 10 , the resistance heating element being fixed to a rear wall of the cooking cavity.
14. The cooking oven according to claim 1 , the heater comprising an electric heating element connected to a power source and wired in series with a thermal cut-off switch.
15. The cooking oven according to claim 14 , the thermal cut-off switch being in thermal communication with the heater via a conductive thermal bridge.
16. The cooking oven according to claim 1 , the steam generation system further comprising a reservoir lid to close an opening of the reservoir, the reservoir lid comprising steam openings that allow steam to pass.
17. The cooking oven according to claim 16 , the reservoir lid further comprising a water filling port that allows the water reservoir to be filled with water without removing the reservoir lid.
18. The cooking oven according to claim 1 , the water reservoir comprising hooks configured to suspend the water reservoir below the reservoir rack, said water reservoir further comprising a water pouring section at a front end thereof, a thermal contact section at a rear end thereof, and an intermediate sloped section to guide water introduced in the pouring section toward the thermal contact section.