ITW 31201

DEVICE FOR DETECTING A GENERIC PARAMETER IN AN OVEN, IN PARTICULAR AN INDUSTRIAL OVEN

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a device for detecting a generic parameter in an oven, in particular an industrial steam and/or microwave oven.

BACKGROUND ART

In particular, advantageously but not necessarily, such a device may be a device for detecting the temperature of food being cooked in an oven, in particular an industrial oven.

Indeed, when industrially cooking food (in particular of whole animals, such as chickens, rabbits, etc.), real-time monitoring of the temperature reached inside (i.e. at the "core") of the piece being cooked is very important.

A rigid-tip probe which is inserted into the food to be cooked is usually used to obtain this information. The rigid tip of such a probe is adapted to detect the "core" temperature of the food instant-by-instant. Once the food has reached a predetermined "core" temperature, the system reckons that the food itself is cooked at best and automatically stops the cooking process.

However, the devices for detecting the temperature of food being cooked in an oven used until today have the following drawbacks (especially if the oven is a mixed steam and microwave oven), substantially due to the fact that the data detected by the probe must be sent outside the oven itself (towards the electronic control system) using electric wires:

(a) crossing an oven wall, the electric wires create a preferential path for the undesired release of steam into the external environment;

(b) the crossing point of the electric wires through the wall is also a release route for microwaves which, as these are high-power industrial ovens, are dangerous for bystanders and for the control systems of the oven itself; and

(c) when the oven is off and the door is open, the probe is inserted/removed by an operator into/from the food the "core" temperature of which is to be monitored; this manual operation often causes a tearing action on the fastening means of the electric wires. Attorney Docket No. 006593-02359

ITW 31201

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

It is therefore the object of the present invention to obviate the aforesaid problems which are found in the industrial ovens currently marketed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

A non-limitative embodiment of the invention will be described below with reference to the single accompanying figure.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

In the accompanying figure, numeral 10 indicates as a whole a device for detecting the temperature of food being cooked in an oven, in particular an industrial oven (not shown as a whole).

The device (10) comprises the following elements:

(a) a probe 11 adapted to be inserted into the food FD to be cooked; the rigid tip 12 of the probe 11 is adapted to detect the "core" temperature of the food FD;

(b) an electric wire 13 for transmitting the signal correlated with the temperature variations of the food FD outside the oven;

(c) a box-like body 14 comprising an upper plate 14a fixed to a lower plate 14b by means of a plurality of screws 15, which may also be used to fix the box-like body 14 to a wall WL of an industrial oven (not shown as a whole in the accompanying figure); plates 14a and 14b are placed parallel to the wall WL, which is preferably a lateral, vertical wall of the oven.

As shown again in the figure, the lower plate 14b includes a groove 16 provided therein parallel to the laying plane of plate 14b starting from an edge thereof which is at least partially interrupted by groove 16; the latter is covered in use by upper plate 14a and is adapted to contain a portion 13a of the electric wire 13, that is accordingly accommodated in use parallel to wall WL.

In the embodiment shown in the figure, the groove 16 is curvilinear, in particular has in the laying plane of plate 14b substantially the shape of a question mark, and if rectified, its length is equal to a quarter (or to odd multiples) of the wavelength of the radio waves used for microwave cooking. Obviously, the length of the rectified portion 13a will Attorney Docket No. 006593-02359

ITW 31201

also be equal to a quarter (or odd multiples) of the wavelength of the microwaves used for cooking.

In other words, the portion 13a of the electric wire 13 forms a quarter- wavelength line section open at the bottom which does not let through the cooking microwaves to the external environment.

Although an embodiment involving the use of a probe for detecting the temperatures within the food is described with the aid of the accompanying figure, the teachings of the present invention may be applied to any probe (electric transducer) inserted into an oven capable of steam and/or microwave cooking.

The device object of the invention has the following advantages:

(a) being accommodated in a non-linear seat while crossing the oven wall, the electric wires prevent the steam from being undesirably released into the external environment;

(b) the particular length of the seat made in the oven wall prevents the microwaves from being released; and

(c) the wire of the probe is firmly fixed to the oven wall; this results in no detachment of the wire itself from the wall in case of possible accidental tugs of such a wire by the operator.