Self cleaning barbecue roasting hood

Abstract

A roasting hood for a barbecue, the roasting hood being locatable over a cooking area of the barbecue, the roasting hood including an inner surface covered with a catalytic coating, wherein when the barbecue is in use with the roasting hood located thereon, at least the inner surface of the roasting hood is capable of being heated such that any food matter projected onto said inner surface area is at least substantially burnt off from the catalytic coating covering the inner surface of the roasting hood.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is generally directed to outdoor cooking equipment, and in particular to roasting hoods for barbecues.

Many barbecue manufacturers now offer roasting hoods as an accessory for barbecues, or offer barbecues incorporating integrated roasting hoods. These roasting hoods are typically made from either painted or vitreous enamelled mild steel sheet metal. Alternatively, roasting hoods can be made from stainless steel sheet metal. The roasting hood is typically fabricated using sheet metal manufacturing processes. The roasting hood sits over the top of the cooking area of the barbecue to provide an internal cooking volume for the barbecue. The use of a roasting hood adds to the overall versatility of the barbecue allowing it to cook a greater variety of foods using cooking methods including roasting, baking and smoking, as well as barbecuing.

A common problem associated with barbecues is the difficulty in cleaning them after they have been used. The cooking process can result in an accumulation of because of the accumulation of food splatter, grease, juices and oils as well as charcoal on the cooking surface and grills and on different surfaces of the barbecue, and the barbecue generally does not reach a temperature high enough to remove such deposits by oxidation. Considerable effort is therefore required to clean the barbecue after its use. Harsh cleaning chemicals or detergents and abrasive products such as steel wool are usually required to clean the barbecue properly. The amount of cleaning required is compounded when a roasting hood is used because of the accumulation of food splatter, grease, juices and fat on the underside of the roasting hood during the cooking process.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It would be advantageous to be able to avoid or at least minimize the need to regularly clean the roasting hood of the barbecue.

To this end, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved roasting hood.

With this in mind, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a roasting hood for a barbecue, the roasting hood being locatable over a cooking area of the barbecue, the roasting hood including an inner surface covered with a catalytic coating, such that when the barbecue is in use with the roasting hood located thereon, at least the inner surface of the roasting hood is capable of being heated to a temperature sufficient that any food matter, such as splatter, grease, juices, fats and so on projected onto said inner surface are at least substantially burnt off from the catalytic coating covering the inner surface of the roasting hood. This ensures that little to no cleaning of the inner surface of the roasting hood is required after use of the barbecue.

The catalytic coating may be formed by a first ground coat followed by a second cover coat for providing the final catalytic coating. Each coat may be sprayed or otherwise applied onto the inner surface of the roasting hood.

The first ground coating may be provided by porcelain enamel which may be sprayed onto the cleaned steel inner surface of the roasting hood. This coating may then be fired, typically at about 830° C. An example of a composition for the first ground coating would be a ceramic frit in combination with sodium silicate, boric acid, potassium hydroxide, pigment, potassium nitrate and water.

The second coating comprises a catalytic coating as is known in the art for providing self-cleaning ovens. Typical compositions are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,429,161 and in published U.S. Application 2004/0253432, both of which are incorporated by reference. A suitable catalytic continuous clean enamel is sold under the designation EMP6535 RTU powder by Ferro Corporation (Aust.) Pty. Limited of Moorabbin, Vic., Australia.

The second cover coating may be provided by premixing a blend of frit, refractory powders, suspending agents and electrolytes, as are known in the art for coating of enamels. This blend may be shear mixed with water prior to being applied to the inner surface of the roasting hood. This coating may then be dried and then fired to form the final catalytic coating. The cover coating may typically be fired at about 820° C. The coating may provide a spotted or dimpled surface profile which acts to increase the abrasion resistance of the coating by creating impact points against which particles of grease and the like can be broken up when projected against the catalytic coating during the cooking process.

The effectiveness of the catalytic coating at burning off foreign matter deposited thereon improves at higher temperatures. To this end, the roasting hood may include an inner skin and an outer skin, with the inner skin providing the inner surface upon which the catalytic coating is applied. An air gap or an insulating material may be provided between the inner and outer skins of the roasting hood.

This two skin construction of the roasting hood allows for the inner skin to be heated at a significantly higher temperature then the outer skin. This facilitates the effectiveness of the catalytic coating in burning off the foreign matter accumulated thereon.

The twin skin construction also ensures that the outer skin remains at a relatively low temperature leading to improve safety in the use of this roasting hood. It also facilitates the use of stainless steel on the outer skin, because excessive heating of the stainless steel can lead to its discoloration. These excessive temperatures are avoided by using the twin skin construction for the roasting hoods.

Furthermore, the twin skin construction provides for an improved and rigid physical construction of the roasting hood.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a barbecue including a roasting hood as described above.

The invention therefore provides a “self cleaning” effect for the inner surface of the roasting hood. Heating of the inner surface facilitates the burning off of foreign matter such as food splatter, grease, juices and oils projected onto the catalytic coating during the cooking process. This burning off effect can be further facilitated by heating to a higher temperature for a few minutes after the conclusion of the cooking process.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will now be described with reference to a particularly preferred embodiment as shown in the drawing Figures, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a roasting hood of the invention;

FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 are exploded views of the hood skirt; and

FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 are exploded views of the hood cover.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

As shown in the Figures, the roasting hood is made up of two main components, a hood skirt 1 which is dimensioned for placement and location around the periphery of the general cooking area of the barbecue, and having two sides 2 and a rear panel 3. The second component of the routing hood is the hood cover 4 which is pivotally connected to the hood skirt 1 at pivot points 5. The hood cover has a shape suitable for occupying a first raised position while the barbecue cooking area remains generally open, and a second closed position. In the second or closed position, the hood is pivoted down and in conjunction with the hood skirt, serves to substantially close off and confine the cooking area of the barbecue.

Referring now to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, the hood skirt is made up of an outer skin 6 of generally unitary construction forming the rear panel and sides as one piece. The rear panel 3 of the outer skin includes plurality of vents 7 for assisting in the ventilation of the cooking area of the barbecue. The outer skin 6 forms the structural component of the hood skirt to which are applied inner skin sections 8, 9 and 10. The inner skin sections are applied to the outer skin as shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 such that an air gap 8a, 91 and 10a is provided between the inner and outer skins so as to allow air movement and provide a temperature insulating facility between the inside of the cooking area and the outside of the roasting hood.

Referring now to FIGS. 5, 6 and 7, the construction of the hood cover 4 is shown where the hood cover has an analogous construction to that of the hood skirt comprising an outer skin 11 forming the body of the hood and being made up of a rear panel 12 and two sides 13. To this structure are applied inner skin sections 14, 15 and 16, where an air gap is provided between the inner and outer skins so as to facilitate a temperature insulation between the cooking area and the outside of the barbecue.

The inner surfaces of the roasting hood as represented by the inner skin elements are provided with a catalytic coating with one particularly preferred embodiment being the aforementioned product EMP6536 RTU catalytic continuous clean enamel, a “ready-to-use,” premilled enamel frit system that has been formulated for use as a covercoat application over a groundcoat, to give a catalytic continuous clean enamel surface.

The enamel coat is formulated as follows:

EMP6536 RTU POWDER 100 parts by weight
Urea               0.5 parts by weight
Water              38 parts by weight

EMP6536 is a premilled RTU powder which does not require further milling. The powder should be mixed using a high speed stiller or similar and the resulting slip should be passed through a 100 mesh sieve after mixng.

Wet spraying of the prepared covercoat slip is recommended over a fired medium to hard groundcoat to give a covercoat fired thickness of 240-280 micron.

The firing temperature is 820+/−10° C. The resulting w e N coating has a groundcoat thickness of 100-125 microns, and a catalytic covercoat thickness of 240-280 microns.

The catalytic coating applied to the inner skin sections of the roasting hood provides a self cleaning facility for the routing hood whereby the barbecue can be heated to a high temperature so as to elevate the temperature within the cooking area of the barbecue to a point where food cooking by products, soiling the interior and inner skin components of the roasting hood, can be Substantially burnt, and provide a self-cleaning facility of the type found in some modern electric ovens.

The catalytic coating may be applied as previously described or by any other known methods and is most preferably applied so as to take the form of a roughly textured surface on the inner skin so as to facilitate self-cleaning and removal of food by product contamination.

The invention provides for the first time efficient and highly effective self-cleaning facilities in an outdoor cooking appliance of the barbecue type.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the invention as shown in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as broadly described. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.

Claims

1. A roasting hood for a barbecue, the roasting hood being locatable over a cooking area of the barbecue, the roasting hood including an inner surface covered with a catalytic coating,

wherein when the barbecue is in use with the roasting hood located thereon, at least the inner surface of the roasting hood is capable of being heated such that any food matter projected onto said inner surface is at least substantially burned off from the catalytic coating covering the inner surface of the roasting hood.

2. A roasting hood according to claim 1, wherein the roasting hood includes an inner skin and an outer skin, with the inner skin providing the inner surface upon which the catalytic coating is applied.

3. A roasting hood according to claim 1, wherein the catalytic coating includes a first ground coat and a second catalytic cover coat provided by a blend of frit, refractory powders, suspended agents and electrolytes, said coating being fired to form the catalytic coating.

4. A roasting hood according to claim 3 wherein said catalytic coating is provided as a spotted or textured surface profile.

5. A roasting hood according to claim 3, wherein the first ground coat is provided by a fired porcelain enamel.

6. A roasting hood for a barbecue comprising a hood skirt locatable at a periphery of a cooking area, and a hood cover adapted to co-operate with the hood skirt so as to be locatable over said cooking area, both the hood skirt and hood cover including an inner surface covered with a catalytic coating,

wherein when the barbecue is in use, at least the inner surfaces are capable of being heated such that any food matter projected onto said inner surfaces is at least substantially burned off from the catalytic coating covering the inner surfaces of the hood skirt and hood cover.

7. A roasting hood according to claim 6, wherein the hood skirt and hood cover include an inner skin and an outer skin, with the inner skin providing the inner surface upon which the catalytic coating is applied.

8. A roasting hood according to claim 7, wherein the catalytic coating includes an inner skin and an outer skin, with the inner skin providing the inner surface upon which the catalytic coating is applied.

9. A roasting hood according to claim 8, wherein the catalytic coating is produced as a spotted or textured surface profile.

10. A roasting hood according to claim 8, wherein the first ground coat is produced by a fired porcelain enamel.

11. A roasting hood according to claim 7, wherein the hood skirt includes air vents formed in said outer skin.

12. A barbecue including a roasting hood according to claim 1.