US 12,108,909 B2
Autonomous apparatus for cooking food, and corresponding method
Giuseppe De' Longhi, Treviso (IT); and Renzo Mazzon, Silea (IT)
Assigned to DE'LONGHI APPLIANCES S.R.L. CON UNICO SOCIO, Treviso (IT)
Appl. No. 16/323,502
Filed by DE'LONGHI APPLIANCES S.R.L. CON UNICO SOCIO, Treviso (IT)
PCT Filed Aug. 2, 2017, PCT No. PCT/EP2017/069553
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Feb. 5, 2019,
PCT Pub. No. WO2018/024781, PCT Pub. Date Feb. 8, 2018.
Claims priority of application No. 102016000082860 (IT), filed on Aug. 5, 2016.
Prior Publication US 2020/0187711 A1, Jun. 18, 2020
Int. Cl. A47J 37/06 (2006.01); A23L 5/10 (2016.01); A47J 36/16 (2006.01)
CPC A47J 37/0641 (2013.01) [A47J 37/0664 (2013.01); A23L 5/17 (2016.08); A47J 36/165 (2013.01); A47J 37/0611 (2013.01)] 8 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An autonomous apparatus for cooking food, comprising:
a support body having an upper edge,
an openable lid having a lower edge cooperating at least partly with the upper edge of the support body when the lid is closed,
an internal container which can be extracted/inserted with respect to said support body and is open at the top,
a heater, and
a fan for generating a flow of air toward the inside of said container, said fan being connected to a sending aperture present in said lid,
wherein said sending aperture has a hollow ring shape defining a hollow toroidal cavity, the sending aperture sized for mating with said upper edge of the support body, said hollow toroidal cavity having, an entrance disposed in cooperation with said heating device, said sending aperture cooperating, when said lid is in the closed position on said container, with a peripheral edge of said container and communicating with the inside of said container, said sending aperture further comprising a circumferential slit formed on a lower portion of the sending aperture and forming an annular path for the flow of air about a periphery of the sending aperture, the circumferential slit sized and positioned to direct the flow of air circulating in the hollow toroidal cavity of the sending aperture toward the inside of said container; and
wherein the circumferential slit is configured to be disposed at least partly within the internal container when the lid is closed; and
further wherein the support body includes a return exit comprising an annular pipe installed between said support body and said internal container to discharge the flow of used air from said internal container.