Convection oven

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A convection oven (either a fan-assisted oven or a fan oven) is an oven that has fans to circulate air around food.[1] Conventional ovens, which do not have fans, rely primarily on radiation from the oven walls, and to a lesser extent, on natural convection caused by temperature differences within the oven, to transfer heat to food. In contrast, the fans in convection ovens allow more heat to be transferred via convective heat transfer.[2] Fans help distribute heat evenly around the food, removing the blanket of cool air that surrounds food in an oven, allowing food to cook more evenly in less time and at a lower temperature than in a conventional oven.[3] A fan oven has a fan with a heating element around, that provides the heat. A fan-assisted oven that use a small fan to circulate the air in the cooking chamber, a conventional oven with a circulating fan.[4][5]

Convection ovens may include radiant heat sources at the top and bottom of the oven, which improves heat transfer and speeds cooking from initial cold start. On the other hand, some ovens have all the heating elements placed in an outside enclosure and hidden from the food. This reduces the effect of radiant heat on the food (Note, however, that the walls of the oven will also be heated by the circulating hot air; and, though the resulting temperature is much lower than that of a radiant heat source, it is still hot enough to provide some heating of the food by means of radiation from the walls).

An impingement pizza oven at a Hungry Howie's store in Auburn, Alabama
A fan-assist oven will have a reduction in cooking temperature, compared to a conventional oven. This comparison will vary, depending on factors including, for example, how much food is being cooked at once or if airflow is being restricted by using an oversized baking tray.[citation needed] This difference in cooking temperature is offset by the fact that circulating air transfers heat more quickly than still air of the same temperature; in order to transfer the same amount of heat in the same time, then, one must lower the temperature to reduce the rate of heat transfer in order to compensate.

Another form of a fan-assist oven is the commercial impingement oven. This type of oven is often used to cook pizzas in restaurants. Impingement ovens have a high flow rate of hot air from both above and below the food. The air flow is directed onto food that usually passes through the oven on a conveyor belt. Impingement ovens can achieve a much higher heat transfer than a conventional oven.

There are convection microwave ovens which combine a fan-assist oven with a microwave oven to cook food with the speed of a microwave oven and the browning ability of a fan-assist oven.

The earliest use of a circulating fan in a domestic oven dates from 1967 by the Malleable Iron Range Company.[6]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/convection%20oven
  2. ↑ McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, revised 2004
  3. ↑ Ojakangas, Beatrice. Cooking with Convection, Everything You Need to Know to Get the Most from Your Convection Oven, 2009.
  4. ↑ http://www.smeg.com/faq/ovens/what-s-the-difference-between-fan-and-fan-assisted-ovens/ What's the difference between fan and fan-assisted ovens? Retrieved on 20 July 2013
  5. ↑ http://service.hoover.co.uk/advice-centre/built-in-appliances/ovens/troubleshooting/ Ovens Advice Centre Retrieved on 20 July 2013
  6. ↑ "4". Milwaukee State Journal. April 20, 1967. p. 10. 

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