Energy-efficient bi-radiant oven system

Claim 1

An oven system comprising an oven cavity having inner top, bottom and side walls forming said cavity, one of said side walls having a door therein, a horizontal food product supporting rack member mounted within said cavity, wherein the improvement comprises: an upper infrared radiant heat element mounted to one of said walls, said upper element being located above said food product supporting rack member; a lower infrared radiant heat element mounted to one of said walls, said lower element being located below said food product supporting rack member; said oven cavity walls having a low emissivity E and thus being highly reflective of infrared radiant heat energy; a baking pan member within said oven cavity and positioned upon said food supporting rack member, the lower portion of said baking pan member having a high emissivity E and thus being highly absorptive of infrared radiant heat energy; wherein said oven system has means for supplying infrared radiant energy directly to said baking pan member and a food product within said oven cavity from said upper and lower infrared radiant heat elements; said oven system including control means for independently and simultaneously supplying power to said upper and lower infrared radiant heat elements and for adjusting said upper element to a first power setting and said lower element to a second power setting; said upper infrared radiant heat element having a higher wattage rating than said lower infrared radiant heat element thus supplying more infrared radiant power to the top of a food product to counter the effect of evaporative heat losses during the baking process.