Self-cleaning oven
A self-cleaning oven is an oven which uses high temperature approximately 500 degrees Celsius (900 degrees Fahrenheit) to burn off leftovers from baking, without the use of any chemical agents.
Process
Self-cleaning ovens have a pyrolytic ground coat,[1] which reduces foodstuffs to ash with exposure to temperature around 500 °C (932 °F). The oven walls are coated with heat- and acid-resistant porcelain enamel.
A self-cleaning oven is designed to stay locked until the high temperature process is completed. A mechanical interlock is used to keep the oven door locked and closed during and immediately after the high-temperature cleaning cycle, which lasts approximately three hours, to prevent possible burn injuries. Usually, the door can be opened after the temperature cools to approximately 300 °C (572 °F).[2]
Self-cleaning ovens usually have more insulation than standard ovens to reduce the possibility of fire. The insulation also reduces the amount of energy needed for normal cooking.[citation needed]
Alternative technologies
Two alternative types of self-cleaning oven are available:
- Non-self-cleaning ground coat
- Catalytic continuous clean enamels
The former requires aggressive cleaners to remove soils.[citation needed] The latter relies on high-metals, porous enamels to catalyze the reduction of soils to ash at normal cooking temperatures. The walls of catalytic self-cleaning ovens are coated with materials acting as oxidation catalysts, usually in the form of catalyst particles in a binder matrix. Cerium(IV) oxide is one of the common materials used. Other possibilities are copper, vanadium, bismuth, molybdenum, manganese, iron, nickel, tin, niobium, chromium, tungsten, rhenium, platinum, cobalt, and their oxides, either alone or in mixtures. Highly active coatings typically contain a copper oxide[disambiguation needed], manganese oxide or cobalt oxide, and copper and manganese oxides are often used together. The binder may be a fluoropolymer or an enamel frit.[3] In the 1990s, SRI International performed a study for Whirlpool Corporation, and changed the composition and application of the porcelain enamel surface found in ovens to one with low ionic content, and a film that makes fat into water-soluble esters.[4]
Some newer self-cleaning ovens can require a liquid cleaning soap, and a small amount is used if needed. Most self-cleaning ovens, however, do not require the use of any cleaning products. Some new models of self-cleaning ovens use only water exposure to loosen soils from a specially formulated glass coating on the interior of the oven.[5]
See also
References
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