NOVEL OVEN WITH AUTONOMOUS ACCURATE TEMPERATURE CONTROL, FOR HIGHER ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND SAVINGS

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Current commercial pizza ovens have a low efficiency due to unchecked heat energy losses from poor temperature control. Poor temperature control also limits the functionality of these ovens. The ovens fail to meet the operational parameters needed to satisfy an emerging market of a new pizza called “Pinsa” made from dough with 80% water content. Hence pizza or Pinsa being prepared will be of low quality, either burnt or undercooked. Another pitfall of standard electrical ovens is their lack of inbuilt sensors for condition monitoring for better planned maintenance schedules. Wood fired ovens on the other hand are complex, and have high CO2 emissions. The European Union (EU) has pledged to cut its energy consumption by 20% by 2020. To align with EU goals, pizzerias need an increase in efficiency and productivity of their ovens to be able to match peak periods of pizza demands while retaining pizza quality and minimising energy losses. The emergence of Pinsa, a game changer in the pizza industry, also calls for a multipurpose oven for both ordinary pizza and Pinsa with a good heat delivery system and accurate temperature control. Ovenza, our solution is a novel commercial pizza oven, which maximizes efficiency through accurate temperature control, focused heating, online condition monitoring and intuitive collaboration with users. Its distinguishing features are the central control unit (CCU), power modules (two of them), and the heat delivery system. The CCU controls the operation of power modules. Control parameters are based on user input (e.g. specific temperature, time) fed through the oven’s touch user interface or received remotely via Wi-Fi. The global pizza market, valued at €117Billion is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 3.68% during the period 2016-2020. After 5 years of exploitation, we estimate to reach over €17.3M in sales and €5.2M in profits at a ROI of 3.16 and will create + 35 more jobs.