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What is Structured Air Technology?

Content sponsored by: Alto-Shaam

Vector family oven

The road to developing Alto-Shaam’s Vector™ Series Multi-Cook Oven featuring Structured Air Technology™ began two years ago, as a quest to improve on the limitations of batch cooking in convection ovens.

The 50-year-old convection cooking process utilizes a fan in the back of the oven to horizontally move air around the interior chamber.

“We call this ‘confused air’, since it’s thrown around the cavity haphazardly,” says
Bob Dellert, Alto-Shaam vice president of national accounts-foodservice, who was a part of the team that developed Structured Air Technology.

Traditional convection works best with limited product loads; the more pans that are placed in a convection oven at one time, the more confused the air flow becomes. The convection airflow confusion impacts baking consistency and requires increased labor, as pans need to be rotated to ensure even temperature distribution throughout the cooking process.

“Convection cooking is the longest and most labor intensive cook cycle in the kitchen because the oven needs to be manned for product consistency,” says Dellert. “This issue is solved with Vector and Structured Air Technology, which provides superior cooking evenness.”

Structured Air Technology delivers high-velocity, vertical upward and downward air flow. This optimized, focused heat delivers faster, more even cooking than convection ovens.

The oven can cook up to four different food items at four different temperatures, times and fan speeds at the same time – creating the effect of four ovens in one. There’s also no waiting for a cooking cycle to complete before starting an additional food item.

“Utilizing Structured Air Technology, Alto-Shaam’s Vector oven can cook most proteins 50% faster using higher temperatures than traditional convection cooking, and we see 20% to 30% improvement in overall bake times,” says Dellert. “Plus, operators don’t have to rotate or move pans up and down in the oven, so substantially less labor is required.”

The Vector Oven also has the ability to cook a variety of food items simultaneously without the risk of flavor transfer. For example, shrimp can cook in one chamber at 450 degrees F and cupcakes can bake in another chamber at 350 degrees F, resulting in perfect flavors for each food item. This is possible due to the individual catalysts in each oven chamber.

“With traditional convection ovens, only one temperature can be set at one time and pans need to be shifted, depending on the product,” says Dellert. “Alto-Shaam Vector ovens with Structured Air Technology solves those challenges by cook what you want and how you want.”

Highlights of the Vector Series Multi-Cook Oven include:

  • Two, three or four ovens in one
  • Flexibility to simultaneously cook a variety of menu items with no flavor transfer
  • Control temperature, fan speed and time in each individual oven chamber
  • Improved throughput - Cook up to 2X more food than a traditional convection oven
  • Superior cooking evenness
  • Small footprint – offered in a 21-inch-wide half size, as well as a full size
  • Ventless option
  • Simple operation does not require skilled labor
  • No microwaves
  • No water

Learn more about the Vector Multi-Cook Oven. Visit vector.alto-shaam.com to watch product videos or to request a demo.