Electric heating – Microwave heating – Enclosed cavity structure
Reexamination Certificate
1997-12-22
2001-04-17
Walberg, Teresa (Department: 3742)
Electric heating
Microwave heating
Enclosed cavity structure
C126S29900R
Reexamination Certificate
active
06218653
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a cooling structure for ventilation-hooded microwave ovens, and more particularly, to an improved cooling structure for effectively cooling electronic equipment generating microwaves by introducing an air current into the cooking cavity of such an oven using a cooling fan mounted to the upper portion of the microwave oven.
2. Description of the Background Art
As well known to those skilled in the art, in a conventional OTR (over the range), a microwave oven is installed over a gas oven and generates microwaves to heat food in its cooking cavity. A collateral function of the microwave oven is to exhaust the smoke of the gas oven into the atmosphere.
FIG. 1
is a schematic view showing the construction of a conventional ventilation-hooded microwave oven.
As shown in
FIG. 1
, such a microwave oven comprises a cavity assembly
10
, including a cavity
12
for cooking, and an instrument compartment
14
mounted to the outside wall of the cooking cavity
12
. Electronic equipment is embedded in the instrument compartment
14
while an air duct
20
is mounted to the top portion of the cooking cavity assembly
10
.
A magnetron mount plate
13
is protrusively mounted in the instrument compartment
14
. Also, both the electronic equipment for generating microwaves and an exhaust passage serving to ventilate smoke are mounted in the instrument compartment
14
.
A magnetron
16
for oscillating microwaves is fixed to the mount plate
13
, while a high voltage transformer
11
for supplying a high voltage to the magnetron
16
is mounted to the rear panel
10
b
of the instrument compartment
14
.
A lower panel
18
, consisting of the lower portion of the instrument compartment
14
, is mounted to the front and rear panels
10
a
and
10
b
using a plurality of screws. A fan motor assembly
15
, for both radiating the heat of the electronic equipment and exhausting the smoke of the cooking cavity into the atmosphere, is mounted in such a manner that the fan motor assembly
15
is spaced apart from the right-side portion of the magnetron
16
by a predetermined gap. In addition, a condenser
19
is mounted in the instrument compartment
14
, while an exhaust channel
18
a
for forming a separated exhaust passage, is formed on the right-side portion of the lower panel
18
as shown in FIG.
1
.
As mentioned above, after the electronic equipment is embedded in the instrument compartment
14
, the electronic equipment is covered with an air guide plate
17
so that the exhaust passage is formed so as to connect the exhaust channel
18
a
to the air duct
20
. That is, the right-side portion of the instrument compartment
14
, corresponding to the exhaust channel
18
a
of the lower panel
18
, is covered with the air guide plate
17
, thereby forming the right-side portion of the instrument compartment
14
into the exhaust passage. Preferably, the guide plate
17
has an almost L-shaped cross-section.
An exhaust motor
22
is mounted around the rear portion of the air duct
20
. The exhaust motor
22
serves to generate an air current at the exhaust passage, which communicates with a base panel
30
of the microwave oven, a part of the instrument compartment
14
and the rear portion of the air duct
20
. An air intake port
24
is formed at the front side of the air duct
20
so that air is introduced into the interior of the instrument compartment
24
by the fan assembly
15
as described below.
FIGS. 2 and 3
are sectional views illustrating the mount construction of the conventional microwave oven shown in FIG.
1
.
As shown
FIG. 2
, the fan assembly
15
, serving to generate the air current, is mounted between the magnetron
16
and the high voltage transformer
11
at the intermediate height of the instrument compartment
14
. In addition, as shown
FIG. 3
, the fan assembly
15
is mounted at a position spaced apart from the right portion of the magnetron
16
so as to generate the air current for cooling the electronic equipment.
That is, the air is introduced into the cooking cavity
12
through the air intake port
24
by the fan assembly
15
. The air, passed through the fan assembly
15
, is separated into two air currents. The first air current flows toward the magnetron
16
mounted to the lower panel
18
, while the second air current flows toward the transformer
11
, mounted to the rear panel
10
b
of the instrument compartment
14
. Thus the electronic equipment is cooled by the introduction of the air current. Thereafter, such an air current is introduced into the cooking cavity
12
through a vent hole
12
b
formed on one sidewall
12
a
of the cavity
12
. Subsequently, the air current is exhausted with the air of the cavity
12
into the atmosphere through the other side wall of the cavity
12
or a vent hole formed on the top portion of the cooking cavity
12
.
However, such a conventional construction of the electronic equipment in the microwave oven has problems as described below.
The mounting positions of both the magnetron
16
and the high voltage transformer
11
are different from each other, when viewed from the position of the fan assembly
15
. That is, as shown
FIG. 2
, the magnetron
16
is mounted to the lower panel
18
, while the transformer
11
is mounted to the rear panel
10
b
of the instrument compartment
14
. Thus, the amount of air current introduced for the magnetron
16
and the transformer
11
is insufficient because the air is separately introduced to both the magnetron
16
and the transformer
11
. Also, when the air is introduced to both the magnetron
16
and the transformer
11
, the direction of the air current has to be changed so as to have a predetermined angle to cool both the magnetron
16
and the transformer
1
. Therefore, the cooling efficiency of the fan assembly
15
is reduced.
In addition, the fan assembly
15
is spaced apart from the air intake port
24
of the air duct
20
. That is, the air passage, connecting the air intake port
24
to the fan assembly
15
, is bent at an angle of 90°. Thus, the blowing force of the fan assembly
15
is reduced by the distance between the fan assembly
15
and the intake port
24
. Also, due to the complexity of an intake air course, the energy of the air current is reduced during the flowing of the air. Therefore, in order to intake a sufficient amount of air, the blowing force of the fan assembly
15
has to be increased. However, it is difficult to increase the blowing force of the fan assembly in the instrument compartment due to a limited area.
Also, in the fan assembly
15
, a fan cover
15
a
has to be formed into a specifically-bent shape suitable for introducing the cooling air into both the magnetron
16
and the transformer
11
. Therefore, the construction of the fan assembly
15
is complicated.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention has been made with the above problems occurring in the conventional art in mind, and an object of the present invention is to provide a cooling structure for ventilation-hooded microwave ovens, which effectively cools electronic equipment in an instrument compartment.
In order to accomplish the above and other objects, the present invention provides a cooling structure for ventilation-hooded microwave ovens, comprising: an instrument compartment provided at a position spaced apart from a cooking cavity; a first electronic equipment piece mounted to the upper portion in the instrument compartment; a second instrument equipment piece mounted to the lower portion in the instrument compartment; and a fan assembly mounted in the instrument compartment at a position above the first electronic equipment piece, thus allowing an air current from the fan assembly to cool the first and second electronic equipment pieces.
This cooling structure further comprises guide means for guiding the air current to the first electronic equipment piece. Such guide means can include an air current guide for guiding the air current to the
LG Electronics Inc.
Pwu Jeffrey
Walberg Teresa
LandOfFree
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