Electric heating – Microwave heating – Enclosed cavity structure
Reexamination Certificate
2002-08-20
2004-08-31
Van, Quang T. (Department: 3742)
Electric heating
Microwave heating
Enclosed cavity structure
C219S761000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06784406
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a microwave oven, and more particularly, to a microwave oven which has an improved configuration of its mounting bracket to couple a magnetron, generating high-frequency electromagnetic waves, to a waveguide, in order to reduce the number of operations to couple the magnetron to the waveguide, and which is adapted to be stable in a fixed state of the mounting bracket to obtain a more efficient cooling effect for the magnetron.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, a microwave oven is a cooking appliance which is intended to cook foods in a cooking chamber by intermolecular frictional heating of the foods, which is generated by repeatedly agitating the water molecules of the foods with high-frequency electromagnetic wave energy generated by a magnetron.
As illustrated in
FIG. 1
, such a conventional microwave oven includes an oven body
1
and a housing
2
adapted to cover both side faces and an upper face of the oven body
1
. An internal space of the oven body
1
, defined by the housing
2
, is divided into two chambers, i.e., a cooking chamber
4
and an electric component compartment
5
by an inner case
3
such that the cooking chamber
4
is located in the inner case
3
, and the electric component compartment
5
is disposed adjacent to a side surface of the inner case
3
.
The cooking chamber
4
has a cooking tray
4
a
provided at its bottom surface, on which foods to be cooked are placed. The electric component compartment
5
has a magnetron
6
provided therein to generate high-frequency electromagnetic waves into the cooking chamber
4
receiving the foods, a high voltage transformer
5
a
and a high voltage condenser
5
b
. The electric component compartment
5
has a cooling fan
5
C provided therein to prevent overheating of the magnetron
6
, the high voltage transformer
5
a
and the like, and a waveguide
7
to guide high-frequency electromagnetic waves generated by the magnetron
6
into the cooking chamber
4
. The waveguide
7
is mounted on a side wall of the inner case
3
. Accordingly, the magnetron
6
is located in the electric component compartment
5
and is coupled to the waveguide
7
to generate and guide high-frequency electromagnetic waves into the cooking chamber
4
. The waveguide
7
includes a mounting bracket
8
to fix the magnetron
6
thereto.
FIG. 2
specifically illustrates the mounting bracket
8
and the magnetron
6
. As illustrated in the drawing, the mounting bracket
8
is typically made of a thin plate, and is centrally formed with a reception hole
8
a
into which an antenna
6
c
(described hereinafter) of the magnetron
6
is inserted. The mounting bracket
8
is provided around the reception hole
8
a
with a welding portion
8
b
at which the mounting bracket
8
is welded to the waveguide
7
coupled to the inner case
3
. By welding the mounting bracket
8
to an inlet portion of the waveguide
7
at the rear face of its welding portion
8
b
, the mounting bracket
8
can be securely fixed to the waveguide
7
. The welding portion
8
b
includes upper and lower extensions
8
c
and
8
d
, which extend upwardly and downwardly by certain lengths. The upper and lower extensions
8
c
and
8
d
are formed with two pairs of threaded holes
8
e
, with each of the extensions
8
c
and
8
d
having a pair of threaded holes
8
e.
The magnetron
6
, which is fixed to the mounting bracket
8
, comprises a main body
6
a
, and a coupling surface
6
b
defining the face of the main body
6
a
and to be in contact with the mounting bracket
8
. The coupling surface
6
b
is centrally provided with the antenna
6
c
, which is inserted into the reception hole
8
a
of the mounting bracket
8
to emit high-frequency electromagnetic waves generated by the main body
6
a
of the magnetron
6
into the waveguide
7
. The coupling surface
8
b
is provided at its upper and lower ends with two pairs of coupling extensions
6
d
and
6
e
, each end of the coupling surface
6
b
having a pair of coupling extensions
6
d
or
6
e
. The upper and lower coupling extensions
6
d
and
6
e
are formed with coupling holes
6
f
, which respectively correspond to the threaded holes
8
e
of the mourning bracket
8
. Accordingly, the magnetron
6
is securely fastened to the mounting bracket
8
in such a way that after the magnetron
6
is positioned on the mounting bracket
8
, such that the coupling holes
6
f
of the magnetron
6
are aligned with the threaded holes
8
e
of the mounting bracket
8
, respectively, screws
9
are engaged with the threaded holes
8
f
via the coupling holes
6
f
. However, such a mounting bracket
8
has disadvantages as described hereinafter.
The mounting bracket
8
is adapted to securely support in such a way that four screws inserted into the coupling holes
6
f
of the magnetron
6
are tightened into the threaded holes
8
e
formed at the upper and lower extensions
8
c
and
8
d
. Since this coupling operation requires the four threaded holes
8
e
to be tightened with screws
9
, respectively, it is difficult to improve productivity due to the increased number of coupling steps. In addition, four of the screws
9
must be tightened one by one in a predetermined order. To tighten the screws
9
into the threaded holes
8
e
, the position of the magnetron
6
must be precisely adjusted such that the coupling holes
6
f
of the magnetron
6
are aligned with the threaded holes
8
e
of the mounting bracket
8
. To precisely position the magnetron
6
is considerably time-consuming, thereby causing difficulty in the assembling operation of the magnetron
6
.
Furthermore, since the magnetron
6
, which is coupled to the mounting bracket
8
, exerts downward load due to its relatively heavy weight, the upper end of the magnetron
6
may be inclined away from the mounting bracket
8
and the welding portion
8
b
adjacent to the upper extension
8
c
may become separated from the waveguide
7
. In addition, the lower end of the mounting bracket
8
, which is extended downwardly, is apt to bend toward the waveguide
7
.
As seen in
FIG. 1
, the cooling fan
5
c
serves to cool the magnetron
6
, the high voltage transformer
5
a
and the like, by sending air introduced from the outside to the electric components. Since the coupling surface
6
b
of the magnetron
6
is hidden by the mounting bracket
8
, the coupling surface
6
b
of the magnetron
6
is insufficiently cooled when compared to other portions of the magnetron
6
. Hence, it is impossible to sufficiently cool the magnetron
6
due to the configuration of the mounting bracket
8
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a microwave oven with an improved mounting bracket, coupling a magnetron generating high-frequency electromagnetic waves to a waveguide, in order to reduce the number of operations required to couple the magnetron to a waveguide, and which is adapted to be stable in a fixed state of the mounting bracket to obtain a more efficient cooling effect for the magnetron.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
The foregoing and other objects of the present invention are achieved by providing a microwave oven comprising: an oven body; an inner case disposed in the oven body, which defines a cooking chamber therein and an electric component chamber at its outside; a mounting bracket attached to the electric component chamber, which is provided with one or more pockets and is provided near the pocket with a reinforcing section to prevent bending deformation of the mounting bracket, and a magnetron mounted on the mounting bracket, which has one or more coupling portions to be inserted into the pocket of the mounting bracket.
The pocket may be formed by providing a slit on the mounting bracket and bulging a side portion of the slit in a d
Staas & Halsey , LLP
Van Quang T.
LandOfFree
Microwave oven does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Microwave oven, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Microwave oven will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3301871