Electric heating – Microwave heating – Enclosed cavity structure
Reexamination Certificate
2002-08-22
2004-11-16
Leung, Philip H. (Department: 3742)
Electric heating
Microwave heating
Enclosed cavity structure
C219S756000, C099S278000, C099S299000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06818874
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2002-29337 filed on May 27, 2002, in the Korean Industrial Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wall-mounted type microwave oven, and more particularly, to a wall-mounted type microwave oven having an exhaust fan assembly which upwardly protrude s from an oven body so as to enlarge an internal volume of a cooking chamber. The exhaust fan assembly is detachably coupled to an oven body of the microwave oven to easily change a discharging direction of exhaust gas.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1
shows a conventional wall-mounted type microwave oven
1
installed over an oven range
2
. Generally, the wall-mounted type microwave oven
1
exhausts gas and fumes generated from the oven range
2
to the outside, and cooks food therein using high-frequency electromagnetic waves.
The oven range
2
is provided at its top with a plurality of top burners
3
to cook food, for example, by combustion of gas. The wall-mounted type microwave oven
1
is adapted to cook food in a cooking chamber (not shown) by an intermolecular frictional heat which is generated by repeatedly agitating water molecules of the food with high-frequency electromagnetic wave energy generated from a magnetron (not shown).
FIG. 2
schematically shows an internal configuration of the wall-mounted type microwave oven
1
. The wall-mounted microwave oven
1
includes an exhaust path
13
to suck in exhaust gas and odors generated from cooking of the food and to discharge them to the outside, and a cooking chamber
11
and an electrical component compartment
12
, which are isolated from each other in an oven body
10
.
The cooking chamber
11
and the electrical component compartment
12
are provided at their bottoms, sides and tops with the exhaust path
13
to exhaust the gas and fumes generated from the oven range
2
(see
FIG. 1
) disposed below the wall-mounted type microwave oven
1
. The oven body
10
is provided at an upper portion of its back with an exhaust fan
14
which sucks in the exhaust gas and fumes introduced into the exhaust path
13
, and discharges them to the outside. The exhaust path
13
constitutes a flow path isolated from the cooking chamber
11
and the electrical component compartment
12
.
The electrical component compartment
12
includes a cooling fan
15
which cools electric components disposed in the electrical component compartment
12
. The electrical component compartment
12
is further provided at an upper portion of its front face with a front air inlet
16
, which allows outside air to be introduced into the electrical component compartment
12
therethrough by operation of the cooling fan
15
. A partition plate
17
which is located between the cooking chamber
11
and the electrical component compartment
12
is formed with a plurality of vent holes
18
, so as to introduce air sucked into the electrical component compartment
12
into the cooking chamber
11
therethrough to ventilate the cooking chamber
11
. The cooking chamber
11
is formed with a plurality of vent holes
19
at its upper surface and on the side opposite to the partition plate
17
to allow the air in the cooking chamber
11
to be discharged to the outside therethrough. The cooking chamber
11
is also provided with a front air outlet
20
which allows the air passing through the vent holes
19
to be discharged to the outside therethrough.
However, since the exhaust fan
14
is internally provided at an upper portion of the oven body
10
, a portion of the oven body is necessarily reserved to accommodate the exhaust fan
14
. Accordingly, the internal volume of the cooking chamber
11
is reduced by a height required to accommodate the exhaust fan
14
. Therefore, the internal space of the wall-mounted type microwave oven
1
is not efficiently employed.
In addition, when the wall-mounted type microwave oven
1
is installed, a discharging outlet
14
b
of the exhaust fan
14
is required to be directed to one of forward, upward and rearward directions in accordance with an orientation of a discharging duct (not shown), which guides the exhaust gas to the outside. However, since the exhaust fan
14
of the conventional wall-mounted type microwave oven
1
is housed in the oven body
10
, the oven body
10
must be dismantled in order to change a discharging direction of the exhaust gas. Therefore, with the conventional wall-mounted type microwave oven
1
, changing of the discharging direction requires an inconvenient and time-consuming operation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention is to provide a wall-mounted type microwave oven having an improved exhaust fan assembly structure which increases an internal volume of a cooking chamber, and easily allows a change of a discharging direction of exhaust gas.
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.
To achieve the above and other objects of the present invention, there is provided a wall-mounted type microwave oven comprising an oven body having a discharging outlet formed thereon, a cooking chamber partitioned in the oven body, an exhaust path defined between the oven body and the cooking chamber, and an exhaust fan assembly detachably coupled to the discharging outlet of the oven body, wherein an upper portion of the exhaust fan assembly protrudes from the oven body.
The exhaust fan assembly may comprise a fan case containing an exhaust fan therein, and a guide duct positioned on a side face of the fan case to guide exhaust gas toward the fan case.
A lower portion of the fan case may be disposed between a top wall of the cooking chamber and a top panel of the oven body, and communicates with the exhaust path. An upper portion of the fan case may protrude from the top panel of the oven body, so as to increase a chamber dimension of the cooking chamber by a distance of the protrusion of the fan case.
The fan case may include an inlet formed on the side face of the fan case and an outlet formed on an upper surface of the fan case. The outlet of the fan case may be directed to face one of upward, downward, forward, and rearward with respect to the oven body by separating the fan case from the oven body and fitting the fan case into the oven body to change a facing direction of the outlet.
The guide duct may be positioned so as to have its side face be in contact with an upper portion of the side face of the fan case protruding from the top panel of the oven body, and its lower end fitted into the discharging outlet of the oven body, so as to guide the exhaust gas discharged from the discharging outlet toward the upper portion of the fan case.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4266528 (1981-05-01), Barnhart et al.
patent: 4418261 (1983-11-01), Jailor et al.
patent: 4786774 (1988-11-01), Kaminaka
patent: 5500508 (1996-03-01), Gerl
patent: 5981929 (1999-11-01), Maeda et al.
patent: 6291809 (2001-09-01), Ha
Leung Philip H.
Samsung Electronics Co,. Ltd.
Staas & Halsey , LLP
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