Patent Publication Number: US-6987254-B2

Title: Microwave oven

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
   This application claims the benefit of Korean Application No. 2003-1430, filed Jan. 9, 2003, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates, in general, to microwave ovens and, more particularly, to a microwave oven which is provided with an anti-vibration plate to prevent a side plate of a cabinet from vibrating, due to an electromagnetic field which is generated around a high-voltage transformer installed in a machine room. 
   2. Description of the Related Art 
   As is well known to those skilled in the art, a microwave oven is an appliance, which heats and/or cooks food placed in a cooking cavity thereof using high-frequency electromagnetic waves generated by an oscillation of a magnetron installed in a machine room. That is, during a cooking process, the magnetron installed in the machine room irradiates high-frequency electromagnetic waves, (i.e., microwaves), into the cooking cavity. The microwaves penetrate the food so as to repeatedly change a molecular arrangement of water laden in the food, thus causing molecules of the water to vibrate and generating frictional heat within the food to cook the food. Such microwave ovens are typically classified into two types, a general type microwave oven and a wall-mounted type microwave oven. The general type microwave oven is installed at a position around a cupboard in a kitchen to cook the food using the microwaves. The wall-mounted type microwave oven is mounted to a wall of the kitchen, and collaterally serves to exhaust gas or smoke produced from a gas oven range which is positioned under the wall-mounted type microwave oven, in addition to cooking the food in the wall-mounted microwave oven. 
   The present invention may be applied to both the general type microwave oven and the wall-mounted type microwave oven, but the present invention will be described herein with reference to the wall-mounted type microwave oven, as an example. 
     FIG. 1  illustrates a conventional wall-mounted type microwave oven. As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , the conventional wall-mounted type microwave oven includes a cabinet  1  which defines an external appearance of the wall-mounted type microwave oven. The cabinet  1  is partitioned into a cooking cavity  11  and a machine room  12 . 
   An exhaust passage  13  is defined around lower portions and rear portions of the cooking cavity  11  and the machine room  12  to guide exhaust gas or smoke produced from a gas oven range (not shown) placed below the cabinet  1  so that the exhaust gas or the smoke is discharged to an outside. A fan motor  14  and two exhaust fans  15  are provided at an upper portion in a rear portion of the cabinet  1  to suck gas or smoke guided along the exhaust passage  13  and discharge the gas or smoke to the outside. In this case, the exhaust fans  15  are mounted to opposite ends of the fan motor  14 . 
   The cabinet  1  has a front plate  2 , a rear plate  3 , a bottom plate  4 , a top plate  5 , and side plates  6  and  7 . The front, rear and bottom plates  2 ,  3 , and  4  are made of a thick steel plate, and are assembled with each other to define the cooking cavity  11  and the machine room  12 . Further, a thin steel plate is bent at a right angle at opposites sides thereof to form the top and side plates  5 ,  6 , and  7 , having a single structure. The top and side plates  5 ,  6 , and  7  cover open top and sides of the front, rear, and bottom plates  2 ,  3 , and  4 . 
   Electrical devices, such as a magnetron  21  and a high-voltage transformer  22 , and a cooling fan  16  to cool the electrical devices are installed in the machine room  12 . The high-voltage transformer  22  is mounted to a bottom of the machine room  12 . The magnetron  21  is provided at an upper portion of the machine room  12 . 
   Thus, when an electric current is supplied to the electrical devices including the magnetron  21  and the high-voltage transformer  22 , microwaves are irradiated from the magnetron  21  into the cooking cavity  11  to cook food placed in the cooking cavity  11 . 
   However, the conventional microwave oven has a problem that the top plate  5  and side plates  6  and  7  are made of a thin steel plate to have the single structure and the right side plate  7  covers a side of the machine room  12 , so the right side plate  7  may vibrate due to an electromagnetic field which is generated when the electrical devices installed in the machine room  12  are operated to cause a noise. 
   That is, when the electric current is applied to the magnetron  21  and the high-voltage transformer  22 , a strong electromagnetic field is formed around the high-voltage transformer  22  and due to the strong electromagnetic field, the thin right side plate  7  vibrates, thus generating the noise. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   Accordingly, it is an aspect of the present invention to provide a microwave oven, which prevents a side plate of a cabinet from vibrating due to an electromagnetic field which is generated around a high-voltage transformer installed in a machine room. 
   Additional aspects and/or 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 above and/or other aspects of the present invention are achieved by providing a microwave oven, having a cabinet provided with a side plate, a machine room covered at a side thereof with the side plate, and a magnetron and a high-voltage transformer installed in the machine room, comprising an anti-vibration plate provided at a predetermined position inside the side plate to[, thus] prevent the side plate from vibrating due to an electromagnetic field which is generated around the high-voltage transformer. 
   The anti-vibration plate extends from a rear wall of the machine room so as to be arranged adjacent to the side plate at a position between the high-voltage transformer and the side plate. 
   The anti-vibration plate may be integrated with a rear wall of the machine room into a single structure. 
   The anti-vibration plate is screwed to the side plate. 
   Further, the anti-vibration plate has a rectangular shape, with an embossment being formed on the anti-vibration plate to reinforce a strength of the anti-vibration plate. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the preferred embodiment, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which: 
       FIG. 1  is an exploded perspective view of a conventional microwave oven; 
       FIG. 2  is an exploded perspective view of a microwave oven, according to an embodiment of the present invention; and 
       FIG. 3  is a partially perspective view of the microwave oven, for illustrating an anti-vibration plate of  FIG. 2  mounted to a side plate of a cabinet. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
   Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiment of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. 
     FIG. 2  is an exploded perspective view of a microwave oven, according to an embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 3  is a partial perspective view of the microwave oven for illustrating an anti-vibration plate of  FIG. 2  mounted to a side plate of a cabinet. 
   As illustrated in  FIG. 2 , the wall-mounted type microwave oven includes a cabinet  50  which is box-shaped and defines an external appearance of the wall-mounted microwave oven. A front plate  51 , a rear plate  52 , a bottom plate  53 , and a top plate  54  and side plates  55  and  56  which cover top and sides of the front, rear and bottom plates  51 ,  52  and  53 , respectively, are assembled with each other to form the box-shaped cabinet  50 . 
   The front, rear, and bottom plates  51 ,  52  and  53 , respectively, are thicker than the top and side plates  54 ,  55  and  56 , thus having a higher strength than that the top and side plates  54 ,  55  and  56 . A cooking cavity  58  and a machine room  59  are provided in a space defined by the front, rear, and bottom plates  51 ,  52  and  53 , respectively, so that the cooking cavity  58  and the machine room  59  are partitioned from each other. 
   Further, the top and side plates  54 ,  55  and  56  are integrally manufactured by bending sides of a somewhat thin steel plate at a right angle to accomplish a high efficiency production and assembly operation. Thus, the top and side plates  54 ,  55 , and  56  have a relatively low resistance to an impact and a vibration. 
   Two inlet ports  61  are formed on opposite sides of the bottom plate  53  to suck exhaust gas and food odors produced from a gas oven range (not shown) into the cabinet  50 . An outlet port  62  is provided at an upper portion of the cabinet  50  to discharge the exhaust gas and the food odors from the cabinet  50  to an outside. 
   Further, the inlet ports  61  and the outlet port  62  communicate with each other through an exhaust passage  63  which is defined by rear portions of the cooking cavity  58  and the machine room  59 , the rear plate  52  and the top plate  54  of the cabinet  50 . Thus, the exhaust gas sucked into the inlet ports  61  passes through the exhaust passage  63  and is discharged to the outside through the outlet port  62 . A fan motor  64  and two exhaust fans  65  are provided at the outlet port  62  to suck the exhaust gas which is sucked into the inlet ports  61 . The exhaust fans  65  are mounted to opposite ends of the fan motor  64 . 
   The machine room  59  is partitioned from the cooking cavity  58  by a partition wall  66 . A magnetron  67  to generate microwaves, a high-voltage transformer  68 , and a cooling fan  69  to cool the magnetron  67  and the high-voltage transformer  68  are installed in the machine room  59 . The cooling fan  69  is installed at a front portion of the machine room  59 . The magnetron  67  is mounted to an upper portion of the partition wall  66 , and the high-voltage transformer  68  is mounted to a bottom of the machine room  59 . 
   An anti-vibration plate  70  is provided at a rear wall  59   a  of the machine room  59  to prevent noise and vibration from being generated at the side plate  56  of the cabinet  50  due to an electromagnetic field which is generated by the electrical devices installed in the machine room  59 . 
   The anti-vibration plate  70  is integrally provided at a lower portion of an edge of the rear wall  59   a  of the machine room  59  at a right angle to the rear wall  59   a  of the machine room  59 . That is, the anti-vibration plate  70  extends in a forward direction from the rear wall  59   a  of the machine room  59  such that the anti-vibration plate  70  is arranged at a position between the high-voltage transformer  68  which is provided on the bottom of the machine room  59  and the side plate  56  of the cabinet  50 . 
   As illustrated in  FIG. 3 , an embossment  71  is formed on the anti-vibration plate  70  to reinforce a strength of the anti-vibration plate  70 . A screw hole  72  is formed at a center of the anti-vibration plate  70 . Further, a screw hole  56   a  is bored in the side plate  56  of the cabinet  50  to correspond to the screw hole  72  of the anti-vibration plate  70 , so that the anti-vibration plate  70  is mounted to the side plate  56  using a screw  73  so as to be provided at a predetermined position inside the side plate  56 . 
   The anti-vibration plate  70  is firmly screwed to the side plate  56  of the cabinet  50  at a position facing the high-voltage transformer  68 , thus reinforcing a strength of the side plate  56 . 
   When the wall-mounted type microwave oven is operated to supply an electric current to the electrical devices including the magnetron  67  and the high-voltage transformer  68 , the microwaves are irradiated from the magnetron  67  into the cooking cavity  58  to cook the food placed in the cooking cavity  58 . When the magnetron  67  and the high-voltage transformer  68  are operated, a strong electromagnetic field is generated around the high-voltage transformer  68  and due to the electromagnetic field, the vibration and the noise may be generated at the side plate  56  of the cabinet  50 . However, the anti-vibration plate  70  is provided at the predetermined position inside the side plate  56  to reinforce the strength of the side plate  56  to prevent the side plate  56  from vibrating. 
   As is apparent from the above description, a microwave oven is provided with an anti-vibration plate at a predetermined position inside a side plate of a cabinet to face a high-voltage transformer, thus preventing a vibration and a noise from being generated at the side plate due to an electromagnetic field which is generated around the high-voltage transformer. 
   Further, in a microwave oven, an anti-vibration plate to prevent a vibration from being generated at a side plate of a cabinet is integrated with a rear wall of a machine room into a single structure, so it is unnecessary to separately manufacture the anti-vibration plate. 
   Although an embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in the embodiment without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.