Patent Publication Number: US-7721728-B2

Title: Oven

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2005-17417, filed on Mar. 2, 2005, 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 to an oven, and more particularly, to an oven for rapidly cooling a cooking chamber door. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Generally, ovens are structured to heat a cooking chamber using electricity or gas to cook food placed in the cooking chamber. Since the cooking chamber of the oven is maintained at a high temperature when cooking food, a door for opening and closing the cooking chamber is also heated to a high temperature. 
     Thus, for safety, the oven should have a structure to cool the door under a prescribed temperature. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,889,099 discloses a structure to cool a door using a cooling fan installed in an oven when cooking food. 
     In the conventional oven, ambient air flows in the door by the cooling fan installed at the upper side of the conventional oven to cool the door when cooking food. 
     However, since the cooling fan, in the conventional oven, forces ambient air from an upper side to a lower side of the door through a nozzle, ambient air does not flow uniformly over the entire surface of the door. Thus, the door cannot be efficiently and rapidly cooled. 
     Moreover, since the conventional oven does not have a structure for separating hot air generated while cooking food in the cooking chamber from cooling air and discharging the hot air, it is difficult to devise a structure capable of reducing the door temperature. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, an aspect of the invention is to provide an oven capable of effectively and rapidly cooling a cooking chamber door by causing a sufficient quantity of cooling air to flow through the cooking chamber door and preventing the cooling air from being mixed with hot air discharged from the oven. 
     Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. 
     The foregoing aspects and advantages of the present invention are achieved by providing an oven including an outer case, an inner case disposed in the outer case and having at least one cooking chamber, a cooling fan installed at an upper side of the inner case to discharge air, and a door installed at a front side of the outer case to open and close the cooking chamber, the door including an inner plate, an outer plate, a frame to enclose upper sides and lateral sides of the inner plate and the outer plate, and a plurality of holes formed at an upper side of the frame to allow air discharged by the cooling fan to flow between the inner plate and the outer plate. 
     A blower chamber which is separated from the cooking chamber and is provided at the upper side of the inner case in which the cooling fan is disposed, and a vent hole communicated with the blower chamber is provided at an upper end of the cooking chamber such that hot air of the cooking chamber flows toward the blower chamber through the vent hole. 
     The blower chamber is integrally formed with a blowing guide upwardly extending from the bottom surface of the blower chamber such that air discharged by the cooling fan is guided toward the holes formed in the door. 
     The vent hole is disposed in the blower chamber without facing the holes of the door, and a partition member is installed around the vent hole to prevent the hot air discharged from the cooking chamber from being mixed with air discharged by the cooling fan. 
     The partition member includes a first partition plate disposed at an angle such that a rear end thereof is adjacent to a first side of the blowing guide and a front end thereof faces a second side of the blowing guide, and a second partition plate disposed such that a rear end thereof is connected with the first partition plate and a front end thereof faces the door, wherein the vent hole is surrounded by the first and second partition plates. 
     A gap is formed between the first side of the blowing guide and the first partition plate such that a small quantity of air discharged by the cooling fan is introduced through the gap and is mixed with the hot air discharged through the vent. 
     The inner case includes a separating wall for separating the inner case into an upper space and a lower space wherein a first cooking chamber is provided above the separating wall, a second cooking chamber is provided below the separating wall, and the vent hole is provided at the upper end of the first cooking chamber. 
     The oven further includes a guide pipe in which an end thereof is connected with an upper end of the second cooking chamber and another end is connected with the blowing guide such that hot air generated from the second cooking chamber is guided into the blowing guide. 
     Openings are formed in front opposite sides of the outer case to allow ambient air to be introduced between the outer case and the inner case, and at least one suction hole is formed at the upper side of the inner case to allow the ambient air to be introduced into the blower chamber. 
    
    
     
       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 embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a front view of an oven according to a first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is an elevation sectional view of the oven in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a sectional view taken along the line III-III in  FIG. 1 , illustrating separation and discharging of hot air, generated from a cooking chamber, from air for cooling a door; 
         FIG. 4  is a front view of an oven according to a second embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is an elevation sectional view of the oven in  FIG. 4 ; and 
         FIG. 6  is a sectional view taken along the line IV-IV in  FIG. 4 , illustrating separation and discharging of hot air, generated from upper and lower cooking chambers, from air for cooling a door. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below to explain the present invention by referring to the figures. 
       FIGS. 1-3  are views illustrating an oven according to the first embodiment of the present invention, in which  FIGS. 1 and 2  are a front view and a elevation sectional view of the oven according to the first embodiment of the present invention and  FIG. 3  is a sectional view illustrating a discharge of hot air generated from a cooking chamber and separated from air for cooling a cooking chamber door. 
     As shown in  FIGS. 1-3 , the oven according to the first embodiment of the present invention comprises an open-front box-shaped outer case  10 , an open-front box shaped inner case  20  accommodated in the outer case  10 , and a door hinged to the lower side of the inner case  20  to open and close the open-front of the inner case, thereby forming an external appearance of the oven. 
     The inner case  20  comprises lateral sides  21 , a rear side  22 , a top side  23 , and a bottom side  24 , which are disposed in the outer case  10  and spaced apart from the outer case  10 , to form a cooking chamber  40  where food to be cooked is placed. The outer case  10  includes various buttons and switches and a control panel  11 , in which a display is installed, disposed at an upper side thereof, to allow a user to select cooking menu and cooking time and to control cooking procedure. 
     In the cooking chamber  40 , a plurality of guide rails  42 , for easily attaching and detaching racks  41 , and a plurality of heaters  43 , to supply heat to cook food on the racks  43 , are installed. At an outer rear side of the cooking chamber  40 , a fan motor  44  and a circulation fan  45  for circulating air in the cooking chamber  40  to make an inner temperature of the cooking chamber  40  uniform and to rapidly cook food, are installed. 
     The door  30  comprises a transparent inner plate  31  and a transparent outer plate  32  to allow the user to view the interior of the cooking chamber  40 , a frame  33  coupled with the inner plate  31  and the outer plate  32  to form a space between the inner plate  31  and the outer plate  32  having a closed top, closed lateral sides, and an opened lower end, and a handle  34  couple with the frame  33  at an outer upper end of the door  30  to allow the door  30  to be conveniently opened and closed. 
     The upper side of the frame  33  is formed with a plurality of holes  35  to allow air discharged by a cooling fan  60  (shown in  FIG. 3 ) to pass between the inner plate  31  and the outer plate  32  such that the inner plate  31 , the outer plate  32  which is exposed to the user, and the frame  33  can be cooled at a closed state of the door  30  when cooking food in the cooking chamber  40 . 
     A blower chamber  50  (shown in  FIG. 2 ) is partitioned from the cooking chamber  40  at the upper side of the inner case  20  to blow cooling air to cool the door  30  such that the cooling fan  60  is disposed to extend from the interior to the rear side of the blower chamber  50 . The cooling fan  60  is disposed at a peripheral side of the blower chamber  50  and is driven by being coupled with a fan motor  61 . 
     Openings  12  are formed in a leading edge of the outer case  10  to allow ambient air to enter a space defined by the outer case  10  and the inner case  20 . Suction holes  13  (shown in  FIG. 2 ) are formed in lateral sides and rear side of the blower chamber  50 , to allow the introduced air passed through the openings  12  to enter the blower chamber  50 . A plurality of discharge holes  14  is formed at the upper side of the inner case  20  to communicate with the blower chamber  50 . 
     Moreover, a blowing guide  51  extending upward and forming an air flow passage is integrally formed with the blower chamber  50  such that the air, introduced into the blower chamber  50  via the openings  12  and the suction holes  13  by the cooling fan  60 , is guided to flow to a plurality of holes  35  formed in the door  30  through the discharge holes  14 . 
     The cooking chamber  40  has a vent hole  52  formed at the top thereof to communicate with the blower chamber  50  such that hot air and gas, generated when cooking food in the cooking chamber  40 , are discharged into the blower chamber  40  through the vent hole  52 . 
     The vent hole  52  is disposed at a position of the cooking chamber  40  corresponding to a corner of the blowing guide  51 , and the door  30  a hole  35  is not formed at a region facing the vent hole  52  such that hot air discharged from the vent hole  52  is directly discharged to the outside of the door  30  through the discharge holes  14  without entering the space between the inner plate  31  and the outer plate  32  of the door  30 . 
     Moreover, a partition member  70  is further installed around the vent hole  52  such that hot air discharged from the vent hole  52  is discharged out of the door  30  without being mixed with the cooling air blown by the cooling fan  60 . 
     The partition member  70  comprises a first partition plate  71  and a second partition plate  72 , which are disposed at an angle. The first partition plate  71  is disposed at an angle such that a rear end thereof is adjacent to a first side  51   a  of the blowing guide  51  and a front end thereof faces a second side  51   b  of the blowing guide  51 . The second partition plate  72  is disposed such that a rear end thereof is connected with the first partition plate  71  and a front end thereof faces the door  30 . 
     A gap G is defined between the first partition plate  71  and the first side  51   a  of the blowing guide  51  such that a small quantity of air, flowing through the blowing guide  51  by a rotation of the cooling fan  60 , is introduced to an interior of the partition member  70  through the gap G and is mixed with the hot air discharged through the vent hole  52 , then is discharged after lowering the temperature of the hot air. 
     In the oven having the above-mentioned structure according to the first embodiment of the present invention, food is placed on the racks  41  disposed in the cooking chamber  40  and the door  30  is closed. When operating the heaters  43 , the circulation fan  45 , and the cooling fan  60 , food is cooked by the heaters  43  and the circulation fan  45  and ambient air is introduced to the blower chamber  50  through the suction hole  13  by the cooling fan  60 . 
     The ambient air introduced to the blower chamber  50  flows toward the door  30  along the blowing guide  51  and passes through the discharge holes  14 . Continuously, the introduced ambient air cools the door  30  while passing through the space between the inner plate  31  and the outer plate  32  via the holes  35  formed in the frame  33  of the door  33 . 
     Meanwhile, a small quantity of the ambient air flowing in the blowing guide  51  is introduced to the interior of the partition member  70  through the gap G, and simultaneously, hot air and gas, generated when cooking food in the cooking chamber  40 , is discharged into the blower chamber  50  through the vent hole  52  and mixed with the small quantity of the ambient air introduced to the partition member  70  through the gap G, to lose a small degree of their temperature and be discharged out of the door  30 . 
     As described above, the air introduced to the blower chamber  50  is not mixed with the hot air, discharged from the cooking chamber, due to the partition member  70  and the blowing guide  51 , but is guided to flow downward along the inner space of the door  30 , and the hot air, discharged from the cooking chamber  40 , is mixed with a part of cooling air due to the partition member  70  to be discharged out of the door  30  at lowered temperature, so that the door  30  can be effectively and rapidly cooled. 
       FIGS. 4-6  illustrate an oven according to a second embodiment of the present invention.  FIGS. 4 and 5  are a front view and an elevation view of an oven according to the second embodiment of the present invention, respectively, and  FIG. 6  is a view illustrating separation and discharging of hot air, generated from upper and lower cooking chambers, from air for cooling a door. 
     As shown in  FIGS. 4-6 , the oven according to the second embodiment of the present invention has the same structure as the structure of the oven according to the first embodiment of the present invention as illustrated in  FIGS. 1-3 , except for the inner case  20  having an inner space divided into an upper space, i.e., a first cooking chamber  40   a  and a lower space, i.e., a second cooking chamber  40   b  separated by a separating wall  46 , a first fan motor  44   a , a first circulation fan  45   a , a second fan motor  44   b , and a second circulation fan  45   b , which are respectively installed at the rear sides of the first and second cooking chambers  40   a  and  40   b , and a guide pipe  73  for connecting the rear upper side of the second cooking chamber  40   b  to the blowing guide  51  to guide the hot air and gas, generated from the second cooking chamber  40   b , toward the blowing guide  51 . 
     An end of the guide pipe  73  connected to the blowing guide  51  is disposed in the partition member  70  where the vent hole  52  for venting the hot air and gas in the first cooking chamber  40   a  is located, so that hot air generated from the second cooking chamber  40   b  can be guided and discharged out of the door  30  by the partition member  70 . 
     In the oven according to the second embodiment of the present invention, since the door  30  is cooled in the same way as in the oven according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the description of the oven according to the second embodiment will therefore be omitted. 
     As described above, the oven according to the present invention has a structure wherein cooling air blown by the cooling fan flows from the upper side to the lower side of the door, the entire door is rapidly and sufficiently cooled, guaranteeing safety in use of the oven. 
     Moreover, since the oven according to the present invention has a structure wherein hot air, discharged through the vent hole, is mixed with a small quantity of cooling air in the blower chamber due to the gap defined by the partition member, the hot air discharged from the cooking chamber is slightly reduced in temperature while being discharged from the oven. Thus, air for cooling the door is not mixed with the entire hot air, so that the door can be more effectively cooled. 
     Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in this embodiment without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.