Patent Publication Number: US-2022214048-A1

Title: Cooking Device

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a continuation application of PCT International Application No. PCT/CN2020/130159, filed on Nov. 19, 2020, which claims the benefit of the Chinese Patent Application No. 202010701891.9, filed on Jul. 17, 2020, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entireties. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present disclosure relates to the field of kitchen electric appliance technology, and more specifically, to a cooking device. 
     BACKGROUND 
     A cooking device such as an oven usually has a function of heated air circulation heating. A three-dimensional baking and multi-layer baking may be realized through heated air circulation heating, which enriches use scenarios of the oven, a heating temperature of food is more even, and the cooking effect is better. 
     During long term research by the inventor of the present application, the inventor finds that, at present, the heated air circulation heating function is generally realized through a draught fan in coordination with an external heating element. In detail, heating is performed to the air that is drawn to the air supply cavity by the draught fan through a heating element arranged between the draught fan and a back housing to obtain heated air. Then the heated air is sent to the cooking cavity through the draught fan, so as to realize heated air circulation heating function. But much heat of the heating element in this kind of structure will be transferred to the housing by radiation, causing heat loss. 
     SUMMARY 
     The present disclosure provides a cooking device, so as to solve a technical problem that the heating element of the cooking device is disposed outside of the draught fan which causes heat loss. 
     In order to solve the foregoing technical problem, the present disclosure provides a cooking device, including: a housing, wherein the housing includes a front housing, a back housing, and a partition plate, the partition plate cooperates with the front housing to form a cooking cavity, the partition plate cooperates with the back housing to form an air supply cavity, and an air supply port and an air return port are defined on the partition plate for communicating the cooking cavity with the air supply cavity; and a heating and air-supplying assembly, disposed in the air supply cavity, wherein the heating and air-supplying assembly is configured to supply heated air to the cooking cavity through the air supply port, and the heated air in the cooking cavity further reflows to the air supply cavity through the air return port; wherein the heating and air-supplying assembly includes an impeller and a heating element, the impeller is configured to drive air in the air supply cavity to flow, and the heating element is disposed in the impeller and configured to heat the air that flows into the impeller to form the heated air. 
     According to some specific embodiments of the present disclosure, the impeller is configured to draw the air along an axial direction of the impeller and eject the air along a radial direction of the impeller, and the heating element is configured to heat the air that flows into the impeller along the axial direction of the impeller. 
     According to some specific embodiments of the present disclosure, the air supply port is defined in a surrounding region of the partition plate, the air return port is defined in a middle region of the partition plate, and the impeller is disposed correspondingly to the air return port. 
     According to some specific embodiments of the present disclosure, the air supply port is defined in a middle region of the partition plate, the air return port is defined in a surrounding region of the partition plate, the impeller is disposed correspondingly to the air supply port, and the impeller is configured to draw the air from the air return port along a radial direction of the impeller, and eject the air from the air supply port along an axial direction of the impeller. 
     According to some specific embodiments of the present disclosure, the cooking device further includes a supporting rack, wherein the supporting rack includes a supporting shaft and a plurality of supporting pieces, the supporting shaft is disposed in the impeller along the axial direction of the impeller, the supporting pieces are disposed on the supporting shaft at intervals along a circumferential direction of the impeller and extend along the radial direction of the impeller, and the heating element is disposed on the supporting pieces. 
     According to some specific embodiments of the present disclosure, the heating element is a heating strip, and the heating strip surrounds a periphery of the supporting shaft in a heliciform and passes through and is fixed on the supporting pieces. 
     According to some specific embodiments of the present disclosure, the supporting pieces defined a plurality of through holes configured for the heating strip passing through, and a hole pitch between every two adjacent through holes defined along the axial direction of the impeller is 2 to 5 times of a diameter of the heating strip. 
     According to some specific embodiments of the present disclosure, the heating strip is made of a resistance material, the diameter of the heating strip is in a range of 0.5 mm to 1 mm, and the supporting rack is made of an isolation material. 
     According to some specific embodiments of the present disclosure, the through holes are further divided into at least two rows at intervals along the radial direction of the impeller, and the through holes of every two adjacent rows of the through holes are further staggered with each other along the axial direction of the impeller. 
     According to some specific embodiments of the present disclosure, a row-to-row distance of the every two adjacent rows of the through holes along the radial direction of the impeller is 5 to 10 times of the diameter of the heating strip. 
     According to some specific embodiments of the present disclosure, the heating element is a heating sheet, and the heating sheet is attached to the supporting pieces. 
     According to some specific embodiments of the present disclosure, the supporting shaft and the impeller are arranged coaxially. 
     According to some specific embodiments of the present disclosure, a distance between the supporting pieces and the impeller is greater than or equal to  2 mm. 
     According to some specific embodiments of the present disclosure, the cooking device further includes a fan cover and a fixed rack, the axial direction of the impeller is oriented towards the air return port, the fan cover is disposed on the fixed rack and between the impeller and the partition plate, to guide the heated air in the cooking cavity to flow from the air return port to the impeller, the fixed rack is fixed on the back housing or the partition plate, and the supporting shaft is fixed on the fixed rack. 
     According to some specific embodiments of the present disclosure, a width of a cross section of the back housing along an axial direction of the impeller is gradually enlarged along a direction of approaching the front housing. 
     According to some specific embodiments of the present disclosure, the impeller is a centrifugal impeller. 
     According to the present disclosure, the heating element of the heating and air-supplying assembly of the cooking device is set inside the impeller, so as for the heating element to heat the air flows into the impeller from the cooking cavity. The impeller sends the heated air to the cooking cavity to heat the food. The heating element loses less heat through radiation, which may increase the heat exchange efficiency between the air and the heating element. Thereby a speed of temperature increase is higher, the heating efficiency is improved. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       In order to explain technical solutions in some embodiments of the present disclosure more clearly, the following will briefly introduce drawings needed in the description of the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present disclosure. For those of ordinary skill in the art, other drawings may be acquired based on these drawings without any creative work. 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic view of a three-dimensional structure according to some embodiments of the cooking device of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic view of an exploded structure according to some embodiments of the cooking device of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic view of a section view structure according to some embodiments of the cooking device of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic view of a three-dimensional structure of the supporting rack according to some embodiments of the cooking device of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic view of a three-dimensional structure of partial structure according to some embodiments of the cooking device of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The technical solutions in some embodiments of the present disclosure will be described clearly and completely in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present disclosure, rather than all the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present disclosure, all other embodiments acquired by those of ordinary skill in the art without any creative work shall fall within the protection scope of the present disclosure. 
     The terms “first” and “second” in the present disclosure are used for description only, not to be understood as indicate or imply relative importance or imply a quantity of technical features. In the description of the present disclosure, “multiple” means at least two, for example two, three and etc.. In the description of the present disclosure, unless there is a specific definite limitation. Besides, the terms “include” and “have” and any transformation thereof aim at inclusion with no exclusion. For example, a process, a method, a system, a product or a device that includes a series of steps or units, are not limited to steps or units that are listed, but the steps or units that are not listed are included optionally, or other fixed steps or units for the steps, the method, the product or the equipment are optionally included. The term “and/or” is only relative relationship that only describes the related objects. The term “and/or” indicates there may exists three kinds of relationship. For example, A and/or B, may indicates: A solely exists, A and B exist the same time, or B solely exists. In addition, the symbol “/” generally indicates “or” relationship between the before object and the after object. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1  to  FIG. 3 , the cooking device of some embodiments of the present disclosure includes a housing  100  and a heating and air-supplying assembly  200 . The housing  100  includes a front housing  110 , a back housing  120 , and a partition plate  130 . The partition plate  130  and the front housing  10  corporate to form a cooking cavity  101 . The partition plate  130  and the back housing  120  corporate to form an air supply cavity  102 . The partition plate  130  is configured with an air supply port  131  and an air return port  132  that fluidly connect the cooking cavity  101  and the air supply cavity  102 . The heating and air-supplying assembly  200  is configured in the air supply cavity  102 , and supplies heated air to the cooking cavity  101  through the air supply opening  131 . The heated air in the cooking cavity  101  further reflows to the air supply cavity  102  through the air return port  132 . The heating and air-supplying assembly  200  includes an impeller  210  and a heating element  220 . The impeller  210  is configured to drive the air in the air supply cavity  102  to flow, the heating element  220  is disposed inside the impeller  210 , and is used to heat the air that flows in the impeller  210  to form heated air. 
     According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the heating element  220  in the heating and air-supplying assembly  200  of the cooking device  10  is disposed inside the impeller  210 . In this way, the heating element  220  is able to heat the air inside the impeller  210  from the cooking cavity  101 , and the heated air may be delivered to the cooking cavity  101  via the impeller  210  to further heat food. The heat loss through radiation of the heating element  220  is less, which increases heat exchange efficiency between the air and the heating element  220 . Therefore, the speed of increase of temperature of the air is higher, and the heating efficiency is improved. 
     In the present embodiments, the impeller  210  may be a centrifugal impeller. The impeller  210  includes multiple blades (not shown in the figures) that are arranged at intervals in a circumferential direction along an axis of the impeller  210 . The space encircled by the blades is the inside of the impeller  210 . 
     In these embodiments, the air supply port  131  is defined in a surrounding region of the partition plate  130 . The air return port  132  is defined in a middle region of the partition plate  130 . The impeller  210  is arranged correspondingly to the air return port  132 . The impeller  210  is configured to draw air from the air return port  132  along an axis direction of the impeller  210 . The air is sent or discharged out through the air supply port  131  along a radial direction of the impeller  210 . The whole cooking cavity  101  is heated thoroughly by the heated air. The food is heated more even. The heating element  220  is configured to heat the air that flows inside the impeller  210  along the axis direction of the impeller  210 . The formed heated air is able to be sent to the cooking cavity  101  directly through the impeller  210 . The heat radiated from the heating element  220  to the back housing  120  and the partition plate  130  is few. 
     In other embodiments, the air supply port (not shown in the figures) may also be defined in the middle region of the partition plate  130 , while the air return port (not shown in the figures) is defined in the surrounding regions of the partition plate  130 . 
     The impeller  210  is arranged correspondingly to the air supply port. The impeller  210  is configured to draw air from the air return port along the radial direction of the impeller  210 , and to discharge air from the air supply port along the axis direction of the impeller  210 . The food in the middle region of the cooking cavity  101  can be heated directly. The heat absorbed by a side wall (not shown in the figures) of the front housing  110  is reduced. Therefore, the heat loss during the air delivery is lessened. Thus food is heated rapidly, and the heating time is shortened. 
     In these embodiments, the cooking device  10  further includes a supporting rack  300 . The supporting rack  300  includes a supporting shaft  310  and multiple supporting pieces  320 . The supporting shaft  310  is disposed inside the impeller  210  along the axis direction of the impeller  210 . The multiple supporting pieces  320  are disposed on the supporting shaft  310  at intervals along a circumferential direction of the impeller  210 . The multiple supporting pieces  320  extend along the radial direction of the impeller  210 . The heating element  220  is disposed on the supporting pieces  320 . 
     In these embodiments, the heating element  220  is the heating strip. The heating strip surrounds a periphery of the supporting shaft  310  in a heliciform, passes through and is fixed on the supporting pieces  320 . The effective heating region of the heating strip can be increased so as for the air inside the impeller  210  to be heated thoroughly, and the temperature of the heated air delivered by the impeller  210  is higher. 
     In the present embodiments, the heating strips can be made of resistance material. A diameter of the heating strip is in a range of 0.5 mm to 1 mm. For example, 0.5 mm, 0.8 mm, 1 mm, or the like. The supporting rack  300  can be insulation material, therefore a short cut phenomena caused by the heating element  220  may be reduced. 
     In other embodiments, the heating element  220  can also be a heating sheet or the like, and may be attached onto the supporting pieces  320  to heat the air inside the impeller  210 . 
     In other embodiments, the heating element  220  is directly disposed on the supporting shaft  310  or on an inner side of the impeller  210 . 
     In some embodiments, as shown in  FIG. 4 , multiple through holes  321  for the heating strip to pass through is disposed on the supporting pieces  320 . A hole pitch between every two adjacent through holes  321  along the axis direction of the impeller  210  is twice to 5 times of the diameter of the heating strip, for example, 2, 3, or 5 times, which avoids contact of the adjacent heating strips to avoid damages. 
     In these embodiments, the through holes  321  are divided into at least two rows at intervals along the radial direction of the impeller  210 . The through holes of every two adjacent rows of the through holes  321  are further staggered with each other along the axis direction of the impeller  210 , which is able to avoid the impact on the circulating of the air in the impeller  210 , therefore the air can pass through the supporting rack  300  rapidly. 
     In these embodiments, a row-to-row distance of the every two adjacent rows of through holes  321  along the radial direction of the impeller  210  is  5  to  10  times of the diameter of the heating strip, for example, 5, 8 or 10 times, which can further avoid influence to the circulate of air inside the impeller  210 , and can enable the air to pass through the supporting rack  300  rapidly. 
     In these embodiments, the distance between the supporting pieces  320  and the impeller  210  is greater than or equal to  2 mm. For example, 2 mm, 2.5 mm or 3 mm. In this way, interference between the supporting pieces  320  and the impeller  210  can be avoided, or the impeller  210  being destroyed because of high temperature of the supporting pieces  320  can be avoided. 
     In these embodiments, the supporting shaft  310  and the impeller  210  are arranged coaxially, which may make the air inside the impeller  210  to be heated evenly. 
     Referring to  FIG. 5 , in these embodiments, the cooking device  10  further includes a fan cover  410  and a fixed rack  420 . The axis direction of the impeller  210  is oriented towards the air return port  132 . The fan cover  410  is disposed on the fixed rack  420 , and is disposed between the impeller  210  and the partition plate  130 . The fixed rack  420  is fixed on the back housing  120 . The supporting shaft  310  is fixed on the fixed rack  420 . The heated air in the cooking cavity  101  is guided to flow from the air return port  132  to the impeller  210  by setting the fan cover  410 , which enables the air inside the impeller  210  to fully exchange heat with the heating element  220 , which realizes quick raise of temperature of the air. 
     In other embodiments, the fixed rack  420  may be fixed on the partition plate  130 , which is not limited herein. 
     In these embodiments, the fixed rack  420  includes two fixed links  421  and a connecting block  422 . The fixed links  421  are in U shapes. Two ends of each of the fixed links  421  are fixed on the back housing  120 . The two fixed links  421  pass through the fan cover  410  and are arranged at intervals. A rotation shaft (not shown in figures) of the impeller  210  is disposed in an interval region between the two fixed links  421 . The connecting block  422  connects two fixed links  421  in the location of the rotation shaft of the impeller  210 . The supporting shaft  310  is fixed on the connecting block  422 . The fan cover  410  and the supporting shaft  310  are fixed through the two fixed links  241  arranged at intervals and the connecting blocks  422 . A blocking region of the air flown from the air return port  132  to the impeller  210  is decreased, which makes the air flow more smoothly. 
     In the embodiments, a width of a cross section of the back housing  120  along the axis direction of the impeller  210  is gradually enlarged along a direction approaching the front housing  110 . An end face of one end of the back housing  120  away from the front housing  110  could be round. A diameter of the round end face is greater than or equal to the diameter of the impeller  210 , so as to match the shape of the impeller  210 . An edge of one end of the back housing  120  approaching the front housing  110  is disposed in a rectangle shape. A length and a width of the edges of the rectangle are respectively greater than or equal to a length and a width of the partition plate  130 , so as to match the shape of the partition plate  130 . Through the arrangement of disposing the back housing  120  to the above-mentioned structure, an air passage of the heated air is compressed, a contact region of the back housing  120  and the heated air is decreased. In this way, the heated air in the air supply cavity  102  enters the cooking cavity  101  quickly, so as to further reduce heat loss, in the same time make the entire structure of the cooking device  10  more compact. 
     The above are only some embodiments of the present disclosure, and do not limit the scope of the present disclosure. Any equivalent structure or equivalent process transformation made using the content of the specification and drawings of the present disclosure, or directly or indirectly applied to other related technical fields, is also included in the scope of protection of the present disclosure.