Patent Publication Number: US-6992273-B2

Title: Combination hood microwave oven

Description:
This Nonprovisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 (a) on Patent Application No(s). 10-2003-0077371 filed in Korea on Nov. 3, 2003, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to a microwave oven equipped with a hood function, and more particularly, to a combination hood microwave oven equipped with an air curtain function of preventing polluted air generated from cooking from diffusing into a room. 
   2. Background of the Related Art 
   Generally, a combination hood microwave oven (over the range), which is installed over an oven range, is a combination home appliance equipped with a cooking function using a microwave and a function of discharging polluted air generated from the oven range on cooking outside a room or purifying the polluted air to circulate in the room. 
     FIG. 1  is a side view of a combination hood microwave oven installed over an oven range according to a related art, and  FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional view of a combination hood microwave oven according to a related art. 
   Referring to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , a combination hood microwave oven according to a related art is installed at an upper wall  132  of a room over an oven range  102  to perform a function of discharging polluted air generated from cooking in the oven range  102  as well as a cooking function. The combination hood microwave oven  104  is installed to communicate with a discharge passage  106  to discharge the polluted air outside the room. 
   Such a combination hood microwave oven  104 , as shown in  FIG. 2 , consists of a cabinet  110  having a predetermined cavity inside, an electronic device unit  114  installed at one side in the cabinet  110  and having a magnetron  112  to generate an electromagnetic wave, and a cooking room  118  provided with a rotational tray  116  on which food is placed to be cooked using the electromagnetic wave generated from the magnetron  112 . 
   An air passage  120 , through which air passes, is provided within the cabinet  110 . An inlet opening  122 , via which the polluted air generated from the oven range on cooking is sucked, is formed at a bottom of the cabinet  110 . An outlet opening  124 , via which the air having passed through the air passage  120  is discharged outside, is formed at a top of the cabinet  110 . And, a dual-intake sirocco fan  126  generating a suction force is installed at one side of the outlet opening  124 . 
   The outlet opening  124  is connected to the discharge passage  106  via an air duct  130  so that the polluted air discharged through the outlet opening  124  passes through the air duct  130  to be discharged via the discharge passage  106 . 
   An operation of the related art combination hood microwave oven is explained as follows. 
   In cooking using the microwave oven  104 , a user opens a door (not indicated by a reference designation) to place food on the rotational tray  116  inside the cooking room  118 . Once a cooking button is pressed, the rotational tray  116  rotates together with the food and, simultaneously, the electromagnetic wave is generated from the magnetron  112  to radiate inside the cooking room  118  for performing the function of cooking the food. 
   Meanwhile, when cooking is performed using the oven range  102  installed under the microwave oven  104 , the user presses a hood operation button (not shown in the drawing). The dual-intake sirocco fan  126  is then driven to generate the suction force to suck the polluted air including hot, smelling, or humid air via the inlet opening  122  at the bottom of the cabinet  110 . The sucked air passes through the air passage  120  provided within the cabinet  110  to be discharged outside the cabinet  110  via the outlet opening at the top of the cabinet  110 . The air discharged via the outlet opening  124  is then discharged outside the room via the discharge duct  130  and the discharge passage  106  provided in the wall. 
   However, in the related art combination hood microwave oven, an area of the inlet opening  122 , as shown in  FIG. 3 , is limited to be smaller than a cooking area of the oven range  102 . Hence, a portion of the polluted air including the hot, smelling, or humid air produced from the oven range  102  fails to be sucked into the cabinet via the inlet opening  122  but diffuses into the room to pollute the room air and to cause unpleasantness. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a combination hood microwave oven that substantially obviates one or more problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art. 
   An object of the present invention is to provide a combination hood microwave oven, by which a room environment is maintained more pleasant and fresh by proving a microwave oven with an air curtain generating unit for preventing polluted air, which includes hot, smelling, or humid air produced from an oven range on cooking, from diffusing into a room. 
   Additional advantages, objects, and features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned from practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings. 
   To achieve these objects and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, a combination hood microwave oven according to the present invention includes a cabinet disposed over an oven range, a cooking room having a predetermined cavity within the cabinet for cooking using an electromagnetic wave generated from a magnetron, a hood unit installed within the cabinet to discharge polluted air produced from the oven range on cooking, and an air curtain generating unit installed at a bottom side of the cabinet to prevent the polluted air from diffusing into a room. 
   The air curtain generating unit includes a blowing fan rotatably provided to a front bottom side of the cabinet, a drive motor rotating the blowing fan, and a fan housing formed at the front bottom side of the cabinet to hold the blowing fan therein and having an intake opening for inhaling air and an outflow opening for exhaling air to form an air curtain. 
   The blowing fan is a crossflow fan having a configuration that the air is inhaled and exhaled in a circumferential direction when the fan is rotated by the drive motor. 
   The fan housing is formed at the front bottom side of the cabinet in a length direction, the intake opening faces a front side of the microwave oven, and the outflow opening inclines to a lower direction of the microwave oven to have a predetermined incline angle so that the air forming the air curtain is injected toward an upper front side of the oven range. 
   The air curtain generating unit includes a front air curtain generating unit installed at the front bottom side of the cabinet to form a front air curtain inclining to a front lower side of the cabinet, a left air curtain generating unit installed at a left bottom side of the cabinet to form a left air curtain inclining to a left lower side of the cabinet, and a right air curtain generating unit installed at a right bottom side of the cabinet to form a right air curtain inclining to a right lower side of the cabinet. 
   And, the air curtain generating unit includes a sliding plate provided to the bottom side of the cabinet to slide out in front of the cabinet to a predetermined displacement, a crossflow fan rotatably installed at a front side of the sliding plate to form an air curtain by inhaling/exhaling air, and a drive motor rotating the crossflow fan. 
   It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description of the present invention are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiment(s) of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principle of the invention. In the drawings: 
       FIG. 1  is a side view of a combination hood microwave oven installed over an oven range according to a related art; 
       FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional view of a combination hood microwave oven according to a related art; 
       FIG. 3  is a side view of a combination hood microwave oven in use according to a related art; 
       FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional view of a combination hood microwave oven according to the present invention; 
       FIG. 5  is a perspective view of a combination hood microwave oven according to a first embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIG. 6  is a side view of a combination hood microwave oven in use according to a first embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIG. 7  is a magnified view of a part ‘A’ in  FIG. 6 ; 
       FIG. 8  is a perspective view of a combination hood microwave oven according to a second embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIG. 9  is a perspective view of a combination hood microwave oven according to a third embodiment of the present invention; and 
       FIG. 10  is a side view of a combination hood microwave oven in use according to a third embodiment of the present invention. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. 
     FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional view of a combination hood microwave oven according to the present invention,  FIG. 5  is a perspective view of a combination hood microwave oven according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and  FIG. 6  is a side view of a combination hood microwave oven in use according to a first embodiment of the present invention. 
   Referring to  FIG. 4  to  FIG. 6 , a combination hood microwave oven according to a first embodiment of the present invention includes a cabinet  18  disposed over an oven range  12  to leave a predetermined distance from the oven range  12  to be fixed to an inner wall  14  of a room, an electronic device unit  22  installed at one side in the cabinet  18  and having a magnetron  20  generating an electromagnetic wave, a cooking room  24  having a predetermined cavity within the cabinet  18  for cooking using the electromagnetic wave generated from the magnetron  20 , a hood unit installed within the cabinet  18  to discharge polluted air produced from the oven range  12  on cooking outside the room, and an air curtain generating unit installed at a bottom side of the cabinet  18  to prevent the polluted air from diffusing into the room. 
   A door  26  is installed at a front side of the cabinet  18  to open/close, and various operation buttons  28  are provided at the front side of the cabinet  18 . A rotational tray  30  is installed on a bottom of the cooking room  24 . 
   The hood unit includes an air passage  32  guiding air flowing in the bottom side of the cabinet  18  to a top side of the cabinet  18 , an inlet opening  34  formed at the bottom side of the cabinet  18  to suck the air, an outlet opening  36  formed at the top side of the cabinet  18  to discharge the air having passed through the air passage  32  outside the cabinet  18 , a dual-intake sirocco fan  38  installed at one side of the air passage  32  in the vicinity of the outlet opening  36  to generate a suction force. 
   The outlet opening  36  is connected to an air duct  40 , and the air duct  40  is connected to a discharge passage  16  penetrating into the wall  14  to communicate with an external environment. 
   The air curtain generating unit, as shown in  FIG. 7 , includes a blowing fan  42  rotatably installed at a front end of the bottom side of the cabinet  18  in a length direction of the microwave oven  10 , a drive motor  44  connected to a rotational shaft  46  of the blowing fan  42  to rotate the blowing fan  42 , an intake opening  50  formed at a front side of the bottom side of the cabinet  18  to have the blowing fan  42  loaded therein and to suck air, and a fan housing  56  having an outflow opening  52  blowing out the air forming an air curtain. 
   In this case, the blowing fan  42  is preferably a crossflow fan having a configuration that air is inhaled and exhaled in a circumferential direction when the fan is rotated by the drive motor  44 . In the fan housing  56 , the intake opening  50  is separated from the outflow opening  52  by a diaphragm  54 . The intake opening  50  faces a front side of the microwave oven  10 , and the outflow opening  52  inclines to a lower direction of the microwave oven  10  to have a predetermined incline angle so that the air forming the air curtain C is injected toward an upper front side of the oven range  12 . 
   An operation of the above-constructed combination hood microwave oven is explained as follows. 
   In cooking using the microwave oven  10 , a user opens the door  26  to place food on the rotational tray  30  inside the cooking room  24 . Once the cooking button  28  is pressed, the rotational tray  30  rotates together with the food thereon and, simultaneously, the electromagnetic wave is generated from the magnetron  20  to radiate inside the cooking room  124  for cooking the food. 
   Meanwhile, when cooking is performed using the oven range  12  installed under the microwave oven  10 , the user presses a hood operation button to drive the dual-intake sirocco fan  38 . The suction force is then generated to suck the polluted air including hot, smelling, or humid air via the inlet opening  34  at the bottom side of the cabinet  18 . The sucked air passes through the air passage  32  provided within the cabinet  18  to be discharged outside the cabinet  18  via the outlet opening  36 . The air discharged via the outlet opening  36  is then discharged outside the room via the discharge duct  40  and the discharge passage  16  provided in the wall. 
   In doing so, the air curtain generating unit is actuated so that the polluted air produced from the oven range  12  on cooking is sucked into the cabinet via the inlet opening  34  instead of diffusing into the room. 
   Namely, as the drive motor  44  of the air curtain generating unit is driven, the blowing fan  42  rotates. Hence, the air is sucked from the front side of the cabinet  18  via the intake opening  50  of the fan housing  56  by a negative blowing force of the blowing fan  42 , and is then blown out via the outflow opening  52  to form the air curtain C. 
   In this case, the outflow opening  52  inclines downward at a predetermined incline angle, whereby the air flowing out of the outflow opening  52  is blown out toward the upper front side of the oven range  12  to cut off the diffusion of the polluted air into the room. 
     FIG. 8  is a perspective view of a combination hood microwave oven according to a second embodiment of the present invention. 
   Referring to  FIG. 8 , a combination hood microwave oven according to a second embodiment of the present invention has the same construction of the first embodiment of the present invention but differs in configuration of an air curtain generating unit. 
   Namely, an air curtain generating unit according to a second embodiment of the present invention includes a front air curtain generating unit  62  installed at a lower front side of the cabinet  18  in a length direction of the cabinet  18  to form a front air curtain inclining to a lower side at a predetermined angle and right and left air curtain generating units  64  and  66  installed at right and left lower sides of the cabinet  18  to form right and left air curtains inclining to right and lower sides at predetermined angles, respectively. 
   Each of the front, right, and left air curtain generating units  62 ,  64 , and  66  including a blowing fan  68  and a drive motor  70 , which has the same construction of the air curtain generating unit of the first embodiment of the present invention. 
   Moreover, in case that the front, right, and left air curtain generating units  62 ,  64 , and  66  include the blowing fans  68 , respectively, the three blowing fans  68  can be connected to be driven by one drive motor  70 . 
   The air curtain generating unit according to the second embodiment of the present invention forms the air curtains at the right and left sides of the oven range . 12  as well as the front side of the oven range  12 , whereby the polluted air produced from the oven range  12  on cooking is completely cut off to minimize the diffusion of the polluted air into the room. 
     FIG. 9  is a perspective view of a combination hood microwave oven according to a third embodiment of the present invention and  FIG. 10  is a side view of a combination hood microwave oven in use according to a third embodiment of the present invention. And, a combination hood microwave oven according to a third embodiment of the present invention has the same construction of the first embodiment of the present invention but differs in configuration of an air curtain generating unit. 
   Referring to  FIG. 9  and  FIG. 10 , a combination hood microwave oven according to a third embodiment of the present invention includes a sliding plate  82  provided to the bottom side of the cabinet  18  to slide out in front of the cabinet  18  to a predetermined displacement, a blowing fan  84  rotatably installed at a front side of the sliding plate  82  to form an air curtain C by inhaling/exhaling air, and a drive motor  86  rotating the blowing fan  84 . 
   Guide grooves  88  are formed at the bottom side of the cabinet  18 , and a fan housing  90  is provided to the front side of the sliding plate  82 . The blowing fan is rotatably loaded in the fan housing  90  having an intake opening and an outflow opening. 
   The air curtain generating unit according to the third embodiment of the present invention compensates for an intake area of the microwave oven  80  failing to cover a cooking area of the oven range  12  in case that a size of the microwave oven  80  is relatively small or that a size of the oven range  12  is relatively large. 
   Specifically, if the blowing fan  84  is rotated by driving the drive motor  86  after the sliding plate  82  is drawn out to the predetermined displacement in front of the cabinet  18 , room air is sucked into the fan housing by a negative blowing force of the blowing fan  84  and is then blown out in a lower direction of the cabinet  18  to form the air curtain C. In doing so, the air curtain C is formed in front of the microwave oven  80  as far as the predetermined displacement to cover a larger area enclosing the oven range  12 , whereby the polluted air including hot, smelling, or humid air produced from the oven range  12  is more effectively prevented from diffusing into the room. 
   Besides, in addition to the air curtain generating unit according to the third embodiment of the present invention, such sliding plates  82  can be provided to both lateral sides of the cabinet  18  as well as the front side to form more air curtains to cover larger area. 
   Accordingly, the combination hood microwave oven according to the present invention has the following advantages or effects. 
   First of all, the air curtain generating unit is provided to the lower side of the microwave oven to prevent the polluted air produced from the oven range, whereby product performance is enhanced as well as the room environment can be maintained more pleasant. 
   Secondly, the air curtain generating units are provided to the front and both of the lateral sides of the microwave oven to form the front and side curtains, whereby the polluted air including hot, smelling, and humid air produced from the oven range is more effectively from diffusing into the room to enhance product reliance. 
   Finally, the sliding plate having the crossflow fan at front side is provided to the bottom side of the microwave oven to slide in and out of the microwave oven, whereby the air curtain enables to cover a larger area to enhance the product reliance and the polluted air cut-off effect. 
   The forgoing embodiments are merely exemplary and are not to be construed as limiting the present invention. The present teachings can be readily applied to other types of apparatuses. The description of the present invention is intended to be illustrative, and not to limit the scope of the claims. Many alternatives, modifications, and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art.