This application relates generally to an oven appliance having a muffle that defines a cooking chamber and, more specifically, to a lower rack-support embossment formed on a bottom cap of the muffle, and below a weld seam between the bottom cap and a cavity wrapper of the muffle. Various features formed as bends in the lower rack-support (e.g. a lower rack-support embossment) are formed having common tangents along a stress-buffer zone of the bottom cap in order to enhance manufacturability.
Conventional oven appliances include a muffle disposed within an outer body of the appliance and secured to structural elements thereof. The muffle typically includes top and bottom caps and a C-shaped cavity wrapper, all of which collectively define a cooking chamber therein. Rack-support embossments are typically formed on opposing side walls of the C-shaped cavity wrapper in order to support cooking racks within the cooking chamber at desired heights. Due to manufacturing constraints, the lowest of those embossments are conventionally spaced a minimum distance above the bottom edge of the C-shaped cavity wrapper, where it is joined to the bottom cap at a weld seam. As a result, a cooking rack resting on the lower-most embossments results in that rack being at a relatively high position within the cooking chamber, leaving a substantial amount of unused volume beneath it.
In accordance with one aspect, there is provided an oven muffle including a cavity wrapper jointed to a bottom cap at a seam and together therewith at least partially defining a cooking chamber having a front opening. A lower rack-support embossment is formed in the bottom cap below the seam and is configured to removably support a cooking rack thereon within the cooking chamber. The lower rack-support embossment includes a front-support portion and a shelf portion spaced depthwise from one another.
In accordance with another aspect, there is provided an oven muffle including a cavity wrapper having a rear wall and opposing side walls. A bottom cap includes a bottom wall and a peripheral skirt extending away from the bottom wall. The cavity wrapper and the bottom cap at least partially define a cooking chamber having a front opening. When viewed in cross-section a lateral portion or segment of the peripheral skirt has first and second curved sections and a linear section disposed vertically between the first and second curved sections. The bottom cap includes a lower rack-support embossment stamped at least partially in the lateral portion or segment of the peripheral skirt at least partially overlapping said linear section when viewed in cross-section.
In accordance with yet another aspect, there is provided a cooking appliance including an outer cabinet and a muffle disposed within the outer cabinet. The muffle includes a cavity wrapper disposed between and connected to each of a bottom cap and a top cap, wherein the top cap, the bottom cap, and the cavity wrapper collectively define a cooking chamber having a front opening. The top cap includes a top wall, the bottom cap includes a bottom wall, and the cavity wrapper includes a pair of opposing side walls and a rear wall. A door is movably coupled to the outer cabinet to selectively close the front opening of the cooking chamber, and a heating element is disposed within the cooking chamber.
The bottom cap has a pair of opposing lateral skirt portions or segments extending away from respective opposing lateral ends of the bottom wall, wherein each said skirt portion or segment extends toward a respective one of the opposing side walls of the cavity wrapper and is joined thereto via a weld seam.
Each of the opposing lateral skirt portions or segments has, when viewed in cross-section, first and second curved sections and a linear section disposed between the first and second curved sections. Each of the opposing lateral skirt portions or segments has a lower rack-support embossment formed integral therewith at a location vertically beneath the weld seam. Each of the lower rack-support embossments has at least two embossed features extending into a volume of the cooking chamber. Each of the at least two embossed features has a respective contour that is or converges to tangent to the linear section of the respective lateral skirt portion or segment.
Referring now to the drawings,
The cooking appliance 100 further includes a door 110 pivotably coupled to the front of the appliance and configured to provide selective access to the oven 106. For example, a handle 112 is disposed on an outer surface of the door 110 and enables a user to open the door 110 to permit access to the oven 106. As schematically shown in
While the features disclosed below are described with respect to the aforementioned cooking appliance 100, they are not limited thereto, and other cooking appliances and/or combinations of cooking appliances are contemplated.
With respect to
The convection fan 120 (when equipped) can be a centrifugal fan that draws air along its axis and redirects the air to exit in a radial direction. Specifically, the convection fan 120 draws air from within a central area of the cooking chamber 136 and redirects said air radially in a direction towards the top wall 128, the bottom wall 130, and the opposing side walls 134. However, it is contemplated that other types of fans which generate different flow patterns can be used. Further, the convection heating element 122 is shown as being a single (continuous) electrically resistive wire having a plurality of bends. However, it is contemplated that a plurality of electrically resistive wires can collectively make up the convection heating element 122, or other heat sources known in the art (e.g., gas) can be used. Alternatively, a convection heating element can be omitted.
The convection shroud 124 in the illustrated embodiment has a substantially rectangular body. However, it is contemplated that the convection shroud 124 (when equipped) can have any geometric shape (e.g., square, circular, oval, etc.). The convection shroud 124 includes one or a plurality of intake openings 125 (i.e., through-holes) that permit air flow to pass therethrough. The convection fan 120, the convection heating element 122, and the convection shroud 124 collectively function to draw air from within the central area of the cooking chamber 136, heat said air, and expel said heated air back towards the central area of the cooking chamber 136. The mounting bracket 126 is used to secure the muffle 118 to the structural elements of the cooking appliance 100 (e.g. to the outer body 102).
The top cap 138 includes the top wall 128 that partially defines the cooking chamber 136 (described above), as well as a peripheral skirt 144 extending downward, away from the top wall 128. The peripheral skirt 144 extends substantially perpendicular, downward towards the cavity wrapper 142.
As illustrated, the peripheral skirt 144 typically extends about a periphery of the top wall 128 except along a front portion thereof, corresponding to a front opening of the cooking chamber 136. A top cap edge 146 is provided at a terminal end of the peripheral skirt 144 and substantially conforms to the geometry of a first (upper) terminal edge 148 of the cavity wrapper 142, in order to be efficiently joined thereto (e.g. via welding) as will be described further below. The aforementioned features of the top cap 138 preferably are formed integral with one another during a single manufacturing process, such as stamping. Alternatively, the top cap 138 may be formed via a plurality of successive manufacturing processes/steps (e.g., successive die-stamping and bending steps).
The cavity wrapper 142 includes the rear wall 132 and the opposing side walls 134 that partially define the cooking chamber 136 (described above). Specifically, the cavity wrapper 142 preferably is formed from a single, flat sheet of material (e.g., metal) that is stamped to introduce the desired embossed features and plastically deformed (e.g., via bending) into a “C” shape (when viewed from above) to yield the rear wall 132 and the opposing side walls 134 as a continuous, single sheet of metal. Moreover, the respective corners where each of the opposing side walls 134 meets the rear wall 132 can be curved (as shown) or may form a pointed edge. However, curved corners are preferred because they will be less susceptible to stress fracturing (e.g., from thermal cycling).
The cavity wrapper 142 extends vertically between first (e.g., upper) and second (e.g., lower) terminal edges 148, 150. The first terminal edge 148 preferably is an upper most edge that extends continuously along the rear wall 132 and the opposing side walls 134, whereas the second terminal edge 150 preferably is a lower most edge that extends continuously along the rear wall 132 and the opposing side walls 134. While the depicted embodiment illustrates continuous first and second terminal edges 148, 150, it is contemplated that the first and/or second terminal edges 148, 150 can have discontinuities (e.g., depressions or cut-outs therein at selected locations depending on the mechanical and structural requirements of a particular appliance).
As further shown in
As best shown in
Returning to
With respect to
Similar to the peripheral skirt 144 of the top cap 138, the peripheral skirt 160 of the bottom cap 140 preferably extends about a periphery of the bottom wall 130 except along a front portion thereof, corresponding to the front opening of the cooking chamber 136. Optionally, the peripheral skirt 160 may be provided as discrete skirt segments extending from the bottom wall 130 only at opposing lateral ends thereof, corresponding to the locations of the opposing side walls 134, respectively. The peripheral skirt 160 (or opposing lateral skirt segments) of the bottom cap 140 terminate(s) in a bottom cap edge 162, which substantially conforms to the geometry of the second (lower) terminal edge 150 of the cavity wrapper 142 in order to be efficiently joined thereto (e.g. via welding).
As shown in
As with the other rack-support embossments 152 stamped in the cavity wrapper 142, each lower rack-support embossment 164 extends along the depth direction (i.e., a direction from the rear wall 132 towards the front opening) of the cooking chamber 136. Further, each lower rack-support embossment 164 protrudes into the cooking chamber 136 in order to support the cooking rack 165 thereon.
Referring now to
The rack stop 170 of each lower rack-support embossment 164 is configured to engage with a structure of the cooking rack 165 to hinder said cooking rack 165 from being inadvertently pulled out past a predetermined degree of withdrawal from the cooking chamber 136 without some further user intervention; such as tilting the cooking rack 165 to eliminate interference with the rack stop 170 for removal thereof. The rack stop 170 can be vertically arranged above the shelf and front-support portions 166, 168 of the associated lower rack-support embossment 164. That is, the rack stop 170 of each lower rack-support embossment 164 can be positioned closer to the bottom cap edge 162 of the bottom cap 140 than the other portions of the lower rack-support embossment 164.
As briefly mentioned above, the lower rack-support embossments 164 preferably are formed integral with the bottom cap 140 of the muffle 118, and more specifically, in or at least partially in the peripheral skirt 160 thereof. As best shown in
By comparison, the stamped-in embossments 152 on the opposing side walls 134 of the cavity wrapper 142 are formed in flat sheets and spaced a minimum distance both from one another and from edges of the sheet. Such spacing allows each of the embossments 152 to be introduced and to draw the necessary additional metal material from surrounding regions of the sheet in order to conform to the desired embossed shape, without introducing unacceptable edge deformations or internal sheet-metal stresses (which may cause deformations such as warping, wrinkling or even fracture).
However, as seen in
The following discussion with respect to
As shown in
As will be further described, the stress buffer zone 176 provides a region to accumulate and which is believed to better align drawn stresses within the sheet metal of the bottom cap 140 when stamping adjacent, close-proximity embossed features, which all are stamped in the vicinity of, and at least partially overlapping with, the stress buffer zone 176. In this manner, a stress buffer zone 176 as shown and described here has been shown to mitigate unacceptable stresses that otherwise might occur when stamping a plurality of close-proximity embossed features, close to not only one another but also to an adjacent sheet-metal edge, which it is desired to maintain as straight and undeformed as a result of the stamping.
As noted above, the stress buffer zone 176 is substantially planar and extends depthwise along the peripheral skirt 160, separating the first and second curved sections 172, 174, which become tangent thereto at opposing upper and lower ends of the stress buffer zone 176. More specifically, as shown in
Now with reference to
By conforming the contours of close-proximity embossed features to conform to or approach tangency along a common plane (i.e., the stress buffer zone 176) as described, it is believed that as material (e.g., metal) of the peripheral skirt 160 is drawn and stretched during manufacturing to conform to the stamped-in shape of each embossed feature, the material is all drawn along the common vector T, tangent to the stress buffer zone 176. By accumulating the associated drawn-in stresses along such a common vector, the internal flow paths for drawn material within the sheet metal may be similarly accumulated and conformed along that vector, so that they and their associated stresses do not oppose one another on stamping adjacent, near-proximity embossed features. As a result, one reduces introduction of competing internal stresses as the distinct embossed features draw from the same pool of available material (i.e., in competing directions) to accommodate their respective stamped in shapes. This methodology yields common (or parallel) flow paths for the material of the bottom cap 140 in order to accommodate competing stamped-in embossments notwithstanding that those embossments are in near proximity and may otherwise draw material along oblique directions in the absence of parallel tangent vectors all common to the same plane in the stress buffer zone 176.
The accumulation and alignment of internal stresses with respect to the stress buffer zone 176 (during manufacturing) are believed to minimize introduction of misaligned and competing internal stresses that may result in fracturing and/or deformation in the sheet metal. The above-noted methodology also is believed to reduce stresses imparted to the bottom cap edge 162, thereby minimizing its tendency to deform due to the competing stresses that otherwise would be introduced during manufacturing if not accumulated and aligned (as detailed above) to flow along a common (or parallel) vector(s) with respect to the stress buffer zone 176.
Of note, while the stress buffer zone 176 is shown and described above as being planar, it is contemplated that the stress buffer zone 176 can alternatively be curved in cross-section. However, utilizing a curved stress buffer zone 176 would complicate manufacturing because the respective conformations of each of the shelf and front-support portions 166, 168 and the rack stop 170 of the lower rack-support embossment 164 (and any other near-proximity embossed features) would conform to respective vectors that may not be the same on approaching or converging with the stress buffer zone 176, depending on precisely where those embossed features enters convergence with such a curved stress buffer zone 176. By comparison, in most cases it will be simpler and easier to conform all near-proximity embossed features to tangent convergence along a common tangent plane, in terms of both product design and tool-and-die operation during stamping.
Briefly returning to
As shown best in
The invention has been described with reference to example embodiments described above. Modifications and alterations will occur to others upon a reading and understanding of this specification. Examples embodiments incorporating one or more aspects of the invention are intended to include all such modifications and alterations insofar as they come within the scope of the appended claims.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20220178551 A1 | Jun 2022 | US |