Patent Application
20180283699
The present disclosure relates generally to oven range appliances, such as oven range appliances with ventilation systems.
Oven range appliances generally include a cabinet that defines a cooking chamber for cooking food items therein and further include a cooktop positioned at a top of the cabinet for cooking food items thereon. While food items are cooking on the cooktop, fumes are generated directly above the cooktop and, absent proper ventilation, the fumes drift to other areas of a room (e.g., kitchen) in which the oven range appliance is located. This is undesirable, especially if the fumes have a foul odor. As such, kitchens having an oven range appliance also typically include a ventilation system for removing the fumes.
In some kitchens, the ventilation system includes a vent hood positioned above the cooktop, and a fan operable to draw the fumes into the vent hood where the fumes are then exhausted, preferably outside. However, the vent hood may be undesirable in some kitchens. For example, residential homes having an open floor plan include a great room that combines the kitchen with the dining room and living room. In such homes, the great room may include a kitchen island, and the oven range appliance may be positioned within the kitchen island. Here, the vent hood is undesirable, because the vent hood obstructs the view of the open floor plan.
In other kitchens, a ventilation system includes a telescoping downdraft ventilator. The telescoping downdraft ventilator generally includes a vent housing positioned behind the cooktop, and the vent housing is vertically movable between a deployed position and a stowed position. In the deployed position, the vent housing is positioned above the cooktop to remove the fumes. In the stowed position, the vent housing is stored below the cooktop. As such, the telescoping downdraft ventilator is desirable in residential homes having an open floor plan. This is especially true if the oven range appliance is positioned within the kitchen island. However, since the telescoping downdraft ventilator requires space within the kitchen island to accommodate the vent housing and other components, the amount of cabinet space available within the kitchen island is reduced, which is generally undesirable.
In still other kitchens, a ventilation system may be integral with the oven range appliance. As an example, the cooktop of the oven range appliance may define a vent, and a fan positioned within the cabinet may draw the fumes into the cabinet through the vent where the fumes are then exhausted, preferably outside. The integral ventilation system is desirable in residential homes having an open floor plan, because the ventilation system is disposed within the oven range appliance and will not obstruct the view of the open floor plan. Further, the integral ventilation system is especially desirable when the oven range appliance is positioned within the kitchen island, because the integral ventilation system does not take away from the available cabinet space within the kitchen island.
However, the integral ventilation system has its disadvantages. For example, since the fumes rise from the cooktop, the fumes are naturally moving away from the vent defined by the cooktop. As such, the fan must be driven by a motor powerful enough to redirect the fumes back towards the vent. However, since the fan is positioned within the cabinet, the motor cannot be sized to meet this requirement without adversely affecting aspects of the oven range appliance, such as the amount of available space within the cooking chamber. As such, the integral ventilation system may be undesirable, because the integral ventilation system takes away from the amount of available space within the cooking chamber.
Accordingly, an oven range appliance having an improved ventilation system would be welcomed within the technology.
The present disclosure provides an oven range appliance having a ventilation system. The ventilation system includes a vent or vent housing and a fan. The vent housing is vertically movable between a deployed position and a stowed position. The fan may be positioned within a cabinet of the oven range appliance. When the vent housing is in the deployed position, the fan may operate to remove fumes from the room or area in which the oven range appliance is located. Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the following description, or may be obvious from the description, or may be learned through practice of the invention.
In one aspect of the present disclosure, an oven range appliance is provided. The oven range appliance may define a vertical direction, a lateral direction, and a transverse direction. The vertical, lateral, and transverse directions may be mutually perpendicular. The oven range appliance may include a cabinet defining a cooking chamber configured for receipt of items to be cooked. The oven range appliance may also include a cooktop positioned at a top portion of the cabinet. The cooktop may comprise one or more heating elements. In addition, the oven range appliance may include a ventilation system comprising a vent housing and a fan. The vent housing may define an intake opening, and the fan may be positioned within the cabinet. In addition, the vent housing may be movable along the vertical direction between a deployed position and a stowed position. When the vent housing is in the deployed position, the intake opening may be positioned outside the cabinet. In contrast, the intake opening may be positioned within the cabinet when the vent housing is in the stowed position. The fan may be operable to draw air through the intake opening when the vent housing is in the deployed position.
In another aspect of the present disclosure, an oven range appliance is provided. The oven range appliance may define a vertical direction, a lateral direction, and a transverse direction. The vertical, lateral, and transverse directions may be mutually perpendicular. The oven range appliance may include a cabinet defining a cooking chamber configured for receipt of items to be cooked. The oven range appliance may also include a cooktop positioned at a top of the cabinet. The cooktop may comprise one or more heating elements. In addition, the oven range appliance may include a ventilation system comprising a vent housing and a fan. The vent housing may define an intake opening, and the fan may be positioned within an air passage positioned, at least in part, between the cooking chamber and a rear portion of the cabinet along the transverse direction. When the vent housing is in the deployed position, the intake opening may be positioned outside the cabinet. In contrast, the intake opening may be positioned within the cabinet when the vent housing is in the stowed position. The fan may be operable to draw air through the intake opening and into the air passage when the vent housing is in the deployed position.
These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description and appended claims. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
A full and enabling disclosure of the present invention, including the best mode thereof, directed to one of ordinary skill in the art, is set forth in the specification, which makes reference to the appended figures, in which:
Reference now will be made in detail to embodiments of the invention, one or more examples of which are illustrated in the drawings. Each example is provided by way of explanation of the invention, not limitation of the invention. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. For instance, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment may be used with another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present invention covers such modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
Turning now to the figures,
As may be seen in
The oven range appliance 10 includes a door 30 rotatably mounted to cabinet 12 at the front 22 of the cabinet 12, e.g., with a hinge (not shown). A handle 32 is mounted to the door 30 and assists a user with opening and closing the door 30 in order to access the cooking chamber 28. In some embodiments, the oven range appliance 10 may include a seal (not shown) between the door 30 and the cabinet 12 that assists with maintaining heat and cooking fumes within the cooking chamber 28 when the door 30 is closed as shown in
A broil or upper heating element 40 is positioned within the cabinet 12, e.g., at or adjacent the top portion 14 of the cabinet 12. The upper heating element 40 is used to heat the cooking chamber 28 for both cooking/broiling and cleaning of the oven range appliance 10. The size and heat output of the upper heating element 40 may be selected based on the size of the oven range appliance 10.
A bake or lower heating element 42 is also positioned in the cooking chamber 28 of the cabinet, e.g., at or adjacent the bottom portion 16 of the cabinet 12. The lower heating element 42 is used to heat the cooking chamber 28 for both cooking/baking and cleaning of the oven range appliance 10. Like the upper heating element 40, the size and heat output of the lower heating element 42 may be selected based on, for example, the size of the oven range appliance 10.
It should be appreciated that the upper and lower heating elements 40, 42 may be any suitable heating element or combination of heating elements. For example, the upper and lower heating elements 40, 42 may both be an electric resistance heating element. In an alternative embodiment, the upper and lower heating elements 40, 42 may both be a gas burner.
The oven range appliance 10 includes a drawer 46 positioned between the cooking chamber 28 and the bottom portion 16 of the cabinet 12 along the vertical direction V. The drawer 46 may move between a closed position (
The oven range appliance 10 also includes a cooktop 50 positioned at the top portion 14 of the cabinet 12. Thus, the cooktop 50 is positioned above the cooking chamber 28, e.g., along the vertical direction V. The cooktop 50 includes heating elements 52 and a top panel 54. The heating elements 52 may be positioned below the top panel 54, e.g., along the vertical direction V, and are operable to heat items, such as pots, pans, griddles, etc. More specifically, items such as pots and pans may rest on the top panel 54 and be heated by the heating elements 52. It should be appreciated that the top panel 54 may be formed from glass, glass ceramic, metal, or any other suitable material. The heating elements 52 may be any suitable heating elements or combination of heating elements, such as gas burners, electric coils, induction heating elements, etc.
Operation of the oven range appliance 10 is regulated by a controller 60 that is operatively coupled to various components of the oven range appliance 10, including a control panel 70. The control panel 70 includes a plurality of user inputs 72 and a display 74. The control panel 70 may be in communication with the controller 60 via one or more signal lines or shared communication buses. The control panel 70 provides selections that allow a user to manipulate operation of the oven range appliance 10. As an example, a user may actuate one or more user inputs 72 and signal the controller 70. In response, the controller 70 operates various components of the oven range appliance 10, such as the upper and lower heating elements 40, 42. The user inputs 72 of the control panel 70 may be any suitable user input. For example, the user inputs may include various components, such as one or more of a variety of touch-type controls, electrical, mechanical or electro-mechanical input devices, including rotary dials, push buttons, and touch pads.
The controller 60 includes memory and one or more processing devices, such as microprocessors, CPUs or the like, such as general or special purpose microprocessors operable to execute programming instructions or micro-control code associated with operation of the oven range appliance 10. The memory may represent random access memory, such as dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), read only memory (ROM), or electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM). The processor executes programming instructions stored in the memory, which may be separate from the processor or included onboard within the processor. Alternatively, the controller 60 may be constructed without using a microprocessor, e.g., using a combination of discrete analog and/or digital logic circuitry (such as switches, amplifiers, integrators, comparators, flip-flops, AND gates and the like) to perform control functionality instead of relying upon software. The controller 60 may be positioned in a variety of locations throughout the oven range appliance 10. Input/output (“I/O”) signals may be routed between the controller 60 and various operational components of the oven range appliance 10, e.g., via one or more signal lines or shared communication busses.
The oven range appliance also includes various features for providing a user with information regarding operation of the oven range appliance 10. For example, the display 74 may present information to a user of the oven range appliance 10. In particular, the display 74 may show the current time or the operating temperature of the cooking chamber 28. The display 74 may be a liquid crystal display (LCD), a dot matrix display, a series of seven-segment displays, or any other suitable display.
However, for the embodiment depicted in
It should be appreciated that the ventilation system 200 may include an electric motor (not shown) that, when actuated, moves the vent housing 210 along the vertical direction V to or towards either the deployed position or the stowed position. The electric motor may be coupled to a gear rack system or other suitable coupling to move the vent housing 210 along the vertical direction V between the deployed position and the stowed position. In one example embodiment, a user controls operation of the vent housing 210 via manipulation of one or more user inputs 72 (
Referring now to
As shown, the fan 220 is positioned within the cabinet 12 and draws the fumes 400 through the one or more intake opening 214 and into the cabinet 12 when the vent housing 210 is in the deployed position. In one example embodiment, the fan 220 operates continuously while the vent housing 210 is in the deployed position. In alternative embodiments, however, the controller 60 operates the fan 220 for a predetermined amount of time when the vent housing 210 is in the deployed position. As an example, the controller 60 may be configured to operate the fan 220 for a first interval of time. Then, upon expiration of the first interval of time, the controller 60 may deactivate the fan 220 for a second interval of time that is different than the first interval of time. Alternatively, the first and second intervals of time may be equal to one another.
Referring now to
In one example embodiment, the inlet 240 may be defined by the cooktop 50 and may be positioned adjacent the rear 24 of the cabinet 12. In addition, the outlet 250 may be defined at the front 22 of the cabinet 12, and may be positioned adjacent the bottom portion 16 of the cabinet 12. More specifically, the cooking chamber 28 may be positioned between the cooktop 50 and the outlet 250 along the vertical direction V. As such, the inlet 240 and outlet 250 may be spaced apart from one another along both the vertical direction V and the transverse direction T.
As shown, the air passage 230 may include a first portion 232 and second portion 234 that is substantially perpendicular to the first portion 232. The first portion 232 may extend from the inlet 240 towards the bottom portion 16 of the cabinet 12 along the vertical direction V. In addition, the first portion 232 may be positioned between the cooking chamber 28 and the rear 24 of the cabinet 12 along the transverse direction T. The second portion 234 may extend from the outlet 250 towards the rear 24 of the cabinet 12 along the transverse direction T. In addition, the second portion 234 may be positioned between the drawer 46 and the bottom portion 16 of the cabinet 12 along the vertical direction V. More specifically, the drawer 46 may be positioned between the cooking chamber 28 and the second portion 234 along the vertical direction V. It should be appreciated that the first and second portions 232, 234 merge and are contiguous with one another at a junction adjacent both the bottom portion 16 of the cabinet 12 and the rear 24 of the cabinet 12.
In one example embodiment, the one or more intake openings 214 may enter and exit the cabinet 12 through the inlet 240 when the vent housing 210 moves between the stowed and deployed positions. As such, the one or more intake openings 214 may be positioned within the air passage 230 when the vent housing 210 is in the stowed position. More specifically, the one or more intake openings 214 may be positioned within the first portion 232 of the air passage 230. As discussed below and depicted in
As shown, the fan 220 may be positioned at the junction where first and second portions 232, 234 of the air passage merge with one another. In particular, the fan 220 may be positioned adjacent to both the bottom portion 16 and rear 24 of the cabinet 12. The fan 220 may operate and draw the fumes 400 towards the one or more intake openings 214 along the transverse direction T. As the fumes 400 enter the cavity 212 through the one or more intake openings 214, the fan 220 may draw the fumes 400 downwards towards the inlet 240 along the vertical direction V. Thus, the fan 220 may draw the fumes 400 into the first portion 232 of the air passage 230 through the inlet 240. The fan 220 may then continue to draw the fumes 400 thorough the first portion 232 towards the bottom portion 16 of the cabinet 12 until the fumes 400 reach the fan 220. Then, the fan may expel the fumes 400 into the second portion 234 of the air passage 230. More specifically, the fan 220 may expel the fumes 400 along the transverse direction T towards the outlet 250. As will be discussed below, the fumes 400 may exit the air passage 230 through the outlet 250.
In some example embodiments, the ventilation system 200 may include an air filter 260 positioned on the outlet 250 of the air passage 230. In particular, the air filter 260 may be any suitable filter configured to remove pollutants from the fumes 400, such as grease filter. As such, fumes 400 exiting the air passage 230 through the outlet 250 may be filtered before reentering the room or area in which the oven range appliance 10 is located. Accordingly, the ventilation system 200 may filter the fumes 400, and direct filtered air 410 back into the room.
The oven range appliance 100 having the ventilation system 200 provides numerous advantages. For example, the oven range appliance 100 is desirable in residential homes having open floor plans, because the vent housing 210 is vertically movable between the deployed and stowed positions. More specifically, the vent housing 210 may be moved to the stowed position when not in use to avoid obstructing the view of the open floor plan. In addition, the oven range appliance 100 is especially desirable in residential homes having a kitchen island, because the ventilation system 200 does not require any additional cabinet space beyond that required to accommodate the oven range appliance 100. Thus, the oven range appliance 100 of the present disclosure does not take away from the available cabinet space within the kitchen island. Further, since the fumes 400 are filtered before exiting the cabinet 12 of the oven range appliance 10, the ventilation system 200 of the present disclosure eliminates the need for external ductwork previously required to exhaust the fumes 400, preferably outside. As an example, a width of oven range appliance 10 may be no greater no less than twenty nine inches and no greater than thirty one inches along the lateral direction, and a depth of oven range appliance 10 may be no greater no less than twenty seven inches and no greater than thirty one inches along the transverse direction. Thus, ventilation system 200 may be incorporated into a “slide-in” style range appliance.
This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the invention, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they include structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal languages of the claims.
