Patent Application
20150083106
This application claims the priority benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2013-0112594, filed on Sep. 23, 2013 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field
Embodiments relate to an over-the-range oven that is disposed over a cooking apparatus to function as a hood and a oven for cooking of food.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ovens are appliances that cook food by heating food placed in a cooking chamber provided in the body of the microwave oven.
The ovens include an electric oven that heats food with heat generated by electricity, a gas oven that heats food with heat generated by burning gas, and a microwave oven that heats food with frictional heat generated through translational movement of water particles caused by radiating high frequency waves.
Among such ovens is an over-the-range microwave oven, which is disposed over a cooking apparatus such as a gas range to suction various gases produced during operation of the cooking apparatus and discharge the same to the outdoors.
In an aspect of one or more embodiments, there is provided an over-the-range oven which may efficiently suction gases produced by a cooking apparatus arranged under the over-the-range oven and discharge the same outdoors.
In an aspect of one or more embodiments, there is provided an over-the-range oven which includes a body including a suction port and an exhaust port, an air blower unit causing air to be suctioned through the suction port and discharged through the exhaust port, and an air curtain unit to generate an air curtain by discharging air, wherein the air curtain unit moves between a first position and a second position, the air curtain unit being disposed close to the body at the first position and generating the air curtain when protruding from the body to the second position.
When the air curtain unit is at the second position, the air curtain unit may generate the air curtain to guide a gas produced by a cooking apparatus positioned below the body during cooking to the suction port.
The air curtain unit may include at least one guide extending in a front-to-back direction and installed at the body to be movable back and forth, and a discharge portion connected to a front end of the at least one guide and extending laterally, wherein the discharge portion may include at least one discharge port allowing air to be discharged therethrough.
The at least one guide may include a pair of guides extending in a front-to-back direction and movably installed at both sides of a lower portion of the body, and both ends of the discharge portion may be connected to front ends of the guides.
The guides and the discharge portion may be hollow to allow air to pass therethrough, wherein a portion of the air discharged from the air blower unit may pass through the guides and the discharge portion and be discharged through the discharge port.
The discharge portion may be formed in a shape of a square duct, wherein the discharge port may be formed in a rear surface of the discharge portion to extend laterally.
The at least one guide may comprise one guide which may be formed in a plate shape, wherein the discharge portion may extend downward from the front end of the one guide, wherein the discharge port may be formed in a rear surface of the discharge portion to extend laterally.
The guide and the discharge portion may be hollow to allow air to pass therethrough, wherein a portion of the air discharged from the air blower unit may pass through the guide and the discharge portion and be discharged through the discharge port.
The over-the-range oven may further including an air blowing fan to suction and blow air, wherein the discharge portion may be hollow to allow the air blowing fan to be installed in the discharge portion.
The discharge portion may further include a suction port allowing air to be suctioned therethrough.
The discharge portion may be formed in a shape of a square duct, wherein the suction port may be formed in a lower surface of the discharge portion, and the discharge port may be formed in a rear surface of the discharge portion.
The air blowing fan may include a crossflow fan disposed in the discharge portion to extend laterally.
The suction port may be disposed at a lower portion of the body, wherein the air blower unit may be disposed at the lower portion of the body and adjacent to the suction port.
The exhaust port may be arranged at a rear side of an upper surface of the body, wherein the air blower unit may be disposed inside the exhaust port.
In an aspect of one or more embodiments, there is provided an over-the-range oven which includes a body including a suction port to suction air and an exhaust port to discharge air, an air blower unit disposed in the body to cause the air to be suctioned through the suction port and discharged through the exhaust port, and an air curtain unit to generate an air curtain by protruding forward from the body and horizontally discharging the air.
The air curtain unit may be installed to be movable toward the body and away from the body.
The air curtain unit may include a pair of guides extending in a front-to-back direction and installed at both sides of a lower portion of the body, and a discharge portion extending laterally and provided with a discharged port for discharge of air formed in a rear surface of the discharged portion, both side ends of the discharge portion being connected to front ends of the guides. The guides and the discharge portion may be hollow to guide air therethrough.
The air curtain may include a guide formed in a plate shape and installed at a lower portion of the body, and a discharge portion extending downward form the guide and provided with a discharge port for discharge of air formed in a rear surface of the discharge portion. The guide and the discharge portion may be hollow to guide air therethrough.
The over-the range oven may include an air blowing fan to suction and blow air. The air curtain may include a pair of guides extending in a front-to-back direction and movably installed at both sides of the body, and a discharge portion extending laterally, both side ends of the discharge portion being connected to front ends of the guides. The discharge portion may be hollow to allow installation of the air blowing fan therein and provided with a suction port formed in a lower surface of the discharge portion to suction air and a discharge port formed in a rear surface thereof to discharge the air.
In an aspect of one or more embodiments, there is provided an over-the-range oven including a body provided with a suction port and an exhaust port; an air blower unit causing air to be suctioned through the suction port and discharged through the exhaust port; and an air curtain unit to generate an air curtain by discharging air, wherein: the air curtain unit moves between a first position and a second position, the air curtain unit being disposed close to the body at the first position and generating the air curtain when protruding from the body to the second position, the air curtain unit comprises at least one guide extending in a front-to-back direction and installed at the body to be movable back and forth, and a discharge portion connected to a front end of the at least one guide and extending laterally, and the discharge portion comprises a plurality of discharge ports allowing air to be discharged therethrough.
These and/or other aspects will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:
Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.
As shown in
As shown in
The body 10 is provided therein with a cooking chamber 10a to accommodate food to be cooked, and a door 11 to open and close the cooking chamber 10a is installed at the front of the body 10. In an embodiment, the over-the-range oven 1 is provided as a microwave oven including a magnetron 12 disposed at one side of the cooking chamber 10a and adapted to cook food through electromagnetic waves generated by the magnetron 12.
The body 10 includes a suction port 10b provided at the center of the lower surface of the body 10 and an exhaust port 10c provided at the rear side of the upper surface of the body 10. An air blower unit 13 is disposed in the body 10 to cause air to be suctioned through the suction port 10b and discharged through the exhaust port 10c. The exhaust port 10c is connected to an exhaust duct (not shown) provided to a wall of a building for emission of air.
Thereby, gases produced by the cooking apparatus 2 and air are suctioned together into the body 10 through the suction port 10b provide in the lower surface of the body 10 and discharged through the exhaust port 10c provided in the upper surface of the body 10 via a flow passage provided in the body 10. Accordingly, the over-the-range oven 1 functions both as an oven and a hood.
The over-the-range oven 1 includes an air curtain unit 14 to discharge air in a straight line to generate an air curtain and guide various gases produced by the cooking apparatus 2 below the oven 1 to the suction port 10b. The air curtain unit 14 is installed at the lower portion of the body 10 such that it is movable back and forth. Thereby, it may move between a fist position, at which the air curtain unit 14 is disposed close to the body 10, and a second position, at which the air curtain unit 14 protrudes from the body 10. The air curtain unit 14 may touch the body 10 at a first position or may almost touch the body 10 at a first position.
Accordingly, in the case that cooking is not conducted on the cooking apparatus 2 arranged below the oven, the air curtain unit 14 is maintained at the first position as shown in
In an embodiment shown in
The guide 141 and discharge portion 142 are hollow so as to guide air discharged from the air blower unit 13 to the discharge port 142a. In an embodiment, a pair of guides 141 formed in the shape of a circular duct is provided, and the discharge portion 142 is formed in the shape of a square duct. Both side ends of the discharge portion 142 are connected to the front ends of the two guides 141.
The guides 141 allow the air curtain unit 14 to be movably installed at the body 10 and functions to guide the air blown by the air blower unit 13 to both sides of the discharge portion 142 in the body 10. The discharge port 142a is formed in the rear surface of the discharge portion 142 and extends laterally.
Accordingly, when the air blower unit 13 in the body 10 operates, air below the body 10 is suctioned into the body 10 through the suction port 10b. The air suctioned into the body 10 is blown by the air blower unit 13. Thereby, most of the suctioned air is discharged into the exhaust duct in the building through the exhaust port 10c, and the remaining portion of the suctioned air passes through the guides 141 and discharge portion 142 and creates an air curtain by being discharged through the discharge port 142a provided in the discharge portion 142.
When the air curtain is created with the air curtain unit 14 protruding forward of the body 10 as described above, a major portion of the gas moving upward from the space below the air curtain unit 14 is moved backward by the air curtain created by the air curtain unit 14. Since the body 10 is positioned at the back of the air curtain unit 14, and the suction port 10b is formed in the lower surface of the body 10, the gas moved backward is suctioned into the body 10 through the suction port 10b and is then discharged from the body 10 through the exhaust port 10c.
Accordingly, the amount of gas suctioned through the suction port 10b of the body 10 by the air curtain unit 14 protruding forward from the body 10 may be increased. In addition, since the gas ascending toward the front of the body 10 may be guided to the suction port 10b positioned at the rear side of the body 10, the hood function of the over-the-range oven 1 may be enhanced by the air curtain unit 14.
In an embodiment, the air curtain unit 14 includes a pair of guides 141 and a discharge portion 142 connected to the front ends of the two guides 141. However, embodiments are not limited thereto. In an over-the-range oven 1-1 according to an embodiment as shown in
The guide 141-1 and the discharge portion 142-1 are hollow to guide air therethrough, and the discharge port 142a-1 is formed in the rear surface of the discharge portion 142-1. Accordingly, the air blown by air blower unit 13 passes through the hollow of the guide 141-1 and discharge portion 142-1 and creates an air curtain by being horizontally discharged backward through the discharge port 142a-1.
In an embodiment in which the guide 141-1 is formed in a plate shape as shown in
In one or more embodiments, the air curtain unit 14-1 creates an air curtain by receiving a portion of air blown by the air blower unit 13 disposed in the body 10. However, embodiments are not limited thereto.
An air curtain unit 14-2 is movably installed at a lower portion of the body 10. The air curtain unit 14-2 includes a pair of guides 141-2 and a discharge portion 142-2 connected to the front ends of the two guides 141-2.
The discharge portion 142-2 is hollow, and a suction port 142b-2 to suction air is formed in the lower surface of the discharge portion 142-2. Disposed in the hollow inner space of the discharge portion 142-2 are an air blowing fan 15 to suction and discharge air through rotation and a drive motor 16 to rotate the air blowing fan 15. In an embodiment shown in
As the air blowing fans 15 and drive motors 16 are installed in the discharge portion 142-2, a portion of the gas produced by the cooking apparatus 2 moving upward and air are suctioned into the discharge portion 142-2 and discharged backward through the discharge port 142a by the air blowing fans 15. Therefore, the hood function of the over-the-range oven 1-2 may be enhanced by the air curtain unit 14-2.
While the air blower unit 13 is illustrated as being disposed adjacent to the suction port 10b formed at the lower portion of the body 10, embodiments are not limited thereto. As shown in
In one or more embodiments, the air curtain units 14, 14-1 and 14-2 are movably installed at the body 10 to protrude from the body 10 through movement. However, embodiments are not limited thereto. They may be rotatably installed at the body 10 to protrude from the body 10 by rotating. In addition, the air curtain unit 14 may be securely installed such that the discharge portion 142 of the air curtain unit 14 remains protruded forward of the body 10.
As is apparent from the above description, an over-the-range oven according to one or more embodiments may allow gas produced by a cooking apparatus arranged below an air curtain unit of the oven to be efficiently discharged by guiding the gas to a suction port formed in a lower surface of the body of the oven through an air curtain created by the air curtain unit.
Although a few embodiments have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made to embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the disclosure, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2013-0112594 | Sep 2013 | KR | national |
