Patent Application
20250093050
Aspects of the disclosure relate to a cooking appliance having a ventilated zone and a non-ventilated zone.
A microwave oven is a type of cooking appliance having a magnetron that heats food with electromagnetic radiation. When food is exposed to this electromagnetic radiation, molecules within the food move and produce thermal energy in a process known as dielectric heating. A microwave oven may heat food more quickly than a conventional oven having a gas burner or electric heating element. Heat is generated by the magnetron and other components of the microwave oven. To cool these components, the oven draws in cool air and blows that air over the components. The oven may also blow air through the oven cavity to carry away heat and smells produced within the oven cavity.
According to one embodiment, a cooking appliance includes a wall partitioning a compartment into first and second zones and a housing disposed in the compartment and extending through an opening in the wall such that a first portion of the housing is in the first zone and a second portion of the housing is in the second zone. A flange assembly circumscribes the housing and is disposed against the wall at the opening to inhibit air flow though the opening. The flange assembly has a first member and a second member slidably received in the first member.
According to another embodiment, a cooking appliance includes a cooking chamber and a machine compartment separate from the cooking chamber. A wall partitions the machine compartment into a ventilated zone and a non-ventilated zone, wherein the wall defines an opening. A housing is disposed in the machine compartment and extends through the opening such that a first portion of the housing is in the ventilated zone and a second portion of the housing is in the non-ventilated zone. A gap is defined between the housing and a periphery of the opening. A flange assembly circumscribes the housing and is disposed against the wall such that the gap is covered to inhibit airflow between the zones. The flange assembly has a flange member surrounding a portion of the housing and a cap member surrounding another portion of the housing.
According to yet another embodiment, a cooking appliance includes a front panel defining an opening into a cooking chamber. The appliance further includes a top panel and a machine compartment disposed above the cooking chamber and under the top panel. The machine compartment has a wall positioned reward of the front panel and extending between the top panel and a floor of the machine compartment. The machine compartment has a ventilated zone between the front panel and the wall and a non-ventilated zone rearward of the wall. A water-reservoir assembly is disposed in the machine compartment and includes a housing extending rearward from the front panel and through an opening defined in the wall such that the housing is partially disposed in both the ventilated and non-ventilated zones. The housing has a base and a cover. The base defines a flange configured to cover a gap defined between the base and a periphery of the opening. A cap member is disposed on the cover at the opening and has a planar portion extending between the top panel and the cover to inhibit air flow through the opening.
Embodiments of the present disclosure are described herein. It is to be understood, however, that the disclosed embodiments are merely examples and other embodiments can take various and alternative forms. The figures are not necessarily to scale; some features could be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particular components. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention. As those of ordinary skill in the art will understand, various features illustrated and described with reference to any one of the figures can be combined with features illustrated in one or more other figures to produce embodiments that are not explicitly illustrated or described. The combinations of features illustrated provide representative embodiments for typical applications. Various combinations and modifications of the features consistent with the teachings of this disclosure, however, could be desired for particular applications or implementations.
Referring to
The oven 20 includes a user interface 40 that allows a user to operate the oven 20. The user interface 40 may be located on the front panel 34 near the top of the oven 20 above the cooking chamber 24. This upper placement is just an example, and the user interface 40 may be provided at any suitable location on the front 34 of the oven 20. For example, the user interface 40 may be located on the side of the front panel 34. The user interface 40 may include physical buttons, dials, a touchscreen, and/or the like.
A machine compartment 50 houses various electrical and hardware components of the oven 20. In the illustrated embodiment, the machine compartment 50 is located under the top panel 26 and above the cooking chamber 24. Alternative placements include on the sides of the cabinet 22 or located at the bottom of the cabinet 22. In the illustrated embodiment, the machine compartment 50 is defined depth-wise between the front panel 34 and the rear panel 36, width-wise between the side panels 30 and 32, and height-wise between the top panel 26 and an intermediate panel 52. The intermediate panel 52 may include a lower surface that defines the top of the cooking chamber 24 and may include an upper surface that defines a floor 54 of the machine compartment 50.
In the illustrated embodiment, the oven 20 has a microwave cooking cycle and includes a microwave system 56 that cooks food using microwave energy. The microwave system 56 includes, inter alia, a magnetron 58, a transformer 60, a capacitor 62, a power supply, and an electronics board 66. To perform a microwave cooking cycle, food is placed in the cooking chamber 24, the door 38 is closed, and the magnetron 58 is activated. During operation, microwave energy travels from the magnetron 58 through a waveguide and is distributed into the cooking chamber 24 via a mode stirrer. The microwave energy transfers to the food via dielectric heating. Once the food is heated, the magnetron 58 is deactivated, the door 38 is reopened, and the food is removed. The oven 20 may also include a door switch (not shown) that detects whether the door 38 is open or closed, such that the magnetron 58 is automatically deactivated should the door 38 be opened during a cooking cycle. The magnetron 58 may be driven by electrical components that provide a high-voltage source, such as the transformer 60 and capacitor 62 as shown (in other examples a switching power supply may be used). The electronics board 66 may control the operation of the other components of the oven 20.
The oven 20 may also have a steam cooking cycle and includes a steam system 70. The steam system 70 is configured to deliver steam to the cooking chamber 24. The steam system 70 includes a heating element (not shown) that heats water provided from a water reservoir 72. A pump system 74 is configured to draw water from the water reservoir 72 and deliver the water to the heating element. The heating element, such as an electric heating element boils the water received from the water reservoir 72 to produce steam. Ducts or passageways (not shown) convey the steam to the cooking chamber 24 to cook the food.
The water reservoir 72 may be part of a water-reservoir assembly 76 including a housing 78 that contains the water reservoir 72. The water reservoir 72 may be a tank or other receptacle received within the housing 78. The water reservoir 72 may be removable from the housing 78 allowing a user to add water as needed. For example, the water reservoir 72 may be slidably supported within the housing 78 via plain bearing surfaces or via tracks, bearings, sliders, or any other suitable guide member. The water reservoir 72 may be directly supported by the housing 78 or an associated carriage may slidably support the water reservoir 72 within the housing 78. The water reservoir 72 may slide in and out of the front panel 34 of the oven 20 between a pulled-out position in which the water reservoir 72 extends from the front panel 34 and a pushed-in position in which the water reservoir 72 is fully seated within the housing 78.
An opening 80 for the water reservoir 72 may be provided on the front panel 34 above the cooking chamber 24 and adjacent to the user interface 40. A door or cover 82 may be provided to conceal the water reservoir 72 when in the pushed-in position. The door 82 may be pivotably attached to the front face 34 or may be attached to the water reservoir 72 or other component associated with the water reservoir that slides therewith. The water reservoir 72 may be spring-loaded and include a latching system that allows a user to access the water reservoir 72. For example, a user may remove the water reservoir 72 by pushing on the cover 82 to release the latching system. The spring then partially ejects the water reservoir 72 from the front panel 34. The user may then grab the partially ejected water reservoir 72 and pull the water reservoir fully out. This is just an example and other mechanism may be used to remove the water reservoir 72.
The water reservoir 72 may be detachable from the oven 20 so that a user may carry the water reservoir 72 to a water source, e.g., a sink, for refilling. The water reservoir 72 may include a filling port and a cap that seals the port. The cap may be attached by threads, detents, click fit, or the like. In some embodiments, the cap may be slidably attached to the water reservoir 72 to cover and uncover the port.
Referring to
The base 84 may include a bottom side 88, opposing lateral sides 90, 92, a front 98, and a back 100. The lateral sides 90, 92 define top edges 94, 96 of the base 84. The base 84 includes a mostly open top 102 generally defined between the top edges 94, 96. A small top panel 104 is located at the front 98. The top panel 104 provides a fully enclosed end structure for connecting the housing 78 to a holder 106 that is supported within the opening 80 of the front panel 34. An integrally formed mounting bracket 108 may be provided at the rear 100 of the base 84. The bracket 108 is used to secure the rear portion of the housing 78 to the floor 54 of the machine compartment 50. For example, the bracket 108 may include a flange 110 attached to the floor 54 with fasteners, such as screws. The bracket 108 may be a separate component in other embodiments.
The cover 86 includes a top 114 and sidewalls 116 that extend down from the top. At least some of the sidewalls 116 may define channels 118 that receive the top edges 94, 96 of the base. The cover 86 is received over the open top 102 of the base 84 and cooperates with the base 84 to define the interior 85 of the housing. The cover 86 may include structural ribs 119 on an upper surface 121 of the top 114. The tops of the ribs 119 may project above the upper surface 121. The ribs 119 may increase the rigidity of the cover 86 to resist bending, twisting, and other deformations. The ribs 119 generally extend in the longitudinal direction of the cover 86 in zigzag patterns.
The cover 86 may be secured to the base 84 by retainers 120. In the illustrated example, the retainers 120 are clips. Each of the clips 120 includes a tab 122 mounted on the base 84 and a flexible ring 124 mounted on the cover 86. The ring 124 includes a lower edge that engages with a bottom edge of the tab 122 forming a snap-fit connection. In other embodiments, the retainers 120 may be fasteners, slide members, or any other suitable connection.
Referring back to
The ventilated zone 150 may be designed to have lower temperatures than the non-ventilated zone 152. As such, less heat-resistant componentry, such as electronics, e.g., transformer 60, capacitor 62, and circuit board 66, may be located within the ventilated zone 150, whereas more heat-resistant componentry, such as the magnetron 58 and pump system 74, may be located within the non-ventilated zone 152.
Some components of the oven 20 may require placement within both zones 150, 152. One example of this is the water-reservoir assembly 76. The water-reservoir assembly 76 extends rearwardly from the front panel 34, through the ventilated zone 150, and into the non-ventilated zone 152 to connect with the water pump 74. In order to do this, an opening 160 is provided in the wall 156.
Referring to
While the opening 160 approximates the cross-section of the housing 78, air gaps 171 are still present between the periphery of the opening 160 and the housing 78. The air gaps 171, if unmitigated, would provide clearance for hot air within the non-ventilated zone 152 to leak into the ventilated zone 150. To reduce or eliminate this leakage, a flange assembly 180 is provided at the housing-wall interface to cover the air gaps 171.
The flange assembly 180 circumscribes the housing 78 and is disposed against the wall 156 at the opening 160 to inhibit air flow through the air gaps 171 by covering over the gaps 171. The flange assembly 180 may include a first, upper member 182 and a second, lower member 184. The first and second members 182, 184 are wider than a width of the opening 160. The upper member 182 is received on top of the lower member 184 to form a seal (the seal is not necessarily air-tight) around the housing 78.
The second member 184 may be a flange member that is either attached to or integrally formed with the base 84 of the housing 78. In one embodiment, the flange member 184 is integrally formed with the base 84. The flange member 184 may be a planar body having a front face 188 and rear face 190. The front face 188 is disposed against the rear side or planar surface 162 of the wall 156. The flange member 184 may include a lower portion 192 that extends across the bottom 88 of the housing 78 and opposing side portions 194, 196 that extend partially up the sidewalls 90, 92 of the housing 78.
Referring to
The cap member 182 is received on a top of the housing 78 with the legs 200, 204 extending over opposing sides 90, 92 of the base 84. The upper edge 201 of the cap member 182 may be substantially coplanar with the top 161 of the wall 156. Used here, substantially means within plus-or-minus 2.0 millimeters of coplanar. The slots 202 and 206 defined in the legs receive upper edges 216 and 218 of the flange member 184 when the cap member 182 is installed. The slots 202 and 206 longitudinally secure the cap member 182. A screw hole 220 is defined in the transverse portion 208 and receives a screw that extends through the top panel 26 to fully secure the cap member 182 in place.
The cap member 182 and the flange member 184 provide a complete encirclement of the opening 160 to cover the air gaps 171. The flange member 184 generally covers the air gaps 171 located on lower portion of the opening 160 and the lower side portions of the opening 160, and the cap member 182 generally covers the upper side air gaps 171 as well as the air gap defined between the top panel 26 and the top of the housing 78.
Referring to
The cap member 182 also includes an alignment feature for aligning with the flange member 184. For example, a hooked portion 240 is provided on the leg 200 at the outer edge of the collar 214. The hooked portion 240 is configured to engage with the outer edge 244 of the flange member 184 to provide lateral centering.
The cap member 182 also includes raised ridges 242 located on the bottom surface of the transverse portion 208. The ridges 242 are provided to account for the space created by the ribs 119 located on the top of the cover 86. The ridges 242 are optional and may not be required depending upon the heat tolerance of the ventilated zone 150. The ridges 242 are spaced apart by a gap 246 that allows the ribs 119 to extend through the cap member 182. The width of the gap 246 is sized to approximate the width between the two ribs at that longitudinal location of the housing 78.
The above-described embodiments allow the water-reservoir assembly to be disposed in multiple zones with limited heat leakage. They embodiments also easy assembly by allowing the water-reservoir assembly to be installed and removed from the top without requiring removal of a side panel or back panel.
While exemplary embodiments are described above, it is not intended that these embodiments describe all possible forms encompassed by the claims. The words used in the specification are words of description rather than limitation, and it is understood that various changes can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. As previously described, the features of various embodiments can be combined to form further embodiments of the invention that may not be explicitly described or illustrated. While various embodiments could have been described as providing advantages or being preferred over other embodiments or prior art implementations with respect to one or more desired characteristics, those of ordinary skill in the art recognize that one or more features or characteristics can be compromised to achieve desired overall system attributes, which depend on the specific application and implementation. These attributes can include, but are not limited to strength, durability, marketability, appearance, packaging, size, serviceability, weight, manufacturability, ease of assembly, etc. As such, embodiments described as less desirable than other embodiments or prior art implementations with respect to one or more characteristics are not outside the scope of the disclosure and can be desirable for particular applications.
