COOKING APPLIANCE

- LG Electronics

A cooking appliance includes: a cavity forming a cooking chamber, a wire rack detachable coupled with the cooking chamber, a wire rack fixing section mounted in the cavity for fixing the wire rack to the cooking chamber, and a wire rack heater mounted to the wire rack fixing section for transmitting heat to the wire rack through contact with the wire rack.

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Description
TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a cooking appliance, and more particularly, to a cooking appliance capable of implementing a grill mark on a cooking object by including a wire rack heater heating a wire rack on which the cooking object is located.

BACKGROUND ART

In general, a cooking appliance is a device for cooking a cooking object by heating a cooking object by a plurality of heaters after inserting the cooking object into the inside of a cooking chamber. In addition, the user can cooks by mounting a wire rack on the inside of the cooking chamber, which consists of a metal beam or a shelf on a plate putting the cook object according to cooking methods.

Meanwhile, the wire rack consists of metal beams and must be formed over a predetermined thickness for supporting the cooking object of the upper portion. In addition, when the wire rack is heated by a heater, a grill mark of a shape of the metal beam forming the wire rack can be implemented on the cooking object.

However, since the wire rack formed by the metal beam over a predetermined thickness is heated by heat generated by the heater, there is a problem that the heat generated by the heater is transmitted to the wire rack and the cooking object cannot be fully heated. In addition, since the heat of the heater is transmitted to the wire rack by convection and the heat is not fully transmitted to the wire rack, there is a problem that the grill mark cannot be implemented on the cooking object.

DISCLOSURE Technical Problem

The present invention has been made in an effort to solve the problems occurring in the prior art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a cooking appliance in which a wire rack heater is mounted in a wire rack fixing section for fixing a wire rack to heat the wire rack directly.

In addition, the present invention is to provide a cooking appliance including a wire rack heater capable of heating a wire rack while fixing the wire rack to a cooking chamber.

The problems of the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned problems and further problems, not described above, will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art.

Technical Solution

In order to solve the aforementioned problem, there is provided a cooking appliance according to an embodiment of the present invention, including: a cavity forming a cooking chamber; a wire rack detachable coupled with the cooking chamber; a wire rack fixing section mounted in the cavity for fixing the wire rack to the cooking chamber; and a wire rack heater mounted to the wire rack fixing section for transmitting heat to the wire rack through contact with the wire rack.

In addition, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the cooking appliance may further include a cavity forming a cooking chamber, a wire rack detachable coupled with the cooking chamber, a wire rack fixing section mounted in the cavity for fixing the wire rack to the cooking chamber, and a wire rack heater mounted to the wire rack fixing section for transmitting heat to the wire rack through contact with the wire rack.

In addition, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the cooking appliance may include a cavity forming a cooking chamber, a wire rack detachable coupled with the cooking chamber, and a wire rack heater for transmitting heat to the wire rack while fixing the cooking chamber.

Further, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the cooking appliance may include a cavity forming a cooking chamber, a wire rack having a support section supporting the cooking object and a height section for separating and locating the support section by a predetermined distance from the lower surface of the cavity and a wire rack heater which is in contacted with the height section.

Specific items of other embodiments are included in the detailed description and drawings of the present invention.

Advantageous Effects

According to the cooking appliance of the present invention, the present invention has the following effects one or more.

Firstly, heat can be fully transmitted to a wire rack by including a wire rack heater directly heating the wire rack and a clear grill mark can be implemented on a cooking object located on the wire rack.

Secondly, the utilization of internal space of the cooking camber can be increased by mounting the heater directly heating the wire rack on a wire rack fixing section fixing the wire rack to the cooking chamber.

Thirdly, the wire rack can be fixed to the cooking chamber by using the wire rack heater heating the wire rack. Accordingly, a separate fixing section for fixing the wire rack to the cooking chamber is not required.

The effects of the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned effects and further effects not described above will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view illustrating a cooking appliance before a wire rack is coupled to a cavity of a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front view illustrating a cooking appliance before a wire rack is coupled to a cavity of a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view illustrating when the wire rack is coupled to the wire rack fixing section of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view illustrating when the wire rack is coupled to the wire rack fixing section by a different type in the second embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a partial cross-sectional view illustrating when the wire rack is coupled to the wire rack fixing section by another different type in the second embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional view illustrating when the wire rack is coupled to the wire rack fixing section by still another different type in the second embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a front view illustrating a cooking appliance before a wire rack is coupled to a cavity of a cooking appliance according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a front view illustrating a cooking appliance when a wire rack heater is mounted on another location of the cavity of the cooking appliance in the third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a front view illustrating a cooking appliance when the wire rack heater is mounted on still another location of the cavity in the third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a front view illustrating a cooking appliance before a wire rack is coupled to a cavity of a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a front view illustrating a cooking appliance before a wire rack is coupled to a cavity of a fifth embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 12 is a front view illustrating a fixing section by which the wire rack is fixed to the cavity of the fifth embodiment of the present invention.

 BEST MODE

Advantages and features of the present invention, and method to achieve them of the present invention will be obvious with reference to embodiments along with the accompanying drawings which are described below. However, it will be understood that present description is not intended to limit the invention to those exemplary embodiments. On the contrary, the invention is intended to cover not only the exemplary embodiments, but also various alternatives, modifications, equivalents and other embodiments, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. In the detailed description, the same reference numbers of the drawings refer to the same or equivalent parts of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a front view illustrating a cooking appliance before a wire rack is coupled to a cavity of a first embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the cooking appliance approximately has a cube-shaped appearance and a cavity 11 cooking a cooking object is included inside the cooking appliance. In addition, the cooking appliance 1 includes an electric oven, a gas range and the like.

Further, the cavity 11 refers to a space formed by bending and contacting a plurality of cavity plates having rectangular plate-shapes and is formed in the rectangular shape that the front is opened. That is, a cooking chamber 12 in which the cooking object is cooking is formed inside the cavity 11 and the cooking object can be inserted in or leaved out through the opened front. In addition, the front of the cooking appliance 1 is formed with a door 60 for opening and closing the front of the cavity 11 formed by opening.

Meanwhile, the bottom of the cavity 11 is provided with a lower portion heater 30 heating foods from the lower side and the top of the cavity 10 is provided with an upper portion heater 20 heating foods from the upper portion. Further, the lower portion heater 30 and the upper portion heater 30 may be included inside or outside of the cavity 11.

The back of the cavity 10 is installed with a convection assembly 40 to discharge air heated inside the cavity 11. Further, the convection assembly 40 includes a convection heater and a convection fan blowing heat of the convection heater into the cooking chamber 12.

A wire rack 90 is a kind of shelf which is formed by a combination of a plurality of metal lines to expose the cooking object so that the heat of the lower portion heater 30 may be directly transmitted to the cooking object while supporting the cooking object. In addition, the wire rack 90 is detachable coupled with the cooking chamber 12 to be used when the cooking object is cooked according to a specific cooking method. Specifically, the wire rack 90 includes a main frame 92 of a rectangular shape formed to be corresponded to the internal shape of the cavity 11 and a plurality of beams 94 supporting the cooking object, which are formed between the main frames 92.

Meanwhile, the cavity 11 is mounted with a wire rack fixing section fixing the wire rack 90 to the cooking chamber. The wire rack fixing section is formed on the cavity in various ways to fix the wire rack, but the wire rack fixing section 70 is formed to be protruded on the side surface of the cavity in this embodiment. In addition, the wire rack 90 is fixed to the inside of the cooking chamber while the lower portion of the wire rack 90 is supported to the upper surface of the wire rack fixing section 70.

Concretely, the wire rack fixing section 70 according to this embodiment is formed to be protruded on both sides of the cavity in the front and back longitudinal directions. Accordingly, the rectangular-shaped wire rack 90 is reliably supported. In addition, the wire rack fixing section 70 may be formed to be equal to those corresponding to the front and rear lengths of the wire rack 90 or larger than those corresponding to the front and rear lengths of the wire rack 90. Meanwhile, in the embodiment, the wire rack fixing section 70 may be integrally formed on the cavity 11.

The wire rack heater 80 is mounted on the wire rack fixing section 70 and transmits heat to the wire rack 90 while being in contacted with the wire rack 90. Concretely, the wire rack heater 80 is formed in the longitudinal direction to be exposed to the upper surface of the wire rack fixing section 70 formed in the longitudinal direction. In addition, the wire rack heater 80 may be formed to be equal to those corresponding to the front and rear direction lengths.

That is, while the lower portion of the wire rack 90 is supported on the upper surface of the wire rack fixing section 70, the lower portion of the wire rack 90 is in contacted with the wire rack heater 80 mounted to be exposed to the upper surface of the wire rack fixing section 70 and the heat generated in the wire rack heater 80 is transmitted to the wire rack 90 by conducting.

Accordingly, the cooking object located on the upper portion of the wire rack 90 is cooked while transmitting the heat generated from an upper portion heater 20, a lower portion heater 30 or a convection heater by convection and at the same time, a grill mark according to a shape of the beam 94 of the wire rack 90 may be formed on the surface of the cooking object by the heat directly transmitted through the conduction from the wire rack heater 80 to the wire rack 90.

In addition, in the wire rack heater 80, in order to transmit an appropriate heat to the wire rack 90 for implementing a grill mark on the cooking object located on the wire rack 90, power density and conductivity of the heater can be set. Accordingly, the wire heater 80 is formed to prevent the surface of the cooking object from burning as a result that excessive heat is transmitted to the wire rack 90.

In addition, a plurality of beams 94 supporting the cooking object of the wire rack 90 are formed on the wire rack 90 in the left and right directions. Accordingly, the heat of the wire rack heater 80 formed on the side of cavity 11 is properly conducted into beams 94 formed in left and right directions through left and right frames 92.

In addition, in the wire rack 90, a knob 96 for attaching or detaching the wire rack 90 of high temperature in the cooking chamber 12 by the user may be formed on the front of the wire rack 90.

FIG. 2 is a front view illustrating a cooking appliance before a wire rack is coupled to a cavity of a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view illustrating when the wire rack is coupled to the wire rack fixing section of FIG. 2.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, a wire rack fixing section 170 of the embodiment includes a support member 171 and a fixing member 173.

The support member 171 supports the lower portion of the wire rack 90 and is generally formed in the same form as the wire rack fixing section 70 of the first embodiment. The fixing member 173 is separated and formed by a predetermined distance from the support member 171 and formed in the same form as the support member 171 in general.

That is, the support member 171 and the fixing member 173 of the embodiment are separated and formed in a length corresponding to the thickness of the wire rack 90 and the wire rack 90 is coupled to a space separated between the support member 171 and the fixing member 173 while sliding. Accordingly, the wire rack 90 on which the cooking object is located may be reliably fixed to the cooking chamber 12.

In addition, in the embodiment, the wire rack heater 80 is mounted to be exposed on the upper surface of the support member 171. That is, in the embodiment, while the lower portion of the wire rack 90 is supported on the upper surface of the support member 171, the lower portion of the wire rack 90 is in contacted with the wire rack heater 80 mounted to be exposed on the upper surface of the support member 171 and the heat generated in the wire rack heater 80 is transmitted to the wire rack 90 by conducting. In addition, the upper portion of the wire rack 90 is fixed by the fixing member 173.

Meanwhile, the wire rack heater 80 is mounted to be exposed on the support member 171 and is mounted in a variety of ways by considering the efficiency of heat conductivity with the wire rack 90. In general, the wire rack heater 80 may be used as a sheath heater and formed by penetrating into the side surface of the cavity 11 in order to be connected with a heat source. Accordingly, all portions exposed from the cooking chamber 12 through the side surface of the cavity 11 are formed to be discharged through the upper surface of the support member 171 (see FIG. 4). Accordingly, since the area contacted with the wire rack 90 and the wire rack heater 80 becomes wider, it is possible to be designed to have high heat conduction.

Meanwhile, the wire rack heater 80 is formed to be exposed to the lower surface of the fixing member 173 (see FIG. 5). In addition, in the fixing member 173, the heat may be conducted to the wire rack 90 by the wire rack heater 80 mounted to be exposed on the lower surface of the fixing member 173 while fixing the upper portion of the wire rack 90. Further, as described above, in the wire rack heater 80, in order to widen the area contacted with the wire rack 90 and the wire rack heater 80, all portions of the wire rack heater 80 exposed from the inside of the cooking chamber 12 through the side surface of the cavity 11 may be also formed to be discharged through the lower surface of the fixing member 173 (see FIG. 6).

In addition, the plurality of beams 94 supporting the cooking object of the wire rack 90 are formed on the wire rack 90 in the left and right directions. Accordingly, the heat of the wire rack heater 80 formed on the side surface of cavity 11 is properly conducted into beams 94 formed in left and right directions through left and right frames 92.

Meanwhile, in the embodiment, the wire rack fixing section 70 may be integrally formed on the cavity 11.

Hereinafter, since another configurations and operations are the same as the first embodiment, the description will be omitted below.

FIGS. 7 to 9 are front views illustrating cooking appliances before a wire rack is coupled to a cavity of a third embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIGS. 7 to 9, a wire rack heater 180 of this embodiment is not mounted on the wire rack fixing section 270, unlike the above embodiment. That is, in this embodiment, the wire rack heater 180 is mounted on the cavity 11 to be in contacted with the wire rack 90 when the wire rack 90 is coupled to the cooking chamber 12. Accordingly, in this embodiment, the wire rack may be formed to be in contacted with a wire rack without including an additional configuration for mounting the wire rack heater on the wire rack fixing section.

With reference to FIG. 7, the wire rack fixing section 270 is mounted on the side surface of the cavity 11 and the wire rack heater 180 is mounted on the rear surface of the cavity 11. Accordingly, when the wire rack 90 is coupled to the cooking chamber 12, the wire rack heater 180 conducts the heat into the wire rack 90 while being in contacted with the wire rack 90. In addition, the wire rack fixing section 270 is formed to be protruded on the side surface of the cavity 11 to fix the wire rack 90 while supporting the lower portion of the wire rack 90. Further, in this case, a beam 94′ of the wire rack 90 is formed in the front and rear directions of the wire rack 90 so that the heat may be properly conducted from the wire rack heater 180 to the beam 94′.

Meanwhile, referring to FIG. 8, the wire rack heater 280 may be formed on the cavity 11 of the upper portion of the wire rack fixing section 270 formed to be protruded on the side surface of the cavity 11. In addition, referring to FIG. 9, the wire rack fixing section 370 includes a support member 371 supporting the lower portion of the wire rack 90 and a fixing member 373 fixing the upper portion of the wire rack 90. Further, the wire rack heater 380 may be mounted to be exposed on the cavity between the support member 371 and the fixing member 373. Further, in this case, the beam 94 of the wire rack 90 is formed in the left and right directions of the wire rack 90 so that the heat may be properly conducted from the wire rack heater 180 to the beam 94.

Hereinafter, since another configurations and operations are the same as the first and second embodiments, the description will be omitted below.

FIG. 10 is a front view illustrating a cooking appliance before a wire rack is coupled to a cavity of a fourth embodiment of the present invention. In the cooking appliance 1 of this embodiment, the wire rack heater 480 transmits the heat by conducting through the wire rack 90 while fixing the wire rack 90 to the cooking chamber 12, without including an additional fixing section for fixing the wire rack 90.

The wire rack heater 480 may be formed in various forms for fixing the wire rack 90. Concretely, in the embodiment, the wire rack heater 480 is formed to be protruded on the side surface of the cavity 11. In addition, the lower portion of the wire rack 90 is fixed to the cooking chamber 12 while being supported by the wire rack heater 480 formed to be protruded. As described above, the wire rack heater 480 may be used as a sheath heater and generally formed to be protruded on the side surface of the cavity 11 in a ‘staple’ form.

Further, in this case, the beam 94 of the wire rack 90 is formed in the left and right directions of the wire rack 90 so that the heat may be properly conducted from the wire rack heater 480 to the beam 94.

Hereinafter, since another configurations and operations are the same as the embodiments described above, the description will be omitted below.

FIGS. 11 to 12 are front views illustrating cooking appliances before a wire rack is coupled to a cavity of a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIGS. 11 and 12, in the embodiment, a wire rack 190 includes a support section 193 supporting the cooking object and a height section 191 for separating and locating the support section 193 by a predetermined distance from the lower surface of the cavity 11. In addition, in the embodiment, the wire rack heater 580 is mounted to be in contacted with the height section 191 while being exposed on the lower surface of the cavity 11. That is, in the embodiment, the heat can be conducted from the wire rack heater to the wire rack by being in contacted with the wire rack heater and the wire rack without mounting an additional wire rack fixing section for fixing the wire rack to the side surface of the cavity 11.

The height section 191 can be coupled to the support section 193 in various forms, but in the embodiment, the height section 191 is formed to be downwardly bent from the end of the support section 193.

Meanwhile, when the wire rack 190 is mounted on the cooking chamber 12, the fixing section for fixing the height section 191 can be formed on the lower surface of the cavity such that the height section 191 can be in contacted with the wire rack heater 580 while fixing the wire rack 190. The fixing section may be formed in various forms, but in the embodiment, the fixing section 11a may be formed to be sunk on the lower surface of the cavity 11 such that the height section 191 may be inserted and fixed.

Those skilled in the art will understand that the present invention can be implemented as other concrete forms without changing the inventive concept or essential features. Therefore, these embodiments as described above are only proposed for illustrative purposes and do not limit the present invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that a variety of modifications and variations may be made without departing the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims. Further, such modifications and variations should not be understood independently from the technical idea or perspective of the present invention.

Claims

1. A cooking appliance comprising:

a cavity forming a cooking chamber;
a wire rack detachable coupled with the cooking chamber;
a wire rack fixing section mounted in the cavity for fixing the wire rack to the cooking chamber; and
a wire rack heater mounted to the wire rack fixing section for transmitting heat to the wire rack through contact with the wire rack.

2. The cooking appliance of claim 1, wherein the wire rack fixing section is formed to be protruded on the side surface of the cavity, the wire rack heater is mounted to be exposed on the upper surface of the wire rack fixing section and the wire rack is located to be supposed on the upper surface of the wire rack fixing section.

3. The cooking appliance of claim 1, wherein the wire rack fixing section includes a support member for supporting the lower portion of the wire rack and a fixing member for fixing the upper portion of the wire rack, and the wire rack heater is mounted to be exposed on the upper surface of the support member.

4. The cooking appliance of claim 1, wherein the wire rack fixing section includes a support member for supporting the lower portion of the wire rack and a fixing member for fixing the upper portion of the wire rack, and the wire rack heater is mounted to be exposed on the lower surface of the support member.

5. The cooking appliance of claim 2, wherein the wire rack includes a beam for supporting the cooking object, and the beam is formed on the wire rack in the left and right directions.

6. The cooking appliance of claim 1, wherein the wire rack is formed with a knob.

7. A cooking appliance comprising:

a cavity forming a cooking chamber;
a wire rack detachable coupled with the cooking chamber;
a wire rack fixing section mounted in the cavity for fixing the wire rack to the cooking chamber; and
a wire rack heater for transmitting heat to the wire rack through contact with the wire rack.

8. The cooking appliance of claim 7, wherein the wire rack fixing section is formed to be protruded on the side surface of the cavity, and the wire rack heater is mounted to be exposed on the cavity side surface of the wire rack fixing section upper portion.

9. The cooking appliance of claim 7, wherein the wire rack fixing section includes a support member for supporting the lower portion of the wire rack and a fixing member for fixing the upper portion of the wire rack, and the wire rack heater is mounted to be exposed on the cavity side surface between the support member and the fixing member.

10. The cooking appliance of claim 8, wherein the wire rack includes a beam for supporting the cooking object, and the beam is formed on the wire rack in the left and right directions.

11. The cooking appliance of claim 7, wherein the wire rack fixing section is formed on the side surface of the cavity, and the wire rack heater is mounted to be exposed on the rear surface of the cavity.

12. The cooking appliance of claim 11, wherein the wire rack includes a beam for supporting the cooking object, and the beam is formed on the wire rack in the front and back directions.

13. A cooking appliance comprising:

a cavity forming a cooking chamber;
a wire rack detachable coupled with the cooking chamber; and
a wire rack heater for transmitting heat to the wire rack while fixing the wire rack to the cooking chamber.

14. The cooking appliance of claim 13, wherein the wire rack heater is formed to be exposed on the side surface of the cavity and the lower surface of the wire rack heater is fixed while supporting the upper surface of the wire rack heater.

15. The cooking appliance of claim 14, wherein the wire rack includes a beam for supporting the cooking object, and the beam is formed on the wire rack in the left and right directions.

16. A cooking appliance comprising:

a cavity forming a cooking chamber;
a wire rack having a support section supporting the cooking object, and a height section for separating and locating the support section by a predetermined distance from the lower surface of the cavity; and
a wire rack heater to be exposed on the lower surface of the cavity and contacted with the height section.

17. The cooking appliance of claim 16, wherein the lower surface of the cavity is formed with a fixing section for fixing the height section.

18. The cooking appliance of claim 17, wherein the fixing section is formed to be sunk on the lower surface of the cavity.

19. The cooking appliance of claim 16, wherein the height section is formed to be downwardly bent from the support section.

Patent History
Publication number: 20120160228
Type: Application
Filed: Sep 9, 2009
Publication Date: Jun 28, 2012
Applicant: LG ELECTRONICS INC. (Seoul)
Inventors: Wan Soo Kim (Seoul), Yang Kyeong Kim (Seoul)
Application Number: 13/266,993
Classifications
Current U.S. Class: 126/19.0R
International Classification: F24C 15/16 (20060101);