KR20190093050A - Mircowave range capable of controlling intensity of illumination - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a microwave range capable of controlling the intensity of illumination of a lamp provided in a cooking chamber. The microwave range according to the present invention includes: a power supply part which includes a lamp inside the cooking chamber and supplies an alternating current to the lamp; and a control part which controls the intensity of illumination of the lamp by adjusting the magnitude of the alternating current supplied to the lamp by the power supply part. As described above, in the prior art, the magnitude of the current supplied to the lamp is always kept constant, but the microwave range according to the present invention may adjust the intensity of illumination of the lamp according to a situation by adjusting the magnitude of the alternating current supplied to the lamp.

Description

Microwave Oven with Illumination Control {MIRCOWAVE RANGE CAPABLE OF CONTROLLING INTENSITY OF ILLUMINATION}

The present invention relates to a microwave oven capable of controlling the illuminance of the lamp provided in the cooking chamber.

A microwave oven is a cooking utensil that allows food to be cooked by frictional heat by vibrating molecules constituting the food by irradiating the food with microwaves generated by applying power to the magnetron generating high frequency after sealing the food. .

The microwave oven is easy to control temperature by instant start, stop, and output adjustment, and it is possible to uniformly cook foods of various sizes and shapes by simultaneous heating of food parts, saving cooking time, convenience of operation, etc. Due to its various advantages, it is widely used.

The microwave oven has a cooking compartment that opens and closes through a door. A user who wants to cook food using a microwave oven opens a door, puts food in the cooking chamber, and closes the door. After the user closes the door, the user selects a desired cooking method and a cooking time, and then commands to start cooking.

In order to help the user visually check the inside of the cooking chamber or the food during the cooking process after the user opens the door to introduce the food into the cooking chamber or closes the door, a lamp disposed inside the cooking chamber is Lights up.

According to the prior art, a circuit for controlling the lighting or turning off of the lamp disposed inside the cooking chamber is included in the microwave oven. For example, Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Publication No. 20-1988-0009057 discloses a display lamp circuit for cooking confirmation of a microwave oven. Referring to FIG. 1, the microwave oven according to the related art includes a timer motor 6, a fan motor 7, and a high frequency output control for switching the first and second safety switches 1 and 2, the timer switch 4, and the like. The primary circuit of the high voltage transformer 10 having the high frequency output control motor 8 for switching the switch 9 and the high voltage capacitor 11, the high voltage diode 12 and the magnetron 13 in its secondary circuit is provided. Configure. The microwave oven includes a display lamp 17 for use as described above, a resistor 16 connected in series with the display lamp 17, and a resistor 15 connected in parallel with the display lamp 17. Is connected in series to one end of the primary side.

However, the display lamp 17 according to the related art always has a constant magnitude of current flowing through the resistor 16 connected in series, and cannot control the magnitude of the current flowing through the resistor 16. Therefore, the display lamp 17 according to the related art has only a problem of being able to be turned on or off and not able to control illuminance as necessary.

As such, the user cannot use the microwave to control the illumination of the lamp, so when the user uses the microwave, the illumination of the lamp becomes relatively high under certain circumstances, so that the user may feel glare or the illumination of the lamp is relatively low. Caused.

In addition, according to the prior art there is a problem that unnecessary power consumption occurs because the illumination of the lamp is not controlled in accordance with the situation in which the lamp is turned on and always lights with a constant illumination.

An object of the present invention is to provide a microwave oven capable of adjusting the illuminance of the lamp disposed in the cooking chamber of the microwave oven.

In addition, an object of the present invention is to provide a microwave oven that can solve the problem that it is difficult to visually check the glare phenomenon or the inside of the cooking chamber that the conventional user felt by adjusting the illuminance of the lamp according to the situation.

In addition, an object of the present invention is to provide a microwave oven that can reduce unnecessary power consumption of the microwave oven by appropriately adjusting the illuminance of the lamp according to the situation.

The objects of the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned objects, and other objects and advantages of the present invention, which are not mentioned above, can be understood by the following description, and more clearly by the embodiments of the present invention. Also, it will be readily appreciated that the objects and advantages of the present invention may be realized by the means and combinations thereof indicated in the claims.

In the microwave oven according to the present invention, a lamp is disposed inside the cooking chamber, and a control unit for controlling the illuminance of the lamp by adjusting the magnitude of the alternating current supplied to the lamp by a power supply unit supplying an alternating current to the lamp and the power supply unit. Include. As described above, in the related art, the magnitude of the current supplied to the lamp is always kept constant, but the microwave oven according to the present invention may adjust the illuminance of the lamp according to the situation by adjusting the magnitude of the alternating current supplied to the lamp.

In order to adjust the magnitude of the alternating current as described above, the power supply unit includes a switching element for converting the DC voltage supplied by the rectifying unit and the smoothing unit into the alternating current through a switching operation. The control unit applies an illuminance control signal to the current control unit controlling the switching operation of the switching element, and the current control unit is supplied to the lamp by the switching element by adjusting the operating frequency of the switching element according to the duty of the illuminance control signal input in the form of a pulse. To control the magnitude of the alternating current. By such control, the illuminance of the lamp disposed in the cooking chamber of the microwave oven can be adjusted as necessary.

In addition, in one embodiment of the present invention, the control unit may control the illumination of the lamp differently according to the open state or the closed state of the door for opening and closing the cooking chamber. For example, when the door is closed by the user, the controller may adjust the magnitude of the AC current so that the illuminance of the lamp increases to the first illuminance from the time when the door is closed until the first predetermined reference time elapses. At this time, the controller may adjust the magnitude of the alternating current so that the illuminance of the lamp increases step by step according to a predetermined time interval. In addition, the first illuminance may be set to the maximum illuminance of the lamp. Accordingly, when the user closes the door of the cooking chamber, the interior of the cooking chamber gradually becomes bright, and the user can easily check the interior of the cooking chamber with the naked eye.

As another example, the control unit may adjust the magnitude of the alternating current so that the illuminance of the lamp is the second illuminance when the door is opened by the user. In this case, the second illuminance may be set to less than half of the first illuminance. As described above, the microwave oven according to the present invention can solve the problem that the conventional user feels glare by lowering the illuminance when the user opens the door to check the inside of the cooking chamber, and at the same time, the power consumption can be lowered.

In addition, the controller may reduce unnecessary power consumption by turning off the supply of the AC current when the second reference time elapses from the time when the door is opened to turn off the lamp.

Also in one embodiment of the present invention, the lamp may be disposed on a printed circuit board having a metal insulating layer. The lamp according to an embodiment of the present invention may be made of an LED element, and may be mounted on a printed circuit board together with all or some circuits of the above-described power supply unit. In this case, the insulating layer of the printed circuit board may be formed of a metal material in order to dissipate heat generated by a switching operation included in the power supply circuit or an operation of another element.

The microwave oven according to the present invention has an advantage of controlling the illuminance of the lamp disposed in the cooking chamber.

In addition, the microwave oven according to the present invention has an advantage in that it is possible to solve the problem that it is difficult to visually check the glare phenomenon or the inside of the cooking chamber that a user feels by adjusting the illuminance of the lamp according to the situation.

In addition, the microwave oven according to the present invention has an advantage of reducing unnecessary power consumption by appropriately adjusting the illuminance of the lamp according to the situation.

1 is a circuit diagram of a cooking check display lamp circuit included in a microwave oven according to the prior art.
2 is a perspective view of a microwave oven according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a circuit diagram for controlling the operation of the lamp included in the microwave oven according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a cross-sectional view of a lamp module according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation process according to the closing of the door of the microwave oven according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation process of opening a door of a microwave oven according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The above objects, features, and advantages will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, whereby those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains may easily implement the technical idea of the present invention. In describing the present invention, when it is determined that the detailed description of the known technology related to the present invention may unnecessarily obscure the gist of the present invention, the detailed description will be omitted. Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, the same reference numerals are used to indicate the same or similar components.

2 is a perspective view of a microwave oven according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to the drawings, the microwave oven 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention has an appearance of a rectangular parallelepiped shape. The appearance of the microwave oven 20 is formed by bending a metal plate having a rectangular shape, and the case 202 forming the upper, left and right sides of the microwave oven 20, and the back plate forming the rear surface of the microwave oven 20. It is formed by (not shown).

The inside of the microwave oven 20 is a cooking chamber 204 is formed into a rectangular parallelepiped space. Inside the cooking chamber 204, a container containing food or food to be cooked by the user is inserted and seated.

In front of the cooking chamber 204 is a door 206 for opening and closing the cooking chamber 204 is connected. The door 206 is rotatably connected by a hinge 210 coupled to one side in front of the cooking chamber 204. In addition, a latch 208 is installed on one side of the door 206. When the door 206 is closed by the user, the latch 208 is inserted into the latch insertion hole 216 formed at one side in front of the cooking chamber 204, and an elastic member (not shown) connected to the latch 208 inside the door 206. The door is kept in a closed state by maintaining the state of being elastically supported downward by c).

The door 208 may be manually opened by a user pulling a handle (not shown) provided on the other side of the door, or may be opened as the door button disposed on the operation unit 222 is pressed. The user may close the door 208 by pushing a handle (not shown) or the door 208 itself. As the door 208 is closed, microwaves generated inside the cooking chamber 204 by the operation of the microwave oven 20 do not leak to the outside of the cooking chamber 204.

In addition, the operation unit 22 is disposed on the front surface of the microwave oven 20. The operation unit 22 includes a button unit 218 and a display unit 220. The button unit 218 is used to set various functions and cooking time necessary for using the microwave oven 20. In some embodiments, a dial may be added in addition to the button unit 218. In addition, the display 220 displays an operation state of the microwave oven 20, a cooking time, and information for operating various functions of the microwave oven 20.

Referring back to the drawing, a tray accommodating portion 212 is formed on the lower surface of the cooking chamber 204 in which a tray for mounting food or a container containing food is mounted in the cooking chamber 204 during cooking. The tray receiving portion 212 is formed in a circular shape along the shape of the tray. While the cooking is in progress, the tray mounted on the tray accommodating portion 212 rotates, and the food or container seated on the tray rotates as the tray rotates, and microwaves generated by the magnetron (not shown) are applied to the food. It can be investigated evenly.

In addition, a lamp 214 is disposed on one side of the inside of the cooking chamber 204. Although the lamp 214 is illustrated as being disposed above the left side of the cooking chamber 204, the arrangement position of the lamp 214 in the cooking chamber 204 may vary according to an exemplary embodiment. The lamp 214 turns off or lights up in response to the user opening or closing the door 208. As the lamp 214 is turned on, the user may visually check the state of the inside of the cooking chamber 204 or the state of food seated in the cooking chamber 204.

3 is a circuit diagram for controlling the operation of the lamp included in the microwave oven according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to the drawings, the microwave oven according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a power supply and a controller 308 for supplying power for the lighting of the lamp (310). The power supply unit includes a rectifier 302, a smoothing unit 304, and a power converter 306.

The rectifier 320 rectifies and outputs an AC voltage supplied from the external power source 302. The rectifier 320 may include a plurality of diode elements for rectifying operation.

The smoothing unit 304 smoothes the voltage output from the rectifying unit and outputs a DC voltage Vcc. The smoothing unit 304 may include one or more capacitor elements for the smoothing operation.

The power converter 306 converts the DC voltage Vcc output from the smoothing unit 304 into an alternating current for the lighting operation of the lamp 310 and supplies it to the lamp 310. The power converter 306 is supplied from the current controller 312 and the current controller 312 to output a switching signal for controlling the switching operation of the switching element S based on the illuminance control signal supplied from the controller 308. And a switching element S for repeatedly converting the DC voltage Vcc into the AC current I by repeatedly performing a switching operation, that is, turning on and turning off, by the switching signal.

The controller 308 controls the illuminance of the lamp 310 by adjusting the magnitude of the alternating current I supplied by the power supply unit according to the open or closed state of the door 206. Since the magnitude of the voltage supplied to the lamp 310 by the power supply unit as shown in FIG. 3 is constant, as the magnitude of the alternating current I increases under the control of the controller 308, the illuminance of the lamp 310 increases, As the size of the alternating current I decreases, the illuminance of the lamp 310 decreases.

More specifically, the controller 308 generates a pulse intensity illuminance control signal and applies it to the current controller 312. The current controller 312 adjusts the operating frequency of the switching signal according to the duty ratio of the illuminance control signal in the form of a pulse output from the controller 308. Here, the duty ratio means an on duty ratio, that is, a ratio of time that a pulse is on for one cycle.

The current controller 312 increases the operating frequency of the switching signal as the duty ratio of the illumination control signal output from the controller 308 increases. As a result, the operating frequency of the switching element S is increased to increase the size of the alternating current I output by the switching element S. On the contrary, if the duty ratio of the illuminance control signal output from the controller 308 is reduced, the current controller 312 reduces the operating frequency of the switching signal. As a result, the operating frequency of the switching element S is reduced, so that the magnitude of the alternating current I output by the switching element S is reduced.

Meanwhile, the current controller 312 may receive an AC current I fed back through the resistor R4 and the diode D1 and adjust an operating frequency of the switching signal based on the magnitude of the fed back AC current I. FIG. . For example, when the magnitude of the feedback alternating current I is smaller than the magnitude of the alternating current I specified by the illuminance control signal output from the controller 308, the current controller 312 increases the operating frequency of the switching signal to alternating current. It is possible to increase the size of (I).

As described above, the microwave oven according to the present invention may appropriately control the illuminance of the lamp 310 according to the situation by adjusting the magnitude of the alternating current I supplied to the lamp 310 through the illuminance control signal output from the controller 308. Has the advantage.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the controller 308 may adjust the illuminance of the lamp 310 according to the operating state of the microwave oven 20 or the external environment. For example, the controller 308 may adjust the illuminance of the lamp 310 according to the illuminance value input by the user through the illuminance adjustment button disposed on the manipulation unit 222.

As another example, the controller 308 may adjust the illuminance of the lamp 310 according to an external illuminance measured through an illuminance sensor (not shown) mounted on one side of the microwave oven 20. For example, if the external illuminance measured by the illuminance sensor (not shown) is found to be very high, the controller 308 may reduce unnecessary power consumption by reducing the illuminance of the lamp 310.

In addition, in one embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 308 controls the illuminance of the lamp 310 by adjusting the magnitude of the alternating current (I) supplied by the power supply in accordance with the open or closed state of the door 206. Can be. The illumination control operation of the lamp 310 of the controller 308 according to the open or closed state of the door 206 will be described later with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.

4 is a cross-sectional view of a lamp module according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The lamp included in the microwave oven according to the present invention may be implemented in a module form by being mounted on a printed circuit board together with some or all of the circuits constituting the power supply unit or the controller described above. As described above, when the lamp is implemented in a module form, there is a possibility that an abnormality occurs in the operation of the lamp module due to heat generation. For example, there is a possibility that the lamp may not operate normally or may be burned out due to heat generated during the switching operation of the switching element included in the power supply unit or heat generated by another element included in the power supply unit. In addition, the heat generated by the inside of the cooking chamber or the food during the cooking process of the microwave may affect the operation of the lamp.

The lamp module according to the present invention may be implemented on a printed circuit board having an insulating layer including a metal component as shown in FIG. 4 to dissipate such heat. Referring to the drawings, a printed circuit board includes an insulating layer 402 having a metal component, an adhesive layer 404, a circuit layer 406 printed with a conductive material such as copper, and a photo solder resist for protecting the printed circuit board. ) Ink layer 408. One or more LED chips 41, 42, 43 are arranged on the printed circuit board upper surface as an example of the lamp described above.

The microwave oven according to the present invention has an advantage of increasing heat dissipation performance by using a lamp implemented in a module form using a printed circuit board including a metal component as described above.

Hereinafter, the illuminance control operation of the lamp 310 of the controller 308 according to the open or closed state of the door 206 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2, 3, 5, and 6.

5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation process according to the closing of the door of the microwave oven according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to the figure, the controller 308 checks whether the door 206 is closed (502). If it is confirmed that the door 206 is closed, the controller 308 adjusts the magnitude of the alternating current I so that the illuminance of the lamp 310 is the first illuminance (504). In one embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 308 stepwise increases the size of the alternating current (I) so that the illuminance of the lamp (310) increases step by step according to a predetermined time interval.

The controller 308 checks whether the first predetermined reference time (for example, 5 seconds) has elapsed since the time when the door 206 is closed (506). If it is confirmed that the first reference time has not elapsed, the controller 308 continuously increases the illuminance of the lamp 310. As a result of the check, when the first reference time elapses, the controller 308 maintains the first illuminance without increasing the illuminance of the lamp 310 any more.

According to an exemplary embodiment, instead of checking whether the first reference time has elapsed, the controller 308 adjusts the illuminance of the lamp 310 at a predetermined time interval until the illuminance of the lamp 310 reaches the first illuminance. Therefore, it may increase in steps. In one embodiment of the present invention, the first illuminance may be set to the maximum illuminance of the lamp 310.

According to the control operation of FIG. 5, after the user closes the door 206, the lighting inside the cooking chamber 204 gradually becomes bright. Accordingly, the user has an advantage of clearly identifying the inside of the cooking chamber 204 with the door 206 closed.

Although not shown in the drawing, the controller 308 may turn off the lamp 310 when there is no user input through the button unit 218 until the third reference time elapses from the time when the door 206 is closed. The light may be turned off immediately, or the illuminance of the lamp 310 may be gradually decreased by a predetermined time interval until the lamp 310 is turned off. Accordingly, there is an effect that can reduce unnecessary power consumption. At this time, the third reference time is set longer than the first reference time.

In addition, although not shown in the drawing, the controller 308 may control the illuminance of the lamp 310 to be the third illuminance when the cooking is started by the user inputting a cooking command through the button unit 218 after the door 206 is closed. Can be. At this time, the third illuminance is set lower than the first illuminance. After the cooking is completed, the controller 308 may adjust the illuminance of the lamp 310 to the first illuminance again.

6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation process of opening a door of a microwave oven according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to the figure, the controller 308 checks whether the door 206 is open (602). If it is confirmed that the door 206 is open, the controller 308 adjusts the magnitude of the alternating current I so that the illuminance of the lamp 310 is the second illuminance (604). Here, the second illuminance may be set to less than half of the first illuminance. As described above, the microwave oven according to the present invention may reduce power consumption due to the lighting of the lamp 310 by lowering the illuminance of the lamp 310 when the door 206 is opened.

Subsequently, the controller 308 checks whether the second reference time (for example, 10 seconds) that has been preset has elapsed since the time when the door 206 is opened (606). If it is confirmed that the second reference time has not elapsed, the controller 308 continuously adjusts the magnitude of the alternating current I so that the illuminance of the lamp 310 is the second illuminance (604). As a result of the check, when the second reference time elapses, the controller 308 cuts off the AC current I supplied to the lamp 310 to turn off the lamp 310 to reduce unnecessary power consumption.

On the other hand, although not shown in the drawing, the second illuminance may be set differently according to the external illuminance measured by an illuminance sensor (not shown) installed at one side of the microwave oven. For example, when the external illuminance measured by the illuminance sensor while the door 206 is open is higher than the preset reference illuminance value, the controller 308 may obtain an additional power saving effect by lowering the second illuminance below the preset value. .

The present invention described above is capable of various substitutions, modifications, and changes without departing from the spirit of the present invention for those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains. It is not limited by.

Claims (9)

cuisine;
A door rotatably connected to the front of the cooking chamber to open and close the cooking chamber;
A lamp disposed on an inner wall of the cooking chamber;
A power supply unit converting an AC voltage supplied from an external power source and supplying an AC current to the lamp; And
Control unit for controlling the illuminance of the lamp by adjusting the magnitude of the alternating current supplied by the power supply in accordance with the open or closed state of the door
Microwave including a.
The method of claim 1,
The power supply unit
A rectifier for rectifying and outputting the AC voltage;
A smoothing unit outputting a DC voltage by smoothing the voltage output from the rectifying unit;
A switching element for converting the DC voltage into the AC current through a switching operation; And
The current controller generates a switching signal for the switching operation according to the illuminance control signal supplied from the controller and applies it to the switching element.
Microwave including a.
The method of claim 1,
The control unit
When the door is closed, the magnitude of the AC current is adjusted to increase the illuminance of the lamp to the first illuminance from the time when the door is closed until the first predetermined reference time elapses.
Microwave.
The method of claim 3,
The control unit
Adjusting the magnitude of the alternating current so that the illuminance of the lamp increases step by step according to a predetermined time interval
Microwave.
The method of claim 3,
The first illuminance is the maximum illuminance of the lamp
Microwave.
The method of claim 1,
The control unit
When the door is opened, the magnitude of the AC current is adjusted so that the illuminance of the lamp is the second illuminance.
Microwave.
The method of claim 6,
The second illuminance is set to less than half of the first illuminance
Microwave.
The method of claim 6,
The control unit
When the second reference time elapses from the time when the door is opened, the supply of the AC current is cut off to turn off the lamp.
Microwave.
The method of claim 1,
The lamp is
Disposed on a printed circuit board having a metal insulating layer
Microwave.

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