JP2003214635A - Microwave oven - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make a communication means less subject to noise without providing a radio shield means exclusive therefor and to suppress the temperature rise of the communication means. <P>SOLUTION: A communication device 33 and an antenna 34 connected thereto which constitute the communication means are arranged on the lower surface of a metallic bottom plate 12 in the lower part of a body 1. The bottom plate 12 acts as the shield means of the micro waves generated by a magnetron 15. A synthetic resin-made bottom plate cover 24 is provided on the lower part of the bottom plate 12, and the communication device 33 and antenna 34 are opposed to the intake duct 26 of the bottom plate cover 24. When a first fan device 20 for cooling an inverter unit 19 is driven, the outside air is sucked to the intake duct 26 through a front first intake port 28, and taken into the first fan device 20 through a rear bottom plate intake port 22. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a microwave oven equipped with communication means for communicating with an external communication device via an antenna.

[0002]

In recent years, in a microwave oven, a communication means and an antenna are provided in order to enable communication with an external communication device, for example, an information terminal provided in a home. It is considered. In this case, it is conceivable that the communication means is provided in the machine room adjacent to the heating room in the microwave oven.

However, a magnetron is provided as a microwave generation means for generating a microwave in the machine room, and when the communication means is provided in the machine room, the influence of the microwave accompanying the oscillation of the magnetron is affected. Since the communication means is easily affected by noise, a dedicated radio wave shield means for preventing the noise is required. There is also a problem that the temperature inside the machine room tends to rise, and the temperature of the communication means also rises easily.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to make it difficult to be influenced by noise without providing a dedicated radio wave shield means for the communication means and to raise the temperature of the communication means. There is a microwave oven that can be suppressed.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 has a main body having a heating chamber and a bottom plate made of metal at the lower part, and a microwave for generating the microwave. In a microwave oven provided with a microwave generation means for supplying into the heating chamber and a communication means for communicating with an external communication device via an antenna, the communication means is arranged on the lower surface of the bottom plate. Characterize.

According to the above invention, the metal bottom plate is
Since it functions as a shield means for microwaves generated by the microwave generation means, it is possible to prevent the communication means provided on the lower surface of the bottom plate from being affected by noise. In this case, since the bottom plate is used as a radio wave shield means,
It is not necessary to provide a dedicated radio wave shield means for the communication means. Further, the lower surface of the bottom plate is not easily affected by the heat of the main body side, and the temperature rise of the communication means can be suppressed.

The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the communication means is surrounded by a non-metal bottom plate cover provided below the bottom plate. According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the communication means from being exposed, so that it is possible to protect the communication means without deteriorating the appearance.

The invention of claim 3 is characterized in that the communication means is arranged so as to face the intake duct formed inside the bottom plate cover. According to the present invention, the communication means is exposed to the air (intake air) passing through the intake duct, so that the temperature rise of the communication means can be further suppressed.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, an intake duct and an exhaust duct provided on the bottom plate cover, a bottom plate intake port provided on the bottom plate so as to communicate with the intake duct, and the bottom plate communicating with the exhaust duct. And a fan for exhausting air outside the main body provided on the upper surface side of the bottom plate through the intake duct and the bottom plate intake port, and for discharging the air to the outside of the main body through the bottom plate exhaust port and the exhaust duct. And a device.

According to the above-described invention, the intake passage and the exhaust passage are secured, and the cooling air can be smoothly flowed by the forced air blowing action of the fan device, so that the communication means facing the intake duct can be efficiently used. It can be cooled, and the temperature rise of the communication means can be further suppressed.

According to a fifth aspect of the invention, the bottom plate cover has an intake port communicating with the intake duct, and the communication means is arranged in the vicinity of the intake port. According to this invention,
The temperature of the air in the vicinity of the intake port is relatively low, and the communication means is likely to come into contact with the relatively low air, so that the temperature rise of the communication means can be further suppressed.

The invention of claim 6 is characterized in that the antenna is arranged on the lower surface of the bottom plate and on the rear side. According to the present invention, even if the microwave generated by the microwave generation means leaks from the front side of the heating chamber, the antenna is less likely to be affected by the microwave.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, the bottom plate cover has an air intake opening communicating with the air intake duct, and the air intake opening is arranged so as not to be located below the hinge portion of the door that opens and closes the front opening of the heating chamber. Is characterized by. When the intake port of the bottom plate cover is below the hinge part of the door, it is considered that hot air leaking from the gap around the hinge part is easily sucked from the intake port. In this respect, according to the above-described invention, by arranging the intake port of the bottom plate cover so as not to be located below the hinge portion of the door, even if the hot air in the heating chamber leaks from the gap around the hinge portion, the hot air is sucked in. It is possible to prevent being sucked in through the mouth as much as possible, and it is possible to prevent the temperature of the communication means from rising.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. First, in FIG. 2 showing the overall appearance of the microwave oven, a door 3 having a handle 2 is provided on the front surface of the main body 1, and
An operation panel 4 is provided on the right side of the door 3. The operation panel 4 is provided with a display unit 5 and a large number of operation switches 6. A cabinet 7 made of a metal plate is provided around the main body 1, and a back plate 8 made of a metal plate is provided on the back portion. The cabinet 7 has a U-shape that is open on both front and rear surfaces and the lower surface.

Inside the cabinet 7, an oven 9 made of a metal plate is provided as shown in FIG. This oven 9 has a rectangular box shape with an open front,
The inside is a heating chamber 10. The front opening of the heating chamber 10 is adapted to be opened and closed by the door 3. The door 3 is rotatably supported via hinges 3a (see FIG. 3) provided on both left and right sides of the lower end.

A heat shield plate 11 is provided above the oven cabinet 9. In addition, a bottom plate 12 made of a metal plate is provided at a lower portion of the main body 1 so as to be positioned below the oven chamber 9. A space 13 having a predetermined thickness is formed between the bottom plate 12 and the oven chamber 9. The space on the right side of the oven 9 is located on the back side of the operation panel 4 and serves as a machine room 14. The bottom plate 12 also extends to the right side of the oven chamber 9 and serves as a bottom plate of the machine room 14.

On the right side surface 9a of the oven chamber 9 (the surface facing the machine room 14), there are provided a magnetron 15 as a microwave generating means, a waveguide 16 and a ventilation duct 17. Two lamps 18 for illuminating the inside of the heating chamber 10 are attached to the ventilation duct 17. Machine room 14
On the upper surface of the bottom plate 12 corresponding to the bottom of the magnetron 1
An inverter unit 19 for driving five drives is provided, and a first fan device 20 that is located behind the inverter unit 19 and cools the inverter unit 19 is provided. A second fan device 21 for cooling the magnetron 15 is provided on the surface of the rear plate 8 on the machine room 14 side.
Is provided.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the bottom plate 12 has a bottom plate intake port 22 having a rectangular opening at the right rear portion and a bottom plate exhaust port 23 having a large number of openings at the left portion.
Are formed. Below the bottom plate 12, a bottom plate cover 24 made of non-metal, in this case synthetic resin, is provided.
The bottom plate cover 24 has a shallow container shape with an open upper surface, and the inside thereof is divided into left and right by a partition portion 25, and the right side thereof serves as an intake duct 26 and the left side thereof serves as an exhaust duct 27.

On the front surface of the bottom plate cover 24, a first intake port 28 communicating with the intake duct 26 is formed on the right side, and a first exhaust port 29 communicating with the exhaust duct 27 is formed on the left part. Has been done. The bottom plate intake port 22 communicates with an intake duct 26, and the bottom plate exhaust port 23 communicates with an exhaust duct 27. In addition, on the right side wall of the cabinet 7,
As shown in FIG. 2C, the second intake port 30 is provided at the rear part.
A second exhaust port 31 is formed in the front part.

On the right side of the lower surface of the bottom plate 12, there are provided a communication device 32 constituting a communication means and an antenna 33 connected to the communication device 32. Communication device 32
Is attached to the front part of the lower surface of the bottom plate 12 by screwing or the like, and the antenna 33 is directed to the rear part on the rear side of the communication device 30 and is supported by the support base 34 and the pressing plate 35. Therefore, the communication device 32 uses the first intake port 2
The antenna 33 is arranged on the front side near 8 and the antenna 33 is arranged on the rear side. The antenna 33 is bent in a crank shape. These communication device 32 and antenna 33
Are arranged so as to face the intake duct 26.

Although not shown, a control device composed of a microcomputer is provided on the back side of the operation panel 4, and the lead wire 36 of the communication device 33 is also connected to the control device. This control device has a function of performing heating operation in the microwave oven and control of the display unit, and also has a function of performing control related to the communication device 33.

The communication device 33 has, for example, a short-distance wireless communication function conforming to the communication standard of Bluetooth (“Bluetooth” (registered trademark of Ericsson)). Bluetooth is an industrial, chemical and medical frequency band (I
2.4 GHz band, which is one of the SM band),
Communication is performed by using relatively weak electric waves with low power consumption.

The microwave oven equipped with such a communication device 33 can communicate with an external communication device, for example, an information terminal (not shown) provided in the home. In this case, the information terminal, like the microwave oven,
It is necessary to have a communication means for performing near field communication that complies with the Bluetooth communication standard.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described. Heating chamber 1
When the magnetron 15 oscillates while the food to be cooked is housed in 0, the microwave generated by the oscillation is supplied into the heating chamber 10 through the waveguide 16, and the microwave is supplied to the heating chamber. The food to be cooked is heated by being irradiated to the food to be cooked housed in 10.

At this time, the first and second fan units 2
0 and 21 are also driven. Of these, the first fan device 2
When 0 is driven, the air having a relatively low temperature is sucked into the intake duct 26 from the first intake port 28, mainly as shown by an arrow A1 in FIGS. The air flows in the intake duct 26 toward the rear and is sucked into the machine chamber 14 from the bottom plate intake port 22. After this, arrow A
As shown by 2, after flowing forward in the machine room 14, it passes through the space 13 between the bottom plate 12 and the oven chamber 9, and from the bottom plate exhaust port 23 as shown by an arrow A3 in FIG. It passes through the exhaust duct 27 and is discharged to the outside from the first exhaust port 29. It should be noted that a part of the air flowing forward in the machine room 14 is discharged to the outside from the second exhaust port 31.
Here, when the air sucked into the intake duct 26 flows through the intake duct 26, the communication device 32 and the antenna 33 are cooled by the air flow (cooling air). In addition, the air flow in the machine room 14 causes the inverter unit 1
9 is cooled.

When the second fan unit 21 is driven, its air blowing action mainly sucks air having a relatively low temperature outside from the second intake port 30 into the machine chamber 14, and the air is blown. The magnetron 15 is cooled by being blown to the magnetron 15, and the air that has cooled the magnetron 15 is supplied into the heating chamber 10 through the ventilation duct 17.
After this, the gas is discharged to the outside from an exhaust port (not shown). In this case as well, part of the air that has flowed forward in the machine room 14 is discharged to the outside from the second exhaust port 31.

Here, since the communication device 32 and the antenna 33 are arranged on the lower surface of the metal bottom plate 12 in the lower part of the main body 1, the bottom plate 12 serves as a shield means for microwaves generated by the magnetron 15. To work. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the communication device 32 and the antenna 33 provided on the lower surface of the bottom plate 12 from being affected by noise generated by microwaves.

According to the above embodiment, the following effects can be obtained. The communication device 32 and the antenna 33,
Since it is arranged on the lower surface of the metal bottom plate 12 in the lower part of the main body 1, the bottom plate 12 is attached to the magnetron 15
Will act as a shield means for the microwaves that are generated. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the communication device 32 and the antenna 33 provided on the lower surface of the bottom plate 12 from being affected by noise due to microwaves. In this case, since the bottom plate 12 is used as a radio wave shield means, the communication device 3
It is not necessary to provide dedicated radio wave shield means for the antenna 3 and the antenna 33. Further, since the lower surface of the bottom plate 12 is not easily affected by the heat of the body 1, it is possible to suppress the temperature rise of the communication device 33 and the antenna 33.

The communication device 33 and the antenna 33 include the bottom plate 1.
Since the structure is surrounded by the bottom plate cover 24 made of synthetic resin provided in the lower part of 2, the communication device 33 and the antenna 33 can be prevented from being exposed, the appearance is not deteriorated, and the communication device 33 and the antenna are not exposed. It is also possible to protect 33.

Since the communication device 33 and the antenna 33 are arranged so as to face the intake duct 26 formed inside the bottom plate cover 24, the communication device 33 and the antenna 33 pass through the intake duct 26 (intake air). The temperature rise can be further suppressed.

An intake path and an exhaust path are secured by the first fan device 20 for cooling the inverter unit 19, and the cooling air can be smoothly flowed by the forced blowing action of the first fan device 20. Therefore, the communication device 33 and the antenna 33 facing the intake duct 26 can be efficiently cooled, and the temperature rise of them can be further suppressed. At this time, the communication device 33 is arranged near the first intake port 28, and the first intake port 28 is
Since the temperature of the air in the vicinity is relatively low and the communication device 33 is likely to come into contact with the relatively low air, the temperature rise of the communication device 33 can be further suppressed.

Since the antenna 34 is arranged on the lower surface of the bottom plate 12 and on the rear side, the magnetron 1
Even if the microwave generated by 5 leaks from the door 3 on the front side of the heating chamber 10, the antenna 34 is less likely to be affected by the microwave.

FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. This second embodiment differs from the above-mentioned first embodiment in the following points. That is, in the vicinity of the first intake port 28 in the bottom plate cover 24, the hinge portion 3 a on the right side of the door 3 is provided.
A non-perforated portion 40 is formed in a portion corresponding to the lower part (see FIG. 3), and the first intake port 28 is divided into left and right by the non-perforated portion 40. Therefore, the first intake port 28
Is arranged so as to avoid the lower side of the hinge portion 3a on the right side of the door 3. Inside the bottom plate cover 24, a U-shaped enclosing portion 41 is provided behind the non-perforated portion 40.

Here, when the first intake port 28 in the bottom plate cover 24 is below the hinge portion 3a of the door 3, the hot air in the heating chamber 10 leaking from the gap (not shown) around the hinge portion 3a becomes the first. It is considered that the first intake port 28 is easily sucked into the intake duct 26. In this respect, according to the configuration described above, the first intake port 2 in the bottom plate cover 24 is provided.
By arranging 8 to avoid below the hinge portion 3a of the door 3, even if the hot air in the heating chamber 10 leaks from the gap around the hinge portion 3a, the hot air will not be absorbed by the first intake port 28.
It is possible to prevent the air from being sucked in from the device as much as possible, and thus to prevent the temperatures of the communication device 33 and the antenna 34 from rising.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, but can be modified or expanded as follows. The bottom plate cover 24 may be made of ceramic or glass instead of synthetic resin as long as it is a member that allows radio waves to easily pass therethrough. The antenna 33 can be provided not only on the lower surface of the bottom plate 12 but also on the outer surface of the cabinet 7, for example.

[0036]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, since the communication means is arranged on the lower surface of the metal bottom plate in the lower part of the main body, the bottom plate is a microwave. Since it acts as a shield means for the microwave generated by the generation means, it is possible to prevent the communication means from being affected by noise. In this case, since the bottom plate is used as the radio wave shield means, it is not necessary to provide a dedicated radio wave shield means for the communication means. Also,
Since the lower surface of the bottom plate is unlikely to be affected by the heat of the main body side, the temperature rise of the communication means can be suppressed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cutaway side view showing a first embodiment of the present invention, in which a cabinet of a main body is removed and a bottom plate cover is broken.

2A and 2B are external views of a microwave oven, in which FIG. 2A is a front view, FIG. 2B is a plan view, and FIG.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view showing a state in which a bottom plate cover is removed.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of essential parts.

FIG. 5 is a view corresponding to FIG. 4 showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

In the drawings, 1 is a main body, 3 is a door, 3a is a hinge part, 7 is a cabinet, 9 is an oven, 10 is a heating chamber, 12 is a bottom plate, 14 is a machine room, 15 is a magnetron (microwave generator), 19 Is an inverter unit, 20 is a first fan device (fan device), 21 is a second fan device, 2
2 is a bottom plate intake port, 23 is a bottom plate exhaust port, 24 is a bottom plate cover, 26 is an intake duct, 27 is an exhaust duct, and 28 is a first
Intake port (intake port), 29 is the first exhaust port (exhaust port),
32 is a communication device (communication means), 33 is an antenna, and 40 is a non-hole portion.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A main body having a heating chamber and a bottom plate made of metal at a lower portion, microwave generating means for generating a microwave and supplying the microwave into the heating chamber, and an external communication device via an antenna. And a communication means for communicating with the microwave oven, the communication means being disposed on a lower surface of the bottom plate. 2. The microwave oven according to claim 1, wherein the communication means is surrounded by a non-metal bottom plate cover provided below the bottom plate. 3. The microwave oven according to claim 2, wherein the communication means is arranged so as to face an intake duct formed inside the bottom plate cover. 4. An intake duct and an exhaust duct provided on the bottom plate cover, a bottom plate intake port provided on the bottom plate so as to communicate with the intake duct, and a bottom plate provided so as to communicate with the exhaust duct. A bottom plate exhaust port and a fan device provided on the upper surface side of the bottom plate for sucking air outside the main body through the intake duct and the bottom plate intake port and discharging the air to the outside of the main body through the bottom plate exhaust port and the exhaust duct. The microwave oven according to claim 3, wherein: 5. The microwave oven according to claim 3, wherein the bottom plate cover has an intake port communicating with the intake duct, and the communication means is arranged in the vicinity of the intake port. 6. The microwave oven according to claim 1, wherein the antenna is arranged on the lower surface of the bottom plate and on the rear side. 7. The bottom plate cover has an intake port communicating with an intake duct, and the intake port is arranged so as to avoid a portion below a hinge portion of a door that opens and closes a front opening portion of the heating chamber. Item 3. A microwave oven according to Item 3 or 4.