Cross-reference to related applications
Technical field
[0002] The present invention relates to an oven muffle. Therefore, the reference technical
field of the present invention is that of ovens (domestic and industrial) for cooking
or heating dishes. More specifically, the technical field of the present invention
refers to oven muffles equipped with lighting devices capable of illuminating the
cooking chamber so that a user can easily check the cooking or heating state of the
dishes. The technical field of the present invention is not limited to a particular
type of cooking of the dishes. In this sense, an oven according to the present invention
can be an electric oven, a gas oven, a steam or humidified oven, a microwave oven,
or a hybrid oven with various cooking modes.
State of the art
[0003] As is known, domestic or industrial ovens for cooking or heating dishes include a
particular internal structure known in the sector as a muffle which defines the cooking
chamber. Outside the muffle there is an external frame and between the muffle and
this external frame there are all the devices designed for the correct operation of
the oven. The muffle comprises a plurality of walls, which are interconnected to each
other or made directly in one piece. In particular, the muffle comprises a back wall,
a roof wall, a floor wall, two lateral walls and a front door. As is known, the door
is movable (usually hinged to a lateral wall) between a first position, in which it
closes the cooking chamber to reduce the dispersion of the cooking heat, and a second
position in which it allows the user to access the cooking chamber. The lateral walls
of the muffle include supports or guides configured to support at least one shelf
for dividing the cooking chamber into sub-chambers. As is known, these shelves allow
several dishes to be cooked at the same time or the dishes to be brought closer to
the roof wall where, for example, there may be an electric resistance for particular
types of cooking. The supporting devices for the shelves can be made in the form of
protruding ribs or parallel grooves placed one above the other along the lateral walls
from the floor to the roof of the cooking chamber.
[0004] Starting from this known structure, muffles equipped with lighting devices configured
for illuminating the cooking chamber are now available on the market, so that a user
can easily check the cooking or heating state of the dishes. A first example of these
muffles provides for the presence of a light source in the area of the roof of the
cooking chamber. However, this solution is not optimal because, if a shelf is present
in the oven, it is not able to illuminate dishes placed under a shelf, for example
on a lower shelf or on the floor wall of the muffle. Today there is therefore a need
to equip the muffle with lighting devices configured so as to be able to illuminate
the dishes regardless of the number of shelves in the oven and of the position of
the shelf inside the cooking chamber.
[0005] A first available solution for this purpose, for example, is described in
DE102006061793. In fact, this document describes a muffle wherein each shelf is provided with a
dedicated light source in the form of a horizontal light guide supported on a special
support coupled to the lateral wall of the cooking chamber. However, this solution
is not particularly advantageous in view of the high number of components used for
lighting.
[0006] A second example of a muffle with lighting devices configured to illuminate all the
shelves is described in
EP2746676. According to the teachings of this document, it is possible to provide a single
vertical light guide coupled to a lateral wall of the muffle which extends from the
floor to the roof wall of the cooking chamber. Advantageously, this vertical light
guide extends over the entire height of the cooking chamber, and therefore with a
single light source (for example, a LED) coupled to one of its ends it is possible
to illuminate all the shelves in the oven. According to
EP2746676, the vertical light guide is supported, in the area of the lateral walls, by a special
support equipped with reflective elements or can be supported by a special vertical
recess in the lateral wall of the muffle.
EP2746676 also addresses the problem of correctly conveying the light emitted by the vertical
light guide and preventing glare for the user. The solution proposed in this document
is to make particular surface processing in some portions of the vertical light guide
so as to allow the emission of light at these surface-processed portions. Even this
solution described in
EP2746676, although it actually reduces the devices in the muffle for lighting the cooking
chamber, is not without drawbacks. In fact, on the one hand, the presence of special
devices solely intended to support the vertical light guides are however additional
elements to be provided in the cooking chamber, and on the other hand, the surface
processing for partially shielding the light guides makes this solution not advantageous
economically.
Description of the invention
[0007] Starting from this prior art, it is an object of the present invention to provide
an oven muffle equipped with lighting devices for illuminating the cooking chamber,
which is capable of overcoming the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art. In
particular, the main object of the present invention is to provide a muffle equipped
with lighting devices wherein all the shelves in the oven can be illuminated with
a few simple components.
[0008] In accordance with these objects, the present invention relates to an innovative
oven muffle, wherein this muffle defines a cooking chamber and comprises:
- a back wall, a roof wall, a floor wall, two lateral walls, and optionally a door hinged
to a lateral wall;
- at least one lighting device configured for illuminating the cooking chamber;
- supporting devices coupled to the lateral walls and configured for supporting at least
one oven shelf for dividing the cooking chamber into sub-chambers or special lateral
frames which in turn support (and possibly also guide) the shelves. In the following,
the term 'device for supporting the shelves' will therefore refer to both a device
that directly supports the shelves and a device that supports the frames which in
turn support the shelves.
[0009] Starting from this configuration, known per se, the main aspect of the present invention
is the interaction between one of the devices for supporting the shelves and the lighting
device, where interaction means their mutual positioning inside the cooking chamber,
and preferably also particular profiles of some portions of these elements. In particular,
according to the main aspect of the present invention, the lighting device is positioned
close to a supporting device, which is configured for partially shielding the light
emitted by the lighting device.
[0010] Advantageously, therefore, according to the present invention, two functions now
delegated to two distinct components, namely the structural function of supporting
the shelves and the optical function of partially shielding the light emitted by the
lighting device, are synergistically combined in a single component.
[0011] According to the general aspect of the present invention, the supporting devices
can be made in any shape as long as they are capable of performing the aforementioned
dual function, and the lighting device can also be of any type. However, the attached
figures will describe a particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention wherein
the number of components used is reduced.
[0012] According to one embodiment of the invention, the device for supporting the shelves,
which also houses the lighting device, is configured to shield the light emitted towards
the muffle door, or generally towards a user who intends to observe the inside of
the cooking chamber from the outside.
[0013] Advantageously, in this way, again with a single component, the glare for the user
is prevented in a simple and inexpensive way without requiring particular surface
processing of the lighting device.
[0014] Preferably, for each lateral wall, the muffle comprises a front supporting device
opposite the back wall and close to the door, and a rear supporting device close to
the back wall. In this embodiment, the support configured to shield the light emitted
by the lighting device is one of the two front supporting devices.
[0015] Preferably, the muffle comprises two lighting devices, each of which is associated
with a front supporting device in the manner provided according to the present invention.
The rear supporting devices can be the same as or different from the front ones. In
fact, for economy of scale, the rear supporting devices can be identical to the front
ones. However, their retracted position would make it difficult to prevent glare for
the user if the lighting devices were housed therein, and therefore usually the rear
supporting devices only have the structural function of supporting the shelves.
[0016] According to a preferred embodiment, the devices for supporting the shelves are made
in the form of uprights or vertical supports. Preferably, the uprights extend substantially
over the entire height of the cooking chamber from the floor wall to the roof wall,
so as to guarantee cooperation with lighting devices capable of illuminating all the
shelves that may be present.
[0017] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the uprights supporting the
shelves are a substantially cylindrical body made of an electrically insulating material.
[0018] According to one embodiment, the lighting device comprises a cylindrical light guide
extending along the entire vertical length of the respective supporting device. For
the purposes of the present invention, the term cylindrical refers to a body with
surfaces defined by parallel generators regardless of the cross section of the body
itself. For example, in this embodiment, the light emitted by the light guide is introduced
into it by at least one LED located outside the muffle as described in
EP2746676. This solution is extremely advantageous because it cuts down to one the number of
lighting devices for illuminating all the shelves.
[0019] Preferably, each front supporting device comprises a cylindrical body with a first
wall contacting the respective lateral wall of the muffle and a second wall opposite
the first and configured to support shelves, or lateral frames for supporting shelves.
In this case, the light guide (or the lighting device in general) is positioned in
the cooking chamber at a distance from the lateral wall less than the distance from
the second wall, so as to be entirely contained in the projection of the body of the
front supporting device towards the back wall of the muffle.
[0020] Even more preferably, the front supporting device comprises a lip portion extending
from the second wall towards the back wall beyond the body of the upright. In this
case, the light guide (or the lighting device in general) is positioned in the cooking
chamber so that the projection of the lip on the lateral wall of the muffle intersects
at least part of said light guide.
[0021] Of course, this type of lighting device can also be independent of the section a
of the upright, meaning that the upright can have other shapes (for example, it may
have a real seat for housing different lighting devices), or vice versa, the lighting
device can be a single vertical cylindrical light guide that cooperates with differently
shaped supporting devices (provided they are always able to shield part of the light
emitted).
[0022] As described above, according to the main aspect of the invention, the front supporting
devices have not only a shielding function but also the (original) structural function
of supporting the shelves or the shelf-supporting frames. According to the example
which will be described in the part relating to the description of a preferred embodiment
of the invention, in order to perform this structural function, the front uprights
(as well as the rear ones) comprise, along their vertical length, a plurality of mushroom-shaped
point protrusions configured to be coupled to one end of a shelf-supporting frame
equipped with a corresponding slotted seat. In this way, the frames can be easily
removed for cleaning reasons or in order to possibly equip the muffle with different
frames, for example telescopic frames, if required.
[0023] Lastly, it is possible to provide a recess in the lateral walls of the muffle in
the area of the supporting devices or in the whole wall, so that said supporting devices
are flush with this recess and do not take up room in the cooking chamber.
Brief Description of the Drawings
[0024] Further features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the
following description of a non-limiting embodiment thereof, with reference to the
figures of the accompanying drawings, wherein:
- Figure 1 is a schematic view of an embodiment of a muffle according to the present
invention;
- Figures 2 and 3 are perspective views of a component of the muffle in Figure 1, in
particular of a device for supporting shelves or of frames for supporting shelves
for dividing the cooking chamber into sub-chambers;
- Figure 4 is a sectional view of the supporting device in Figures 2 and 3;
- Figure 5 is a perspective view of an assembly according to the present invention formed
by the supporting device of Figures 2 and 3 and a light guide;
- Figure 6 is a sectional view of the assembly in Figure 5.
Description of one embodiment of the invention
[0025] With reference to the accompanying figures, Figure 1 shows a schematic view of an
embodiment of an oven muffle 1 according to the present invention. As is known, the
muffle 1 defines a cooking chamber 2 and comprises a plurality of walls. In particular,
Figure 1 shows a floor wall 3, a back wall 4, a roof wall 5 and two lateral walls
6 and 7. The muffle 1 also comprises a door (not shown and usually hinged to a lateral
wall) to selectively close and open the cooking chamber 2 with respect to the surrounding
environment. The oven incorporating the muffle 1 comprises, in a known manner, an
external frame that encases the muffle 1, and the devices for the correct operation
of the oven are housed in the cavity between the muffle 1 and the frame. Since the
present invention is independent of the type of cooking offered by the oven, the heating
devices and the external frame encasing the muffle 1 are not shown on purpose in Figure
1. As shown, each lateral wall 6 and 7 is equipped with two uprights 8, 9, a front
upright 8 at the door (not shown) and a rear upright 9 at the back wall 4 of the muffle
1, respectively. Both the uprights 8 and 9 of each lateral wall 6 and 7 extend vertically
along substantially the entire height of the lateral wall 6 and 7 and act as supporting
devices for a plurality of parallel frames which, in turn, support shelves for dividing
the cooking chamber 2 into sub-chambers. Alternatively, the uprights 8 and 9 can be
configured to directly support the shelves that divide the cooking chamber 2 into
sub-chambers. The uprights 8 and 9 are coupled to the lateral walls in a known manner,
for example by means of rivets or threaded couplings. This coupling is schematized
by reference number 14. The muffle 1 in Figure 1 comprises two lighting devices 11
wherein each of these devices 11 comprises a LED light source 12 and a cylindrical
light guide 13 (i.e. in the form of a rectangular-section parallelepiped). As can
be seen, the LEDs 12 are located outside the cooking chamber 2 at a first end of the
light guide 13. According to the embodiment in Figure 1, the lateral walls 6 and 7
have a recess towards the outside with respect to the cooking chamber 2 and the roof
5 so that, in its vertical movement, the light guide 13 has a first section external
to the cooking chamber 2 (where the LED 12 is present) and a section internal to the
cooking chamber 2. As will become apparent from the subsequent figures, the main aspect
of the present invention relates to the relative positioning of the light guide 13
with the respective front upright 8 inside the cooking chamber 2, as well as the particular
profile of said front upright 8.
[0026] Figures 2 and 3 show perspective views of a front upright 8 supporting the front
of the frames 19 for the shelves. As shown in these figures, the front upright 8 has
a substantially constant section along its vertical length (i.e. from the floor to
the roof of the muffle) and comprises a cylindrical body 21 provided with a first
wall 15 for coupling to the respective lateral wall 6 of the muffle 1, and a second
opposite wall 16 configured to (releasably) support the frames 19. As shown in Figure
3, the first wall 15 is equipped with a plurality of holes 17 arranged one after the
other along the length of the upright 8 and configured to receive the above-mentioned
rivets or threads 14 passing through the lateral walls of the muffle. As shown in
Figure 2, the second wall 16 is a flat surface, in use parallel to the lateral wall
6, equipped with a plurality of mushroom-shaped point protrusions 18 arranged one
after the other along the length of the upright 8. These protrusions 18 are configured
to be coupled to respective slotted seats obtained in the front end of the frames
19. This coupling is known per se and occurs by providing an inverted U-shaped seat
at the front end of the frames 19 configured to be fitted by sliding on the respective
protrusion 18 which, for this purpose, is in the shape of a mushroom.
[0027] Figure 4 shows a top view of the upright 8, i.e. a view along the arrow F of Figure
2. As shown in Figure 4, when the upright 8 is associated with the respective wall
6 of the muffle 1, the second wall 16 is parallel to the lateral wall 6 of the muffle
1 and is at a distance D from the wall 6 of the muffle at least equal to the thickness
of the body 21 of the upright 8. Furthermore, Figure 4 shows that the second wall
16 has a lip extension 20 or a protruding portion with respect to the body 21 in the
direction transverse to the length of the upright 8 towards the back wall 4 of the
muffle 1. The following will show that the upright 8 and the aforementioned lip portion
20 collaborate with the light guide 13 in order to at least partially shield the light
emitted by said light guide 13.
[0028] Figures 5 and 6 show the mutual positioning of the light guide 13 with respect to
the upright 8 according to the present invention. In particular, Figures 5 and 6,
respectively, show a perspective view and a sectional view of the mutual positioning
of the light guide 13 with respect to the upright 8. This example clearly shows that,
according to the present invention, the lighting device 11 is arranged close to the
upright 8 which is configured to shield at least part of the light emitted by the
light guide, in particular the light directed towards the opening of the muffle 1.
According to the example shown in Figure 6, the light guide 13 is positioned in the
cooking chamber 2 in a position such that it is located in a space between the lateral
wall 6 and the extension of the second surface 16 of the upright 8 towards the back
wall 4 of the muffle 1. In other words, the light guide 13 is at a distance from the
lateral wall 6 of the muffle 1 less than the distance D which separates the same lateral
wall 6 of the muffle 1 from the second wall 16 of the upright 8. Therefore, in this
example, the light guide 13 is entirely inside the projection of the upright 8 on
the back wall of the muffle. Furthermore, as mentioned in the general description
of the invention, the lighting device 11 is close to the supporting device 8. According
to the example shown, this close positioning means positioning the light guide 13
in a position such that the projection P of the lip 20 on the lateral wall 6 at least
partially intersects the light guide 13. According to the example shown, the positioning
of the light guide 13 in the space between the lateral wall 6 of the muffle 1 and
the second surface 16 of the upright 8 and the proximity of the light guide to said
upright 8 (with particular reference to the lip 20) allow the technical effect (anti-glare
for the user) to be reached in a simple way, without adding other elements in the
cooking chamber and even in the absence of surface processing on the light guide 13.
Finally, according to the example shown, the light guide 13 has a rectangular section
with a short side facing the upright. In this embodiment, the long side opposite to
that facing the lateral wall of the muffle 1 is inclined relative to the lateral wall
of the muffle 1 towards the back wall. This further prevents glare for the user. The
present invention does not set particular limits to the materials that can be used.
A preferred example provides that the uprights are made of an electrically insulating
material (for example alumina oxide) so that the oven can be used in microwave mode
without the risk of generating electric discharges.
[0029] It appears that the upright of the example shown solves the problems of the prior
art underlying the present invention. In fact, a single component installed in the
cooking chamber performs both the structural function of supporting the shelves and
the function of housing the lighting devices. The particular shape of the upright
shields the light along the direction of the door to prevent glare for a user and
conveys the light optimally towards the inside of the cooking chamber. The single
vertical light guide allows all the shelves in the oven to be illuminated with a single
device.
[0030] Lastly, it is clear that modifications and variations may be made to the invention
described herein without departing from the scope of the appended claims.
1. An oven muffle (1) defining a cooking chamber (2), wherein the muffle (1) comprises:
- a back wall (4), a roof wall (5), a floor wall (3) and two lateral walls (6, 7);
- at least one lighting device (11) configured for illuminating the cooking chamber
(2);
- supporting devices (8, 9) coupled to the lateral walls (6, 7) and configured for
supporting oven shelves or lateral frames (19) for supporting oven shelves for dividing
the cooking chamber (2) into sub-chambers;
characterised in that
the lighting device (11) is positioned close to a supporting device (8), which is
configured for shielding, at least partially, the lighting device (11).
2. The muffle as claimed in claim 1, wherein, for each lateral wall (6, 7), the muffle
(1) comprises a front supporting device (8) opposite the back wall (4) and a rear
supporting device (9) close to the back wall (4), the lighting device (11) being positioned
close to a front supporting device (8) configured for shielding the light emitted
by the lighting device (11) towards the outside of the cooking chamber (2).
3. The muffle as claimed in claim 2, wherein the muffle (1) comprises two lighting devices
(11) respectively close to the two front supporting devices (8).
4. The muffle as claimed in claim 3, wherein each front supporting device (8) is made
in the form of an upright extending substantially from the floor wall (3) to the roof
wall (5).
5. The muffle as claimed in claim 4, wherein the lighting device (11) comprises a cylindrical
light guide (13) extending in parallel along the entire front supporting device (8).
6. The muffle as claimed in claim 5, wherein each front supporting device (8) comprises
a first wall in contact with the respective lateral wall (6, 7), a second wall opposite
the first wall and configured for supporting oven shelves or lateral frames for supporting
oven shelves; the light guide (13) being positioned at a distance from the lateral
wall (6, 7) less than the distance from the second wall.
7. The muffle as claimed in claim 6, wherein each front supporting device (8) comprises
a lip portion extending from the second wall towards the back wall (4); the cylindrical
light guide (13) being positioned so that the projection of the lip on the lateral
wall (6, 7) intersects at least part of the light guide (13).
8. The muffle as claimed in any one of the foregoing claims, wherein the supporting devices
(8, 9) are made of an electrically insulating material.