Cooking appliance

Abstract

To provide a cooking appliance capable of employing an electric valve unit to reduce the number of components, thereby reducing a manufacturing cost, and further capable of improving a degree of freedom in component layout inside a housing of the cooking appliance.SOLUTION: Gas burners 2, 3, 4, 5 and an electric valve unit 6 that controls supply of fuel gas to the gas burners 2, 3, 4, 5 are housed in a housing 7. The electric valve unit 6 comprises a plurality of valve mechanisms 18, 19, 20, 21, and a valve housing 8 that houses the plurality of valve mechanisms 18, 19, 20, 21. The valve housing 8 comprises a main pipe connection part 9 that can connect a gas main pipe G outside the housing 7 through an opening 28 of the housing 7.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a cooking device having a gas burner for cooking. [Background technology]

[0002] In a conventional cooking appliance equipped with multiple gas burners for cooking, fuel gas is introduced from outside the housing of the cooking appliance and distributed to each gas burner. A gas main pipe that supplies fuel gas is installed outside the housing of the cooking appliance in advance.

[0003] On the other hand, the cooking appliance is provided with a main pipe connecting member such as an inlet that passes through an opening formed in the bottom or the like of the housing, and a gas main pipe is connected to the main pipe connecting member. The main pipe connecting member is connected to gas introduction pipes such as manifolds that extend toward each gas burner inside the housing of the cooking appliance. These gas introduction pipes are provided with valve mechanisms that adjust the flow rate of fuel gas (for example, see Patent Document 1 below).

[0004] In recent years, this type of cooking appliance has adopted an electric valve unit instead of providing multiple valve mechanisms separately. This type of electric valve unit is a unit formed by accommodating multiple valve mechanisms inside a single or integrated valve housing (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

[0005] By employing an electric valve unit in a cooking appliance, it is not necessary to separately install and pipe each valve mechanism, which reduces the number of assembly steps during manufacturing and enables reductions in manufacturing costs. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-060961 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-041871 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] However, in a cooking appliance, it is necessary to provide a main pipe connection member for connecting a gas main pipe, and further to provide a piping member for connecting the main pipe connection member to an electric valve unit, which means that even if an electric valve unit is used, it is not possible to expect a sufficient reduction in manufacturing costs.

[0008] Furthermore, since the motor-operated valve unit contains multiple valve mechanisms, it is relatively large, and the installation space inside the housing of the cooking appliance is limited, which causes the inconvenience of restricting the layout of the main pipe connection member and piping components inside the housing of the cooking appliance.

[0009] In view of the above, the present invention aims to provide a cooking appliance that employs an electric valve unit to reduce the number of parts and reduce manufacturing costs, while also improving the freedom of component layout within the cooking appliance housing. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] In order to achieve this object, the present invention provides a cooking appliance comprising a gas burner for cooking housed in a housing, a gas supply passage housed in the housing for supplying fuel gas to the gas burner, and an electric valve unit housed in the housing and interposed in the gas supply passage for controlling the supply of fuel gas to the gas burner, wherein the electric valve unit comprises a gas flow passage through which fuel gas flows toward the gas burner, a plurality of valve mechanisms arranged along the gas flow passage from the upstream side to the downstream side, and a valve housing for accommodating the plurality of valve mechanisms, and the valve housing comprises a main pipe connection portion at the upstream end of the gas flow passage which enables a gas main pipe outside the housing to be connected via a gas supply opening formed in the wall surface of the housing.

[0011] According to the present invention, since the main pipe connection is provided in the valve housing, there is no need to provide a main pipe connection such as an inlet or piping members such as a manifold that are separate from the valve housing, as in the conventional case. Therefore, compared to when connections are made via piping members as in the conventional case, the number of parts is reduced, manufacturing costs can be reduced, and the degree of freedom in the layout of parts inside the housing of the cooking appliance can be improved.

[0012] Furthermore, the distance between the main pipe connection and the valve mechanism housed in the valve housing can be made shorter than when connecting via conventional piping components, making it possible to stabilize the gas pressure by suppressing a decrease in flow rate due to pressure loss of the fuel gas.

[0013] In addition, in the present invention, the main pipe connection portion is characterized by having a through portion that passes through the opening of the housing and is exposed from the wall surface of the housing.

[0014] Since the main pipe connection portion of the present invention is part of the valve housing, by exposing the through portion of the main pipe connection portion from the opening of the housing, the main pipe connection portion can be installed at the same time as the valve housing is installed, thereby reducing the assembly labor required during manufacturing.

[0015] In this case, it is preferable that the main pipe connecting portion has a flange-shaped fixing portion that abuts against the periphery of the opening of the housing and fixes it to the wall surface of the housing.

[0016] According to this, the main pipe connection part can be easily positioned by abutting the flange-shaped fixing part against the wall surface of the housing, and further, the fixing part can be fastened to the wall surface of the housing using a fastening member such as a screw, thereby making it possible to firmly attach the valve housing. Moreover, since the main pipe connection part is firmly fixed to the wall surface of the housing, for example, when performing the work of connecting a gas main pipe to the main pipe connection part, the load on the electric valve unit caused by the external force applied to the main pipe connection part during the connection work can be reduced.

[0017] In addition, as a preferred aspect of the present invention, of the multiple valve mechanisms accommodated in the valve housing, the valve mechanism located most upstream is a main solenoid valve, the valve housing is provided with an inlet passage for introducing fuel gas into the main solenoid valve via the main pipe connection portion, and the inlet passage and the main pipe connection portion are integrally molded into the valve housing.

[0018] Since the inlet passage and the main pipe connection portion are integrally molded into the valve housing, there is no need to assemble the inlet passage and the main pipe connection portion to the valve housing before accommodating the electric valve unit inside the housing, for example. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0019] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of a main part of a cooking device according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the electric valve unit according to the embodiment. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is an explanatory cross-sectional view of a main part of a valve housing provided in the electric valve unit. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0020] An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As an example of a cooking device according to an embodiment of the present invention, a gas stove 1 will be described. As shown in Fig. 1, the gas stove 1 includes a large burner 2, a medium burner 3, a small burner 4, and a pair of upper and lower grill burners 5.

[0021] The gas stove 1 is also provided with an electric valve unit 6. The electric valve unit 6 supplies fuel gas to each of the burners 2, 3, 4, and 5, and individually controls the amount of fuel gas supplied to adjust the heat.

[0022] The burners 2, 3, 4, and 5 and the electric valve unit 6 are housed in a housing 7 of the gas stove 1. Although not shown, the housing 7 is made up of a rectangular bottom plate (indicated by the reference numeral 26 in FIG. 3), a peripheral wall rising from the periphery of the bottom plate, and a top plate covering the upper surface.

[0023] The stove burners 2, 3, and 4 are provided so as to be exposed from the top plate, and the grill burner 5 is provided in a grill chamber (not shown) inside the housing 7.

[0024] As shown in Figure 2, the motor-operated valve unit 6 is provided with a valve housing 8. The valve housing 8 is provided with an inlet 9 (main pipe connection portion) that connects to a gas main pipe G (see Figure 1) not shown. The gas main pipe G is a pipe that is pre-installed at the installation location of the gas stove 1, and is drawn into the room from city gas, a gas cylinder, etc.

[0025] Also, supply ports 10, 11, 12, and 13 are provided for supplying fuel gas introduced into the valve housing 8 from the inlet 9 to the burners 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively.

[0026] As shown in Fig. 1, a main solenoid valve 15 is provided downstream of the inlet 9 via an introduction path 14. When the main solenoid valve 15 is open, fuel gas is supplied to each of the burners 2, 3, 4, and 5, and when it is closed, the supply is stopped.

[0027] The fuel gas that has passed through the main solenoid valve 15 is branched into each gas flow path 16 and reaches the supply ports 10, 11, 12, and 13. Gas supply paths 17 that lead to the burners 2, 3, 4, and 5 are connected to the supply ports 10, 11, 12, and 13, respectively.

[0028] Valve mechanisms 18, 19, 20, and 21 are provided in the gas flow paths 16. Each of the valve mechanisms 18, 19, 20, and 21 includes an electromagnetic safety valve 22 that is held open when the corresponding burner 2, 3, 4, or 5 is ignited, and a heat power adjustment unit 23 that adjusts the heat power by increasing or decreasing the amount of fuel gas supplied.

[0029] A motor 24 is connected to each heat adjustment unit 23. The flow rate of fuel gas passing through each heat adjustment unit 23 is increased or decreased by driving each motor 24. A governor 25 is provided in the valve mechanism 21 that supplies fuel gas to the grill burner 5.

[0030] 2, the valve housing 8 is formed by casting so that the valve mechanisms 18, 19, 20, and 21 are arranged in parallel and integrated together. A pair of support members 27 is provided so that the electric valve unit 6 can be attached to the bottom plate 26 of the casing 7 (see FIG. 3).

[0031] 3, the valve housing 8 is seamlessly and integrally provided with the inlet 9 and the introduction passage 14. The inlet 9 has a through-hole 29 that passes through an opening 28 formed in the bottom plate 26 of the casing 7, and a fixing portion 30 that abuts against the bottom plate 26 around the opening 28.

[0032] A threaded portion (not shown) for connecting the gas main pipe with a tapered screw is formed on the inner surface of the through portion 29. The fixing portion 30 is formed in a flange shape that protrudes outward, as shown in Fig. 2, and is fixed by screws while in contact with the bottom plate 26.

[0033] As described above, since the inlet 9 is integrally formed with the valve housing 8, there is no need for connecting the inlet and the valve housing, as compared to conventional arrangements in which the inlet and the valve housing are separate, and this reduces the number of assembly steps during the manufacture of the gas stove 1, thereby reducing manufacturing costs.

[0034] Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 2, the valve housing 8 including the inlet 9 can be formed compactly, which improves the degree of freedom in the layout of parts inside the casing 7, and makes it possible to easily install the electric valve unit 6 even in a relatively small space.

[0035] 2 and 3, the valve housing 8 has a curved inlet passage 14, which corresponds to the housing 7 having an opening 28 formed in the bottom plate 26, but the shape of the inlet passage is set to an appropriate shape depending on the position of the opening formed in the housing. That is, if an opening is formed in another side wall of the housing (for example, the rear wall), the valve housing 8 has an inlet passage that extends linearly. This also achieves the same effect as the present embodiment.

[0036] Furthermore, in this embodiment, a gas stove 1 having only a burner as a heat source has been described, but this is not limited to this, and although not shown, the present invention can be suitably adopted in any stove that has a cooking burner and also has an induction heater or an electric heater as another heat source. [Explanation of symbols]

[0037] 1...gas stove (heating cooker), 2...large stove burner (gas burner), 3...medium stove burner (gas burner), 4...small stove burner (gas burner), 5...grill burner (gas burner), 6...electric valve unit, 7...casing, 8...valve housing, 9...inlet (main pipe connection part), 14...inlet path, 15...main solenoid valve, 16...gas flow path, 17...gas supply path, 18, 19, 20, 21...valve mechanism, 28...opening, 29...penetration part, 30...fixing part, G...gas main pipe.

Claims

1. A cooking appliance including a gas burner for cooking housed in a housing, a gas supply path housed in the housing and supplying fuel gas to the gas burner, and an electric valve unit housed in the housing and interposed in the gas supply path to control the supply of fuel gas to the gas burner, the electric valve unit includes a gas flow path through which fuel gas flows toward the gas burner, a plurality of valve mechanisms disposed along the gas flow path from the upstream side to the downstream side, and a valve housing accommodating the plurality of valve mechanisms; A heating cooker characterized in that the valve housing is provided with a main pipe connection portion at the upstream end of the gas flow path, which enables connection to a gas main pipe outside the housing through a gas supply opening formed in the wall surface of the housing.

2. The cooking appliance according to claim 1 , wherein the main pipe connecting portion has a through-portion that passes through the opening of the housing and is exposed from a wall surface of the housing.

3. 3. The cooking appliance according to claim 2, wherein the main pipe connecting portion includes a flange-shaped fixing portion that abuts against the periphery of the opening of the housing and is fixed to a wall surface of the housing.

4. Among the plurality of valve mechanisms housed in the valve housing, the valve mechanism located at the most upstream side is a main solenoid valve, the valve housing includes an introduction passage for introducing fuel gas into the main solenoid valve via the main pipe connection portion, 4. The cooking device according to claim 1, wherein the inlet passage and the main pipe connecting portion are integrally molded with the valve housing.

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