Light Guide Rod Design for High-Temperature Oven Illumination
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cooking appliance lights, particularly in ovens, face challenges in providing even illumination and are prone to damage due to high temperatures, requiring complex and costly arrangements with reflection layers and separate housings.
Innovation Solution
A cooking appliance light with a beveled end region on the light guide rod serves as a positioning device, allowing precise alignment and featuring a satin or acid-matt finish for diffuse light emission, eliminating the need for additional reflection layers and ensuring high-temperature resistance using glass materials like soda lime or borosilicate glass.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the LED light source is located outside the cooking chamber to protect it from high temperatures, then the reliability of the LED is improved, but the illumination quality and evenness in the cooking chamber deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from direct LED placement to using a light guide rod that extends the light path into the cooking chamber. The light guide rod acts as an optical extension, allowing the LED to remain outside while delivering light deep into the chamber through a rod structure that distributes light along its length.
Solution Approach 2:
The light guide rod serves as an intermediary between the LED light source and the cooking chamber. It receives light from the LED at its input end and delivers it to the cooking chamber through its output surface, mediating the light transmission while protecting the LED from thermal damage.
2Illumination intensity
If reflective layers or separate housings are added to improve light distribution, then the illumination quality improves, but the device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the light guide function and light distribution function into a single integrated light guide rod structure. The rod itself is designed with optical properties that enable both light transmission and even distribution, eliminating the need for separate reflective layers or additional housing components.
Solution Approach 2:
The light guide rod performs multiple functions simultaneously: it protects the LED from heat, transmits light from the source, distributes light evenly throughout the cooking chamber, and provides structural support. This multi-functionality reduces overall device complexity.
3Reliability
If a light guide rod is used to extend light into the cooking chamber, then the LED protection is improved, but the alignment and positioning precision during installation becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The light guide rod incorporates self-aligning features such as positioning elements or geometric characteristics that enable it to automatically align with the cooking chamber during installation. The rod's design includes features that guide its orientation and position without requiring complex external alignment tools or procedures.
4Illumination intensity
If the light guide rod extends into the cooking chamber to improve illumination, then the light distribution improves, but the susceptibility to damage from high temperatures increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameters of the light guide rod by selecting materials with high temperature resistance. The rod is made from materials that can withstand the thermal environment of the cooking chamber while maintaining their optical properties, thus resisting temperature-induced damage.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution provides consistent, interference-free lighting even at high temperatures, simplifies installation and replacement, and ensures uniform illumination without additional costs, as the beveled end and glass materials enhance durability and light distribution.
Implementation Method 1
a light guide rod that extends from the holder along its longitudinal axis into the cooking chamber, wherein the light guide rod is essentially designed as a round rod, wherein the light guide rod has a light input surface into which light from the light source is coupled into the light guide rod, and a light output surface from which at least a portion of the coupled light is coupled out into the cooking chamber
Implementation Method 2
the light guide rod has a beveled end region at its end opposite the light coupling surface, which forms a positioning device with the aid of which the light guide rod itself and thus the light coupling surface can be aligned with the interior of the cooking appliance
Implementation Method 3
featuring a satin or acid-matt finish for diffuse light emission
Implementation Method 4
ensuring high-temperature resistance using glass materials like soda lime or borosilicate glass
Data Source
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AI summary
A cooking appliance light, particularly for use in an oven, a microwave oven or a steam oven, is described and illustrated. The cooking appliance has a cooking chamber that is enclosed by a cooking chamber wall and can be closed with a cooking chamber door, with at least one LED light source that can be mounted in a holder outside the cooking chamber, and a light guide rod that extends at least partially into the cooking chamber from the holder along its longitudinal axis. The light guide rod has a light coupling surface into which light from the light source is coupled into the light guide rod, and a light coupling surface from which at least a part of the coupled light is coupled into the interior of the household appliance. The light guide rod includes an integrated, light-directing coupling structure that couples the light into the interior of the cooking appliance via the light coupling surface.