Oven door and oven comprising an oven door
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional oven doors lack an effective and user-friendly interface for displaying information such as operating state and temperature, which can be difficult to recognize from a distance.
Innovation Solution
An oven door with a partially transparent glass portion incorporating lighting means, including light sources and optical fibers, to provide visual information through light intensity, color, and blinking patterns, integrated with a control unit for efficient communication of oven status.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If a conventional user interface is located above the oven door and attached to the base body, then the structure is simple, but the information cannot be recognized from a large distance
Solution Approach 1:
The user interface is moved from a conventional position above the oven door to the glass portion surface itself, utilizing the two-dimensional surface area of the glass door for displaying information through lighting means, thereby enabling distant recognition while maintaining structural simplicity
Solution Approach 2:
The glass portion serves dual functions: maintaining thermal insulation and acting as a display surface for the user interface through integrated lighting means, eliminating the need for a separate display structure above the door
2Loss of information
If lighting means are integrated into the glass portion, then information can be displayed at a large area and recognized from distance, but the glass portion must withstand high temperature and heat
Solution Approach 1:
A light guide is introduced as an intermediary component between the light source and the glass portion surface. The light guide conducts light from the heat-sensitive light source to the display area on the glass portion, allowing the light source to be positioned away from the high-temperature zone while still achieving distant information recognition
Solution Approach 2:
The lighting system is segmented into separate functional components: the light source, the light guide, and the display area on the glass portion. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized for its specific function, with the light guide acting as a thermal barrier between the light source and the hot glass surface
3Illumination intensity
If light sources are arranged behind the glass element, then light can propagate through the glass for user recognition, but the light sources are exposed to high temperature inside the oven
Solution Approach 1:
The light guide serves as an intermediary that decouples the light source from the high-temperature environment. It conducts light from the protected light source location to the glass portion surface, enabling light propagation through the glass while shielding the light source from thermal damage
Solution Approach 2:
The light guide is pre-positioned and secured to the glass portion before operation. This preliminary arrangement ensures that light can be effectively conducted to the display area while the light source remains protected from heat exposure during oven operation
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
Enables clear and distant recognition of oven information, enhancing user interaction and safety by providing a robust and heat-resistant optical user interface.
Implementation Method 1
the light guides are optical fibres, e.g. optical glass fibres
Implementation Method 2
Said side emitting fibres are semi-transparent, i.e. provide spatially distributed reflection behaviour
Implementation Method 3
the lighting means comprise one or more light sources arranged at the glass portion. Said light sources may be bulbs or light emitting diodes which are attached to the glass portion such that the light emitted by the light source can be recognized by the user
Implementation Method 4
The oven door comprises a glass portion being at least partially transparent for enabling a user to look into the oven cavity
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to an oven door (10) for closing a cavity (2) of an oven (1) comprising a glass portion (11) being at least partially transparent for enabling a user to look into the oven cavity (2), wherein the oven door (10) comprises lighting means (12) implementing an optical user interface for displaying optical information at the glass portion (11).