Oven Door Air-Gap Venting for Pollutant Self-Discharge

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Solution Overview

Problem

Cooking apparatuses face challenges in maintaining cleanliness due to pollutants entering the interior of the door, which are difficult to remove and can cause bad smells and deteriorate the quality of the appliance over time.

Innovation Solution

A cooking apparatus with a door featuring an air-gap and a pollutant discharging unit that uses gravity to discharge pollutants from the air-gap, eliminating the need for external power sources and simplifying the cleaning process.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Object-affected harmful factors

If a door is provided with a sealed structure to prevent pollutant entry, then pollutant prevention is improved, but cleaning difficulty increases and maintenance complexity worsens

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvepollutant preventionVSAvoidcleaning ease

Core Design Contradiction:

Object-affected harmful factorsVSEase of repair

Solution Approach 1:

The door is divided into multiple panels (first door panel and second door panel) with an air-gap between them. This segmentation allows the door structure to simultaneously achieve sealing for pollutant prevention and accessibility for cleaning, as the air-gap provides a pathway for pollutants to be discharged while the panels can be accessed for maintenance.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The air-gap acts as an intermediary space between the first and second door panels. It serves as a mediator that allows pollutants to pass through from the interior to the exterior of the door, while also providing a accessible region for the pollutant discharging unit to operate, thus resolving the contradiction between sealing and cleaning accessibility.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Ease of operation

If complex cleaning mechanisms are added to remove pollutants from the door interior, then cleaning effectiveness is improved, but device complexity and power consumption increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecleaning effectivenessVSAvoidcleaning mechanism complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The pollutant discharging unit utilizes the existing air-gap structure and natural convection currents to discharge pollutants without requiring complex mechanical cleaning mechanisms. The system essentially cleans itself by leveraging the existing door structure and environmental forces, thereby maintaining cleaning effectiveness while minimizing device complexity and power consumption.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

Instead of using complex mechanical cleaning systems (such as brushes, scrapers, or high-pressure jets), the invention substitutes a simpler discharge mechanism that utilizes the air-gap and natural pollutant movement. This replaces complex mechanical cleaning with a simpler gravitational and convective discharge system.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

3Object-affected harmful factors

If the door structure is made more complex to include pollutant discharge pathways, then pollutant removal is improved, but manufacturing complexity and cost increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvepollutant removalVSAvoidmanufacturing simplicity

Core Design Contradiction:

Object-affected harmful factorsVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

The pollutant discharge function is merged with the existing door structure by incorporating the discharge pathway within the air-gap that already exists between the door panels. The pollutant discharging unit is integrated into the door assembly rather than being a separate add-on component, which simplifies manufacturing by combining multiple functions into a unified structure.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Solution Approach 2:

The air-gap serves multiple functions: it provides thermal insulation, allows for door panel expansion and contraction, and serves as the pathway for pollutant discharge. By making the air-gap multi-functional, the invention avoids adding separate dedicated structures for each function, thereby simplifying manufacturing while achieving pollutant removal.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

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 effectively maintains the cleanliness of the cooking apparatus by automatically discharging pollutants through the door, enhancing user convenience and reducing maintenance costs by utilizing gravity for pollutant removal.

Implementation Method 1

a pollutant discharging unit configured to discharge at least a portion of the pollutants in the air-gap out of the door

Methodology Applied

Scientific EffectGravity: Gravitation

Data Source

PatentUS8101891B2Cooking aparatus

Publication Date: 2012.01.24 LG ELECTRONICS INC

AI summary

A cooking apparatus including a cooking chamber that has an opening, a door configured to open and close the opening of the cooking chamber, in which the door has an air-gap to receive pollutants generated in the cooking chamber, and a pollutant discharging unit configured to discharge at least a portion of the pollutants in the air-gap out of the door.