CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a U.S. National Stage Application under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of PCT Application No. PCT/KR2018/001034, filed Jan. 23, 2018, which claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2017-0012317 filed on Jan. 25, 2017, whose entire disclosures are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

A steam generator, and a cooking apparatus including a steam generator are disclosed herein.

2. Background

Cooking apparatuses are home appliances that heat an object to be cooked (hereinafter, referred to as a “cooking object”) using electricity or gas. When a cooking object is cooked in a cooking apparatus, moisture of the cooking object may be evaporated during heating. Thus, there has been introduced a cooking apparatus having a steam function that supplies steam to the cooking object to prevent the moisture of the cooking object from evaporating and the cooking object dried out. Such a cooking apparatus is provided with a steam generator that generates steam.

Examples of a cooking apparatus provided with a steam generator may include an oven, a range, and a coffee machine, for example.

A steam generator may include a reservoir tank in which water supplied from an external water supply source is reserved, a heating tube through which the water supplied from the external water supply source flows, and a heating portion or heater that heats the water reserved in the reservoir tank or the water flowing through the heating tube. Also, the steam generator may heat the water supplied from the external water supply source to generate saturated steam, and the saturated steam may be heated again to be supplied to a cooking chamber of the cooking apparatus.

In a related prior art document U.S. Publication No.: US2014/0097173 A1, published Apr. 10, 2014 and entitled “Cooking Device with a Steam-Generating Element”, which is hereby incorporated by reference, a steam generator is mounted on a rear surface of a cavity of an oven to allow steam to be introduced into the cavity within the oven. In detail, in the steam generator disclosed in the related prior art document, water is introduced into a storage tank and then passes through a tube, on which a heater is mounted, from the storage tank to generate steam. The steam flows again to an upper side of the storage tank to flow to an oven chamber through a discharge hole defined in a vicinity of a point into which the water is introduced.

However, the steam generator disclosed in the prior art document has the following disadvantages.

First, all of an inlet and an outlet of the tube on which the heater is attached so as to generate steam are connected to a storage tank into which water is introduced, and a unit for measuring or adjusting an amount of introduced water is not provided. Thus, as the amount of introduced water is not confirmed, when a water level is high, the water may be discharged to an inside of the oven together with the steam. Also, condensed water generated by condensing the steam in the discharge hole may be discharged into the oven together with the steam.

Second, an inflow hole through which the water is introduced and the discharge hole through which the water is discharged to the inside of the oven may be provided in an upper portion of the storage tank in parallel to each other. Thus, injection of the water and discharge of the steam may not be performed at the same time. As a result, as the steam is not continuously injected into the oven, cooking ability of the cooking apparatus may be deteriorated, and a steam generation time may increase.

Third, the steam generator has a structure in which residual water is not drained when the operation of the steam generator is stopped after generating the steam. Thus, as the residual water within the storage tank is stagnant, it may be difficult to confirm a water level, and thus, generation of scale may increase. In addition, a generation rate of the scale may increase.

The term “scale” refers to a material formed when water is heated or cooled in an electric heating appliance. For example, limestone is dissolved in acidic water, which passes through rocks or is permeated, and then dissolved into calcium and acid carbonate ions to cure water. When hard water generated as described above is introduced into the electric heating appliance, the hard water precipitates due to a change in solubility of the calcium and acid carbonate ions to form scale which hardens on an electric heating surface, thereby blocking a pipe.

A shape of the scale may depend on a content of inorganic material of the water used. For example, the shape and material of the scale may include calcium carbonate, calcium sulfate, barium sulfate, silica, and iron scale, for example.

When the scale is formed, thermal conductivity of the scale varies less than that of a pipe material deteriorating heat transfer performance. Also, a flow rate is reduced due to a fine change in a tube diameter, and a pressure loss through the electric heating appliance increases.

SUMMARY

Embodiments disclosed herein provide a steam generator in which high-temperature, high-pressure steam in comparison to the steam according to the related art is provided in a cavity of a cooking apparatus to improve performance of the steam generator, and a cooking apparatus including the steam generator.

Embodiments disclosed herein also provide a steam generator capable of solving a limitation in which water is discharged to a cavity together with steam due to a Dolby phenomenon which occurs when the steam generator is locally overheated during generation of the steam, and a cooking apparatus including the steam generator.

Embodiments disclosed herein further provide a steam generator capable of solving a limitation in which an amount of water to be injected into the steam generator is not confirmed and a limitation in which, when a use time increases, a high water level occurs in the steam generator so that the water is discharged to a cavity. Embodiments disclosed herein provide a steam generator capable of solving a limitation in which steam generated in the steam generator is condensed in a discharge hole, and the condensed water is discharged to a cavity, and a cooking apparatus including the steam generator.

Embodiments disclosed herein additionally provide a steam generator capable of solving a limitation in which injection of water and discharge of steam are not performed at the same time and capable of reducing a steam generation time, and a cooking apparatus including the steam generator. Embodiments disclosed herein further provide a steam generator capable of solving a limitation in which a water level is not confirmed due to residual water because water is not drained after the steam generator operates and a limitation in which a scale generation rate increases due to the residual water, and a cooking apparatus including the steam generator.

In a steam generator according embodiments disclosed herein and a cooking apparatus including the steam generator, a discharge tube connected to an upper portion of the steam generation tube to discharge generated steam may have a cone shape, and the discharge tube and a second connection tube of an adaptor unit may be connected to each other so that an internal pressure of the steam generation tube increases by a venturi effect. Thus, as relatively high-temperature, high-pressure steam in comparison to the steam according to the related art may be generated to be provided to the cooking apparatus, thereby improving performance of the steam generator.

A steam generator and a cooking apparatus including a steam generator according to embodiments disclosed herein may include a steam generation unit and an adaptor unit connected to the steam generation unit. As the adaptor unit may include a collection tube through which water discharged together with steam by a Dolby phenomenon in the steam generation unit is introduced again into an inflow tube of the steam generation unit, the water discharged together with the steam by the Dolby phenomenon may be introduced again into the collection tube to prevent the water together with the steam from being discharged to the cavity. Also, a feedback structure in which the water introduced into the collection tube is introduced again into the inflow of the steam generation unit may be provided to collect and reuse the water.

A steam generator and a cooking apparatus including a steam generator according to embodiments disclosed herein may include a steam generation unit and an adaptor unit. As the adaptor unit may include a collection tube and a water level sensor installed at one side of the collection tube, an amount of water injected and supplied to the steam generator may be confirmed to adjust an amount of water. Thus, when a water level is high, the water may be prevented from being discharged together with the steam.

A steam generator and a cooking apparatus including a steam generator according to embodiments disclosed herein may include a steam generation unit and an adaptor unit. The steam generation unit may include a steam generation tube and a discharge tube disposed above the steam generation tube to discharge steam, and the discharge tube may have a cone (conic) shape that gradually decreases in cross-sectional area toward a discharge hole. Thus, condensed water generated by being condensed when the steam is discharged may be collected again into the steam generation tube by the small cross-section and then be reheated to reduce an amount of water discharged to the cavity.

A steam generator and a cooking apparatus including a steam generator according to embodiments disclosed herein may include a steam generation unit and an adaptor unit. The adaptor unit may include an injection tube for water supply and a steam discharge tube that discharges the steam, which are separated from each other. Thus, inflow of the water through the injection tube and the discharge of the steam through the steam discharge tube may be performed at the same time.

A steam generator and a cooking apparatus including a steam generator according to embodiments disclosed herein may include a steam generation unit and an adaptor unit. The adaptor unit may include a water supply tube, and the water supply tube may serve as a drain tube, through which residual water may be drained when an operation for generating the steam in the steam generator is stopped, to reduce a scale generation rate and an amount of generated scale.

The details of one or more embodiments are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

