1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for linearly moving a tray in a microwave oven, and more particularly, to a device for linearly moving a tray in a microwave oven in which the tray for loading a foodstuff to be heated thereon has the same rectangular shape as a bottom surface of a heating chamber of the microwave oven and linearly moves.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A microwave oven heats an object (for example, a foodstuff) using a microwave having a constant wavelength. As shown in FIG. 1, the microwave oven includes a heating chamber 2 for heating the foodstuff, and the heating chamber 2 is constructed to be opened and closed by a door 4.
The microwave generated from a magnetron (not shown) is supplied into the heating chamber 2, and causes the foodstuff therein to be heated. At this time, the foodstuff should be uniformly heated by the microwave. However, due to the wavelength characteristic of the microwave, it is difficult to uniformly heat the foodstuff in its stationary state.
Therefore, in order to uniformly heat the foodstuff by using the microwave, a tray 6 for loading the foodstuff thereon should be rotated so that the foodstuff can be uniformly heated by the microwave.
As shown in FIG. 1, the ordinary microwave oven constructed such that the foodstuff is heated while the tray 6 for loading the foodstuff thereon is rotated has the following disadvantages.
Generally, the heating chamber 2 is formed to be rectangular as viewed from the top thereof, whereas the tray 6 for loading the foodstuff thereon is constructed to be circular for its rotation. Therefore, within the heating chamber 2, it can be seen that an area used for actually heating the foodstuff corresponds to a circular area covered by the tray 6. The above means that in view of a structure of the tray mounted within the heating chamber of the conventional microwave oven, there are large dead space that cannot be used for actually heating the foodstuff. That is, when using the structures of the heating chamber and tray of the conventional microwave oven, it can be seen that there is a problem in that the usage efficiency of the space within the heating chamber is bounded to a certain limit.
The conventional microwave oven also has the above disadvantages. Furthermore, in a microwave oven that is also used as a hood and is transversely longer, since its transverse length is much longer, dead space that cannot be used for heating the foodstuff becomes much larger.
The present invention is contemplated to solve the above problems. An object of the present invention is to provide a device for linearly moving a tray in a microwave oven, by which the space within a heating chamber of the microwave oven can be efficiently used as a whole.
Another object of the present invention is to prove a device for linearly moving a tray in a microwave oven, by which a foodstuff loaded on the tray can be uniformly heated.
According to the present invention, since a bottom surface of the heating chamber of the conventional microwave oven is generally formed to be rectangular, the tray is correspondingly formed to be rectangular. Further, the rectangular tray is constructed such that it can move in the vertical direction to a certain degree while moving linearly in the right and left direction.
According to an aspect of the present invention for achieving the above objects, there is provided a device for linearly moving a tray in a microwave oven, comprising: a tray for loading a foodstuff to be heated thereon; a driving motor for generating a rotational force; a converting means for converting a rotational motion from the driving motor into a linear and reciprocating motion of the tray; a supporting means mounted in contact with a bottom surface of the tray for supporting the tray so as to linearly and reciprocatingly move the tray; and convex portions protruding from a bottom surface of a heating chamber in the fore and aft direction to a predetermined height so that the supporting means can move in the vertical direction when a bottom surface of the supporting means moves in contact with the bottom surface of the heating chamber in the right and left direction.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is also provided a device for linearly moving a tray in a microwave oven, comprising: a tray for loading a foodstuff to be heated thereon; a driving motor for generating a rotational force; a converting means for converting a rotational motion from the driving motor into a linear and reciprocating motion of the tray; a vertically moving means for moving the tray in the vertical direction as well as in the right and left direction when the tray linearly and reciprocatingly moves in the right and left direction by the converting means; and a supporting means for supporting the tray so as to move the tray in the right and left direction and the vertical direction.
According to an embodiment of the converting means of the present invention, the converting means comprises a slit formed in the bottom surface of the tray and having a predetermined length, and a rotating member with an eccentric protrusion formed at an eccentric position and inserted into the slit, and wherein the rotating member is rotated by the driving motor so that the tray can linearly and reciprocatingly move depending on an amount of rotation of the eccentric protrusion.
According to an embodiment of the tray of the present invention, when the tray has the same rectangular shape as the bottom surface of the heating chamber, the space within the heating chamber can be efficiently used.
According to an embodiment of the supporting means of the present invention, the supporting means comprises a frame formed to have an smaller than that of the bottom surface of the tray, and a plurality of rollers rotatably mounted on the frame, and wherein the tray is supported by the rollers so as to linearly and reciprocatingly move the tray.
According to another embodiment of the supporting means of the present invention, the supporting means comprises a frame formed to have an smaller than an area of the bottom surface of the tray, and a plurality of rollers rotatably mounted on the frame, and wherein the vertically moving means comprises convex portions which protrude in the form of arcs in the fore and aft direction from the bottom surface of the heating chamber contacted with the plurality of rollers.
According to an embodiment of the rollers of the present invention, the rollers comprises four rollers comprised of two pairs of two rollers with respect to the fore and aft direction, and the convex portions comprises a pair of convex portions which have a predetermined width in the right and left direction.
According to the present invention, the tray mounted within the heating chamber of the microwave oven covers large space within the heating chamber, and the microwave can be sufficiently and uniformly irradiated onto the foodstuff by means of the right and left motion and vertical motion of the tray. Therefore, first of all, the foodstuff can be uniformly heated by the microwave. Further, it is expected that the space within the heating chamber of the microwave oven can be efficiently used.