Cooking appliance with area temperature control
A cooking appliance includes a cooking chamber, a shelf disposed in the cooking chamber and comprising a plurality of cooking areas, a plurality of heaters mounted at one portion of the cooking chamber, spaced apart from one another to correspond to the plurality of cooking areas, respectively, and independently controlled to generate heat, and a heat-reflecting plate comprising a plurality of reflectors respectively accommodating the corresponding plurality of heaters therein, and to reflect the heat generated by the plurality of heaters to the corresponding plurality of cooking areas to generate a temperature difference among the plurality of cooking areas.
1 . A cooking appliance comprising:
a cooking chamber;
a shelf disposed in the cooking chamber, the shelf comprising a plurality of cooking areas;
a plurality of heaters mounted in the cooking chamber, the plurality of heaters being spaced apart from one another to respectively correspond to the plurality of cooking areas, and being independently controllable to generate heat; and
a heat-reflecting plate comprising a plurality of reflectors respectively accommodating the corresponding plurality of heaters, the heat-reflecting plate configured to reflect the heat generated by the plurality of heaters toward the corresponding plurality of cooking areas to generate a temperature difference among the plurality of cooking areas,
wherein each of the plurality of reflectors partially surrounds a corresponding heater of the plurality of heaters, and accommodates the corresponding heater while being spaced apart from the corresponding heater, and
wherein at least one of the plurality of reflectors is opened toward a side portion of the cooking chamber.
2 . The cooking appliance according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of reflectors is formed by bending the heat-reflecting plate, and has a curved surface to partially surrounds the corresponding heater to form an open portion to accommodate the corresponding heater therein, and
wherein the at least one of the plurality of reflectors opened toward the side portion of the cooking chamber is an end reflector of the plurality of reflectors.
3 . The cooking appliance according to claim 2 , wherein the heat-reflecting plate further comprises a plurality of connectors extending in a first direction to connect the plurality of reflectors adjacent to each other, and a length of each of the plurality of connectors is greater than a length of the open portion of each of the plurality of reflectors in the first direction.
4 . The cooking appliance according to claim 2 , wherein a direction where the plurality of heaters is spaced apart is a first direction, the plurality of heaters extends in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, and the plurality of reflectors respectively reflects the heat generated by the plurality of heaters to the plurality of cooking areas through the open portion.
5 . The cooking appliance according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of reflectors comprises:
a first reflector and a second reflector symmetrically formed to be adjacent to a central region of the heat-reflecting plate; and
a third reflector and a fourth reflector symmetrically formed at end regions of the heat-reflecting plate, and
wherein the at least one of the plurality of reflectors opened toward the side portion of the cooking chamber is at least one of the third reflector and the fourth reflector formed at the end regions of the heat-reflecting plate.
6 . The cooking appliance according to claim 5 , wherein the heat-reflecting plate further comprises a plurality of couplers respectively extending outward from the third reflector and the fourth reflector and formed at opposite ends of the heat-reflecting plate.
7 . The cooking appliance according to claim 1 , further comprising a heater housing disposed at one portion of the cooking chamber to accommodate to the plurality of heaters and the heat-reflecting plate,
wherein the heat-reflecting plate is disposed between the plurality of heaters and the heater housing.
8 . The cooking appliance according to claim 7 , wherein the plurality of heaters penetrates the heater housing.
9 . The cooking appliance according to claim 7 , wherein the heat-reflecting plate further comprises a planar coupler coupled to the heater housing at a central region of the heat-reflecting plate.
10 . The cooking appliance according to claim 1 , further comprising a heater cover disposed between the plurality of heaters and the cooking chamber and, the heater cover has a plurality of holes through which the heat generated by the plurality of heaters passes and the heat reflected by the plurality of reflectors passes.
11 . The cooking appliance according to claim 10 , wherein the heater cover comprises an aluminum material.
12 . The cooking appliance according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of heaters has different internal resistances along an extending direction.
13 . The cooking appliance according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of reflectors is bent in a U-shape around the plurality of heaters.
14 . The cooking appliance according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of cooking areas is partitioned along a first direction, and
the plurality of reflectors is spaced apart along the first direction to correspond to the plurality of cooking areas, respectively.
15 . The cooking appliance according to claim 14 , wherein a distance between the plurality of reflectors in the first direction is greater than a length of each of the plurality of reflectors in the first direction.
16 . A cooking appliance comprising:
a cooking chamber;
a shelf disposed in the cooking chamber and withdrawable therefrom, the shelf having a plurality of cooking areas;
a plurality of heaters spaced apart along a first direction; and
a heat-reflecting plate comprising a plurality of reflectors having an open curved surface to respectively accommodate the corresponding plurality of heaters therein,
wherein at least one of the plurality of reflectors has an open curved surface open toward a side portion of the cooking chamber, and
wherein the plurality of heaters are independently controlled and heat reflected by the plurality of reflectors is supplied to the corresponding plurality of cooking areas.
17 . The cooking appliance according to claim 16 , wherein the heat-reflecting plate further comprises a plurality of connectors extending in the first direction to connect the plurality of reflectors adjacent to one another, and a length of each of the plurality of connectors is greater than a length of the open curved surface of each of the plurality of reflectors in the first direction.
18 . The cooking appliance according to claim 16 , wherein the plurality of reflectors comprises;
a first reflector and a second reflector symmetrically formed to be adjacent to a central region of the heat-reflecting plate; and
a third reflector and a fourth reflector symmetrically formed at end regions of the heat-reflecting plate,
wherein the at least one of the plurality of reflectors opened toward the side portion of the cooking chamber is at least one of the third reflector and the fourth reflector formed at the end regions of the heat-reflecting plate.