DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0020] Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.

[0021] FIGS. 2 and 3 show a wall-mounted type microwave oven according to an embodiment of the present invention. A body 10 of the wall-mounted type microwave oven is mounted on, for example, a kitchen wall over an oven range 100 . The oven body 10 includes a cooking chamber 11 to cook food therein, and an electrical component compartment 12 which is isolated from the cooking chamber 11 . The oven body 10 further includes an exhaust path (shown by dark arrows) to exhaust gas and fumes generated from the oven range 100 . The exhaust path is isolated from the cooking chamber 11 and the electrical component compartment 12 . An exhaust fan 13 is provided at a rear upper portion of the oven body 10 , and discharges the gas and fumes guided through the exhaust path. A door 14 is provided at a front face of the cooking chamber 11 to place and remove the food from the cooking chamber 11 .

[0022] The electrical component compartment 12 is isolated from the cooking chamber 11 by a partition plate 15 . The electrical component compartment 12 includes a magnetron 16 which generates high-frequency electromagnetic waves, a high voltage transformer 17 which applies a high voltage to the magnetron 16 , and a cooling fan 18 which cools electric components, such as the magnetron 16 and the high voltage transformer 17 , equipped in the electrical component compartment 12 .

[0023] The magnetron 16 is disposed at an upper portion of the electrical component compartment 12 , and the high voltage transformer 17 is placed on a bottom of the electrical component compartment 12 . A waveguide 19 is provided to the cooking chamber 11 and the electrical component compartment 12 , and serves to guide the high-frequency electromagnetic waves generated from the magnetron 16 to the cooking chamber 11 . Though not shown in the drawings, the electrical component compartment 12 is equipped at its front face with a control panel including a plurality of control buttons which control various functions of the microwave oven and a display which indicates an operational condition of the microwave oven.

[0024] The exhaust path is adapted to exhaust gas and fumes generated from the oven range 100 disposed below the oven body 10 . The exhaust path includes an intake port 21 formed at a bottom plate 20 of the oven body 10 , a lower flow path 23 defined between bottom surfaces of the cooking chamber 11 and the electric component compartment 12 , and the bottom plate 20 of the oven body 10 , a pair of rising flow paths 24 and 25 which are disposed at corresponding sides of the cooking chamber 11 and the electric component compartment 12 to extend up and down, and an upper flow path 26 which is disposed on an upper portion of the oven body 10 to guide the gas and fumes introduced through the pair of rising flow paths 24 and 25 toward the exhaust fan 13 . Accordingly, by rotation of the exhaust fan 13 , the gas and fumes sucked through the intake port 21 of the bottom plate 20 are exhausted to the outside through the lower flow path 23 , the rising flow paths 24 and 25 , and the upper flow path 26 .

[0025] The wall-mounted type microwave oven according to the present invention is further provided with a lighting device 30 which concurrently illuminates the inside of the cooking chamber 11 and a kitchen space below the microwave oven.

[0026] FIG. 4 shows an exploded perspective view of the lighting device 30 . The lighting device 30 comprises a housing 31 disposed in a space defined between a bottom plate 22 of the cooking chamber 11 and a bottom plate 20 of the oven body 10 , and lamps 32 disposed in the housing 31 . The housing 31 is shaped as a hexahedral box having front and rear side faces and left and right side faces, with upper and lower faces being opened. The lamps 32 are fixed to the rear side face of the housing 31 by fastening screws 36 . The housing 31 is provided with its upper and lower faces with upper and lower flanges 33 and 34 , respectively, so as to fix the housing 31 to the bottom plate 22 of the cooking chamber 11 and the bottom plate 20 of the oven body 10 . More specifically, the upper and lower flanges 33 and 34 are fixedly attached to the bottom plate 22 of the cooking chamber 11 and the bottom plate 20 of the oven body 10 by fastening screws 35 .

[0027] The bottom plate 22 of the cooking chamber 11 is formed with an upper opening 41 at a position corresponding to that of the opened upper face of the housing 31 , so as to have light emitted from the lamps 32 of the lighting device 30 pass into the inside of the cooking chamber 11 . Likewise, the bottom plate 20 of the oven body 10 is formed with a lower opening 42 at a position corresponding to that of the opened lower face of the housing 31 , so as to have the light emitted from the lamps 32 pass toward the kitchen space below the oven body 10 .

[0028] The lighting device 30 is designed so as to have the lamps 32 disposed in the housing 31 to be protected by the housing 31 . The light from the lamps 32 is reflected via inner faces of the housing 31 and simultaneously directed toward the inside of the cooking chamber 11 and the kitchen space below the oven body 10 through the corresponding upper and lower openings 41 and 42 .

[0029] The upper opening 41 formed at the bottom plate 22 of the cooking chamber 11 is equipped with a porous shield plate 45 . The porous shield plate 45 allows the light emitted from the lamps 32 to pass therethrough while preventing high-frequency electromagnetic waves in the cooking chamber 11 from leaking outward through the upper opening 41 . In addition, the upper and lower openings 41 and 42 are provided with transparent cover plates 43 and 44 , respectively, to prevent foreign substances from entering into the interior of the housing 31 . The porous shield plate 45 and the cover plates 43 and 44 are applied with an adhesive at their peripheral edges to maintain the housing 31 in an airtight state.

[0030] In a lighting operation, the lighting device 30 may be automatically turned on at the time of a cooking operation of the microwave oven. In addition, the control panel of the microwave oven may be provided with an additional lighting button to allow a user to selectively turn on the lighting device, so as to illuminate the kitchen space below the oven body 10 where the microwave oven is not operated to cook food therein.

[0031] As described above, the present invention provides a wall-mounted type microwave oven having a lighting device which can simultaneously illuminate the inside of a cooking chamber and a kitchen space below the microwave oven. Consequently, the wall-mounted type microwave oven according to the present invention has a simplified structure, and the number of components used in the microwave oven can be reduced. Therefore, as compared to a conventional wall-mounted type microwave oven, the manufacturing cost for the present microwave oven is reduced and the productivity is increased.

[0032] Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.