Switch assembly and cooking apparatus having the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10458656-B2
Application number	US-201616061133-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 12, 2016
Priority date	Dec 30, 2015
Publication date	Oct 29, 2019
Grant date	Oct 29, 2019

Abstract

A cooking apparatus includes a main body having a cooking chamber and a switch assembly rotatably mounted on the main body. The switch assembly includes a switch rotatably provided, a switch holder coupled to the switch and a light guide disposed between the switch and the switch holder to uniformly emit light emitted from a light source.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A cooking apparatus comprising:
a main body having a cooking chamber; and
a switch assembly mounted on the main body,
wherein the switch assembly includes:
a switch rotatably provided;
a switch holder coupled to the switch; and
a light guide disposed between the switch and the switch holder and having a light emitting surface to uniformly emit light from a light source to a periphery of the switch, the light source being arranged between the switch and the light guide.

2. The cooking apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the light guide includes
a first light guide portion provided to disperse the light incident from the light source toward the light emitting surface, and
a second light guide portion provided to guide the light dispersed by the first light guide portion toward the light emitting surface.

3. The cooking apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the first light guide portion is formed in a disk shape and further comprises a light source mounting portion in which the light source is mounted.

4. The cooking apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the second light guide portion includes a ring shape extending from an edge of the first light guide portion.

5. The cooking apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the light guide further comprises a light guide passage to disperse and totally reflect the light emitted from the light source.

6. The cooking apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the light source includes an LED and a printed circuit board on which the LED is mounted, and
the light source is configured to be vertically mounted on the light guide.

7. The cooking apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the light guide passage is integrally formed with the light guide.

8. The cooking apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the light guide passage includes at least one of a circle, a hemisphere, a curve, a straight line, and a combination of the curve and the straight line.

9. The cooking apparatus of claim 7 , wherein
the light guide passage extends outside the second light guide portion, and
the light source is arranged outside the light guide and inside the switch holder so as to be in close contact with the light guide passage.

10. The cooking apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the light guide includes a pattern portion to disperse the light incident from the light source toward the light emitting surface.

11. The cooking apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the pattern portion includes a plurality of fine patterns formed around the outer periphery of the first light guide portion.

12. The cooking apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the fine pattern is formed to have a higher density as the distance from the light source increases.

13. The cooking apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the second light guide portion includes at least one opening.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Jung Gwang Jin
• Ko Byoung Woo
• Kim Jung Kwon
• Kim Chun Seong

Classifications

• H05B6/6435

  Aspects relating to the user interface of the microwave heating apparatus · CPC title

• F24C3/126 Primary

  on ranges · CPC title

• F24C7/082 Primary

  on ranges, e.g. control panels, illumination · CPC title

• F24C3/008 Primary

  Ranges · CPC title

• H01H9/182

  Illumination of the symbols or distinguishing marks (H01H9/181 takes precedence) · CPC title