1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric oven and, more particularly, to a heater to heat a lower region of a cooking chamber.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electric ovens are appliances used for baking or roasting food by circulating air existing in a cooking chamber to heaters, causing the air, heated by the heaters, to heat the interior of the cooking chamber. An example of such conventional electric ovens is disclosed in Korean Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2004-0067381. The disclosed conventional electric oven comprises an outer casing defining the appearance of the electric oven, an inner casing mounted in the outer casing and internally defining a cooking chamber which is selectively opened or closed by a door, and a plurality of heaters mounted at corresponding positions of respective walls of the inner casing, except for a wall formed with a door opening. That is, a lower heater is externally mounted to a bottom wall of the inner casing, lateral heaters are externally mounted to both side walls of the inner casing, an upper heater is internally mounted to a top wall of the inner casing, and a convection heater is externally mounted to a rear wall of the inner casing. Heat from the convection heater is transferred into the cooking chamber under operation of a convection fan.
However, the above described conventional electric oven has a drawback in that the lower heater exhibits a low heat transfer efficiency since it is mounted outside the inner casing and thus part of the heat generated by the lower heater is not transferred into the cooking chamber. Meanwhile, the heat from the lower heater is transferred to the bottom wall of the inner casing mainly in a conduction manner and is used to heat food placed in the cooking chamber. Such conductive heating, however, tends to lengthen cooking time since it involves slow heat transfer. Furthermore, this makes a temperature distribution in a lower region of the inner casing vary depending on the shape of the lower heater, resulting in uneven cooking of the food placed in the cooking chamber.