Inverter microwave oven and method for controlling the same

Abstract

Disclosed herein are an inverter microwave oven and a method for controlling the same, wherein a switching frequency of an inverter is raised during the initial operation of the microwave oven and then lowered during the normal operation of the oven after the lapse of a predetermined time, so as to prevent overvoltage from being applied to a magnetron, which generates electromagnetic waves, during the initial operation, thereby enhancing durability and operational reliability of the inverter. The inverter microwave oven comprises a rectifier for rectifying and smoothing a commercial AC voltage into a DC voltage. The inverter is adapted to perform a switching operation based on the DC voltage from the rectifier to generate a magnetron drive AC voltage. The microwave oven further comprises a magnetron driver for converting the AC voltage from the inverter into a high-power DC voltage and applying the converted DC voltage to the magnetron, and an inverter control unit for varying the switching frequency of the inverter to prevent overvoltage from being applied to the magnetron.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.