Patent Grant
8102080
The present invention relates generally to a control system and a control method for an appliance. More specifically, the present invention relates to a control system and a method for determining a working profile for a cooking/heating appliance such as a cooking range. The control system is configured to measure the line voltage for the cooking/heating appliance and to adjust a working profile and/or load outputs of the cooking/heating appliance accordingly.
In different geographic areas within the U.S. as well as among various countries throughout the world, the nominal line voltage can differ significantly. The typical nominal line voltage is 208V, 220V, or 240V. However, the actual voltage can vary from the nominal line voltage. In resistive loads such as electrical cooking/heating elements used in cooking/heating appliances, relatively large load output changes can occur with relatively small changes in the line voltage since load output varies with the square of the voltage. Similar load output changes can occur with non-resistive loads such as electric motors for washing machines, or inverter circuits for induction cooktops.
The performance of an appliance can be negatively influenced by the deviations in the line voltage. For example, if a cooking range is designed for operation with a line voltage of 240V, but is used in an area where the line voltage is 208V, the difference in line voltage will have a negative impact on the cooking performance of the cooking range with respect to pre-set cooking profiles
Rather than designing a different control system for each different nominal line voltage, it would be desirable to provide a single cost effective control system for an appliance. Such a control system would allow the appliance to be used with a variety of line voltages. To be attractive for such applications the control system should either automatically adapt to the applied line voltage, or at least be readily and simply pre-settable to various line voltages in the factory or during installation. For example, if a cooking range is able to sense that 208V is being supplied on the power line, it can adjust pre-set cooking profiles/parameters so that they are specifically tailored to the lower voltage (208V) operation, thereby providing uniform cooking results independent of the difference in the line voltages.
In addition, it would be desirable to provide a control system for an appliance which automatically compensates for over-voltage or under-voltage conditions without any apparent difference in the performance of the appliance, thereby preventing damage to the appliance and/or avoiding a potential safety hazard, all without interrupting the use and enjoyment of the appliance.
As described herein, the preferred embodiments of the present invention overcome one or more of the above or other disadvantages known in the art.
One aspect of the present invention relates to a control system for determining a magnitude of a voltage and controlling an application of the voltage to at least one load device of an appliance. The control system includes a threshold-crossing circuit configured to receive a representation of the voltage and to provide an output signifying the voltage crossing a predetermined voltage threshold; and a processor which receives the output from the threshold-crossing circuit and determine the magnitude of the voltage based on the output and a line frequency based on the period of the output, determines an initial cooking profile from a group of cooking profiles based on a user selected initial setting for controlling the application of the voltage to the at least one load device, and adjusts the application of the voltage to the at least one load device based on the determined magnitude of the voltage.
Another aspect of the present invention relates to a method for determining a cooking profile applied to a load device. The method includes the steps of receiving an initial setting; selecting an initial cooking profile corresponding to said initial setting and a nominal magnitude of an input voltage; measuring an time interval between threshold crossings of an input voltage; determining a line frequency based on said measured time interval; determining a magnitude of said input voltage based on said time interval of said threshold crossings; and adjusting a cycle of the application of said voltage based on said determined voltage magnitude and said determined line frequency.
These and other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the invention, for which reference should be made to the appended claims. Moreover, the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale and that, unless otherwise indicated, they are merely intended to conceptually illustrate the structures and procedures described herein.
In the drawings:
In the following description, preferred embodiments of the control system and the method of the present invention are discussed in connection with a cooking range having a cooking oven that uses electricity to generate cooking heat. The cooking range may have electrical or gas cooking elements at its top surface. Needless to say, the control system and the method of the present invention may be used in other types of appliances, including but not limited to, cooktops, microwave ovens, wall ovens, dryers, etc. or a combination of these appliances. Thus, the description herein, in conjunction with the cooking range, is not to be interpreted as limiting the usage of the control system and the method of the present invention to just such an appliance. Rather, the description just illustrates how the control system and the method of the present invention can be used in an appliance.
An exemplary cooking range is designated generally by reference numeral 100 in
Doors 116, 117 close access to respective oven cavities 150, 152 of the cooking range 100. Each oven cavity 150, 152 is used for cooking and is heated by at least one heating element (not shown in
A user activates the control system 200 by a user control 201. The user control 201 may be a knob such as knob 120, 122 on the control surface 110 or may be a human-machine interface such as a touch screen. The user uses the control 201 to send interface settings 203 to the control system microprocessor 204. Typical interface settings 203 include the specific oven cavity to be utilized, the cooking temperature, the type of cooking desired, such as but not limited to baking, convection, broiling or microwaving. Furthermore, a user may select a cooking time as an interface setting 203. Such interface settings 203 may be referred to as an initial setting. The initial settings are associated with corresponding initial cooking profiles. The control system microprocessor 204 utilizes the interface settings 203 (i.e., the initial setting) and the output 320 of a threshold-crossing circuit 300 to determine an applied cooking profile 205. The cooking profile 205 is implemented by the microprocessor 204 and relay controller 206 to switch relays 210, 212, 214, 220, 222 and 224 in order to control the operation of the heating elements 230, 232, 234, 240, 242 and 244, respectively. All of the heating elements 230, 232, 234, 240, 242 and 244 and relays 210, 212, 214, 220, 222 and 224 are connected in parallel arrangement with each other such that they may be utilized individually.
In the illustrative embodiments herein described, the control system microprocessor 204 controls the heat/load output of the heating elements 230, 232, 234, 240, 242 and 244 by controlling the switching rate of the relays to establish the desired duty cycle of the voltage applied to the heating elements 230, 232, 234, 240, 242 and 244.
The threshold-crossing circuit 300 shown in
The input 312 is provided to circuit 300, which is comprised principally of zener diode 314, transistor 316, and electro-optical coupler 318, which comprises LED 320, and photodetector 322. The optical coupler 318 outputs a square wave 340 with pulse width and frequency corresponding to the applied AC voltage and frequency respectively.
More specifically, zener diode 314 serves to block current injection into the base of transistor 316 until a minimum pre-determined threshold voltage is developed across zener diode 316 from input half-wave-rectified sinusoidal voltage 312. This enables the microprocessor to determine the magnitude of the applied voltage. In the illustrative embodiments of the threshold detection circuit described herein, the threshold voltage is twelve volts (12V). However, it is to be understood that this value is intended to be illustrative and not limiting and other voltage values may be selected and similarly utilized. Zener diode 314 in conjunction with a voltage divider comprised of resistors R57 (332) and R60 (334) limits the voltage applied to the base of transistor 316. Once at least 12V is developed across zener diode 314, and as long as the level of half-wave-rectified sinusoid is above 12V, current will begin to flow into transistor 316. This causes transistor 316 to begin to conduct current from the collector 316′ to the emitter 316″ (see
The output signal 340 (
The time interval that square wave 340 is in a low state, low pulse width, (or a high state, high pulse width) for a 240V signal will differ from the time interval that the square wave 340 is in a low state (or a high state) for a 208V signal. The measured time interval may be used to initially determine if the voltage is in the 120 volt range, the 208 volt range or the 240 volt range. Having determined the range the appropriate equation can then be selected to more precisely determine the magnitude the voltage using a predetermined linear transfer function. For example with reference to Table 1, if the measured pulse width, PW is less than 0.0043 seconds, the magnitude of the line voltage is less than 135 volts, which corresponds to the 120 volt category; if greater than 0.0043 and less than 0.0055 seconds, the magnitude of the line voltage is between 135 and 185, which is in the category identified as “low voltage”; if the pulse width (PW) is greater than 0.0055 and less than 0.0060, the magnitude of the voltage is between 185 and 223, which is in the 208 volt category and if the PW is greater than 0.0066, the voltage is greater than 224 and is in the 240 volt category. Having determined the voltage category for the line voltage, the microprocessor can then select the appropriate equation for a more precise determination of the voltage to appropriately compensate for variation from the nominal for the particular voltage category.
For example, the calculations used to determine the approximate magnitude of the line voltage applied to input 312 at 60 Hz are shown in Table 1
In the illustrative embodiment, the AC wave applied to input 312 may be a 60 Hz AC power signal. However, power signals of different frequencies, such as 50 Hz, could be similarly used. This has an impact on the pulse width of the output and is accounted for by first determining the frequency of the line. The determination of the line frequency using a zero-crossing (or threshold crossing) detector is well known in the art. In the method described herein, the circuitry and a timer within a microcontroller measure the timing between rising edges of the input voltage signal, thereby measuring the period of the signal. The measured period is then compared with the expected period of 50 Hz or 60 Hz line frequencies and the frequency is thus determined. Once the line frequency is known the corresponding look-up table is used for subsequent calculation of the line voltage. In another aspect of the invention, the time between falling edges may be used to measure the period (and subsequently the frequency.)
The signal 340 presented to the microprocessor can also be used to determine the line frequency that is then used to select the appropriate table by which the line voltage is determined. The time interval between rising edges (low-to-high transitions) of signal 340 can be measured to determine the line frequency. This time interval is the period of the applied AC voltage and is inversely proportional to the line frequency. A timer of sufficient resolution located within the microprocessor is used to measure the period. The oscillator that serves as the time base for the timer must be of sufficiently high accuracy such that the microprocessor can distinguish the difference between the frequencies of interest. If the accuracy is too low, frequencies of interest that are too closely spaced cannot be determined with a sufficient degree of accuracy. Once the period of the applied AC voltage has been measured, it is compared to a range of expected values. The range of expected values encompasses the frequencies of interest and the accuracy of the time base or oscillator. For example, the period (T-line) of a 50 Hz frequency is 20 milliseconds. If an oscillator of 2% tolerance is used, the microprocessor may measure the period (T-measured) between 19.6 (T-low) and 20.4 (T-high) milliseconds for a 50 Hz line frequency. If T-measured falls between T-low and T-high (T-low<T-measured<T-high), the AC line frequency is determined to be T-line, or 50 Hz in this example. There exists similar expected values for 60 Hz, namely 16.3 and 17.0 milliseconds respectively. As can be seen from this example, there is no overlap between the range of expected values for 50 and 60 Hz line frequencies so an oscillator tolerance of 2% is acceptable although other oscillator tolerances will also be acceptable. Although the frequencies of interested mentioned here are 50 and 60 Hz, the determination of other frequencies is also possible. It is also possible to measure the interval between falling edges (high-to-low transitions) of signal 340 to determine the period of applied AC voltage. Other frequency measurement techniques known to those skilled in the art are also possible, such as frequency discriminators, band-pass filters, and Fourier analysis.
The pulse measurement based calculations used to approximate the line voltage at 50 Hz applied at the input 312 may be determined as shown in Table 2:
An example of such compensation will now be described in which the user has selected a cooking temperature of 350 degrees for 30 minutes (initial setting), and the voltage category has been determined to be the 240 volt category based on the measured PW in accordance with Table 1. The processor 204, determines the actual input voltage using the equation from Table 1, and provides appropriate changes to the cooking parameters (i.e., altered or adjusted cooking profile), based on the actual applied voltage magnitude to achieve the results associated with the desired initial settings (e.g., temperature and duration).
However, with the voltage removed from the heating coils (cooling period), the temperature in the appliance begins to decrease. It would be appreciated that the heating characteristics of the appliance would maintain the temperature for a known period of time before decreasing too far. However, for the purposes of this illustration, the temperature is shown to decrease immediately after the voltage is removed from the heating coils. Generally, the decrease in the temperature is based on the characteristics of the components and materials of the oven unit.
When the temperature decreases to a threshold temperature, the voltage is again applied to the heating elements to raise the temperature back to the desired temperature. The voltage (Vo) is applied for a known time with a known duty cycle to again achieve the desired temperature. The duty cycle may be altered or adjusted to provide a desired average amount of energy during the heating period. For a given voltage, the higher the duty cycle, the more energy is applied. Generally, the duty cycle increases as voltage decreases in order to maintain substantially the same amount of energy input to the oven cavity. This process of application of voltage in a pulsed (duty cycle) manner to raise the temperature repeats for the duration of time that is specified or input by a user.
In this simplified illustration, the user specified values (i.e., temperature and time) are translated into a cooking profile represented as a rate or duty cycle of the application of the input voltage, considering the known heating characteristics of the appliance, to achieve the user specified input values. One or more duty cycles may be preloaded in the control system processor. In one aspect of the invention, the duty cycles may be predetermined and preloaded for predetermined temperatures. In another aspect, duty cycles may be determined for temperatures for which duty cycles are not preloaded by interpolating between two predetermined duty cycles of adjacent temperatures.
Returning to
Although the invention has been described with regard to the operation of relays for controlling the application of adjusted cooking profiles to the heating elements, it would be recognized that similar adjustment may be made when triac devices are employed. In the case of triac devices controlling the heating elements, a phase angle firing is adjusted to compensate for changes in a determined line voltage. The adjustment of the duty cycle, in the case of relays, or firing angle, in the case of triacs, is chosen to achieve a desired time rate of change of temperature so that the effect of the desired initial cooking profile is achieved.
The above-described methods according to the an embodiment of the invention shown herein can be realized in hardware, i.e., an FPGA, ASIC, or as software or computer code that can be stored in a recording medium such as a CD ROM, an RAM, a floppy disk, a hard disk, or a magneto-optical disk or downloaded over a network, so that the methods described herein can be rendered in such software using a general purpose computer, or a special processor or in programmable or dedicated hardware, such as an ASIC or FPGA. As would be understood in the art, the computer, the processor or the programmable hardware include memory components, e.g., RAM, ROM, Flash, etc. that may store or receive software or computer code that when accessed and executed by the computer, processor or hardware implement the processing methods described herein.
Thus, while there have shown, described and pointed out fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood that various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form and details of the devices illustrated, and in their operation, may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, it is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements and/or method steps which perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve the same results are within the scope of the invention. Moreover, it should be recognized that structures and/or elements and/or method steps shown and/or described in connection with any disclosed form or embodiment of the invention may be incorporated in any other disclosed or described or suggested form or embodiment as a general matter of design choice. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the claims appended hereto.
This application is a continuation-in-part application of application Ser. No. 11/966,047, filed on Dec. 28, 2007 now abandoned, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6969927 | Lee | Nov 2005 | B1 |
| 7098555 | Glahn et al. | Aug 2006 | B2 |
| 7170194 | Korcharz et al. | Jan 2007 | B2 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20090294434 A1 | Dec 2009 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 11966047 | Dec 2007 | US |
| Child | 12536557 | US |
