Patent Application
20210051773
The subject matter of the present disclosure relates generally to cooking appliances, and more particularly to cooking appliances operable in a crisp reheat cycle.
Crispy food items (e.g., pizza, fried chicken, french fries, etc.) tend to lose their crisp when they are stored in a refrigerator appliance or other chilled chamber. One conventional method to return crisp to a food item previously stored in a chilled chamber includes reheating the crispy food item in a cooking appliance, such as a convection oven. This method can be very time consuming, especially if a long preheat time is required for the cooking appliance to reach the set point temperature. A faster method for attempting to return crisp to a food item previously stored in a chilled chamber includes reheating the food item using a microwave appliance. However, such methods typically fail to return the original crispiness back to the food item and often results in soggy food.
Accordingly, a cooking appliance and method for operating the same that address one or more of the challenges noted above would be desirable.
Aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the following description, or may be apparent from the description, or may be learned through practice of the invention.
In one exemplary embodiment, a cooking appliance is provided. The cooking appliance includes a casing defining a cooking cavity. The cooking appliance also includes a microwave module for delivering microwave energy into the cooking cavity. The cooking appliance further includes an upper heater module having one or more heating elements. The cooking appliance also includes a lower heater module having one or more heating elements. In addition, the cooking appliance includes a convection module having one or more heating elements and a convection fan operable to move air within the cooking cavity. The cooking appliance also includes a controller communicatively coupled with the microwave module, the upper heater module, the lower heater module, and the convection module for selective control thereof. The controller is configured to: receive an input indicating that the cooking appliance is to operate in a crisp reheat cycle; receive an input indicating a food type of a food item to be crisp heated within the cooking cavity of the cooking appliance in the crisp reheat cycle; access data that provides a plurality of crisp reheat instructions that each provide instructions for operating the cooking appliance in the crisp reheat cycle for an associated food type; retrieve a crisp reheat instruction from the plurality of crisp reheat instructions provided by the data based at least in part on the input indicating the food type of the food item to be crisp reheated within the cooking cavity of the cooking appliance in the crisp reheat cycle; and activate at least one of the microwave module, the upper heater module, the lower heater module, and the convection module of the cooking appliance to crisp reheat the food item in the crisp reheat cycle based at least in part on the retrieved crisp reheat instruction.
In another exemplary embodiment, a method for operating a cooking appliance in a crisp reheat cycle is provided. The method includes receiving, by a controller of the cooking appliance, an input indicating that the cooking appliance is to operate in the crisp reheat cycle. The method also includes receiving, by the controller of the cooking appliance, an input indicating a food type of a food item to be crisp reheated within a cooking cavity of the cooking appliance in the crisp reheat cycle. Further, the method includes accessing, by the controller, data that provides a plurality of crisp reheat instructions that each provide instructions for operating the cooking appliance in the crisp reheat cycle for an associated food type. The method also includes retrieving, by the controller, a crisp reheat instruction from the plurality of crisp reheat instructions provided by the data based at least in part on the input indicating the food type of the food item to be crisp reheated within the cooking cavity of the cooking appliance in the crisp reheat cycle. In addition, the method includes activating, by the controller, at least two of a microwave module, an upper heater module, a lower heater module, and a convection module of the cooking appliance to crisp reheat the food item in the crisp reheat cycle based at least in part on the retrieved crisp reheat instruction.
These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description and appended claims. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
A full and enabling disclosure of the present invention, including the best mode thereof, directed to one of ordinary skill in the art, is set forth in the specification, which makes reference to the appended figures, in which:
Reference now will be made in detail to embodiments of the invention, one or more examples of which are illustrated in the drawings. Each example is provided by way of explanation of the invention, not limitation of the invention. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. For instance, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment can be used with another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present invention covers such modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents. As used herein, terms of approximation, such as “approximately,” “substantially,” or “about,” refer to being within a ten percent (10%) margin of error of the stated value. Moreover, as used herein, the terms “first”, “second”, and “third” may be used interchangeably to distinguish one component from another and are not intended to signify location or importance of the individual components.
Cooking appliance 100 includes a housing or casing 102 that defines a cooking cavity 128. Food items can be received within cooking cavity 128. A door 108 is rotatably mounted to casing 102 and is movable between an open position and a closed position (shown in
Control panel 118 includes a display device 120 for presenting various information to a user. Control panel 118 also includes one or more input devices. For this embodiment, the input devices of control panel 118 include a knob or dial 122 and tactile control buttons 124. Selections are made by rotating dial 122 clockwise or counter-clockwise, and when the desired selection is displayed, pressing dial 122. For example, many crisp reheat and other cooking algorithms can be preprogrammed in or loaded onto a memory device of a controller 150 of cooking appliance 100 for many different food items types (e.g., pizza, fried chicken, french fries, potatoes, etc.). When a user is cooking a particular food item for which there is a preprogrammed cooking algorithm, the preprogrammed cooking algorithm can be selected by rotating dial 122 until the selected food name is displayed and then pressing dial 122. Instructions and selections are displayed on display device 120. Furthermore, in some embodiments, display device 120 can also be used as an input device. For instance, in such embodiments, display device 120 can be a touchscreen device. In some embodiments, display device 120 is the only input device of control panel 118.
The following functions can be selected from respective control buttons 124 of control panel 118. One of the control buttons 124 can be labeled “PRECISION COOKING”. The “PRECISION COOKING” control button can enable a user to perform the following precision cooking functions: 1) manually enter precision cooking time and power levels, 2) select preprogrammed control algorithms, or 3) store manually programmed algorithms as recipes. Moreover, as will be explained in detail herein, selection of the “PRECISION COOKING” control button can provide access to a “CRISP REHEAT” cycle that provides dedicated functionality for reheating crispy food items. “CRISP REHEAT” functions can enable a user to perform various crisp reheat functions, including selecting preprogrammed crisp reheat control algorithms. In some embodiments, control panel 118 can include a dedicated control button labeled as “CRISP REHEAT” that enables crisp reheat functionality.
Further, cooking appliance 100 includes a microwave module 160, an upper heater module 132, a lower heater module 134, and a convection module 140. Microwave module 160 includes a magnetron located on a side of cooking cavity 128. In some embodiments, the magnetron of microwave module 160 delivers microwave energy into cooking cavity 128. Upper heater module 132 can include one or more heating elements. For instance, upper heating module 132 can include one or more halogen cooking lamps and/or one or more ceramic heaters. For the depicted embodiment of
Convection module 140 includes a sheath heater 142 and a convection fan 144. Convection fan 144 is provided for blowing or otherwise moving air over sheath heater 142 of convection module 140 and into cooking cavity 128, e.g., for convection cooking. Lower heater module 134 includes at least one heating element. The heating element of lower heater module 134 can be a ceramic heater or a halogen lamp, for example. For the depicted embodiment of
The specific heating elements of upper and lower heater modules 132, 134, convection module 140, and radio frequency (RF) generation system of microwave module 160 (e.g., a magnetron) can vary from embodiment to embodiment, and the elements and system described above are exemplary only. For example, the upper heater module 132 can include any combination of heaters including combinations of halogen lamps, ceramic lamps, and/or sheath heaters. Similarly, lower heater module 134 can include any combination of heaters including combinations of halogen lamps, ceramic lamps, and/or sheath heaters. In addition, the heaters can all be one type of heater. The specific ratings and number of lamps and/or heaters utilized in the upper and lower modules 132, 134 and convection module 140 can vary from embodiment to embodiment. Generally, the combinations of lamps, heaters, and RF generation system is selected to provide the desired cooking characteristics for precision cooking, which includes crisp reheating, microwave, and convection/bake modes.
Returning to
Referring generally to
Once the crisp reheat mode is selected (e.g., by selection of the “CRISP REHEAT” option), a user can select a food type of the food item to be cooked in the crisp reheat mode within cooking cavity 128 of cooking appliance 100. For instance, a user can provide a user input to select a food type of the food item to be cooked in the crisp reheat mode as shown in
Once a user has selected the food type of the food item to be cooked in the crisp reheat mode, in some embodiments, a user can classify the selected food type, e.g., into a class or subcategory of the food type. For instance, as shown in
Further, in some embodiments, once a user has selected the food type of the food item to be cooked in the crisp reheat mode, a user can select a food item amount of the food item to be cooked in the crisp reheat mode within cooking cavity 128 of cooking appliance 100. For instance, a user can provide a user input to select a food item amount of the food item to be cooked in the crisp reheat mode as shown in
In some embodiments, once a user has selected the food type of the food item to be crisp reheated in the crisp reheat cycle, controller 150 can cause display device 120 to present or display a suggested cooking utensil for cooking the selected food items in the crisp reheat cycle as shown in
Once a user has provided one or more user inputs to select the food type, the food item classification, the food item amount, and the suggested cooking utensil is presented to the user via display device 120, controller 150 is configured to access data that provides a plurality of crisp reheat instructions. That is, controller 150 can access data that provides crisp reheat instructions for crisp reheating various food items. Each of the plurality of crisp reheat instructions provide instructions for operating cooking appliance 100 in the crisp reheat cycle for a given or associated food type. The crisp reheat instructions provided by the data set can not only provide instructions for operating cooking appliance 100 in the crisp reheat cycle for an associated food type, but also for an associated food item amount, and food item classification. As will be explained further herein, by accessing the data, controller 150 can retrieve crisp reheat instructions associated with the selected food type, food item classification, and food item amount. Controller 150 can then execute the retrieved crisp reheat instructions to crisp reheat the food item.
For instance, as shown in
The various heating modules 132, 134, 160, 140 can be further broken down into sub columns based on the individual heating elements that make up the heating module. For instance, upper heater module 132 can be broken down into ceramic heater 136, halogen lamp 138. That is, ceramic heater 136 can have a column associated with cycle time and a column associated with power level and halogen lamp 138 can have a column associated with cycle time and a column associated with power level. In this way, different heating elements of a particular module can be activated at different power levels and cycle times than one another. As will be appreciated, the menu tree depicted in
As further shown in the menu tree of
By way of example, as further depicted in the menu tree of
With the data 170 accessed, controller 150 is further configured to retrieve a crisp reheat instruction from the plurality of crisp reheat instructions provided by the data 170 based at least in part on the input indicating the food type of the food item to be crisp reheated within the cooking cavity of the cooking appliance in the crisp reheat cycle. In some embodiments, the crisp reheat instruction retrieved from the plurality of crisp reheat instructions provided by the data 170 is based at least in part on the input indicating the food item amount of the food item to be crisp reheated in the crisp reheat cycle within the cooking cavity 128 of the cooking appliance 100. Further, in some embodiments, the crisp reheat instruction retrieved from the plurality of crisp reheat instructions provided by the data 170 is based at least in part on the food item classification of the food type. In yet other embodiments, the crisp reheat instruction retrieved from the plurality of crisp reheat instructions provided by the data 170 is based at least in part on whether the user has confirmed use of the suggested cooking utensil.
By way of example, with reference specifically to
Once the crisp reheat instruction is retrieved from data 170, controller 150 sets the crisp reheat cycle to a cook time of six minutes (6 min). Controller 150 also sets the upper heater module 132 to a cycle time of thirty-two seconds per duty cycle (32 s/duty cycle; thus upper heater module 132 will be activated for the duration of the six minutes (6 min)), the lower heater module 134 to a cycle time of thirty-two seconds per duty cycle (32 s/duty cycle), the microwave module 160 to a cycle time of twenty seconds per duty cycle (20 s/duty cycle), and the convection module 140 to a cycle time of thirty-two seconds per duty cycle (32 s/duty cycle). When convection module 140 is activated, sheath heater 142 is activated to generate heat and convection fan 144 is activated to move air at least across sheath heater 142 and into cooking cavity 128. Further, based on the retrieved crisp reheat instruction, controller 150 sets: the upper heater module 132 to a power level of ten (10), the lower heater module 134 to a power level of ten (10), the microwave module 160 to a power level of six (6), and the convection module 140 to a power level of ten (10). In some embodiments, the power level of convection module 140 corresponds to a fan speed of convection fan 144. In yet other embodiments, the power level of convection module 140 can have a power level associated with the heat output of sheath heater 142 and a fan speed of convection fan 144. Further, based on the retrieved crisp reheat instruction, controller 150 sets the “CHECK FOR DONENESS” user message at one minute thirty seconds (1 min, 30 s) remaining in the six minute (6 min) cook time. Controller 150 also determines that the “TURN TIME” is not applicable for the parameters selected, and accordingly, no user message is set associated with the turn time of the food item.
Once controller 150 accesses the data 170, retrieves the crisp reheat instructions associated with the selected food type, classification, food item amount, etc., and sets the crisp reheat instructions for operating the cooking appliance 100 in the crisp reheat cycle, controller 150 activates at least one of the microwave module 160, the upper heater module 132, the lower heater module 134, and convection module 140 of cooking appliance 100 to crisp reheat the food item in the crisp reheat cycle in accordance with or based at least in part on the retrieved crisp reheat instruction. In some embodiments, at least two of microwave module 160, upper heater module 132, lower heater module 134, and convection module 140 of cooking appliance 100 are activated by controller 150 to crisp reheat the food item in the crisp reheat cycle. In yet other embodiments, at least three of microwave module 160, upper heater module 132, lower heater module 134, and convection module 140 of cooking appliance 100 are activated by controller 150 to crisp reheat the food item in the crisp reheat cycle. In some further embodiments, microwave module 160, upper heater module 132, lower heater module 134, and convection module 140 of cooking appliance 100 are all activated by controller 150 to crisp reheat the food item in the crisp reheat cycle. For instance, the crisp reheat instructions for the food type “QUICHE” (
In some embodiments, microwave module 160, upper heater module 132, and convection module 140 are activated in accordance with the retrieved crisp reheat instructions. In this way, microwave module 160 can deliver microwave energy into cooking cavity 128 (e.g., to heat the interior of the food item), upper heater module 132 can deliver radiant and thermal energy to crisp or recrisp the exterior of the food item, and convection fan 144 of convection module 140 can move air about cooking cavity 128 to facilitate the speed and evenness of the crisp reheat cooking operation. However, other combinations of heating elements and convection fan 144 can be activated by controller 150.
In some embodiments, the retrieved crisp reheat instructions can provide for and controller 150 can activate different combinations of heating elements of the modules 132, 134, 160, 140 (e.g., at different cycle times and power levels). In this way, cooking appliance 100 can provide a certain crispiness effect to the food item being crisp reheated. For instance, in some example embodiments, one or both of radiant heaters 136 and 138 of upper heater module 132 and sheath heater 142 and convection fan 144 of convection module 140 are used to heat and crisp the exterior of the food items. In some embodiments, additionally or alternatively, ceramic heater 146 of lower heater module 134 can be used to heat the exterior of the food item. In yet other embodiments, additionally or alternatively, ceramic heater 146 and sheath heater 142 can be energized to heat the air in cooking cavity 128. In some embodiments, convection fan 144 can circulate air over the heating elements 136, 138, 142 to assure even cooking. In addition, microwave energy provided by microwave module 160 can be used to heat the inside of the food item, as noted above. Radiant heaters 136, 138 of upper heater module 132, the magnetron of microwave module 160, ceramic heater 146 of lower heater module 134, and sheath heater 142 and convection fan 144 of convection module 140 can be cycled throughout the crisp reheat cooking cycle to provide the desired cooking results.
In some embodiments, controller 150 only starts or commences the crisp reheat cycle upon a user input. For instance, controller 150 can activate at least one of microwave module 160, upper heater module 132, lower heater module 134, and convection module 140 only after a user input is provided by a user. For instance, a user can select the “START” control button 124 (
At (302), the method (300) includes receiving, by a controller of the cooking appliance, an input indicating that the cooking appliance is to operate in a crisp reheat cycle. For instance, the cooking appliance can be the cooking appliance 100 provided herein and the controller can be controller 150. Cooking appliance 100 can be operated in the crisp reheat cycle to crisp reheat a food item. For instance, the food item can be a food item having a crispy exterior that has been previously heated or cooked (e.g., above room temperature) and then cooled (e.g., to or below room temperature). As one example, the food item to be crisp reheated can be previously heated or cooked to a temperature at or above one hundred degrees Fahrenheit (100° F.) ≈38° C.) and then cooled to a temperature at or below forty degrees Fahrenheit (40° F.) ≈4° C.).
In some implementations, a user can commence a crisp reheat cycle by providing a user input to select the “PRECISION COOKING” option on the home page of display device 120 as shown in
At (304), the method (300) includes receiving, by the controller of the cooking appliance, an input indicating a food type of a food item to be crisp reheated within a cooking cavity of the cooking appliance in the crisp reheat cycle. For instance, a user can select a food type from among a plurality of food types. For example, a user can provide a user input to select a food type of the food item to be crisp reheated in the crisp reheat cycle as shown in
In addition, in some implementations, the method (300) can include receiving, by the controller, an input indicating a food item amount of the food item to be crisp reheated in the crisp reheat cycle within the cooking cavity of the cooking appliance. The method (300) can also include receiving, by the controller, an input indicating a food item classification of the food type. As will be explained further below, such inputs can be utilized in retrieving the correct or most relevant crisp reheat instruction at (308).
At (306), the method (300) includes accessing, by the controller, data that provides a plurality of crisp reheat instructions that each provide instructions for operating the cooking appliance in the crisp reheat cycle for an associated food type. For instance, the data can be stored in one or memory device(s) of controller 150. Additionally or alternatively, the data can be stored in one or more remote computing devices communicatively coupled with controller 150 of cooking appliance 100. The data 170 can include a menu tree, such as the menu tree shown in
Each food type can include different classifications and food item amounts, and thus, multiple crisp reheat instructions can be associated with a particular food type. For instance, as shown in
At (308), the method (300) includes retrieving, by the controller, a crisp reheat instruction from the plurality of crisp reheat instructions provided by the data based at least in part on the input indicating the food type of the food item to be crisp reheated within the cooking cavity of the cooking appliance in the crisp reheat cycle. For instance, the data accessed at (306), the controller 150 can retrieve a crisp reheat instruction that is associated with the food type selected by the user (which is received by controller 150 via an input). The retrieved crisp reheat instruction can include a cook time, a cycle time for the microwave module, the upper heater module, the lower heater module, and the convection module as well as a power level for the microwave module, the upper heater module, the lower heater module, and the convection module. Once the crisp reheat instruction is retrieved and set, controller 150 can operate cooking appliance 100 in the crisp reheat cycle based at least in part on the retrieved crisp reheat instruction as will be discussed further at (310).
By way of example, with reference to
At (310), the method (300) includes activating, by the controller, at least two of the microwave module, the upper heater module, the lower heater module, and the convection module of the cooking appliance to crisp reheat the food item in the crisp reheat cycle based at least in part on the retrieved crisp reheat instruction. For instance, in some implementations, during activating at (310), the controller 150 activates microwave module 160 and upper heater module 132. When activated by the controller 150, the microwave module 160 is operable to deliver microwave energy into the cooking cavity 128 (e.g., to heat the interior of the food item). Further, in some implementations, the upper heater module has ceramic heater 136 and halogen lamp 138. In some implementations, halogen lamp 138 is activated (e.g., to crisp the exterior of the food item) along with microwave module 160. In this way, the interior of the food item can be heated with microwave energy and the exterior can be crisped with radiant and thermal energy from halogen lamp 138. In some implementations, additionally or alternatively, ceramic heater 136 of upper heater module 132 and/or sheath heater 142 of convection module 140 can be activated along with microwave module 160.
Further, in some implementations, during activating at least two of the microwave module, the upper heater module, the lower heater module, and the convection module of the cooking appliance to crisp reheat the food item in the crisp reheat cycle, the method (300) includes activating, by the controller, each of the microwave module, the upper heater module, the lower heater module, and the convection module of the cooking appliance based at least in part on the retrieved crisp reheat instruction. In yet other implementations, during activating at least two of the microwave module, the upper heater module, the lower heater module, and the convection module of the cooking appliance to crisp reheat the food item in the crisp reheat cycle, the method (300) includes activating, by the controller, at least three of the microwave module, the upper heater module, the lower heater module, and the convection module of the cooking appliance based at least in part on the retrieved crisp reheat instruction.
In implementations in which convection module 140 is activated, the method (300) can include activating, by the controller, the convection fan to move air within the cooking cavity. In some implementations, the convection fan moves air over or across one or more heating elements and into the cooking cavity. For instance, in some implementations, when activated by controller 150, convection fan 144 is operable to move air over or across sheath heater 142 of convection module 140 and into cooking cavity 128. In this way, air can be circulated through and within cooking cavity 128 to provide for a faster and more even crisp reheating operation. In some implementations, additionally, when activated by controller 150, convection fan 144 is operable to move air over or across halogen lamp 138 and/or ceramic heater 136 and into the cooking cavity 128. In yet other implementations, convection fan 144 can move air over or across ceramic heater 146 of lower heater module 134. In yet other implementations, the method (300) can include activating or causing, by the controller, a display device communicatively coupled with the controller to display a user message at a predetermined time during the crisp reheat cycle based at least in part on the retrieved crisp reheat instruction. For instance, in some implementations, the crisp reheat instructions can include instructions for displaying a “TURN TIME” to a user, e.g., so that a user knows when to turn over the food item in the cooking cavity 128. In yet other implementations, the crisp reheat instructions can include instructions for displaying a “CHECK FOR DONENESS” to a user, e.g., so that a user knows when to check the food item in the cooking cavity 128 for doneness.
This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the invention, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they include structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal languages of the claims.
