Patent Application
20230413393
The present disclosure generally relates to an induction cooktop, and more specifically, to an induction cooktop that uses a combination of infrared and far-infrared sensors to determine the temperature of a cooking article being heated.
Induction cooktops, in general, lack an actual heat source, instead using induction to generate eddy currents within a cooking article to cause internal heating of the cooking article material. This may make such cooking appliances useable with temperature sensors to measure the actual heating effect achieved by the use of one or more of the inductive heating coils in connection with cooking articles. Further, the precise and responsive control of heating using an induction cooktop makes it theoretically possible to achieve a desired temperature in a cooking article, including by initial high levels of heating to decrease the time needed to reach a selected temperature. Most temperature detection devices currently used with induction cooktops, however, have various limitations. In one example, a pop-up sensor can be used below the cooking article to measure the bottom surface temperature of the pan. The sensor can be spring-loaded to maintain contact with the bottom of the cooking article. Pop-up sensors, however, require a hole in the glass of the cooktop and prevent the surface of the cooktop from being completely smooth, which can lead to cleaning and manufacturing issues related to stack-up and assembly of the unit. Pop-up sensors are also visible, reduce the useable area on the cooktop surface, and can result in undesirable collisions between the sensors and objects. A side infrared sensor can be placed above the ceramic glass to measure directly the cooking article temperature from the side. Depending on the height of the cooking article and the line of sight of the sensor, there can be inaccurate temperature measurements compared to the true temperature at the bottom and/or top surface of the cooking article. A temperature sensor can be embedded in a cooking article to measure temperature. The cooking article can then be connected directly to the cooktop, phone, tablet, or other device. The cooking article can also be connected wirelessly by NFC, WiFi, Bluetooth or other wireless communication methods or protocols. Such a configuration, however, requires the consumer to buy a specific cooking article for use on the cooktop. Similarly, wireless sensors can be connected directly to the cooking article to measure the cooking article temperature from a surface location thereof. Wired accessories can be connected to the stovetop, tablets, phones, etc. Wireless accessories can be connected to stovetop software and/or applications via Bluetooth, WiFi, radio frequency, etc. Drawbacks include increased number of consumer interactions during the cooking process (attaching/detaching, cleaning), increased number of components involved with stovetops, and self-heating via induction through the conductive materials.
Some current induction cooktops use negative temperature coefficient (“NTC”) thermistors to read the temperature of the glass-ceramic substrate. These measurements, significantly, do not represent the temperature of the bottom surface of the cooking article, as the glass-ceramic temperature increases due to heat dissipation from the cooking article. The slow dissipation of heat is represented in the temperature measurement from the NTC and introduces attenuation and time delays between the temperature of the glass-ceramic and the temperature of the cooking article. Air gaps between the glass-ceramic substrate and various cooking articles can introduce additional variations in the temperature measurements. Accordingly, an indirect measurement from one or more NTC is not a sufficient approximation of the cooking article temperature, necessitating a thermal model to estimate the cooking article temperature. The parameters of the thermal model vary based on the cooking article and temperature setpoint, leading to inaccuracies in temperature measurement and control of power input.
While the use of infrared sensors can overcome some limitations of other temperature detection systems, it has been discovered that self-heating within induction cooktops can affect the accuracy of infrared temperature detection, particularly through the glass-ceramic substrate. Notably, typical implementations of glass-ceramic substrates use a material that is only partially transparent so as to obscure the internal components of the induction cooktop (including the induction heating coils). In this manner, when the cooking article is heated, some of the heat from the cooking article is transferred into the glass-ceramic substrate on which it rests. An infrared sensor directed at the cooking article through the glass-ceramic substrate will detect some of this heating because the partial opacity imparts a level of emissivity to the material. Specifically, the heated glass-ceramic substrate will emit infrared radiation that is detected by the infrared sensor in addition to the infrared radiation emitted by the cooking article that is also detected by the infrared sensor. Accordingly, further improvements are desired.
According to one aspect of the present disclosure, an induction cooktop includes a glass-ceramic substrate defining a cooking surface and an underside opposite the cooking surface and an induction heating coil positioned beneath the underside of the cooking surface. The induction cooktop further includes an infrared sensor directed toward the underside of the glass-ceramic substrate and outputting a first temperature reading of the glass-ceramic substrate during heating of a cooking article positioned on the cooking surface using the induction heating coil and a far-infrared sensor directed through the glass-ceramic substrate and outputting a second temperature reading of the cooking article and the glass-ceramic substrate. A controller determines a temperature of the cooking article using the first temperature reading from the infrared sensor and the second temperature reading from the far-infrared sensor.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a method for determining the temperature of a cooking article positioned on a cooking surface of a glass-ceramic substrate during inductive heating of the cooking article includes receiving a first temperature reading of the glass-ceramic substrate during heating of the cooking article from an infrared sensor directed toward an underside of the glass-ceramic substrate, receiving a second temperature reading of the cooking article and the glass-ceramic substrate from a far-infrared sensor directed through the glass-ceramic substrate, and processing the first and second temperature readings to use the second temperature reading to account for heating of the glass-ceramic substrate by the heating of the cooking article indicated in the second temperature reading.
According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, an induction cooktop includes a glass-ceramic substrate defining a cooking surface and an underside opposite the cooking surface, the glass-ceramic substrate having an outer portion of a partially-opaque material and an inner portion surrounded by the outer portion and of a transparent material. An induction heating coil is positioned beneath the underside of the cooking surface with a central open area of the induction heating coil aligned with the inner portion of the glass-ceramic substrate. The induction cooktop further includes an infrared sensor positioned within the central open area of the induction heating coil, directed through the inner portion of the glass-ceramic substrate, and outputting a temperature reading of the cooking article and the glass-ceramic substrate.
These and other features, advantages, and objects of the present disclosure will be further understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art by reference to the following specification, claims, and appended drawings.
In the drawings:
The components in the figures are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles described herein.
The present illustrated embodiments reside primarily in combinations of method steps and apparatus components related to an induction cooktop. Accordingly, the apparatus components and method steps have been represented, where appropriate, by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present disclosure so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein. Further, like numerals in the description and drawings represent like elements.
For purposes of description herein, the terms “upper,” “lower,” “right,” “left,” “rear,” “front,” “vertical,” “horizontal,” and derivatives thereof shall relate to the disclosure as oriented in
The terms “including,” “comprises,” “comprising,” or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. An element proceeded by “comprises a . . . ” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.
Referring to
Referring specifically to
In a particular aspect, the controller 28, described herein as determining the temperature of the cooking article A using the first temperature reading 22 from the infrared sensor 20 and the second temperature reading 26 from the far-infrared sensor 24, can be a microprocessor executing routines stored in memory associated therewith. In further implementations, the controller 28 can be an application-specific integrated circuit (“ASIC”), system-on-chip, or other known devices and architectures. The controller 28 can be a microprocessor configured for controlling operation of the induction cooktop 10, including operation of the induction heating coils 18, or can be specifically dedicated to the use with the infrared and far-infrared sensors 20 and 24 in a temperature detection system embedded within the induction cooktop 10.
As can be appreciated, the example induction cooktop 10, as with induction cooktops in general, lacks an actual heat source beneath the glass-ceramic substrate 12, which in theory makes such cooking appliances useable with temperature sensors to measure the actual heating effect achieved by the use of one or more of the inductive heating coils 18 in connection with a cooking article A. Further, the precise and responsive control of cooking article A heating using an induction cooktop 10, such as the depicted induction cooktop 10 makes it possible to achieve a desired temperature in a cooking article, including by initial high levels of heating to decrease the time needed to reach a selected temperature. It has been discovered, however, that, even in the absence of an internal heat source, the precise measurement of the temperature of a cooking article can be difficult, leaving some of the benefits of inductive heating not fully realized. In particular, several above-described temperature detection devices have various limitations. While the use of infrared sensors 20 can overcome some limitations of other temperature detection systems, it has been discovered that self-heating within induction cooktop 10 can affect the accuracy of infrared temperature detection, particularly through the glass-ceramic substrate 12. Notably, typical implementations of the glass-ceramic substrate 12 use a material that is only partially transparent so as to obscure the internal components of the induction cooktop 10 (including the induction heating coils 18). In this manner, when the cooking article A is heated, some of the heat from the cooking article A is transferred into the glass-ceramic substrate 12 on which it rests. An infrared sensor 20 directed at the cooking article A through the glass-ceramic substrate 12 will detect some of this heating because the partial opacity (e.g. transmitting between 30% and 60% of impinging visible light therethrough) imparts a level of emissivity to the material. Specifically, the heated glass-ceramic substrate 12 will emit infrared radiation that is detected by the infrared sensor 20 in addition to the infrared radiation emitted by the cooking article A that is also detected by the infrared sensor 20.
As shown in
With reference to
In general, the controller 28 determines a temperature 36 of the cooking article A using the reading 26 from the far-infrared sensor 24 and the reading 22 from the infrared sensor 20. As discussed above, the reading 26 from the far-infrared sensor 24 generally indicates the cooking article A temperature 34 but is affected by the temperature 34 of the glass-ceramic substrate 12 as well as the ambient temperature 32. The glass-ceramic substrate 12 temperature 34 is measured with the infrared sensor 20 by configuring the infrared sensor 20 to not “look” through the material of the glass-ceramic substrate 12, by one or a combination of its positon and orientation, as well as the particular range of wavelengths that it is tuned to detect. The far-infrared sensor 24 is positioned and otherwise configured to detect wavelengths transmitted through the glass-ceramic substrate 12 and to, accordingly “look” at the bottom of the cooking article A.
The controller 28 uses the reading 22 from the infrared sensor 20 to compensate for self-heating of the glass-ceramic substrate 12 in the final determination of the cooking article A temperature 36. In a general aspect, this may be achieved by subtracting the effect of the self-heating of the glass-ceramic substrate 12 from the reading 26 from the far-infrared sensor 24. Notably, this may not be achieved by directly subtracting the temperature 34 of the glass-ceramic substrate 12 from the temperature 34 indicated by the far-infrared sensor 24, as the tuning of the sensors leads the emissivity of the glass-ceramic substrate 12 to affect the different temperature readings 22 and 26 in different ways, as discussed further below. In general, the glass-ceramic substrate 12, by being of a partially transparent material, causes the temperature reading 26 output by the far-infrared sensor 24 to be of the cooking article A in some combination with (or otherwise affected by) the glass-ceramic substrate 12, due to the partially-transparent material, emitting infrared radiation during heating thereof. In this manner, the controller 28 can be said to determine the temperature 36 of the cooking article A by using the temperature reading 22 to account for heating of the glass-ceramic substrate 12 by the heating of the cooking article A positioned on the cooking surface 14 using the induction heating coil 18, indicated in the second temperature reading 26.
In a further aspect, the determination of the cooking article A temperature 36 uses the reading 22 from the infrared sensor 20, the reading 26 from the far-infrared sensor 24, and the ambient temperature 32 surrounding the far-infrared sensor 24 to more completely compensate for self-heating within the induction cooktop 10. This is due to the fact that, as discussed above with respect to
The controller 28 in receiving all three readings 22, 26, and 38 in the implementation of the induction cooktop 10 shown in
where:
TA is the determined temperature 36 of the cooking article A;
Vmeas is the measured voltage from the far infrared sensor 24;
c1, c2, and c3 are correction factors for emissivity, transmissivity, and reflectance, respectively, of the glass-ceramic substrate 12;
Tglass is the temperature of the glass-ceramic substrate 12, as measured by the infrared sensor 20;
Tambient is the ambient temperature 38 within the cooktop 10, as measured by the ambient temperature sensor 32;
Tr and R are correction factors for the transmissivity and reflectance, respectively, of the glass-ceramic substrate 12; and
ϵA is the emissivity of the cooking article A.
In general, the equation relates the signal received from the far infrared sensor 24 to the temperature of the cooking article A, while using the reading from the infrared sensor 20 to account for the effect of self-heating of the glass-ceramic substrate 12 on the reading of the far-infrared sensor 24 and to account for an increase in the internal temperature of the infrared sensor 20 and far-infrared sensor 24, which is impacted by both self-heating and the ambient temperature 38, as all of these will affect the temperature measurement received from the infrared 20 and far-infrared 24 sensors. As can be appreciated, the ambient temperature 38 has a direct effect on the reading obtained from the far-infrared sensor 24 and the infrared sensor 20. The particular amount to which the controller 28 accounts for the effect of self-heating of the glass-ceramic substrate 12 on the reading of the far-infrared sensor 24, as well as on the reading from the infrared sensor 20 will vary based on the tuning of the sensors 20 and 24, as well as on the particular material composition of the glass ceramic substrate 12. Because these factors are generally known, the controller 28 can compensate appropriately based on the above factors. Due to the different nature in the measurements taken by the far-infrared sensor 24 (through the substrate 12) and the infrared sensor 10 (of the substrate 12), different factors are used. As shown above, the factors c1, c2, and c3 are correction factors for emissivity, transmissivity, and reflectance, respectively, of the glass-ceramic substrate 12 on the reading from the infrared sensor. The factors Tr and R are correction factors for the transmissivity and reflectance, respectively, of the glass-ceramic substrate 12 on the reading of the far-infrared sensor 24.
Using the above equation, a combination of the reading 38 of the ambient temperature 32 and the reading 22 from the infrared sensor 20 can be used to indicate the temperature 34 of the glass-ceramic substrate 12. It is to be appreciated that the equation and related description are given by way of example only and that similar principles can be used to obtain the desired result using other equations and/or processes. As can further be appreciated, the above-described compensation for self-heating of the glass-ceramic substrate 12 requires values for the emissivity and transmissivity of the material comprising the glass-ceramic substrate 12 and for the emissivity of the cooking article A. Because the glass-ceramic substrate 12 is fixed and provided by the manufacturer, the emissivity and transmissivity of the glass-ceramic substrate 12 can be known and stored in memory associated with the controller 28. Because, however, the cooking article A for which the temperature 36 is being measured is intended to be interchangeable, the emissivity of the cooking article A may vary and may not be precisely known. In this manner, there are different ways to provide the cooking article A emissivity to the controller 28 for use in determining the cooking article A temperature 36. In one respect, even though the material composition, surface finish, and optional coatings will vary among different cooking articles A, the general range of emissivity for such articles, particularly ones that are compatible with inductive heating, is known and may be relatively small, compared to the emissivity range for materials in general. Additionally, because the actual effect on the emissivity of the cooking article A on the temperature 36 determination is smaller than other factors, this value may be set as an average of known emissivities of compatible cooking articles. In other arrangements, the controller 28 may determine a closer estimate of the emissivity of the cooking article A during a calibration process carried out during initial use of the cooking article A with the induction cooktop 10. As a still further addition or in the alternative, the controller 28 may ask the user (including during the first use of the cooking article A) the material and/or other characteristics of the cooking article A to provide a closer estimate of emissivity, which can be, for example, stored in memory in a profile of the cooking article A that can be retrieved for later use.
In a further aspect, shown in
In one example of utilization of the determined temperature 36 of the cooking article A, the controller 28 can receive an entry from a user for heating of the cooking article A to a specified temperature. The controller 28 can then heat the cooking article A, when positioned on the cooking surface 14, using at least one induction heating coil 18 beneath the cooking article A to bring the cooking article A to the set temperature. The improved determination of the cooking article A temperature 36 can allow the controller 28 to more accurately control this heating, which can be completed according to at least one of a time interval and a power level of the induction heating coil 18 such that the temperature 36 of the cooking article A reaches the specified temperature in a faster and more accurate manner. In general, this process may allow consumers to control the temperature of utilized cooking articles A, leading to more consistent and better cooking results and may minimize user mistakes from setting power level instead of temperature. It may also give consumers more control over the cooking process, allowing for more customization and precision in recipes and may simplify the user interaction with the induction cooktop 10 by removing the need to adjust power levels to implicitly achieve a desired temperature, as the process may allow the controller 28 to start at high power level that can be lowered in anticipation of reaching and maintaining the desired temperature more accurately than a user can achieve.
In an additional aspect, the controller 28 may execute a calibration process during initial use of the cooking article A with the induction cooktop 10, as mentioned above. In one implementation, the calibration process may include determining a thermal response of the cooking article A by inductive coupling with the induction heating coil 18. The thermal response of the cooking article A can be determined using the temperature 36 of the cooking article A output by the controller 28, as discussed herein, which can improve the thermal profile model built by the controller 28 in the calibration process.
According to yet another aspect of the disclosure, a method for determining the temperature 36 of a cooking article A positioned on the cooking surface 14 of a glass-ceramic substrate 12 during inductive heating of the cooking article A includes receiving a reading 22 indicating the temperature 34 of the glass-ceramic substrate 12, during heating of the cooking article A, from the infrared sensor 20 directed toward the underside 16 of the glass-ceramic substrate 12 and receiving the reading 26 from the far-infrared sensor 24. Again, the far-infrared sensor 24 is directed through the glass-ceramic substrate 12 to the cooking article A and, accordingly, the reading 26 indicates some combination of the cooking article A temperature 36 and the glass-ceramic substrate 12 temperature 34. In this manner, the method includes processing the readings 22 and 26 from the infrared sensor 20 and the far-infrared sensor 24, in particular by using the reading 22 from the infrared sensor 20 to account for heating of the glass-ceramic substrate 12 during heating of the cooking article A that is indicated in the reading 26 from the far-infrared sensor 24. The method may further include receiving the additional reading 38 of an ambient environment temperature 32 in an area surrounding the infrared sensor 20 and the far-infrared sensor 24 from an ambient temperature sensor (that in the present example is realized in the far-infrared sensor 24). In this aspect, the processing step may further use reading 38 of the ambient temperature 32 to account for heating of the ambient environment that occurs during heating of the cooking article A that is further indicated in the reading 26 from the far-infrared sensor 24. Further aspects of the method are to be understood based on the processes described above as being executed by the controller 28 and/or use of the induction cooktop 10.
In a further aspect of the disclosure, shown in
The induction heating coils 118 are positioned beneath the underside 116 of the cooking surface 114 with a central open area 135 of each induction heating coil 118 aligned with the respective inner portions 144 of the glass-ceramic substrate 112. The induction cooktop 110 further includes infrared sensors 120 positioned within the central open areas 135 of the induction heating coils 118 and directed through the inner portions 144 of the glass-ceramic substrate 112, and outputting a reading 122 corresponding with the temperature of the cooking article A directly, without any significant effect of self-heating of the glass-ceramic substrate 112, as the glass-ceramic substrate 112 has little-to-no detectable emissivity. By making the inner portions 144 of the glass-ceramic substrate 112 transparent, the infrared sensor 120 can see directly through the glass-ceramic substrate 112, which can provide an acceptably accurate temperature measurement without the use of the above-described far-infra red sensor 24.
The invention disclosed herein is further summarized in the following paragraphs and is further characterized by combinations of any and all of the various aspects described therein.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, an induction cooktop includes a glass-ceramic substrate defining a cooking surface and an underside opposite the cooking surface and an induction heating coil positioned beneath the underside of the cooking surface. The induction cooktop further includes an infrared sensor directed toward the underside of the glass-ceramic substrate and outputting a first temperature reading of the glass-ceramic substrate during heating of a cooking article positioned on the cooking surface using the induction heating coil and a far-infrared sensor directed through the glass-ceramic substrate and outputting a second temperature reading of the cooking article and the glass-ceramic substrate. A controller determines a temperature of the cooking article using the first temperature reading from the infrared sensor and the second temperature reading from the far-infrared sensor.
The controller may determine the temperature of the cooking article by using the second temperature reading to account for heating of the glass-ceramic substrate by the heating of the cooking article positioned on the cooking surface using the induction heating coil indicated in the second temperature reading.
The induction cooktop can further include an ambient temperature sensor positioned on the underside of the glass-ceramic substrate and outputting a third temperature reading of the ambient environment surrounding the infrared sensor and the far-infrared sensor, and the controller may further determine the temperature of the cooking article using the third temperature reading to account for heating of the ambient environment by the heating of the cooking article positioned on the cooking surface using the induction heating coil further indicated in the second temperature reading.
The ambient temperature sensor can be incorporated into a structure of the far-infrared sensor.
The glass-ceramic substrate can be of a partially transparent material, and the second temperature reading output by the far-infrared sensor can be of the cooking article and the glass-ceramic substrate, due to the partially transparent material, emits infrared radiation during heating thereof.
The controller can include information stored in a memory regarding a known emissivity of the glass-ceramic substrate, the known emissivity of the glass-ceramic substrate being used to obtain the first temperature reading and the second temperature reading using the infrared sensor and the far-infrared sensor.
The controller can include information stored in a memory regarding a known emissivity of the cooking article, the known emissivity of the cooking article being used to obtain the second temperature reading using the far-infrared sensor.
The known emissivity of the cooking article can be an estimated emissivity within a known range of emissivity for a selection of cooking article types useable with the induction cooktop for inductive heating.
The controller may determine the known emissivity of the cooking article during a calibration process carried out during initial use of the cooking article with the induction cooktop.
The cooking article may include a coating of a specified emissivity corresponding with the known emissivity stored in the memory.
The controller may further receive an entry from a user for heating of the cooking article to a specified temperature and may heat the cooking article positioned on the cooking surface using the induction heating coil according to at least one of a time and a power level of the induction heating coil such that the temperature of the cooking article, determined using the first temperature reading from the infrared sensor and the second temperature reading from the far-infrared sensor, reaches the specified temperature.
The controller may execute a calibration process during initial use of the cooking article with the induction cooktop, which may include determining a thermal response of the cooking article by inductive coupling with the induction heating coil, and the thermal response can be determined using the temperature of the cooking article determined using the first temperature reading from the infrared sensor and the second temperature reading from the far-infrared sensor.
According to yet another aspect, a method for determining the temperature of a cooking article positioned on a cooking surface of a glass-ceramic substrate during inductive heating of the cooking article includes receiving a first temperature reading of the glass-ceramic substrate during heating of the cooking article from an infrared sensor directed toward an underside of the glass-ceramic substrate, receiving a second temperature reading of the cooking article and the glass-ceramic substrate from a far-infrared sensor directed through the glass-ceramic substrate, and processing the first and second temperature readings to use the second temperature reading to account for heating of the glass-ceramic substrate by the heating of the cooking article indicated in the second temperature reading.
The method may further include receiving a third temperature reading of an ambient environment surrounding the infrared sensor and the far-infrared sensor from an ambient temperature sensor, and the step of processing may further uses the third temperature reading to account for heating of the ambient environment by the heating of the cooking article further indicated in the second temperature reading.
The method may further include retrieving stored information regarding a known emissivity of the glass-ceramic substrate, the known emissivity of the glass-ceramic substrate being used to derive a temperature of the glass-ceramic substrate from the first temperature reading received from infrared sensor.
The method may further include retrieving stored information regarding a known emissivity of the cooking article, the known emissivity of the cooking article being used to derive a temperature of the cooking article and the glass-ceramic substrate from the second temperature reading received from the far-infrared sensor.
The known emissivity of the cooking article can be an estimated emissivity within a known range of emissivity for a selection of cooking article types useable with the induction cooktop for inductive heating.
The method may further include determining the known emissivity of the cooking article during a calibration process carried out during initial use of the cooking article with the induction cooktop.
The cooking article can includes a coating of a specified emissivity corresponding with the known emissivity in the retrieved information.
According to yet another aspect, an induction cooktop includes a glass-ceramic substrate defining a cooking surface and an underside opposite the cooking surface, the glass-ceramic substrate having an outer portion of a partially-opaque material and an inner portion surrounded by the outer portion and of a transparent material. An induction heating coil is positioned beneath the underside of the cooking surface with a central open area of the induction heating coil aligned with the inner portion of the glass-ceramic substrate. The induction cooktop further includes an infrared sensor positioned within the central open area of the induction heating coil, directed through the inner portion of the glass-ceramic substrate, and outputting a temperature reading of the cooking article.
It will be understood by one having ordinary skill in the art that construction of the described disclosure and other components is not limited to any specific material. Other exemplary embodiments of the disclosure disclosed herein may be formed from a wide variety of materials, unless described otherwise herein.
For purposes of this disclosure, the term “coupled” (in all of its forms, couple, coupling, coupled, etc.) generally means the joining of two components (electrical or mechanical) directly or indirectly to one another. Such joining may be stationary in nature or movable in nature. Such joining may be achieved with the two components (electrical or mechanical) and any additional intermediate members being integrally formed as a single unitary body with one another or with the two components. Such joining may be permanent in nature or may be removable or releasable in nature unless otherwise stated.
It is also important to note that the construction and arrangement of the elements of the disclosure as shown in the exemplary embodiments is illustrative only. Although only a few embodiments of the present innovations have been described in detail in this disclosure, those skilled in the art who review this disclosure will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible (e.g., variations in sizes, dimensions, structures, shapes and proportions of the various elements, values of parameters, mounting arrangements, use of materials, colors, orientations, etc.) without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of the subject matter recited. For example, elements shown as integrally formed may be constructed of multiple parts or elements shown as multiple parts may be integrally formed, the operation of the interfaces may be reversed or otherwise varied, the length or width of the structures and/or members or connector or other elements of the system may be varied, the nature or number of adjustment positions provided between the elements may be varied. It should be noted that the elements and/or assemblies of the system may be constructed from any of a wide variety of materials that provide sufficient strength or durability, in any of a wide variety of colors, textures, and combinations. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present innovations. Other substitutions, modifications, changes, and omissions may be made in the design, operating conditions, and arrangement of the desired and other exemplary embodiments without departing from the spirit of the present innovations.
It will be understood that any described processes or steps within described processes may be combined with other disclosed processes or steps to form structures within the scope of the present disclosure. The exemplary structures and processes disclosed herein are for illustrative purposes and are not to be construed as limiting.
