Patent Grant
10724735
This application is related to the following application, which is filed on even date herewith and assigned to the same assignee as the present application: U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/841,456 entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DISTRIBUTING HEAT FROM A BURNER.” The disclosure of this application is incorporated by reference herein.
The present embodiments relate to a method and apparatus for a gas range integrated into a cooking appliance.
Typical gas burner heads are fixed in position on a cooktop surface and do not rotate (e.g. stationary). However, this practice of using a fixed gas burner head may concentrate the flame exiting the one or more flame ports and create uneven heating beneath the cooking utensil (e.g. pan, pot, etc.). Thus, there is a need to evenly distribute heat from a rotating gas burner head. Moreover, aesthetics of the one or more rotating burners and/or flames exiting the burner ports may be improved over fixed gas burner heads.
In some embodiments, a gas range appliance may comprise a first gas burner head having at least a first burner with a plurality of first burner ports. In various embodiments, the plurality of first burner ports may be in fluid communication with one or more upstream gas flow channels. In addition, in some embodiments, the first gas burner head may include a first plurality of gear teeth and may rotate about a first central axis. In various embodiments, a second gas burner head may have at least a second burner with a plurality of second burner ports. In some embodiments, the plurality of first burner ports may be in fluid communication with one or more upstream gas flow channels. In various embodiments, the second gas burner head may include a second plurality of gear teeth and may rotate about a second central axis. In some embodiments, the gas range appliance may include at least one drive gear. Moreover, in various embodiments, the gas range appliance may include a first idler gear positionable in an engaged position and a disengaged position. In some embodiments, when in the engaged position the first idler gear may engage at least one drive gear with the first plurality of gear teeth of the first gas burner head and when in the disengaged position the first idler gear may disengage at least one drive gear from the first plurality of gear teeth of the first gas burner head. In various embodiments, the gas range appliance may include a second idler gear positionable in an engaged position and a disengaged position. In some embodiments, when in the engaged position the second idler gear may engage at least one drive gear with the second plurality of gear teeth of the second gas burner head and when in the disengaged position the second idler gear may disengage at least one drive gear from the second plurality of gear teeth of the second gas burner head.
In addition, in some embodiments, the gas range appliance may further comprise a motor rotating at least one drive gear. In various embodiments, the gas range appliance may include a single motor. Moreover, in some embodiments, the gas range appliance may further comprise a first solenoid positioning the first idler gear in at least one of the engaged position and the disengaged position. In various embodiments, the gas range appliance may further comprise a second solenoid positioning the second idler gear in at least one of the engaged position and the disengaged position. In some embodiments, the first idler gear may be in the engaged position and the second idler gear may be in the disengaged position. In addition, in some embodiments, the first idler gear may be in the disengaged position and the second idler gear may be in the disengaged position. In some embodiments, the first gas burner head may include a third burner, wherein the first burner may rotate about the first central axis in a first rotational direction, and wherein the third burner may rotate about a third central axis in a second rotational direction. In various embodiments, the first rotational direction may be different from the second rotational direction. In some embodiments, the first central axis may be coaxially aligned with the third central axis.
In some embodiments, a gas range may comprise a first gas burner head having at least a first burner with a plurality of first burner ports. In various embodiments, the plurality of first burner ports may be in fluid communication with one or more upstream gas flow channels. In some embodiments, the first gas burner head may include a first plurality of gear teeth and may rotate about a first central axis. In addition, in some embodiments, a second gas burner head having at least a second burner with a plurality of second burner ports. In various embodiments, the plurality of first burner ports may be in fluid communication with one or more upstream gas flow channels. In addition, in some embodiments, the second gas burner head may include a second plurality of gear teeth and may rotate about a second central axis. In some embodiments, the gas range may include a single motor and at least one drive gear. In various embodiments, the gas range may include a first idler gear positionable in an engaged position and a disengaged position, wherein when in the engaged position the first idler gear may engage at least one drive gear with the first plurality of gear teeth of the first gas burner head and when in the disengaged position the first idler gear may disengage at least one drive gear from the first plurality of gear teeth of the first gas burner head. Moreover, in some embodiments, the gas range may include a second idler gear positionable in an engaged position and a disengaged position, wherein when in the engaged position the second idler gear may engage at least one drive gear with the second plurality of gear teeth of the second gas burner head and when in the disengaged position the second idler gear may disengage at least one drive gear from the second plurality of gear teeth of the second gas burner head.
In addition, in some embodiments, the gas range may be in combination with an appliance. In various embodiments, the first gas burner head may include a third burner, wherein the first burner may rotate about the first central axis in a first rotational direction, and wherein the third burner may rotate about a third central axis in a second rotational direction. In some embodiments, the first central axis may be coaxially aligned with the third central axis. Moreover, in some embodiments, the first rotational direction may be different from the second rotational direction.
In some embodiments, a method of distributing heat from a gas range may comprise the step of providing a first gas burner head having at least a first burner with plurality of first burner ports, wherein the plurality of first burner ports may be in fluid communication with one or more upstream gas flow channels, and wherein the first gas burner head may include a first plurality of gear teeth and may rotate about a first central axis. In various embodiments, the method may include providing a second gas burner head having at least a second burner with a plurality of second burner ports, wherein the plurality of first burner ports may be in fluid communication with one or more upstream gas flow channels, and wherein the second gas burner head may include a second plurality of gear teeth and may rotate about a second central axis. In some embodiments, the method may include providing at least one drive gear. In addition, in various embodiments, the method may include positioning a first idler gear between an engaged position and a disengaged position, wherein when in the engaged position the first idler gear may engage at least one drive gear with the first plurality of gear teeth of the first gas burner head and when in the disengaged position the first idler gear may disengage at least one drive gear from the first plurality of gear teeth of the first gas burner head. In various embodiments, the method may include positioning a second idler gear between an engaged position and a disengaged position, wherein when in the engaged position the second idler gear may engage at least one drive gear with the second plurality of gear teeth of the second gas burner head and when in the disengaged position the second idler gear may disengage at least one drive gear from the second plurality of gear teeth of the second gas burner head. In some embodiments, the method may include rotating the first gas burner head when the first idler gear may be in the engaged position. In various embodiments, the method may include rotating the second gas burner head when the second idler gear may be in the engaged position.
In addition, in some embodiments, the method may include positioning both the first idler gear and the second idler gear in the engaged position. In various embodiments, the method may include positioning the first idler gear in the engaged position and the second idler gear in the disengaged position. In some embodiments, at least one drive gear may be driven by a single motor. In various embodiments, the first gas burner head may include a third burner, wherein the first burner may rotate about the first central axis in a first rotational direction, and wherein the third burner may rotate about a third central axis in a second rotational direction. Moreover, in some embodiments, the first rotational direction may be the same rotational direction as the second rotational direction. In various embodiments, the first rotational direction may be different from the second rotational direction. In some embodiments, the first central axis may be coaxially aligned with the third central axis. In some embodiments, the method of rotating the first gas burner head includes rotating the first burner at least one of faster, slower, or the same speed as rotating the third burner. In addition, in various embodiments, the method of rotating the first gas burner head includes rotating the first burner at least one of faster, slower, or the same speed as the rotation of the second burner of the step of rotating the second gas burner head.
These and other advantages and features, which characterize the embodiments, are set forth in the claims annexed hereto and form a further part hereof. However, for a better understanding of the embodiments, and of the advantages and objectives attained through its use, reference should be made to the Drawings and to the accompanying descriptive matter, in which there is described example embodiments. This summary is merely provided to introduce a selection of concepts that are further described below in the detailed description, and is not intended to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used in limiting the scope of the claimed subject matter.
In the drawings, like reference characters generally refer to the same parts throughout the different views. Also, the drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead generally being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention.
Numerous variations and modifications will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art, as will become apparent from the description below. Therefore, the invention is not limited to the specific implementations discussed herein.
The embodiments discussed hereinafter will focus on the implementation of the hereinafter-described techniques and apparatuses within a residential cooking appliance such as cooking appliance 10, such as the type that may be used in single-family or multi-family dwellings, or in other similar applications. However, it will be appreciated that the herein-described techniques and apparatuses may also be used in connection with other types of cooking appliances in some embodiments. For example, the herein-described techniques may be used in commercial applications in some embodiments. Moreover, the herein-described techniques may be used in connection with various cooking appliance configurations. Implementation of the herein-described techniques within gas top burner(s), oven burner, broil burner, gas range, slide-in oven, freestanding oven, gas cooktop, gas countertop range, etc. using a rotating gas burner head would be well within the abilities of one of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the instant disclosure, so the embodiments are not limited to the slide-in oven implementation discussed further herein.
As shown in the Figures, a home cooking appliance 10, such as but not limited to a slide-in cooking range, has a housing 12 and a cooking compartment 14, such as a baking oven, convection oven, steam oven, warming drawer and the like, in the housing 12 and accessible through a door or drawer 16 in the front 12a of the housing 12. In the embodiment shown, the appliance 10 is a gas range, with at least one gas burner head 20 being rotatable about a central axis A. The gas burner head may include one or more rotatable burners 30, 40 rotating about the central axis A. The appliance 10 includes a cooktop surface 18 on a top of the housing 12. The cooktop surface 18 can include one or lore cooking grates not shown) thereon. The cooking grate may support a cooking vessel or cookware (not shown) over one or more gas burner heads 20. The appliance 10 may include a control panel 11 having a plurality of control knobs or controls 11a for controlling the gas burner heads 20, gas burner characteristics (e.g. burner(s) rotational direction (clockwise and/or counterclockwise), speed of rotation of one or more gas burner heads and or burners within, degree of rotation, continuous rotation, and/or intermittent rotation in one or more directions, idler gears, motor, selection of gas burner head and/or burner portions to rotate or non-rotate, etc. and/or cooking compartment 14.
The one or more rotating gas burner heads 20 may include one or more rotating burners 30, 40. However, in some embodiments, a rotating gas burner head may include one rotating burner by itself, or one or more rotating burners in combination with one or more fixed or stationary burners. As shown in one embodiment in
At least one gas burner head 20 may include the first burner 30, second burner 40, and/or more burners rotating about one or more axis. As shown in the one embodiment, the first and second burners 30, 40 may rotate about the same central axis A. However, the burners may not be concentric in some embodiments. In various embodiments, each burner may rotate about an axis that may be different from each other. In some embodiments, the rotational axis of one or more burners may move, may not be stationary (e.g. the axis of one or more burners may move in a variety of patterns), and/or be orientated other than vertically as shown. The first burner 30 may rotate in a first rotational direction. The second burner 40 may rotate in a second rotational direction. In some embodiments, the first and/second burners 30, 40 may be able to rotate in both a first rotational direction and an opposing second rotational direction. For example, the motor may reverse directions in various embodiments. The first rotational direction may be the same or different than the second rotational direction. As shown in the embodiments of
The one or more burner heads may include a plurality of gear teeth and a variety of gear mechanisms to allow rotation of one or more burners. One or more burners 30, 40 and/or one or more gas burner heads 20 may be rotated by one or more motors 50. As is shown in the embodiments, a drive mechanism (e.g. motor) rotates each of the first burner 30 and/or the second burner 40. The motor 50 may be electric in some embodiments. The motor 50 may drive at least one burner 30, 40 in one or more rotational directions (e.g. user selected and/or preset pattern). In the embodiment shown in
As shown in
In some embodiments, at least one gas burner head 20 with the first burner 30 and second burner 40 may rotate in the same rotational direction (e.g. clockwise and/or counterclockwise). As illustrated in
Moreover, in various embodiments, at least one gas burner head 20 with the first burner 30 and second burner 40 may rotate in opposite rotational directions (e.g. one burner clockwise and the other burner counterclockwise). As illustrated in
As shown in
As shown more clearly in
While several embodiments have been described and illustrated herein, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily envision a variety of other means and/or structures for performing the function and/or obtaining the results and/or one or more of the advantages described herein, and each of such variations and/or modifications is deemed to be within the scope of the embodiments described herein. More generally, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that all parameters, dimensions, materials, and configurations described herein are meant to be exemplary and that the actual parameters, dimensions, materials, and or configurations will depend upon the specific application or applications for which the teachings is/are used. Those skilled in the art will recognize, or be able to ascertain using no more than routine experimentation, many equivalents to the specific embodiments described herein. It is, therefore, to be understood that the foregoing embodiments are presented by way of example only and that, within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereto, embodiments may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described and claimed. Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to each individual feature, system, article, material, and/or method described herein. In addition, any combination of two or more such features, systems, articles, materials, and/or methods, if such features, systems, articles, materials, and/or methods are not mutually inconsistent, is included within the scope of the present disclosure.
All definitions, as defined and used herein, should be understood to control over dictionary definitions, definitions in documents incorporated by reference, and/or ordinary meanings of the defined terms.
The indefinite articles “a” and “an,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, should be understood to mean “at least one.”
The phrase “and/or”, as used herein in the specification and in the claims, should be understood to mean “either or both” of the elements so conjoined, i.e., elements that are conjunctively present in some cases and disjunctively present in other cases. Multiple elements listed with “and/or” should be construed in the same fashion, i.e., “one or more” of the elements so conjoined. Other elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified by the “and/or” clause, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a non-limiting example, a reference to “A and/or B”, when used in conjunction with open-ended language such as “comprising” can refer, in one embodiment, to A only (optionally including elements other than B); in another embodiment, to B only (optionally including elements other than. A); in yet another embodiment, to both A and B (optionally including other elements); etc.
As used herein in the specification and in the claims, “or” should be understood to have the same meaning as “and/or” as defined above. For example, when separating items in a list, “or” or “and/or” shall be interpreted as being inclusive, i.e., the inclusion of at least one, but also including more than one, of a number or list of elements, and, optionally, additional unlisted items. Only terms clearly indicated to the contrary, such as “only one of” or “exactly one of,” or, when used in the claims, “consisting of,” will refer to the inclusion of exactly one element of a number or list of elements. In general, the term “or” as used herein shall only be interpreted as indicating exclusive alternatives (i.e. “one or the other but not both”) when preceded by terms of exclusivity, such as “either,” “one of,” “only one of,” or “exactly one of” “Consisting essentially of,” when used in the claims, shall have its ordinary meaning as used in the field of patent law.
As used herein in the specification and in the claims, the phrase “at least one,” in reference to a list of one or more elements, should be understood to mean at least one element selected from any one or more of the elements in the list of elements, but not necessarily including at least one of each and every element specifically listed within the list of elements and not excluding any combinations of elements in the list of elements. This definition also allows that elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified within the list of elements to which the phrase “at least one” refers, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a non-limiting example, “at least one of A and B” (or, equivalently, “at least one of A or B,” or, equivalently “at least one of A and/or B”) can refer, in one embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, A, with no B present (and optionally including elements other than B); in another embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, B, with no A present (and optionally including elements other than A); in yet another embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, A, and at least one, optionally including more than one, B (and optionally including other elements); etc.
It should also be understood that, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, in any methods claimed herein that include more than one step or act, the order of the steps or acts of the method is not necessarily limited to the order in which the steps or acts of the method are recited.
In the claims, as well as in the specification above, all transitional phrases such as “comprising,” “including,” “carrying,” “having,” “containing,” “involving,” “holding,” “composed of,” and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limited to. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consisting essentially of” shall be closed or semi-closed transitional phrases, respectively, as set forth in the United States Patent Office Manual of Patent Examining Procedures, Section 2111.03.
It is to be understood that the embodiments are not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways. Unless limited otherwise, the terms“connected,” “coupled,” “in communication with,” and “mounted,” and variations thereof herein are used broadly and encompass direct and indirect connections, couplings, and mountings. In addition, the terms “connected” and “coupled” and variations thereof are not restricted to physical or mechanical connections or couplings.
The foregoing description of several embodiments of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise steps and/or forms disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching.
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