Patent Application
20230095549
Cooking appliances such as cooktops or ranges have a variety of control or selector knobs for adjusting and controlling the amount of heat supplied to various appliance burners or cooking elements. For burners that rely on combustible gas such as natural gas or liquefied petroleum (LP) gas (also referred to as propane), turning a burner control such as a control knob generally causes a gas valve to be opened to supply gas to an associated gas burner, and energizes a switch through the first part of the range of the knob's rotation to spark an igniter in this range of rotation igniting the gas flowing out of the gas valve. In some instances, the control knob may be mechanically coupled to the gas valve such that the relationship between the control knob position and the gas valve position is fixed. Moreover, with such mechanical-type arrangements, a switch that is activated during a predetermined range of a knob's movement such that the igniter is energized only when the knob is in that range.
One concern that arises with appliances, such as cooktops and ranges, is the risk of unintentional opening of the gas valve. Such unintentional incidents may be caused, for example, by the user, a jumping pet, a playing child, and/or someone not aware that they bumped into or otherwise turned the associated control knob. This may occur even though typical burners usually include a two-manual-operation protocol to energize a burner (e.g., pushing and turning of the corresponding control knob). Another concern that may arise is that a user may rotate the knob quickly beyond the range in which the igniter is energized, which may leave the gas valve in an open state with no flame. In some instances, the user may not realize gas is flowing without a flame because the burner is covered by a large pan.
Thus, there is a need to increase control and flexibility with respect to ensuring proper ignition of gas burner. Furthermore, there may be a need to manage the ignition system to improve proper ignition of gas flowing to a gas burner.
The herein-described embodiments address these and other problems associated with the art by utilizing, for a mechanical-type burner control for a gas burner, a control circuit that is capable of energizing an ignition system for the gas burner for at least a predefined minimum length of time, and regardless of the length of time a burner control is actually in an ignition range. By doing so, even if a user moves the burner control too quickly through the ignition range to properly ignite the burner, the likelihood of a successful ignition is increased due to the increased time in which the ignition system is energized.
Therefore, consistent with one aspect of the invention, a cooking appliance may include a gas cooking element, an igniter disposed adjacent to the gas cooking element to ignite the gas cooking element, a gas valve configured to regulate gas flow to the gas cooking element, a burner control mechanically coupled to the gas valve to vary the gas flow to the gas cooking element, a sensor configured to detect positioning of the burner control in an ignition range of positions, and a control circuit coupled to the igniter and the sensor and configured to activate the igniter in response to detected movement of the burner control into the ignition range of positions, the control circuit further configured to maintain activation of the igniter for a predetermined minimum length of time once activated.
In addition, in some embodiments, the control circuit is further coupled to a timer and further configured to activate the timer when the burner control enters the ignition range of positions, where the timer is set for the predetermined minimum length of time, and deactivate the igniter upon expiration of the timer if the burner control is no longer in the ignition range of positions. In some embodiments, the control circuit is further coupled to a timer and further configured to activate the igniter whenever the burner control is in the ignition range of positions, activate the timer when the burner control enters an operational range of positions, where the timer is set for the predetermined minimum length of time, and deactivate the igniter upon expiration of the timer. Further, in some embodiments, the igniter remains active when the burner control is in the operational range of positions until expiration of the predetermined minimum length of time.
In addition, in some embodiments, the sensor includes a switch that is activated whenever the burner control is in the ignition range of positions, and the control circuit is coupled between the switch and the igniter. Further, in some embodiments, the sensor includes a switch that is activated whenever the burner control is in the ignition range of positions, and the switch is coupled to the igniter in parallel with the control circuit. Some embodiments may further include a flame sensor, and the control circuit is configured to sense a flame using the flame sensor.
Consistent with another aspect of the invention, a cooking appliance may include a gas cooking element, an igniter disposed adjacent to the gas cooking element to ignite the gas cooking element, a gas valve configured to regulate gas flow to the gas cooking element, a burner control mechanically coupled to the gas valve to vary the gas flow to the gas cooking element, a sensor configured to detect positioning of the burner control in an ignition range of positions, and a control circuit coupled to the igniter and the sensor and configured to activate a timer when the burner control enters the ignition range of positions, where the timer is set for the predetermined minimum length of time, and deactivate the igniter upon expiration of the timer if the burner control is no longer in the ignition range of positions.
Further, in some embodiments, the sensor includes an ignition switch that is activated when the burner control is in the ignition range of positions. In some embodiments, the ignition switch sends a low-voltage signal to the control circuit. Moreover, in some embodiments, the control circuit is further configured to detect a direction of movement of the user control and to activate the timer when the direction of movement indicates that the burner control is being turned in a first direction. Some embodiments may further include flame sensor, and the control circuit is configured to sense a flame using the flame sensor.
Consistent with another aspect of the invention, a cooking appliance may include a gas cooking element, an igniter disposed adjacent to the gas cooking element to ignite the gas cooking element, a gas valve configured to regulate gas flow to the gas cooking element, a burner control coupled to the gas valve to vary the gas flow to the gas cooking element, a sensor configured to detect positioning of the burner control in an ignition range of positions, and a control circuit coupled to the igniter and the sensor and configured to activate the igniter whenever the burner control is in the ignition range of positions, activate a timer when the burner control enters an operational range of positions, where the timer is set for the predetermined minimum length of time, and deactivate the igniter upon expiration of the timer.
In addition, in some embodiments, the igniter remains active when the burner control is in the operational range of positions until expiration of the predetermined minimum length of time. Also, in some embodiments, the sensor includes an ignition switch that is activated when the burner control is in the ignition range of positions. Moreover, in some embodiments, the ignition switch sends a low-voltage signal to the control circuit. In some embodiments, the control circuit is further configured to detect a direction of movement of the user control and to activate the timer when the direction of movement indicates that the burner control is being turned in a first direction. Some embodiments may further include a flame sensor, and the control circuit is configured to sense a flame using the flame sensor.
As used herein for purposes of the present disclosure, the term “appliance” should be understood to be generally synonymous with and include any device that consumes electrical power and can be connected to an electrical circuit or battery, for example one used in a residential or commercial setting to accomplish work. The appliances referred to herein may include a plurality of electrically operated components powered by the circuit, the components operable by manipulation of control knobs or selectors. The appliances referred to herein may also include a gas supply or source and one or more gas valves for supplying gas to a burner or heating element. The appliance gas valves may be controlled by a selector or knob, either directly or indirectly, and the appliance may also include a processor or processors that operate, control and monitor the appliance and the various components and functions thereof referred to throughout this specification.
The terms “knob” or “selector” are used herein generally to describe various devices that are operatively coupled to functional components of the appliance and which may typically, but not exclusively, be operated by hand by a user. Typical control knobs and selectors include but are not limited to gas and electric burner controls, gas and electric oven controls, lighting and timing controls, start and stop controls, switches, sliders, pushbuttons, wheels, levers, and various other functional controls associated with an appliance. “Selector” may also be used to refer to a programmed button selection on a touch-screen or similar operator interface.
The term “controller” or “processor” is used herein generally to describe various apparatus relating to the operation of the system and the appliances referred to herein. A controller can be implemented in numerous ways (e.g., such as with dedicated hardware) to perform various functions discussed herein. A “processor” is one example of a controller which employs one or more microprocessors that may be programmed using software (e.g., microcode) to perform various functions discussed herein. A controller may be implemented with or without employing a processor, and also may be implemented as a combination of dedicated hardware to perform some functions and a processor (e.g., one or more programmed microprocessors and associated circuitry) to perform other functions. Examples of controller components that may be employed in various embodiments of the present disclosure include, but are not limited to, conventional microprocessors, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable logic controllers (PLCs), and field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).
A processor or controller may be associated with one or more storage media (generically referred to herein as “memory,” e.g., volatile and non-volatile computer memory such as RAM, PROM, EPROM, and EEPROM, floppy disks, compact disks, optical disks, magnetic tape, etc.). In some implementations, the storage media may be encoded with one or more programs that, when executed on one or more processors and/or controllers, perform at least some of the functions discussed herein. Various storage media may be fixed within a processor or controller or may be transportable, such that the one or more programs stored thereon can be loaded into a processor or controller so as to implement various aspects of the present disclosure discussed herein. The terms “program” or “computer program” are used herein in a generic sense to refer to any type of computer code (e.g., software or microcode) that can be employed to program one or more processors or controllers.
The term “Internet” or synonymously “Internet of things” refers to the global computer network providing a variety of information and communication facilities, consisting of interconnected networks using standardized communication protocols. The appliances, controllers and processors referred to herein may be operatively connected to the Internet.
These and other advantages and features, which characterize the disclosure, are set forth in the claims annexed hereto and forming a further part hereof. However, for a better understanding of the disclosure, 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 of the disclosure. 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 as an aid 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. The drawings are not necessarily to scale. Emphasis is instead generally placed upon illustrating the principles of the disclosure, wherein;
The embodiments discussed hereinafter will focus on the implementation of the hereinafter-described techniques and apparatuses within a residential type cooking appliance such as a cooking appliance 10 as described below, 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/electric top burners, gas/electric ranges, slide-in ovens, freestanding ovens, gas/electric cooktops, gas/electric countertop ranges, etc. using a gas/electric burner or cooking surface 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 residential-type range implementation discussed further herein.
Turning now to the drawings, wherein like numbers denote like parts throughout the several views,
Cooking appliance 10 may also include various user interface devices, including, for example, control knobs 17 for controlling burners 13, a control panel 18 for controlling oven 14 and/or burner 13, and a display 19 for providing visual feedback as to the activation state of the cooking appliance. It will be appreciated that cooking appliance 10 may include various types of user controls in other embodiments, including various combinations of switches, buttons, knobs and/or sliders, typically disposed at the rear or front (or both) of the cooking appliance. Further, in some embodiments, one or more touch screens may be employed for interaction with a user. As such, in some embodiments, display 19 may be touch sensitive to receive user input in addition to displaying status information and/or otherwise interacting with a user. In other embodiments, cooking appliance 10 may be controllable remotely, e.g., via a smartphone, tablet, personal digital assistant or other networked computing device, e.g., using a web interface or a dedicated app.
Display 19 may also vary in different embodiments, and may include individual indicators, segmented alphanumeric displays, and/or dot matrix displays, and may be based on various types of display technologies, including LEDs, vacuum fluorescent displays, incandescent lights, etc. Further, in some embodiments audio feedback may be provided to a user via one or more speakers, and in some embodiments, user input may be received via a spoken or gesture-based interface.
As noted above, cooking appliance 10 of
In turn, a cooking element may be considered to include practically any type of energy-producing element used in residential applications in connection with cooking food, e.g., employing various cooking technologies such as electric, gas, light, microwaves, induction, convection, radiation, etc. In the case of an oven, for example, one or more cooking elements therein may be gas, electric, light, or microwave heating elements in some embodiments, while in the case of a stovetop, one or more cooking elements therein may be gas, electric, or inductive heating elements in some embodiments. Further, it will be appreciated that any number of cooking elements may be provided in a cooking appliance (including multiple cooking elements for performing different types of cooking cycles such as baking or broiling), and that multiple types of cooking elements may be combined in some embodiments, e.g., combinations of microwave and light cooking elements in some oven embodiments.
A cooking appliance consistent with the disclosure also generally includes one or more controllers configured to control the cooking elements and otherwise perform cooking operations at the direction of a user.
As shown in
Controller 42 may also be interfaced with various sensors 58 located to sense environmental conditions inside of and/or external to cooking appliance 40, e.g., one or more temperature sensors, humidity sensors, air quality sensors, smoke sensors, carbon monoxide sensors, odor sensors and/or electronic nose sensors, among others. Such sensors may be internal or external to cooking appliance 40, and may be coupled wirelessly to controller 42 in some embodiments. Sensors 58 may include, for example, one or more temperature sensors for sensing an air temperature within an oven cavity.
In some embodiments, controller 42 may also be coupled to one or more network interfaces 60, e.g., for interfacing with external devices via wired and/or wireless networks such as Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, cellular and other suitable networks, collectively represented in
In some embodiments, controller 42 may be interfaced with one or more timers 56; the one or more times, for example, may be set for predefined a length of time, as described in detail herein. Such a timer may be a hardware timer or may be a software timer (e.g., implemented in processor 44).
In some embodiments, controller 42 may be interfaced with one or more indicators 59 to signal various conditions of cooking appliance 40 (e.g., energization/de-energization conditions inside of and/or external to cooking appliance 40). For example, indicator 59 may communicate to the user and/or a device that a cooking element has been energized. Indicator 59 may be a variety of signals and/or warnings (e.g., audible/acoustic, visual, light, display message, user interface, haptic alert, or a combination thereof) directed to one or more users or to one or more devices (e.g., appliances, mobile device, cooking appliance, etc.). Indicator 59 may remain continually active until deactivated by the user and/or a certain predetermined parameter/condition of appliance 40 or controller 42 is met. Such indicator 59 may be internal or external to cooking appliance 40 and coupled wirelessly to controller 42 in some embodiments.
In some embodiments, controller 42 may operate under the control of an operating system and may execute or otherwise rely upon various computer software applications, components, programs, objects, modules, data structures, etc. In addition, controller 42 may also incorporate hardware logic to implement some or all of the functionality disclosed herein. Further, in some embodiments, the sequences of operations performed by controller 42 to implement the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented using program code including one or more instructions that are resident at various times in various memory and storage devices, and that, when read and executed by one or more hardware-based processors, perform the operations embodying desired functionality. Moreover, in some embodiments, such program code may be distributed as a program product in a variety of forms, and that the disclosure applies equally regardless of the particular type of computer readable media used to actually carry out the distribution, including, for example, non-transitory computer readable storage media. In addition, it will be appreciated that the various operations described herein may be combined, split, reordered, reversed, varied, omitted, parallelized and/or supplemented with other techniques known in the art, and therefore, the disclosure is not limited to the particular sequences of operations described herein.
Numerous variations and modifications to the cooking appliances illustrated in
As noted above, one challenge associated with the operation of cooking appliances is the inadvertent operation of burner controls. Embodiments consistent with the disclosure address this challenge in part by establishing a minimum amount of time an ignition system is active, regardless of the amount of time a burner control is in an ignition range. It will be appreciated, for example, that if a burner control is bumped into by a user or pet, one possible scenario that may occur is that the control quickly moves from an off position, completely through the ignition range, and then to a fully on position, potentially in only a fraction of a second, and in all likelihood before sufficient gas flow and sparking could be generated to ignite the burner. As such, by establishing a minimum amount of time an initiation system is active, the gas may be allowed to ignite, even where the burner control was quickly moved through the ignition range, rather than allowing unburned gas to flow into the surrounding environment.
While illustrated in
The electronic control system 400, 500 may further include an igniter switch 410, 510 that is mechanically coupled to the gas valve 404, 504. A control circuit 412, 512 may control the igniter 402, 502 based on the position and timing of the burner control 406, 506, as will be described in detail herein. It will be appreciated that while a controller is discussed in connection with
The igniter 402, 502, may by electronically controlled by a controller and may be positioned proximate to gas burner 408, 508 and be configured to ignite gas supplied to the gas burner 408, 508. Through electronic control of the igniter 402, 502, by the control circuit 412, 512, the igniter may remain in an active state, even when the burner control 406, 506 has moved beyond the ignition range (e.g. the second range 304 of
The control circuit 412, 512 of the electronic control system 400, 500 may be additionally coupled to one or more timers set to a predetermined length of time. Such a timer may be a hardware timer (e.g., a 555 timer, RC network, or similar circuit) or may be a software timer, and may be utilized to decide whether to keep the ignition system active, as described with reference to
In the embodiment illustrated in
Switch 334 also functions in the illustrated embodiment as a sensor that is capable of detecting positioning of the burner control in an ignition range. It will be appreciated, however, that other types of sensors, e.g., encoders, hall effect sensors, magnetic sensors, optical sensors, and other position sensors, may be used to detect when the burner control is in the ignition range in other embodiments. Therefore, the invention is not limited to the use of an ignition switch as illustrated in
As shown in
At block 706, the controller may determine whether the burner control has moved to an off range. This may, in some instances, be determined by examining a status of a second switch when the ignition switch transitions to an off state. As described with reference to
If the burner control has moved beyond the ignition range, for example into an operational range (e.g. the third range 306 of
More simply stated, in the exemplary sequence of operations 700 of
Similar to the sequence of operations illustrated in
At block 808, the controller may determine whether the burner control has moved to an off range. This may be determined in the same manner as described with reference to
If the burner control has moved beyond the ignition range, for example into an operational range (e.g. the third range 306 of
More simply stated, in the exemplary sequence of operations 800 of
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 should be understood that certain expressions and reference signs used in the claims pursuant to Rule 6.2(b) of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (“PCT”) do not limit the scope.
