Patent Application
20100199968
The present invention relates to a household appliance, and more particularly, to a household cooking appliance having a gas burner, and more particularly, to a pedestal for a gas burner of a household appliance.
In conventional cooking appliances, one or more burners are disposed on a cooktop surface of the cooking appliance. For example,
Although burners for controlling gas flow and flame generation in a cooking appliance have been known, a recent development improves flame spreading features within a controlled area so that the burner does not create a limited set of rings of heat application to a cooking utensil. For example, U.S. application Ser. No. 08/955,002 discloses a multiple fingered burner that expands the heating zone without exposing the peripheral ports in the fingers to exposure from spills occurring above the cooktop. The multiple fingered burner increases or maximizes a perimeter of the burner while also providing more consistent heating of a cooking utensil across the heating zone. That is, the multiple fingered burner expands the heating zone to be more consistent over the perimeter and central zones of the cooking utensil.
While such an arrangement improves distribution of the flames within a cooktop area, recent developments have attempted to further improve access to primary and secondary air in order to maintain appropriately sized flame kernels throughout the irregular pattern of flame kernels throughout the cooktop area, and particularly when a sealed burner arrangement is provided.
Additionally, recent cooktop innovations have attempted to maintain a low profile burner so as not to expose a protruding, interfering surface above the cooktop surface of the appliance. However, the lowering of the burner in the cooktop also may interfere with the free flow of secondary air near the burner ports that receive and discharge a primary fuel and air mixture. In addition, the conventional cooktop designs that provide sealed burner openings may restrict access to secondary air within the appliance and prevent the use of this air as secondary bypass air near the burner ports.
Some conventional appliances attempt to improve access to secondary air for flame production while also minimizing the height of the burner with respect to the cooktop surface. Referring to
In other conventional systems, the burner may include a pedestal, either separate or integral, to elevate the burner above the cooktop surface. Conventionally, the pedestal has a shape that corresponds to, or mimics, the shape of the burner. Also, the size of the pedestal is greater than or equal to the size of the burner to provide support for all areas of the burner.
The present invention recognizes that there is a need to provide an appliance having a burner that improves access to secondary air for flame production while also minimizing the height of the burner with respect to the cooktop surface.
Conventional “volcano-type” pedestals may be integrally formed with the cooktop surface to elevate the burner above the cooktop surface to improve access to secondary air for flame production. However, these conventional pedestals also increase the footprint of the pedestal and burner. As shown in
Furthermore, the conventional pedestals commonly result in a surface of the cooktop being disposed adjacent to or substantially close to the burners, as shown in
Also, in many conventional appliances, a flame from the burner may be close enough to the surface of the cooktop to cause discoloration of the surface of the cooktop, for example, over a period of time and use. The discoloration of the surface may result in an undesirable appearance to a user.
Additionally, in many conventional appliances, the burner is located close to the surface of the pedestal such that the flow of secondary air for contributing to flame production may be inhibited or restricted. For example, as shown in
To solve the problems with the conventional appliances, the present invention provides a household appliance, and more particularly, a household cooking appliance having a gas burner, and more particularly, a pedestal for a gas burner of a household appliance.
The aspects of the present invention provide important advantages of improving access to secondary air for flame production while also minimizing the height of the burner with respect to the cooktop surface. The present invention also improves the cleanability of the appliance, and hence, the long term appearance of the appliance. Aspects of the present invention also can minimize or reduce a footprint of the pedestal, thereby further improving the cleanability of the appliance.
More particularly, an aspect can decrease the length of the interface between the burner and the pedestal, and the interface between the pedestal and the cooktop surface, which may decrease the susceptibility of the appliance to trapping or capturing food or spills. By limiting or reducing the length of these interfaces, the aspects of the invention also may decrease the time and difficulty of cleaning around the burner, and more particularly, decrease the time and difficulty of cleaning these interfaces.
An aspect of the invention can raise the burner above the cooktop surface by an amount that may be sufficient to reduce or prevent the flame from heating or baking a spill (e.g., a liquid or solid) onto the surface of the cooktop, thereby improving the ease with which the cooktop can be cleaned. That is, the aspects of the invention can reduce or minimize the radiative energy transferred to the cooktop from the flame of the burner. The invention provides an important advantage of reducing or minimizing the temperature of the surfaces of the appliance that are adjacent to the burner during operation of the burner.
The aspects of the invention also provide an important advantage of increasing a horizontal distance from the flame of the burner to the interface between the burner and the pedestal, thereby further reducing or preventing the flame from the burner from heating or baking a spill (e.g., a liquid or solid) onto the surface of the cooktop, and improving the ease with which the cooktop may be cleaned.
The aspects of the invention also may reduce or prevent discoloration of the surface of the cooktop caused by the flame, for example, over a period of time and use, thereby improving a user's satisfaction with the appearance of the appliance. The aspects of the invention also may provide an appearance that the flames are floating above the surface of the cooktop, which may be visually pleasing to the user.
The aspects of the invention can improve or increase the flow of secondary air for contributing to flame production, thereby improving or increasing the performance of the burner. For example, a pedestal and burner according to an aspect can reduce or prevent a restriction or choking of the flow of secondary air to the flame kernel. Accordingly, the aspects of the invention can maintain appropriately sized flame kernels throughout the irregular pattern (e.g., star-shaped pattern) of flame kernels throughout the cooktop area, and particularly when a sealed burner arrangement is provided.
Aspects of the invention also can improve or increase the flow of secondary air from within the appliance or under the cooktop, which may improve the flame production. More particularly, an aspect provides an internal path for the flow of secondary air from within the appliance or under the cooktop. Accordingly, the present invention can provide the advantages of both a sealed burner and a non-sealed burner. The present invention also can minimize or eliminate the disadvantages of the conventional sealed burner and/or non-sealed burner.
The present invention also provides an important advantage of reducing costs, such as manufacturing costs associated with the appliance. For example, an aspect of the present invention may take the place of the “volcano-type” pedestal such that the cooktop surface may be provided with a flat surface. These aspects may reduce the complexity and costs associated with manufacturing the cooktop surface, since the “volcano-type” pedestal may not be formed in the cooktop surface. In other aspects, the pedestal may be provided on a “volcano-style” pedestal. The pedestal may provide important advantages such as reducing the size of the “volcano-style” pedestal, which may reduce the complexity and costs associated with producing the “volcano-style” volcano pedestal on the cooktop.
Furthermore, the cooktop surface can be formed from a variety of materials that otherwise may not be suitable for the “volcano-style” pedestal or for which forming a “volcano-style” pedestal may be difficult or costly. For example, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that forming a glass cooktop surface with an integrally formed pedestal may be more difficult and costly as compared to forming a similar pedestal in a steel cooktop. The aspects of the present invention provide important advantages in that the cooktop surface can be formed from a variety of materials, such as a glass surface, a steel surface, a stainless steel surface, a porcelain surface, a painted surface, or another suitable surface.
In view of the above aspects of the invention, an exemplary aspect is directed to a gas burner for a household cooking appliance. The gas burner includes a burner portion, and a pedestal portion under the burner portion for elevating the burner portion above a cooktop surface of the household cooking appliance. The pedestal portion includes a base portion for mounting with the cooktop surface of the household cooking appliance, and an upper portion that interposes the base portion and the burner portion, and interfaces with the burner portion. A perimeter of the base portion has no mathematical correlation to one of a perimeter of the burner portion and a perimeter of the upper portion.
Another exemplary aspect is directed to a pedestal for a gas burner of a household cooking appliance. The pedestal includes a base portion for mounting with a cooktop surface of the household cooking appliance, and an upper portion formed on the base portion and configured to support the gas burner of the household appliance. A perimeter of the base portion has no mathematical correlation to a perimeter of the upper portion.
Another exemplary aspect is directed to a household cooking appliance including a cooktop surface having an opening, a gas burner over the opening of the cooktop surface, wherein the gas burner has a plurality of finger portions, and a pedestal interposing the cooktop surface and the gas burner for elevating the gas burner above the cooktop surface. The pedestal includes a base portion supported by the cooktop surface, and an upper portion supporting the gas burner. A perimeter of the base portion has no mathematical correlation to one of a perimeter of the gas burner and a perimeter of the upper portion.
The features of the invention, however, together with additional aspects, objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of exemplary aspects when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.
The accompanying drawings are presented to aid in the description of aspects of the invention and are provided solely for illustration of the aspects and not limitation thereof.
The present invention now is described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.
Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. In the figures, the thickness of certain lines, layers, components, elements or features may be exaggerated for clarity.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the specification and relevant art and should not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein. Well-known functions or constructions may not be described in detail for brevity and/or clarity.
As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. As used herein, phrases such as “between X and Y” and “between about X and Y” should be interpreted to include X and Y. As used herein, phrases such as “between about X and Y” mean “between about X and about Y.” As used herein, phrases such as “from about X to Y” mean “from about X to about Y.”
It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “on”, “attached” to, “connected” to, “coupled” with, “contacting”, etc., another element, it can be directly on, attached to, connected to, coupled with or contacting the other element or intervening elements may also be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being, for example, “directly on”, “directly attached” to, “directly connected” to, “directly coupled” with or “directly contacting” another element, there are no intervening elements present. It will also be appreciated by those of skill in the art that references to a structure or feature that is disposed “adjacent” another feature may have portions that overlap or underlie the adjacent feature.
Spatially relative terms, such as “under”, “below”, “lower”, “over”, “upper”, “lateral”, “left”, “right” and the like, may be used herein for ease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. It will be understood that the spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if the device in the figures is inverted, elements described as “under” or “beneath” other elements or features would then be oriented “over” the other elements or features. The device may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the descriptors of relative spatial relationships used herein interpreted accordingly.
With reference to
Referring to
Each burner 120 includes a burner body 122 and a burner head 126 that covers the burner body 122 to prevent leakage or overspills from cooking utensils from entering the burner 120. The burner body 122 in this aspect has a plurality of fingers that form a star configuration and the burner head 126 has a corresponding star configuration. However, the burner body 122 and burner head 126 may have other configurations and shapes, such as a circular or oval shape, or another number of fingers. Each burner 120 is elevated above the cooktop surface 114 by a pedestal 200, which will be described in greater detail below. The burner body 122 has a plurality of burner ports 124. An ignitor 140 is provided for igniting the air-gas mixture flowing from the burner ports 124. In this aspect, the ignitor 140 is mounted on an ignitor surface 206 of the pedestal 200.
A plurality of control knobs 118 are carried on valve stems (not shown) protruding through openings in the control panel 116, as shown in
Referring to
As shown in
In operation, the supply of gas 412 is delivered through the nozzle 410 and mixed with air at the mixing zone 414. The air-gas mixture enters the venturi passage 418 for delivery to the burner 120. The air-gas mixture then passes through the burner ports 124 such that, upon ignition by an appropriate ignitor 140, a flame 50 may be initiated and sustained at the exterior of the burner head 126 of the burner 120.
As shown in
Referring again to
Referring to
Referring again to
The pedestal 200 includes a pedestal body (i.e., base portion) 202 having a lower surface 230 that is mounted on the cooktop surface 114. In another aspect, the pedestal body 202 can include a recessed portion 280 that is received in an opening of the cooktop surface 114 to secure the pedestal to the cooktop surface 114.
The pedestal 200 includes an upper portion 204, which may have a plurality of fingers (e.g., 204A, 204B, 204C, 204D, 204E). In this aspect, the upper portion 204 has five fingers that form a star configuration corresponding to the star configuration of the burner 120. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that other numbers of fingers and configurations can be provided. Other pedestal configurations also are possible. For example, the upper portion 204 of the pedestal 200 may have a circular or oval shaped configuration.
As shown in
Referring to
The pedestal 200 also includes an upper portion 204 formed on the pedestal body 202. The upper portion 204 can be integrally formed with the body portion 202 or coupled to the body portion 202. The upper portion 204 has a plurality of fingers (e.g., 204A, 204B, 204C, 204D, 204E). Each of the plurality of fingers of the upper portion 204 has a lower surface 232, an end surface 234, a pair of side surfaces 236, and an upper surface 208. The upper surface 208 receives or supports the burner body 122. In an aspect, one or more of the lower surface 232, the end surface 234, or the side surfaces 236 can be tapered or curved to improve flow of secondary air along the surface of the pedestal 200.
Referring to
Alternatively, the recessed surface 210 can be parallel to a plane of the upper surface 208 of the pedestal 200, as shown in the aspect illustrated in
Referring again to
In another aspect, the lower cavity 216 can be formed by the first opening 224 and the second opening 226, as shown in
Referring again to
Referring to
In other aspects, the slots 240 can be formed in the lower surface 232 (e.g., through the recessed surface 210) and/or the base 202 (e.g., through the lower wall surface 118) of the pedestal 200 to provide access to an additional volume of secondary air 80 from within the pedestal 200 or under the pedestal 200 and cooktop 114. The slots 240 are illustrated as rectangular openings for illustrative purposes only. One of ordinary skill will recognize that the slots 240 formed in the pedestal 200 may have various cross sectional shapes, depths, widths, spacings, and orientations with respect to each other and/or the direction of the fingers 204A-E of the pedestal 200. For example, the slots 240 can be square, curved, oval, circular, or V-groove shaped openings, or other shaped openings. Also, a plurality of holes in the surface or surfaces of the pedestal 200 can be provided in place of the slots 240. The holes can be circular, rectangular, square, or diamond shaped, as well as other suitable shapes.
The present invention has been described herein in terms of several preferred embodiments. However, modifications and additions to these embodiments will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon a reading of the foregoing description. It is intended that all such modifications and additions comprise a part of the present invention to the extent that they fall within the scope of the several claims appended hereto.
