An induction heating device includes a working coil group including a first working coil and a second working coil that are electrically connected in parallel to each other, an inverter configured to perform a switching operation to supply resonance current to at least one of the first or second working coil; a first semiconductor switch electrically connected to the first working coil to turn on and turn off the first working coil; a second semiconductor switch electrically connected to the second working coil to turn on and turn off the second working coil; and a controller configured to control operation of the inverter and the first and second semiconductor switches, respectively. The controller turns off the inverter before turning off at least one of the first semiconductor switch or the second semiconductor switch.

Disclosed herein is a cooking apparatus including a cooking plate, induction heating coils installed under the cooking plate, a vessel sensor configured to detect a cooking vessel while the cooking vessel is placed on the cooking plate, a driving assembly including a driving circuit configured to generate a driving current and distribute the driving current to each of the induction heating coils, and a sub assembly including a vessel sensing circuit configured to determine one or more of the induction heating coils overlapping the cooking vessel based on an output of the vessel sensor. The sub assembly may be separated from the driving assembly.

An induction heating device includes a case having a lower plate that defines an inlet and an exhaust slit; a cover plate coupled to the case; a working coil disposed inside the case; an indicator substrate support coupled to the lower plate and disposed below the working coil; an inverter substrate disposed on a lower surface of the indicator substrate support and including an inverter and a first heat sink configured to dissipate heat generated from the inverter; and a first blowing fan disposed at the lower plate and configured to draw air from an outside of the case through the inlet and discharge the air to the inverter substrate. The exhaust slit is configured to discharge, to an area below the lower plate, at least a portion of air discharged from the first blowing fan to the inverter substrate.

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 invention relates to a method for controlling an induction hob (1), the induction hob (1) comprising a plurality of induction coils (3) and two or more power units (4), each power unit (4) being coupled with one or more induction coils (3), wherein a cooking zone is formed by associating one or more induction coils (3) to a coil group (6.1-6.4), the method comprising the steps of: defining one or more coil groups (6.1-6.4), each coil group (6.1-6.4) being associated with one or more induction coils (3); calculating a relative power value or relative electrical parameter value of each coil group (6.1-6.4) based on a maximum power value or maximum electrical parameter value, the maximum power value being the power value of the coil group with the highest power request, respectively, the maximum electrical parameter value being an electrical parameter value of the coil group (6.1-6.4) with the highest power request; calculating, for each coil group (6.1-6.4), a coil activation number based on the relative power value or relative electrical parameter value, the coil activation number being the number of induction coils (3) to be activated in subsequent steps of a coils activation sequence; establishing a coils activation schedule based on the coil activation number; operating the induction hob (1) according to the coils activation schedule. wherein the power units (4) are operated according to a master-slave configuration, wherein a master power unit is adapted to calculate the coil activation number, establish the coils activation schedule and operate the plurality of induction coils (3) of a master power unit and one or more slave power units according to the coils activation schedule.

An induction hob device comprising at least one cooktop, at least one first inductor having at least one first coil portion and at least one further first coil portion, and at least one second inductor having at least one second coil portion. In order to improve efficiency, it is proposed that the second coil portion is at least partly located between the first coil portion and the further first coil portion.

A cooking apparatus and a method for controlling the same. The cooking apparatus may include a heating coil operable by an induction heating method, an inverter configured to provide a driving power to the heating coil, a sensing coil positioned at an upper portion or a lower portion of the heating coil, a sensing circuit configured to provide a test power to an end of the sensing coil and sense a magnitude of power that is output at other end of the sensing coil, and a processor configured to identify whether an object to be heated is disposed at an upper portion of the sensing coil based on the magnitude of power sensed by the sensing circuit, and based on the disposition of the object to be heated being identified, control the inverter to apply the driving power to the heating coil.

The present invention relates to an induction cooking hob (10), in particular for a domestic appliance, comprising an optically transparent panel (12) for supporting cooking utensils, at least one illumination panel (14) arranged beneath the optically transparent panel (12), and at least one circuit board (18) arranged beneath the illumination panel (14), wherein said circuit board (18) includes a plurality of induction coils (16).

A coil assembly and an induction heating device including a coil assembly are provided. The coil assembly may include a coil frame having a shape corresponding to a shape of a heating region defined in a plate. A working coil may extend alternately in between opposite first and second directions, rather than being circularly arranged as in related art coil assemblies.

A method for operating an induction cooking hob including a plurality of inductors in association with induction resonant inverters operating in load-dependent frequency ranges includes a simultaneous activation of inductors, in at least one phase of the control period, independently from their association to one or more overlying cooking utensils but only according to at least partial overlapping of associated operating frequency ranges.