The present disclosure relates to a sensing system that includes a plurality of resistive elements coupled to a plurality of nodes and a controller configured to index through a plurality of modes to measure an electrical characteristic for each resistive element. Each mode of the plurality of modes represents a different combination of power, return, or open circuit condition applied to each of the plurality of nodes. The controller is configured to calculate, for each of the modes, a total power consumed by the system and a power consumed by each of the resistive elements based on the measured electrical characteristics, to determine a physical parameter.

The invention relates to a power module, preferably induction module for powering one, two, three, four, at least one, at least two, at least three or at least four heating element (s), preferably electrical, radiant and/or induction heating elements, more preferably induction coils (3), of a cooking appliance, preferably a cooking hob, more preferably a radiant or induction hob (1), the power module (10) at least comprising:one, two or at least two heating power units (11), in particular three or at least three heating power units, more in particular four or at least four heating power units, preferably heating frequency units and/or induction generators (11), each for providing power, in particular electrical power, to one, two, three, at least one, at least two or at least three heating elements (3);one or at least one controller (12) for controlling the heating power unit(s) (11);a communication interface (13) for coupling the power module (10) with one or at least one user interface (5);wherein, in particular in a first configuration mode, the power module (10) is adapted to be operated either according to a master module configuration or a slave module configuration and/orwherein, in particular in a second configuration mode, the power module (10) is configured to directly communicate with the at least one user interface, a corresponding cooking appliance as well as a corresponding method for operating a cooking appliance.

An induction heating device includes a case, a cover plate, a working coil, a base plate, a light guide that is located around the working coil and includes a light-emitting surface that indicates an output intensity of the working coil or an operation state of the working coil, and a light-emitting element that emits light toward the light guide. The light guide includes a light-guiding portion that has a lower surface having a parabolic shape and an upper surface including the light-emitting surface in which the upper surface extends in a first direction farther than the lower surface, and a light-guiding support that couples to the base plate, that surrounds at least a portion of the light-guiding portion, and that reflects, toward the light-guiding portion, at least one of light that has been emitted from the light-emitting element or light that has been guided through the light-guiding portion.

An induction heater for a cook top comprising:a first electrically insulating sheet (1);a second electrically insulating sheet (2);one or more inductors (5) arranged on a same plane between the first sheet (1) and the second sheet (2), each inductor (5) comprising a single electrically conductive track defining a flat spiral coil provided with a plurality of turns (15); wherein the thickness (t) of each inductor (5) is comprised between 100 and 500 m; and wherein the ratio between the distance (g) between the consecutive turns (15) of each inductor (5) and the thickness (t) of each inductor (5) is lower than or equal to 1.5.

An induction heating and wireless power transmitting apparatus includes a first group of working coils including a first working coil and a second working coil connected to each other in parallel, a first inverter that supplies resonant currents to at least one of the first working coil or the second working coil by performing a switching operation, a first semiconductor switch connected to the first working coil configured to turn on and turn off the first working coil, a second semiconductor switch connected to the second working coil and configured to turn on and turn off the second working coil, an auxiliary power supply configured to supply power to the first semiconductor switch and the second semiconductor switch, and a controller that controls the first inverter, the first semiconductor switch, and the second semiconductor switches.

A cooking apparatus includes a cooking plate including a cooking area divided into a plurality of sub-areas; a plurality of induction heating coil groups installed at a bottom of the cooking plate to correspond to the plurality of sub-areas; and a plurality of drive assemblies configured to supply a driving current to the plurality of induction heating coil groups. The cooking apparatus includes a user interface configured to receive a compartment command that divides the cooking area into the plurality of sub-areas; a sub-assembly configured to determine the induction heating coil group corresponding to the sub-area in which a cooking vessel is placed when the compartment command is input; and a controller configured to control the drive assembly supplying the driving current to the determined induction heating coil group such that a driving current corresponding to a target temperature is distributed to an induction heating coil overlapping the cooking vessel.

A hob device, in particular induction hob device, includes a placement plate configured for placement of an item of cookware, at least two heating units configured to heat the item of cookware, and an illumination strip including a lighting unit and configured to indicate in an operating state an extension of the item of cookware in relation to at least one direction.

The invention relates to a hob comprising a transparent or semi-transparent hob plate (2) and multiple heating elements (3) arranged below said hob plate (2), the hob further comprising illumination means arranged below said hob plate (2) for providing light markings (4) at the upper side (2.1) of the hob plate (2), said light markings (4) indicating heating zones (5) associated with the heating elements (3), wherein the illumination means comprise a light box (10) with at least a bottom wall portion (11) and a pair of side wall portions (12), said light box (10) including one or more lighting elements (13) for illuminating an interior space (14) of the light box (10), wherein the light box (10) further comprises an upper portion (15) being adapted to emit light towards the hob plate (2) in order to provide said light marking (4) at the upper side of the hob plate (2).

A method for controlling a cooking hob including induction coils, wherein a heating process includes time cycles subdivided into time slots. The method includes: setting a requested power for each induction coil to be activated by a user, defining a group of induction coils that have the same requested power, determining a number of time slots given by the number of different requested powers, activating all groups of induction coils to be activated during a first time slot at a same current power for a calculated duration, and activating a part of groups of induction coils to be activated during a further time slot at the same current powers in each time slot for a calculated duration if more than one group of induction coils are defined, so that an average current power of each induction coil within the time cycle corresponds with the requested power for the induction coil.

An induction heater for a cook top comprising: a first electrically insulating sheet (1); a second electrically insulating sheet (2); one or more inductors (5) arranged on a same plane between the first sheet (1) and the second sheet (2), each inductor (5) comprising a single electrically conductive track defining a flat spiral coil; at least one magnetic flux concentrator (4) arranged on a plane under the second sheet (2); a metallic heat sink plate (3) arranged under the at least one magnetic flux concentrator (4), adapted to dissipate the heat produced by the one or more inductors (5).