A cooktop appliance including a sensor assembly including a body, a centerbody, a sensor, a first wire, and a second wire is provided. The body forms a plenum, a first wire path, a second wire path, and a sensor cavity. The body forms the first wire path and the second wire path each extending from the plenum from a first end to the sensor cavity at a second end distal to the first end. The centerbody forms a fluid path extending in fluid communication from the plenum to each of the first wire path and the second wire path. The body forms a top wall separating the sensor cavity from the fluid path. The sensor is positioned at the sensor cavity. The first wire extends through the first wire path and the second wire extends through the second wire path. The first and second wires operably couple to the sensor.

A method and controller (300) for controlling an induction cooker (100) is provided. The induction cooker (100) comprises at least two induction coils (200) for inductively heating cooking vessels (400). A detection signal (500a) is provided to a first of said induction coils (200a) and a detection signal (500b) is provided to a second of said induction coils (200b). A response signal (501a) from the first induction coil (200a) is measured. If the response signal (501a) from the first induction coil (200a) includes an indication (550) of a response signal (501b) generated at the second induction coil (200b) in response to the detection signal (500b) provided to the second induction coil (200b), it is determined that a same cooking vessel (400) occupies both the first induction coil (200a) and the second induction coil (200b).

The present invention relates to an induction cooking hob (10) comprising at least one cooking zone (12) including one induction coil (14). The induction cooking hob (10) comprises at least one user interface (22) including at least one display with at least one indicator corresponding with one cooking zone (12, 28, 30, 32). The induction coil (34, 36, 38, 40) is provided for detecting at least one parameter related to the power of the electromagnetic field generated by said induction coil (34, 36, 38, 40). The induction cooking hob (10) comprises a memory for storing a maximum value of the parameter detected by the induction coil (14) of the cooking zone (12) when a cooking pot (26) is arranged upon said cooking zone (12). The indicator corresponding with the cooking zone (12) indicates a signal related to an incorrect position of the cooking pot (26), if the currently detected value of the parameter is lower than the maximum value of said parameter.

An induction cooker according to the present invention includes: a plurality of heating coils aligned in one row on a same plane; and a controller. The controller is configured to, when a heating target is placed over adjacent two or more of the plurality of heating coils, supply electric power to at least one, but not all, of the two or more adjacent ones of the plurality of heating coils and change, over time, the heating coils to which the power is supplied.

An induction heating cooking apparatus includes a plurality of heating coils aligned in at least one row on a flat surface, a plurality of inverter circuits each configured to supply a high-frequency current to the corresponding one of the plurality of heating coils, and a controller configured to control driving of the plurality of inverter circuits. The plurality of heating coils include a first heating coil and a second heating coil that are adjacent to each other. The controller is configured to, when a material forming a heating target loaded on an upper part of the first heating coil is a magnetic material, and a material forming the heating target loaded on an upper part of the second heating coil at least includes a nonmagnetic material, set a frequency of the high-frequency current supplied to the second heating coil higher than a frequency of the high-frequency current supplied to the first heating coil.

A cooking apparatus including a plate including a plurality of lighting lines and a knob area; a plurality of light-emitting elements configured to emit light through the plurality of lighting lines; a knob detachably attached to the knob area of the plate and configured to accept a command input; a display on the knob; a container sensor configured to detect a container positioned on an upper surface of the plate; a communication device configured to communicate with the knob; and a controller configured to set, based on container information obtained by the container sensor or a command input through the knob, a container area on the plate, control the plurality of light-emitting elements to emit light through at least one lighting line, among the plurality of lighting lines, positioned on an outer edge of the container area, and control the knob to display operational information about the container area.

A cooking appliance includes an upper plate configured to support an object to be heated, a working coil configured to generate a magnetic field to heat the object to be heated, an inverter configured apply current to the working coil, an intermediate heating body located at the upper plate, the intermediate heating body configured to generate an eddy current when the magnetic field passes therethrough, and a switch configured to connect a first point and a second point on the intermediate heating body.

An induction cooker includes a first coil, a second coil, a third coil, and a controller. Responsive to determining that a heating target placed above a first coil is formed of a magnetic material, a heating target placed above a second coil is formed of a magnetic material or a composite containing a magnetic material and a non-magnetic material, and a heating target placed above a third coil is formed of a non-magnetic material, the controller stops an operation of a first inverter circuit, causes a second inverter circuit and a third inverter circuit to operate, and sets a frequency of a third high-frequency current to be higher than a frequency of a second high-frequency current.

A household appliance device includes an integer number N of row switching elements at a row position i, wherein i is an integer number 1≤i≤N, an integer number M of column switching elements at a column position j, wherein j is an integer number 1≤j≤M, and a heating matrix including at least N×M heating matrix elements having positions (i, j), with N+M>2, wherein a heating matrix element at the position (i,j) includes at least one inductor at the position (i,j) and is connected to both the i-th row switching element and the j-th column switching element.

The present invention relates to a method for controlling a cooking zone (16) of an induction cooking hob, wherein said cooking zone (16) comprises at least one induction coil (16) and is supplied by a generator (14) including a power switch. The method is performed by controlling the power switch by a gate driving signal (18) including a deactivation pulse length (Toff) and an activation pulse length (Ton). A switching period (T) of the gate driving signal (18) is given by the sum of the activation pulse length (Ton) and deactivation pulse length (Toff). A driving frequency (f) of the power switch is the reciprocal value of said switching period (T). The deactivation pulse length (Toff) depends on the resistance (28) and the inductance (30) of the induction coil (16). The activation pulse length (Ton) is varied according to a requested power for the cooking zone (16). A series of constant activation pulse length (Ton) is activated in order to determine the optimal deactivation pulse length (Toff).