A hob device, in particular an induction hob device, includes a variable cooking surface, a user interface and a control unit which in the presence of a heating type divides the cooking surface into a plurality of heating zones in at least one dividing direction, associates heating parameter to each of the heating zones, in a manner dependent on location, for heating at least one cooking pot placed on the heating zone, and forms a cooking zone that is associated with the cooking pot and is heated using the heating parameter. In the event of a request of the heating type for the cooking pot, the control unit is provided to wait for at least one operating action by a user by way of the user interface.

The present disclosure relates to a loaded-object sensor and an induction heating device including the loaded-object sensor. The loaded-object sensor has a cylindrical hollow body with a sensing coil wound on its outer surface. Further, a receiving space formed inside the body of the loaded-object sensor accommodates a temperature sensor. The loaded-object sensor is concentrically provided in a central region of the working coil. The sensor may measure the temperature of the loaded object while discriminating a type of the loaded object placed on a corresponding position to the working coil.

A method for operating an induction hob (100), wherein the induction hob (100) comprises: an inverter (1), which is supplied with a supply voltage (US), at least one capacitor (2, 3), and an induction heating coil (4), wherein the at least one capacitor (2, 3) and the induction heating coil (4) are interconnected such that they constitute an oscillating circuit (5), and wherein the inverter (1) is configured to generate a pulse-width modulated excitation voltage (UA) for the oscillating circuit (5) from the supply voltage (US), wherein the method comprises the following steps: a) generation of the pulse-width modulated excitation voltage (UA) having a predefined voltage characteristic, b) measurement of a resulting oscillating circuit current (iS), particularly by means of the induction heating coil (4), c) determination of electrical oscillating circuit parameters, according to the voltage characteristic of the pulse-width modulated excitation voltage (UA) and the measured oscillating circuit current (iS), d) n-times repetition of steps a) to c) using a different voltage characteristic of the excitation voltage (UA) for the determination of electrical voltage characteristic-dependent oscillating circuit parameters, and e) determination of operating variables of the induction hob (100) from voltage characteristic-dependent electrical oscillating circuit parameters.

A method for identifying cookware on an induction cooktop having coils, includes the steps: (a) acquire a coverage factor matrix; (b) set a present level at a maximum value of the matrix; (c) count closed iso-level curves corresponding to the present level and save the result; (d) decrease the level by an amount; (e) count closed curves corresponding to the decreased level; (f) when the number of closed curves at the present level is not lower than that from the previous level, update the saved result with the present level; (g) when the number of closed curves at the present level is lower than that from the previous level, keep the previously saved result; (h) repeat steps (d) to (h), until the number decreases; (i) assign coils inside the curve to a distinct cluster; and (j) use the clustering to estimate a position, shape, size, and orientation of the cookware.

A method is provided for identifying cookware items placed on top of an induction cooktop having a plurality of coils. The method includes the following steps: acquire coverage factor information for each coil and collect it into a matrix; identify all local maxima in the matrix; find the coordinates of each of the local maxima as follows: when the local maxima is a single coil, the coordinates are those of the coil center, and when the local maxima is a region of contiguous coils, the coordinates are those of a centroid of the region; calculate distances from each coil to each of the coordinates of the identified local maxima; determine a minimum among the distances; classify the coils in clusters, based on the distances from the local maxima; and use the identified coil clustering to estimate the position, shape, size, and orientation of the cookware items.

Disclosed herein is an induction heating device that provides improved user experience and user interface, the induction heating device including a case, a plurality of working coils provided in the case, a cover plate which is coupled to an upper end of the case and where an object subject to heating heated by at least one of the plurality of working coils is placed on an upper surface thereof, an input interface flatly buried into the upper surface of the cover plate, configured to receive a touch input from a user, and configured to display a specific image, a first control module configured to sense which one of the plurality of working coils has the object subject to heating at an upper side thereof, and a second control module supplied with information on a position of the sensed object subject to heating from the first control module, supplied with the touch input from the input interface, and configured to control the specific image displayed on the input interface on the basis of at least one of the received information on the position of the object subject to heating and the received touch input, wherein, in case the touch input indicates a touch input to a small object subject to heating guide image, the second control module controls the input interface such that an image for guiding an optimal heating position of the small object subject to heating is displayed in one area of the input interface, which does not overlap with the position of the sensed object subject to heating.

Disclosed herein is an induction heating device that provides improved user experience and user interface, the induction heating device including a case, a plurality of working coils provided in the case, a cover plate which is coupled to an upper end of the case and where an object subject to heating heated by at least one of the plurality of working coils is placed on an upper surface thereof, an input interface flatly buried into the upper surface of the cover plate, configured to receive a touch input from a user, and configured to display a specific image, a first control module configured to sense which one of the plurality of working coils has the object subject to heating at an upper side thereof, and a second control module configured to receive information on a position of the sensed object subject to heating from the first control module, and to control the specific image displayed on the input interface on the basis of the received information on the position of the object subject to heating, wherein, in case the object subject to heating includes first and second objects subject to heating placed close to each other, the second control module controls the input interface such that an image for guiding an optimal heating position of any one object subject to heating of the first and second objects subject to heating is displayed on the input interface.

Disclosed herein is an induction heating device that provides improved user experience and user interface, the induction heating device including a case, a plurality of working coils provided in the case, a cover plate which is coupled to an upper end of the case and where an object subject to heating heated by at least one of the plurality of working coils is placed on an upper surface thereof, an input interface flatly buried into the upper surface of the cover plate, configured to receive a touch input from a user, and configured to display a specific image, a first control module configured to sense which one of the plurality of working coils has the object subject to heating at an upper side thereof, and a second control module configured to control the input interface such that a coil image of each of the plurality of working coils is displayed on the input interface, wherein the second control module receives information on a position of the sensed object subject to heating from the first control module, determines whether the sensed object subject to heating is concentrically placed on the basis of the information on the position of the sensed object subject to heating, and controls the input interface on the basis of results of the determination and on the basis of the information on the position of the sensed object subject to heating such that a burner image for the object subject to heating is displayed on the input interface.

An induction range apparatus includes a controller determine whether the container is disposed on the working coil, and the container disposed on the working coil is heated through induction heating, in a container sensing mode, and configured to output a block signal so that induction power outputted from an inverter driver is prevented from being input into a first detector, in an induction heating mode; and a blocking part outputting the induction power input from the inverter driver to the working coil or preventing the induction power input from the inverter driver from being input into the first detector or outputting the sensing signal to the working coil, on the basis of any two or less of the input of the induction power from the inverter driver, the input of the unblock signal from the controller, and the input of the block signal from the controller.

A cooking appliance device includes a control and/or regulating unit provided to repetitively control a first induction target with a first heating current frequency in a periodic continuous heating operating state, which is allocated an operating period, to supply the first induction target with energy, and to operate the first induction target in a switched-on interval of the operating period with a heating power. The control and/or regulating unit is provided to select in the continuous heating operating state a sum of all switched-on intervals of the operating period as a multiple of a reciprocal value of the first heating current frequency.