A heating appliance, such as a microwave oven, includes a housing having interior walls with interior surfaces defining a cooking chamber for heating food. The heating appliance also includes a camera positioned within the housing to capture images of food in the chamber, and a shield positioned between the camera and the food. The shield has a body with a first surface facing an area for receiving food within the chamber and a second opposite surface facing the camera. The shield includes a first transparent conductive metal coating on one or both of the first surface and the second surface, such that the shield dissipates heat and reflects microwave radiation to protect the camera.

Several embodiments include a cooking instrument. The cooking instrument can include a heating system. The heating system can include one or more heating elements capable of emitting wireless energy into the cooking chamber. The cooking instrument can also include a control system. The control system can executing a heating sequence to drive the heating system, detect, based on an output signal of a sensor, a trigger event, and configure the heating system in response to detecting the trigger event.

A heating cooking device includes: a heating chamber having a front face opening; and a heater that is provided on an upper wall of the heating chamber to heat an object to be heated stored in the heating chamber, at least part of the heater being disposed at a center of the heating chamber seen from above. The heating cooking device further includes camera that is provided on the upper wall of the heating chamber and is disposed closer to a front of the heating chamber than the center of the heating chamber is when seen from above, with camera having an imaging direction inclined toward a rear side of the heating chamber with respect to a vertical direction. The heating cooking device further includes blower fan that is provided on the upper wall of the heating chamber, closer to a front of the heating chamber than the center of the heating chamber is when seen from above and is disposed at a position on one of a right side and a left side with respect to camera as seen from above, and that blows air toward camera from the one of the right side and the left side.

A heating cooking device includes: heating chamber having front face opening; and a heater to heat object to be heated stored in heating chamber. The heating cooking device further includes: camera that has optical axis inclined with respect to a vertical direction and is disposed on upper wall of heating chamber to face inside of heating chamber; and first illuminator that illuminates the inside of heating chamber from a side of upper wall of heating chamber. The heating cooking device further includes top panel that is disposed below upper wall of heating chamber, is formed of a semitransparent member to illuminate downward while diffusing light from first illuminator, and is provided with top panel opening serving as an opening through which camera images the inside of heating chamber.

A seal arrangement for a cooking apparatus, the seal arrangement comprising: a cooking cavity wall with an opening configured to be sealed by the seal arrangement and configured as a pass through for an illuminant configured as a translucent rod with an essentially circular cylindrical shape; a housing element that is sealed relative to an outside of the cooking cavity wall by a first seal and that includes a receiver for a second seal that seals the housing element relative to the illuminant; retaining elements which arrange the housing element at the outside of the cooking cavity wall, wherein the second seal is a graphite ring, and wherein the illuminant is arrangeable within an annular cavity of the graphite ring.

An illumination device for a cooking apparatus, the illumination device including a light source and a light conductor rod that conducts light emitted by the light source to a cooking cavity of the cooking apparatus; a support that supports the light conductor rod at a support element of the cooking apparatus, wherein the support includes a pivot joint that supports a fixing device for the light conductor rod, so that the light conductor rod is movably supported in the support.

An automated microwave oven configured to autonomously determine a duration of time for heating an object based on a location of the object in a microwave cavity. The heating duration may be a function of cumulative energy estimated to be experienced by the object due to the object location, e.g., radial distance from center, under rotational motion of the rotating tray. A concentric energy visualization is provided on an interior surface of the microwave cavity, representing a function of cumulative energy experienced under rotational motion of a rotating tray about its center-line. The visualization may comprise a plurality of rings concentric about the center-line, each concentric ring representing a constant value of the function of cumulative energy, oscillating in value along the radial length of the rotating tray.

Disclosed herein are a lamp module that includes a double insulation structure and a cooling structure, thus being usable even in a high temperature condition, and a cooking appliance including the same. The cooking appliance includes a cooking compartment, a cooling fan disposed at an upper portion of the cooking compartment to suction outside air, and a lamp module configured to illuminate an inside of the cooking compartment and disposed adjacent to the cooling fan to exchange heat with the outside air suctioned by the cooling fan.

An automated microwave oven configured to autonomously determine a duration of time for heating an object based on a location of the object in a microwave cavity. The heating duration may be a function of cumulative energy estimated to be experienced by the object due to the object location, e.g., radial distance from center, under rotational motion of the rotating tray. A concentric energy visualization is provided on an interior surface of the microwave cavity, representing a function of cumulative energy experienced under rotational motion of a rotating tray about its center-line. The visualization may comprise a plurality of rings concentric about the center-line, each concentric ring representing a constant value of the function of cumulative energy, oscillating in value along the radial length of the rotating tray.

Disclosures of the present invention describe a coaxial microwave rotary applicator for material processing, mainly comprising: a waveguide unit, a microwave generator connected to one end of the waveguide unit, a bearing unit, a chamber, a rotary shaft, a driver unit, a sampling unit. The bearing unit is connected to the waveguide unit through a non-rotary ring, and the chamber is connected to a rotary ring of the bearing unit, and the microwave generator is configured for supplying a microwave to the chamber. By such arrangements, it is able to uniformly heat a specific material disposed in the chamber by driving the chamber to rotate. It is worth noting that, a user is allowed to clearly observe the processing progress via the sampling unit during the heating process of the specific material.