Various smart package configurations may include a package intelligence and communication module (PICM) intelligently interacting with smart heating appliances and users. A thermodynamic load profile may correlate thermodynamic response characteristics of the package and be stored in or associated with a unique identifier in the PICM. The TLP enables efficient and safe heating of packages on a smart appliance as well as package validation and authentication. Package configurations also include structural elements for efficient heating of food, beverage, cosmetic and personal care products.

Disclosed herein is a cooking apparatus. The cooking apparatus includes a cooking plate, a plurality of induction heating coils installed under the cooking plate, a plurality of drivers configured to supply driving power to the plurality of induction heating coils, and a controller configured to control the plurality of drivers to drive a plurality of groups to which the plurality of induction heating coils belong, respectively. Power output by a first driver, among the plurality of drivers, which drives a first group among the plurality of groups may be increased and power output by a second driver, among the plurality of drivers, which drives a second group among the plurality of groups may be decreased.

The present disclosure provides a heating cooker with improved usability. A heating cooker comprising: a heating unit that heats a cooking object; a temperature detector that detects temperature information about the cooking object; a controller that controls the heating unit based on heating conditions including at least a heating temperature and a heating time, and the temperature information; and a communicator that communicates with an external device, wherein the external device receives input information from a user, wherein the communicator transmits the input information received from the external device to the controller, and wherein the controller creates, when the input information is predetermined input information, update information about at least the heating temperature among the heating conditions based on the predetermined input information.

A heating cooking apparatus has an electricity-recovery coil configured to recover a leakage magnetic flux that leaks from a heating coil and to generate electricity, a storage battery configured to store the electricity generated by the electricity-recovery coil, a first driving circuit configured to receive electricity supplied by a commercial electricity source and to supply high-frequency current to the heating coil, a second driving circuit configured to receive electricity supplied by the storage battery and to supply high-frequency current to the heating coil, and a controller configured to operate in an induction heating mode to inductively heat a heating target placed on a heating zone by the heating coil supplied with high-frequency current from the first driving circuit, and to operate in a power supply mode to supply power to a power receiver by the heating coil supplied with high-frequency current from the second driving circuit.

A cooking vessel sensor and an induction heating device including a cooking vessel sensor is provided. The cooking vessel sensor may include a cylindrical hollow body having a first receiving space defined therein; a hollow cylindrical magnetic core received in the first space and having a second receiving space defined therein; and a sensing coil wound on an outer face of the side wall by a predetermined number of winding counts. The cylindrical hollow body may have a side wall having a coil outlet defined therein, and the sensing coil may pass though the coil outlet out of the body. The cooking vessel sensor may further include a controller that applies a current to the sensing coil and determines, based on a sensing result of the cooking vessel sensor, whether the cooking vessel is inductive or has an inductive heating property.

A method is provided for operating a resonant power conversion apparatus The method may include charging a capacitor connected to a power source in parallel, and determining a discharge time point and a discharge period of a discharge circuit, where the discharge circuit includes a resistor and a switch connected in series and is connected to the capacitor in parallel. The method may also include outputting, by a switch control circuit, a switch control signal by determining the switch control signal based on the discharge time point and the discharge period, and discharging the charged capacitor through the resistor based on the switch control signal applied to the switch. A resonant power conversion apparatus for performing the above-described method is provided.

Conductors for use in heating systems are provided. The conductors are configured to have an extended current path for the current and increased resistance as seen by the current. The heating system may be an induction system. For example, the conductor may comprise a conductive material having a surface which faces an induction coil of an oscillating circuit. This surface may have a predetermined pattern of peaks and valleys. The peaks and valleys form a non-linear current path for the induced current when exposed to an electromagnetic field generated by the oscillating circuit. Other conductors such as a heat pipe may be used. The pipe may have walls with varying thicknesses over its length. The varying thicknesses may include a first thickness and a second thickness which alternate. The heat pipe may be used in an induction or direct contact heating system where AC is directly applied to the pipe.

A cooking apparatus includes an input interface configured to receive a control command for an operation of the cooking apparatus, a communication interface configured to communicate with a terminal device, a memory configured to store information related to limitation of a cooking operation received from the terminal device, and a processor configured to perform the input control command based on the information related to the limitation of the cooking operation, and the processor is configured to, based on a cooking operation command being received via the input interface in a cooking operation limitation state set according to the information related to the limitation of the cooking operation, control the communication interface to request the terminal device for release of the limitation of the cooking operation, and based on a release command being received from the terminal device, perform the input cooking operation command.

The invention relates to a heating circuit for induction heating coils of an induction cooking hob and to an induction cooking hob including such a heating circuit. In the heating circuit, there are in each case two auxiliary half bridges interconnected to excite a respective resonant circuit for an induction heating coil such that the resonant circuit is excited by a full bridge. Thereby, lost heat is considerably reduced. Via a connecting device the auxiliary half bridges can be controlled to excite induction heating coils, which are partly or fully covered by a cooking vessel.

A method for controlling an induction heating device includes supplying current from a D.C. power supply into a resonant load and emitting the current from the resonant load. The current is directionally conducted from the output node of the resonant load to a switching node downstream from the output node. The current conducted through the resonant load is controlled with a switching device.