An induction heating and wireless power transmitting apparatus includes: a first working coil portion including first and second working coils that are connected in parallel; a first inverter configured to apply a resonant current to the first working coil and the second working coil by performing a switching operation; a first semiconductor switch connected to the first working coil and configured to turn the first working coil on or off; a second semiconduction switch connected to the second working coil and configured to turn the second working coil on or off; and a controller configured to detect whether an object is positioned above the first working coil or the second working coil based on controlling the first and second semiconductor switched and the first inverter.

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.

An induction cooking apparatus includes a plurality of induction coils arranged in an array. The induction coils include conductive windings and at least one foil. The at least one foil includes magnetically permeable material extending beneath the plurality of induction coils.

In order to operate an induction cooktop with a cooktop plate, at least two induction heating coils thereunder, a cooktop controller, and a power unit for supplying power to the induction heating coils, the two induction heating coils are jointly supplied with power and operated with in each case one power density spectrum with precisely one maximum. In a first operating mode, the power density spectra are measured and it is established how their respective maxima are located relative one another, and the sum thereof is formed. The difference in power density between a local minimum of the sum, which is located between the two maxima of the sum, and the two maxima of the sum is then reduced. To this end, the switch-on time and/or the switch-off time of at least one of the circuit-breakers is varied in order to actively modify the power density spectrum of the power supply.

A cooktop apparatus includes a first heating frequency unit, a second heating frequency unit, a set of first heating units, a set of second heating units, a set of third heating units, and a switching arrangement configured to electrically allocate the set of first heating units to the first heating frequency unit, to electrically allocate the set of second heating units to the second heating frequency unit, and to electrically allocate the set of third heating units to at least one of the first and second heating frequency units.

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.

An induction heating device and a method for sensing a cooking vessel on an induction heating device are provided. The induction heating device may include a controller that converts a resonance waveform generated as current is applied to a sensing coil into a square waveform. The controller may determine whether a cooking vessel placed on the induction heating device has an inductive heating property based on a number of pulses of the converted square waveform.

A cooking apparatus is provided. The cooking apparatus includes heating coils, an input apparatus receiving input of output levels for each of the heating coils, inverters providing driving power to each of the heating coils separately, and a processor controlling the inverters based on the inputted output levels. The processor is configured to predict the power consumption of each of the heating coils based on the inputted output levels, and based on the sum of the predicted power consumption being greater than a predetermined power value, determine a subject heating coil based on the predicted power consumption for each heating coil and history information on power adjustment of the heating coils, and control an inverter corresponding to the subject heating coil such that the subject heating coil operates at a smaller output level than a current output level.