Provided is an apparatus and method for protecting against unsafe electric current conditions. A protections circuit may be used in a device, such as an electric grill, that has one or more electric loads, such as heating elements. The protection circuit may protect against various failure scenarios, including, without limitation, instances of ground fault, over current, driver failure, and failure of a microprocessor. The microprocessor may further be in wireless communication with a remote device and wirelessly communicate error codes indicative of an error, and receive control signals from the remote device for controlling temperature or turning the grill off. The remote device may also receive operating parameters and create a log of the electric grill's conditions at the time of an error.

A vending machine configured to dispense foodstuffs includes a plurality of cartridges having a plurality of slots with each slot releasably retaining a foodstuff; a heating section configured to receive at least one foodstuff from at least one of the plurality of slots and to heat the at least one foodstuff; and a dispensing drawer configured to receive the at least one foodstuff passing through the heating section and to permit access to the foodstuff.

The present invention relates to a dish warming system that includes a plurality of dish warming assemblies each having a plate with a power source and a heat element. The power source of each dish warming assembly allows for the concurrent charging of the plurality of dish warming assemblies while stacked. The heat element in some iterations of the system includes a pressure switch that activates the heat element when a dish is placed on the dish warming assembly.

A lunchbox that includes a container for storing food and a closure lid for closing the container, the closure lid including an electrical heater and a switch that is configured to clos to allow the passage of an electric current toward the electrical heater when the food in the container is supported on the closure lid.

A toaster includes an activation element, a power circuit, a heating device and a control device. When the activation element is moved to turn on the power circuit, the control device is powered such that an electromagnet is activated to attract a retaining element to hold the activation element and to actuate a two-state switch, which allows passage of electrical power to the heating device. After a time interval has elapsed, the control device stops the electromagnet from attracting the retaining element such that the retaining element no longer actuates the two-state switch, which cuts off electric power provided to the heating device.

Described is a method of controlling a cooking appliance which includes at least one electrical load and a controller. The electrical load is variably connected to at least one of a plurality of phases of a power connection. The phase is selected from among the plurality of phases. Furthermore, a cooking appliance and a heating element are described.

An electric heating griddle device for baking spherical foods able to shorten the time of baking spherical foods includes an iron plate part 2 made of cast iron having an upper surface 2a and a lower surface 2b that are planar, and which is formed to be a predetermined thickness between the upper surface and the lower surface, and an electric heating part 3 connected to the iron plate part 2 so as to contact a heat transfer surface 3a with the lower surface of the iron plate part 2. The iron plate part 2 has a plurality of recess parts 21 which are formed to be concave from the upper surface 2a to bake the spherical foods and the electric heating part 3 is formed so as that the heat transfer surface 3a is broad to substantially conform to the lower surface 2b of the iron plate part 2.

A cooking vessel according to one example embodiment includes a food receptacle for holding food during cooking. The cooking vessel includes an inner shell and an outer shell. An outside surface of the inner shell forms the food receptacle. A portion of an inside surface of the inner shell is spaced from a portion of an inside surface of the outer shell forming a sealed volume between the inner shell and the outer shell. A heat pipe is positioned within the sealed volume between the inner shell and the outer shell for distributing heat through the sealed volume between the inner shell and the outer shell. Embodiments include those wherein each of the inner shell and the outer shell includes a respective bottom wall and a respective side wall.

A thermal increase system includes one or more multi-level electrodes configured to radiate electromagnetic energy into a cavity in response to receiving a radio frequency (RF) signal from an RF signal source. Each multi-level electrode is positioned adjacent to a wall of the cavity, and each multi-level electrode includes a base portion coupled to an elevated portion. A radiating surface of the elevated portion is at a height of at least 0.5 centimeters (cm) from a radiating surface of the base portion.

An apparatus for controlling one or more switched high power loads (or heating elements). The apparatus including: one or more switched high power loads (or heating elements), each high power load being powered from a common alternating current power source, and wherein each load is independently switched using a switching signal for zero crossing switching to achieve a desired average power output; the switching signal is generated that comprises a repeated switching sequence; the switching sequence indicates a respective selecting activation for each of the switched high power load over a sequence of half or full cycles.