Systems and methods are provided to operate, by a processor coupled to memory, a steam heating mode including selective control of a bake heating element and two or more fans according to preset and timed duty cycles of a plurality of heating stages comprising preset requirements for transitions therebetween based on received input; and heat, based on the operation, one or more food items via steam.

Systems and methods include a cooking appliance comprising a heating element disposed within a cooking chamber and operable to selectively emit waves at any of a plurality of powers and/or peak wavelengths, a camera operable to capture an image of the cooking chamber, and a computing device operable to supply power to the heating element to vary the power and/or peak wavelength of the emitted waves and generate heat within the cooking chamber, and instruct the camera to capture the image when the heating element is emitting at a stabilized power and/or peak wavelength. The computing device is operable to generate an adjusted captured image by adjusting the captured image with respect to the stabilized power and/or peak wavelength. The computing device comprises feedback components operable to receive the adjusted captured image, extract features, and analyze the one or more features to determine an event, property, measurement and/or status.

A cooking appliance having a cooktop that is regulated by a fire prevention module is provided. In addition to its fire prevention and safety features, the fire prevention module includes a communication module that enables communication between the cooktop appliance and a remote device, such as a smartphone or tablet computer. Using this communication link, the fire prevention module can be used to expand the ability of a user to monitor and/or control operation of the cooktop appliance from a remote location. For example, using a software application on their smartphone, a user may monitor the temperature of a cooking utensil and initiate a particular cooking profile, or be notified when an unsafe cooking condition might be present and that the cooktop unit has been automatically deactivated to remedy the situation.

A disclosed computer-implemented method for heating an item in a chamber of an electronic oven towards a target state includes heating the item with a set of applications of energy to the chamber while the electronic oven is in a respective set of configurations. The set of applications of energy and respective set of configurations define a respective set of variable distributions of energy in the chamber. The method also includes sensing sensor data that defines a respective set of responses by the item to the set of applications of energy. The method also includes generating a plan to heat the item in the chamber. The plan is generated by a control system of the electronic oven and uses the sensor data.

This disclosure relates to a microwave heating device and a method for operating a microwave heating device, in particular to heat at least one product inside a heating chamber of the device. The microwave heating device comprises at least two radiating portions that are adapted to radiate microwaves to the heating chamber and can be operated according to a plurality of operational configurations that differ in frequency and/or in phase shift(s) between the radiated microwaves. A learning procedure can be executed by sequentially operating the at least two radiating portions in several operational configurations. Energy efficiency data are calculated for those operational configurations. An operating frequency can be selected, the selection being based on energy efficiency data. An operational configuration with a maximum energy efficiency at the selected operating frequency may be taken as a reference. A heating procedure can be executed by sequentially operating the at least two radiating portions in operational configurations having the selected operating frequency and respective phase shift(s) that are chosen around the respective phase shift(s) of the reference operational configuration. The phase shift(s) of each chosen operational configuration may have a phase shift distance from the respective phase shift(s) of the reference operational configuration, such that, in the space of the phase shifts, the reference operational configuration is surrounded by the chosen operational configurations.

Embodiments include systems and methods for heating materials, including heating materials for cooking and soldering. A representative system and method for cooking food includes passing electric current through the food, sensing a characteristic of the food, and modulating the electric current in response to the characteristic of the food to achieve a selected internal temperature of the food. The system and method can include searing the food with hot oil or photons directed at the surface of the food. A representative system and method for heating a material includes modulating a plurality of semiconductor light sources to emit photons toward the material, measuring a temperature of the material, and modulating the plurality of semiconductor light sources in response to the temperature of the material. The material can include solder and the method can include heating solder in a reflow soldering process.

An oven appliance, as provided herein, may include a plurality of chamber walls, a bottom heating element, a base panel, and a cooking plate. The plurality of chamber walls may define an oven chamber. The plurality of chamber walls may include a back wall, a top wall, a first side wall, a second side wall, and a bottom wall. The bottom heating element may be mounted above the bottom wall to heat a cooking surface within the oven chamber. The base panel may be disposed over the bottom heating element. The base panel may define an oven vent and a receiving zone spaced apart from the oven vent. The base panel may further define an enclosed region with the bottom wall about the bottom heating element. The cooking plate may be disposed on the base panel within the receiving zone. The cooking plate may define the cooking surface.

Embodiments include systems and methods for heating materials, including heating materials for cooking and soldering. A representative system and method for cooking food includes passing electric current through the food, sensing a characteristic of the food, and modulating the electric current in response to the characteristic of the food to achieve a selected internal temperature of the food. The system and method can include searing the food with hot oil or photons directed at the surface of the food. A representative system and method for heating a material includes modulating a plurality of semiconductor light sources to emit photons toward the material, measuring a temperature of the material, and modulating the plurality of semiconductor light sources in response to the temperature of the material. The material can include solder and the method can include heating solder in a reflow soldering process.

An appliance having a current sensor configured to monitor load current in the appliance associated with operation of one or more components for determining a fault condition thereof. The appliance comprises a smart controller configured to control operations of the appliance and the one or more components each configured to perform an operation of the appliance in response to the smart controller. An input/output (IO) circuit coupled to the smart controller via a local data bus is configured to receive commands from the smart controller and to control the one or more components in response thereto.

A cooking appliance apparatus, in particular an oven apparatus, includes a first heating element, a second heating element, a control unit configured to jointly operate the first and second heating elements to heat a cooking chamber in an operating state, and a power distributor unit which is configured to divide a total power into a first output power and a second output power in the operating state and to supply the first output power to the first heating element and the second output power to the second heating element.