Cooking appliances and methods for operating cooking appliances are provided. In one exemplary embodiment, a method for operating a cooking appliance is provided. The method includes providing power to the heating source according to a first control mode; determining whether to transition from the first control mode to a second control mode and, if so, then providing power to the heating source according to the second control mode. The method further includes determining whether to transition from the second control mode to a third control mode and, if so, then providing power to the heating source according to the third control mode. The cooking appliances and methods include features for limiting cooking utensil temperatures using time-to-target criteria.

An infrared heating apparatus includes a sheet of ceramic glass having a passband in the infrared spectrum, a metal resistive element having a first portion that is covered by a ceramic refractory material and a second portion that is exposed by the ceramic refractory material, and a controller that controls the metal resistive element to emit infrared radiation in a wavelength corresponding to the passband of the ceramic glass.

An electric resistance heating coil assembly includes a spiral wound sheathed heating element having a first coil section and a second coil section. A bimetallic thermostat is connected in series between the first and second coil sections of the spiral wound sheathed heating element. The bimetallic thermostat is spring loaded such that a distal end of the bimetallic thermostat is urged away from a top surface of the spiral wound sheathed heating element. The electric resistance heating coil assembly also includes a shroud cover and a heat transfer disk.

A heating device for an electric cooktop has at least one long heating conductor, one support body on the top side of which the heating conductor is arranged and fitted, and one supporting means for the support body. The heating conductor is designed as a corrugated flat strip which has, on its bottom side, holding elements which are arranged at a distance from one another and integrally project downward and are pushed into the support body. The supporting means supports the support body, at least in its outer region along an outer edge, at the bottom. The support body consists, as a thin plate, of compressed and adhesively bonded mica material, for example micanite, and is therefore electrically insulating and sufficiently stable.

An electric grill with a cooking surface for cooking food, which cooking surface has at least two adjacent heating zones is disclosed. Each heating zone of the grill is assigned a first electrical heating element 8 for heating the cooking surface in this heating zone, H.sub.1, H.sub.2. A second heating element 9 is arranged in a subset of the heating zones (H.sub.1) for increasing the heating power in this heating zone (H.sub.1) with a power input that at least matches that of a first heating element 8 of another heating zone (H.sub.2). The grill 1 has a heating element switchover feature, such that, when a second heating element 9 is switched on in a heating zone H.sub.1 with two heating elements 8, 9, a power corresponding to the power input of the second heating element 9 that is switched on or to be switched on is switched off on first heating elements 8 in one or more other heating zones H.sub.1, or switching on such power is blocked.

A method of manufacturing a ceramic heater, the method includes the steps of: (a) forming, on a surface of a first ceramic fired layer or an unfired layer, a resistance heating element or its precursor in a predetermined pattern; (b) forming a recessed groove along a longitudinal direction by radiating laser light to the resistance heating element or its precursor; (c) obtaining a layered body by disposing a second ceramic unfired layer on the surface of the first ceramic fired layer or the unfired layer; and (d) obtaining the ceramic heater in which the resistance heating element is embedded in a ceramic substrate by performing hot press firing on the layered body, wherein, in the step (b), the recessed groove is formed such that a side wall surface of the recessed groove is inclined relative to the surface of the first ceramic fired layer or the unfired layer.

An electric heater includes a substrate (an insulating material capable of forming a conductor pattern on a surface of an insulating substrate), a first plane heating element formed on one surface of the substrate, and a second plane heating element formed on one surface of the substrate to be located outside the first plane heating element. The first plane heating element includes a first pattern portion connecting a start point with an end point located in a first zone, a pair of first electrodes located outside the first zone, and a pair of first connectors connecting the first pattern portion with the first electrodes. The second plane heating element includes a second pattern portion located in a second zone surrounding the first zone and connecting a start point with an end point, and at least some of the first connectors are located in the second zone.

An electric heater includes a substrate (an insulating material capable of forming a conductor pattern on a surface of an insulating substrate), a first plane heating element formed on one surface of the substrate, and a second plane heating element formed on one surface of the substrate to be located outside the first plane heating element. The first plane heating element includes a first pattern portion connecting a start point with an end point located in a first zone, a pair of first electrodes located outside the first zone, and a pair of first connectors connecting the first pattern portion with the first electrodes. The second plane heating element includes a second pattern portion located in a second zone surrounding the first zone and connecting a start point with an end point, and at least some of the first connectors are located in the second zone.

An IR radiator element (1) suitable for use as a miniature infrared emitter (micro-hotplate) in a gas sensor, IR-spectrometer or electron microscope. The micro-hotplate comprises a plate (2) supported by multiple support arms (4). The plate and arms are fabricated as a MEMS device comprising a single contiguous piece of electrically-conducting refractory ceramic such as hafnium carbide (HfC) or tantalum hafnium carbide (TaHfC). Each of the arms (4), in addition to providing structural cantilever support for the plate (2), acts as a heating element for the plate (2). The plate (2) is heated by applying a voltage across the arms (4). The arms (4) may also be shaped to absorb thermomechanical stress which arises during the heating and cooling of the arms and plate. The plate, which may have an area of less than 0.05 mm.sup.2 and a thickness of between 1% and 10% of the largest dimension of the plate (2), for example, can be heated to 4,000 K or more and cooled again with a duty cycle of as little 0.5 ms, thereby permitting pulsed operation at frequencies of up to 2 kHz. Its small size (10-200 μm) and low power consumption (e.g. 10-100 mW) make the micro-hotplate suitable for use in cryogenic applications, in miniaturized devices or in battery-powered devices such as mobile phones.

The present disclosure relates to food preparation apparatus with an electrical heating device comprising at least two electrical PTC thermistors for heating a food in a food preparation room, wherein the electrical PTC thermistors are electrically connected in parallel. The parallel-connected PTC thermistors are electrically connected to one another by one or more electrical bridges.