Induction heating cooker and method of controlling display thereof
10883723 ยท 2021-01-05
Assignee
Inventors
- Chang-Sun Yun (Suwon-si, KR)
- Hong-joo Kang (Suwon-si, KR)
- Dong-Oh Kang (Seoul, KR)
- Hee-joon Kang (Seoul, KR)
- Byung-hwan Ko (Suwon-si, KR)
- Hyun-kwan Lee (Suwon-si, KR)
Cpc classification
F24C7/083
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F24C7/067
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
H05B6/1218
ELECTRICITY
International classification
F24C7/06
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
Abstract
An induction heating cooker includes at least one burner including a coil; a handling portion provided in a predetermined area separated from the burner, and including an input section for receiving a user's control and a first display for displaying information corresponding to the user's control; at least one second display provided in an area separated from the handling portion; and a controller configured to control the second display to display cooking information about the burner.
Claims
1. An induction heating cooker comprising: a burner comprising a coil; a handling portion provided in a predetermined area separated from the burner and comprising an input section for receiving a control of a user and a first display for displaying information corresponding to the control of the user; a glass flat plate comprising a cooking area for the burner; a second display attached to a metal plate provided below the glass flat plate in an area separated from the handling portion, where the metal plate is parallel to the glass flat plate and the second display is attached to the metal plate at an inclined angle; and a controller configured to control the second display to display cooking information about the burner.
2. The induction heating cooker according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to control the second display to display a temperature of the glass flat plate.
3. The induction heating cooker according to claim 2, wherein: the second display comprises a holder provided in a bottom thereof, and the holder is configured to be inserted in the metal plate provided under the glass flat plate.
4. The induction heating cooker according to claim 2, wherein: the second display comprises a screw hole in a lower end portion thereof, and the second display is configured to fasten, using a screw, to the metal plate provided under the glass flat plate.
5. The induction heating cooker according to claim 2, wherein the coil is mounted on the metal plate provided under the glass flat plate.
6. The induction heating cooker according to claim 1, wherein the second display is provided at a position spaced apart from the coil by more than a predetermined distance.
7. The induction heating cooker according to claim 1, wherein the second display is provided in each position corresponding to a relevant burner of the burner.
8. The induction heating cooker according to claim 1, wherein the second display comprises a display surface inclined at a predetermined angle to a horizontal surface of the cooking area for the burner.
9. The induction heating cooker according to claim 1, wherein the cooking information comprises at least one of an output level, an output strength, a setting time, an operating time, a timer of the burner, a temperature of the burner, or a position of the burner.
10. The induction heating cooker according to claim 1, wherein the second display represents the cooking information by a text comprising at least one of a numeral or a letter.
11. The induction heating cooker according to claim 1, further comprising a third display that is variable in shape or type, wherein the controller is configured to control the third display to be varied in shape or type depending on the cooking information.
12. The induction heating cooker according to claim 1, further comprising a communicator configured to communicate with a separate sensor, wherein the controller is configured to receive the cooking information from the separate sensor through the communicator.
13. The induction heating cooker according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to set a color of the second display in accordance with the control of the user received through the handling portion.
14. The induction heating cooker according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to change a color of the second display in accordance with the cooking information.
15. The induction heating cooker according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to control the second display to alternately display the cooking information of the burner.
16. The induction heating cooker according to claim 15, further comprising a fourth display configured to display a local relation between the second display and the burner.
17. The induction heating cooker according to claim 1, wherein the metal plate comprises an aluminum plate.
18. A method of controlling a display of an induction heating cooker, the method comprising: receiving a control of a user for a burner through a handling portion; displaying information corresponding to the received control of the user on a first display; and displaying cooking information about the burner on a second display, wherein the induction heating cooker comprises: the burner comprising a coil, the handling portion provided in a predetermined area separated from the burner and comprising an input section for receiving the control of the user, the first display, a glass flat plate comprising a cooking area for the burner, and the second display attached to a metal plate provided below the glass flat plate in an area separated from the handling portion, where the metal plate is parallel to the glass flat plate and the second display is attached to the metal plate at an inclined angle.
19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the cooking information comprises at least one of an output level, an output strength, a setting time, an operating time, a timer of the burner, a temperature of the burner, or a position of the burner.
20. The method according to claim 18, wherein the second display represents the cooking information by a text comprising at least one of a numeral or a letter.
21. The method according to claim 18, wherein: the induction heating cooker further comprises a third display variable in shape or type, and the method further comprises controlling the third display to be varied in shape or type depending on the cooking information.
22. The method according to claim 18, wherein the metal plate comprises an aluminum plate.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
(1) For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure and its advantages, reference is now made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals represent like parts:
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION
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(16) Hereinafter, with reference to accompanying drawings, embodiments of the disclosure will be described in detail to be easily materialized by a person having an ordinary skill in the art to which the disclosure pertains. The disclosure can be materialized in various forms and not limited to the embodiments set forth herein.
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(18) However, information displayed on the first display 122 shows only some states corresponding to a user's handling, and it is thus difficult to get more detailed information about a current cooking state.
(19) Second displays 131 and 132 are provided in front of a first burner 111, a second burner 112 and a third burner 113, and placed in an area separated from the handling portion 12, thereby displaying more detailed cooking information than the first display 122. Here, the cooking information displayed on the second displays 131 and 132 may for example include at least one among an output level, an output strength, a setting time, an operating time, a timer, a temperature about each of the burners 111, 112 and 113, or a position of the burners 111, 112 and 113.
(20) In the shown example, a second display 131 is provided corresponding to the first burner 111 and the second burner 112 at the left side, and a second display 132 is provided corresponding to the third burner 113 at the right side. In this case, the second display 131 may be materialized to alternately display the cooking information about each of the burners 111 and 112 so as to display the cooking information about two burners 111 and 112.
(21) As described above, the induction heating cooker 10 according to the disclosure is capable of providing various pieces of cooking information about the operating burners 111, 112 and 113 through the second displays 131 and 132 installed separately from the handling portion 12. Further, through the second displays 131 and 132, a user can be easily informed of whether each of the burners 111, 112 and 113 operates or not.
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(23) In the induction heating cooker 10, the input section 121 in the handling portion 12 provided at a front center portion of the glass flat plate 14 receives a user's control for the burners 211, 212, 213, 214 and 215. When at least one among the burners 211, 212, 213, 214 and 215 operates in response to a user's control, states such as an output, a residual heat, etc. are displayed around the input section 121, for example, on the first display 122 materialized as an LED module.
(24) The induction heating cooker 10 displays detailed cooking information about each operation of the burners 211, 212, 213, 214 and 215 on second displays 231, 232, 233, 234 and 235 provided in areas separated from the handling portion 12. The second displays 231, 232, 233, 234 and 235 are provided corresponding to the burners 211, 212, 213, 214 and 215, respectively.
(25) In the shown example, the second displays 231 and 232 are arranged together in a front of the burners 211 and 212, in which the second display 232 positioned in a relatively forward portion corresponds to a second burner 212, and the second display 231 positioned in a relatively backward portion corresponds to a first burner 211.
(26) Further, the second displays 233, 234 and 235 are arranged in respect fronts of the third burner 213, the fourth burner 214 and the fifth burner 215, and display the cooking information about the burners 213, 214 and 215, respectively.
(27) The cooking information may for example include at least one among the output level, the output strength, the setting time, the operating time, the timer and the temperature of the burners 211, 212, 213, 214 and 215, or the positions of the burners 211, 212, 213, 214 and 215. In this case, the output strength includes at least one of a target output and an actual output, and the timer includes at least one of an elapsed time and a remaining time with respect to the setting time for cooking. Besides, the cooking information displayed on the second displays 231, 232, 233, 234 and 235 may provide additional information needed for a user in relation to the burners 211, 212, 213, 214 and 215 when the induction heating cooker 10 is used, without being limited to the embodiment of the disclosure.
(28) According to one embodiment, when the burners 211, 212, 213, 214 and 215 are different in output power from one another, the second displays 231, 232, 233, 234 and 235 may display the different levels of the output power before receiving a user's control. In this case, a user may select and use one of the burners 211, 212, 213, 214 and 215, which is suitable for a cooking material and a cooking condition, with reference to information about the displayed levels of the output power.
(29) According to one embodiment, the second displays 231, 232, 233, 234 and 235 may use a seven-segment display for displaying the cooking information. The seven-segment display is a numeral indicator that uses seven elements at most to represent numerals. For example, the numeral of 8 is represented when seven segments are all turned on.
(30) In terms of displaying the cooking information, the second displays 231, 232, 233, 234 and 235 may represent not only a numeral using seven segments as described above, but also a text using letters or combination of a numeral and a letter. Besides, the cooking information may be represented using an image or the like as well as the text and the numeral, without limitations to the representation.
(31) According to one embodiment, in terms of a function of the timer, the induction heating cooker 10 may further include a buzzer, a loudspeaker or the like to output a specific audio sound when it reaches a target time set by a user.
(32) As described above, the induction heating cooker 10 according to the disclosure makes a user be intuitively informed of various pieces of cooking information about the burners 211, 212, 213, 214 and 215 through the second displays 231, 232, 233, 234 and 235 installed separately from the handling portion 12.
(33) Below, the elements of the induction heating cooker 10 according to the disclosure will be described in detail with reference to
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(35) At least one burner 11 each includes a cooking area on which a container is put on, and a coil (refers to 41 of
(36) The handling portion 12 is provided in a predetermined area separated from at least one burner 11, and performs a function of controlling an operation of at least one burner 11 in response to a user's control. The handling portion 12 includes the input section 121 for receiving a user's control, and the first display 122 for displaying information corresponding to the user's control. The input section 121 may receive a user's control in various ways such as pressing, touching, clicking, turning, etc. and may be for example materialized by a control knob, a key, a button, a touch pad, etc.
(37) The first display 122 may be provided in an area distinguishable from the input section 121 within the handling portion 12 and along the circumference of the input section 121. The first display 122 may be for example materialized by light emitting diodes (LED). The first display 122 displays state information about the corresponding burner 11 in response to a user's control received in the input section 121. For example, the first display 122 may represent the output level or the residual heat of the operating burner 11 with a predetermined shape, color, etc. in response to a user's control.
(38) At least one second display 13 is displayed in a separate area divided from the handling portion 12, and provided at a position corresponding to the corresponding burner 11 among one or more burners 11. In other words, unlike the first display 122 provided within the handing portion 12, the second display 13 is arranged at a position corresponding to each burner 11, for example, in a front of the burner 11, and makes a user be easily and intuitively informed of the cooking information about the corresponding burner 11.
(39) The second display 13 may be for example variously materialized by a plasma display panel (PDP), a liquid crystal display (LCD), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a flexible display, etc. without limitations.
(40) As shown in
(41) As shown in
(42) With this inclined structure, a user can easily recognize the displayed cooking information at a position distant by more than a predetermined distance. Alternatively, the second display 13 may be installed on a flat surface at an angle of 0 degrees to the glass flat plate 14 so as to be easily mounted.
(43) The controller 15 controls the second display 13 to display the cooking information related to the burner 11.
(44) The cooking information may for example include at least one among the output level, the output strength, the setting time, the operating time, the timer, the temperature of the burner 11, or the position of the burner 11. In this case, the output strength includes at least one of a target output and an actual output, and the timer includes at least one of an elapsed time and a remaining time with respect to the setting time for cooking.
(45) According to one embodiment, the controller 15 may control the second display 13 to display the cooking information about the output and time among the operations of the burner 11, and display the temperature of the glass flat plate 14 corresponding to the position of the burner 11 when the operation of the burner 11 terminates. In this case, a user intuitively recognizes the temperature of the glass flat plate 14, and it is thus possible to improve safety.
(46) Alternatively, when the residual heat remains in the glass flat plate 14 corresponding to the position of the burner 11, the second display 13 may blink while displaying the temperature so as to warn a user against danger.
(47) In terms of displaying the temperature, the second display 13 may use at least one of Celsius and Fahrenheit to display temperature, or may use a method desired by a user to display the temperature.
(48) In terms of displaying the cooking information, the second display 13 may for example change the cooking information in units of several seconds. In this case, the kind of cooking information to be displayed on the second display 13 may be increased or decreased.
(49) The second display 13 may display the cooking information about two or more burners 11 on one second display 13. In this case, the second display 13 may also display the information about the position of the burner 11 so that a user can know which burner 11 among two or more burners 11 the cooking information is related to. For example, as shown in
(50) Besides, the cooking information displayed on the second display 13 may further include various pieces of additional information related to the burner 11 without being limited to the embodiment of the disclosure.
(51) According to one embodiment, the induction heating cooker 10 may further include a communicator 16, and receive additional cooking information from the outside.
(52) The communicator 16 communicates with the external sensor 20 by a wired or wireless communication method. The sensor 20 may be for example materialized by a wireless temperature sensor. The communicator 16 may use wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi), Bluetooth or the like wireless communication method to communicate with the sensor 20. For example, the communicator 16 may be provided as a printed circuit board (PCB) including a wireless communication module such as a Wi-Fi module. The communicator 16 may use another communication method to communicate with the sensor 20 without limitations to the foregoing communication method.
(53) According to one embodiment, the controller 15 may receive cooking information from the sensor 20 through the communicator 16, and control the second display 13 to display the received cooking information. For example, as shown in
(54) According to one embodiment, the induction heating cooker 10 according to the disclosure may further include a third display 85 that employs an LED module to represent various colors in the form of the virtual flame. In this case, the controller 15 may control the third display 85 to display information about the temperature of the container 92, which is measured by the wireless temperature sensor 91, with a specific color.
(55) With this configuration, the induction heating cooker 10 according to the disclosure makes a user easily recognize whether the burner being in use operates or not, and provides various pieces of cooking information about the operating burner.
(56) The operations of the controller 15 may be illustrated as the flowchart of
(57) Last, at operation 5120, at least one second display 13 installed in a separate area divided from the handling portion 12 displays the cooking information related to the burner 11. Here, the cooking information may include at least one among the output level, output strength, the setting time, the operating time, the timer of the burner 11, the temperature of the burner 11, or the position of the burner 11, which may be represented by at least one of a numeral, a text and an image.
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(59) The second display 13 is provided to have an inclined structure on the aluminum plate 42. The display surface of the second display 13 is inclined at a predetermined angle to the glass flat plate 14 where the cooking area of the burner 11 is provided.
(60) According to one embodiment, the second display 13 can be installed on the aluminum plate 42 by the following three patterns. Besides, various patterns are possible.
(61) First, a holder (not shown) is additionally provided below the second display 13, and inserted in the aluminum plate 42, thereby holding the second display 13.
(62) Second, as shown in
(63) Third, the second display 13 may be attached to the aluminum plate 42. In this case, the bottom of the second display 13 is flat, and a double-sided tape or the like may be for example used to attach the bottom of the second display 13 to the aluminum plate 42.
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(65) In terms of displaying the cooking information, the second display 13 may display at least one among the output level, the output strength, the setting time, the operating time, the timer of the burner 11, the temperature of the burner 11, or the position of the burner 11.
(66) In the shown example, the second display 13 is divided into a first display area 71, a second display area 72 and a third display area 73, and displays different cooking information on the display areas. According to one embodiment, the first display area 71 may display one among the output level, the output strength and the temperature, and the second display area 72 may display the setting time or the operating time. Further, the third display area 73 may display the position of the burner 11 corresponding to the cooking information displayed on the first display area 71 and the second display area 72.
(67) For example, the first display area 71 may display the output level or the output strength while the burner 11 is operating, and may display a temperature or residual heat symbol h or H while the burner 11 stops operating.
(68) Further, the second display area 72 may display time information such as a cooking setting time or an operating of the burner 11. In this case, icons respectively corresponding to the output level, the temperature, the operating time and the setting time are displayed above the first display area 71 and the second display area 72, thereby informing what cooking information the currently displaying numeral indicates.
(69) The third display area 73 may display the positions Front or Rear of the burner 11 in the form of an icon, corresponding to the cooking information currently displayed among one or more burners 11.
(70) According to one embodiment, the second display 13 may additionally display a text to at least one among an upper, lower, left and right sides of each display area 71 or 72 so that a user can be informed of the numeral or icon displayed on each of the display areas 71, 72 and 73.
(71) Besides the foregoing cooking information, the second display 13 may provide various useful pieces of information to a user by a numeral, a letter and the like text, or an icon and the like image.
(72) According to one embodiment, the controller 15 may set a color of the second display 13 in response to a user's control received through the handling portion 12. For example, a user may select a function of changing a color of an LED through the input section 121 in the handling portion 12, and thus choice a desired color, e.g. amber color, ice blue for the LED.
(73) According to one embodiment, the controller 15 may change the color of the second display 13 in response to the cooking information displayed on the second display 13. For example, the color of the LED may be automatically changed in accordance with the output level corresponding to a user's control. For example, as the output level becomes higher, it is displayed gradually changing into dark red or blue colors so that a user can easily visually recognize the output level at a little far distance.
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(75) In the shown example, the induction heating cooker 10 further includes the third display 85 below the second burner 815 in addition to the two second displays 831 and 832. Here, the third display 85 may be for example materialized like a pattern of a flame (i.e. a virtual flame) varied in shape or type depending on the cooking information of the corresponding second burner 815. For example, the shape or color of the flame may be varied depending on the output level of the second burner 815.
(76) According to one embodiment of the disclosure, the induction heating cooker 10 may include the second display 13 and the third display 85 configured as separate modules or assembled into a single module. When the second display 13 and the third display 85 are integrated into one, it is possible to improve productivity and reduce costs since one display module performs two functions.
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(78) In the shown example, the second display 13 is configured to alternately display the cooking information about three burners 111, 112 and 113. In this case, the fourth displays 101, 102 and 103 are configured to indicate where the corresponding burner is positioned, thereby showing what burner the cooking information displayed on the second display 13 corresponds to
(79) For example, while the second display 13 is displaying the cooking information of the third burner 113, the fourth display 103 may blink as a line of connecting the second display 13 and the third burner 113.
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(81) Filters 821 and 823 are configured to filter out electromagnetic interference (EMI) noise from input AC power, and rectifiers 822 and 824 rectify the AC power subjected to the filtering to thereby convert an AC voltage into a DC voltage.
(82) Inverters 861, 862 and 863 converts a level of the DC voltage output from the rectifiers 822 and 824 and applies voltages having converted levels to coils 8110, 8120, 8130, 8140 and 8150.
(83) As described above, when the power is supplied to at least one among the coils 8110, 8120, 8130, 8140 and 8150, the corresponding coil generates a resonance voltage and induces an eddy current, thereby heating a container put on the burners 811, 812, 813, 814 and 815.
(84) The handling portion 12 receives a user's control through a touch pad 1214, and transmits a command corresponding to a user's control to microcomputers (Micom) 842 and 844 through a communicator 1211. Thus, the microcomputers 842 and 844 control the burner corresponding to a user's control among five burners 811, 812, 813, 814 and 815 to perform a heating operation.
(85) A microcomputer 1213 in the handling portion 12 transmits the cooking information about the burner 811, 812, 813, 814 or 815, which is operating in response to a user's control, to two second displays 831 and 832 through a communicator 1215. In this case, the communicator 1215 of the handling portion 12 communicates with the communicator 8311 and 8321 of the second displays 831 and 832 by serial communication or universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) communication.
(86) In case of using the serial communication, one electric wire is used to transmit the cooking information in sequence bit by bit. In case of using the UART communication, the cooking information is transmitted by converting parallel data into serial data in units of 8 bits at most.
(87) The communication between the handling portion 12 and the second displays 831 and 832 is not limited to the serial or UART communication, but may be formed by other communication methods.
(88) The second displays 831 and 832 drive LED drivers 8312 and 8322 to display the cooking information received from the handling portion 12 on LEDs 8313 and 8323.
(89) As described above, according to the disclosure, it is easily recognized whether the burner being in use operates or not, and provide various pieces of cooking information about the operating burner.
(90) As described above, according to the disclosure, a user can easily recognize whether a burner being in use operates or not.
(91) Further, according to the disclosure, it is possible to intuitively recognize an operation of a burner since various pieces of cooking information about the operating burner are provided.
(92) Further, according to the disclosure, there is provided a display having a structure of improving an esthetic function when the cooking information about the burner is provided.
(93) Although the present disclosure has been described with various embodiments, various changes and modifications may be suggested to one skilled in the art. It is intended that the present disclosure encompass such changes and modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claims.