Heating element arrangement for a cooking device, and a cooking device having a heating element arrangement of this type

Abstract

A heating element arrangement for a cooking appliance includes a first heating zone which is constructed to emit IR radiation in a first wavelength range, and a second heating zone which is constructed to emit IR radiation in a second wavelength range. The first wavelength range and the second wavelength range differ hereby from one another.

Claims

1. A heating element arrangement for a cooking appliance, comprising: a plurality of first heating surfaces configured to be heated by a same first heating element, wherein each of the first heating surfaces has a respective coating comprising a first material configured to emit infrared (IR) radiation in a first wavenumber range when heated by the first heating element; and a plurality of second heating surfaces configured to be heated by a same second heating element, wherein each of the second heating surfaces has a respective coating comprising a second material configured to emit IR radiation in a second wavenumber range when heated by the second heating element; wherein the first heating surfaces and the second heating surfaces are disposed adjacent each other in an alternating pattern, such that the first heating surfaces and second heating surfaces are uniformly distributed in the heating element arrangement.

2. The heating element arrangement of claim 1, wherein the heating element arrangement is configured to extend across a muffle cover.

3. The heating element arrangement of claim 1, wherein the first wavenumber range and the second wavenumber range differ from one another do not overlap.

4. The heating element arrangement of claim 1, wherein the first wavenumber range is 3700 to 2850 cm.sup.1 and the second wavenumber range is in a range of 1165 to 650 cm.sup.1.

5. The heating element arrangement of claim 4, wherein the second wavenumber range is 772 to 650 cm.sup.1.

6. The heating element arrangement of claim 1, wherein the plurality of first heating surfaces and the plurality of second heating surfaces are configured to be activated separately from each other.

7. The heating element arrangement of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first heating element and the second heating element has at least a first portion having a shape selected from the group consisting of a rod shape, a spiral shape, and a meander shape.

8. The heating element arrangement of claim 1, wherein the first heating surfaces and the second heating surfaces comprise surfaces of a same substrate, and the first and second heating surfaces are thermally decoupled from one another by at least one gap in the substrate.

9. The heating element arrangement of claim 8, wherein the first and second heating elements are thermally decoupled from one another by the at least one gap.

10. The heating element arrangement of claim 1, wherein the coatings of the first and second heating surfaces comprise thermally sprayed coatings.

11. The heating element arrangement of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first heating element and the second heating element comprises a tubular heating element.

12. The heating element arrangement of claim 1, wherein the first heating surfaces each comprise first strips, the second heating surfaces each comprise second strips, and the alternating pattern comprises alternating first and second strips.

13. A cooking appliance comprising: a heating substrate having an alternating pattern of first subsections and second subsections, wherein each of the first subsections has a respective first coating configured to emit first IR radiation in a first wavenumber range, and each of the second subsections has a respective second coating configured to emit second IR radiation in a second wavenumber range; a first heating circuit having a plurality of first heating element portions, wherein each of the first heating element portions is disposed adjacent one of the first subsections; and a second heating circuit having a plurality of second heating element portions, wherein each of the second heating element portions is disposed adjacent one of the second subsections.

14. The cooking appliance of claim 13, wherein the heating substrate is configured to extend across a wall of a cooking compartment of the appliance, with the first and second coatings facing into the cooking compartment.

15. The cooking appliance of claim 14, wherein the first and second subsections are uniformly distributed in the alternating pattern, such that food within the cooking compartment is irradiatable uniformly by the first IR radiation and irradiatable uniformly by the second IR radiation.

16. The cooking appliance of claim 13, wherein the plurality of first heating element portions comprise portions of a same first heating element, and the plurality of second heating element portions comprise portions of a same second heating element.

17. The cooking appliance of claim 13, wherein the first and second wavenumber ranges do not overlap.

18. A heating element arrangement for a cooking appliance, comprising: a substrate having a first side including an alternating pattern of first zones defined by respective first coatings and second zones defined by respective second coatings; a first heating element arranged on a second side of the substrate such that the first heating element is configured to heat each of the first zones; and a second heating element arranged on the second side of the substrate such that the second heating element is configured to heat each of the second zones; wherein the first coatings are each configured to emit IR radiation in a first wavenumber range, and the second coatings are each configured to emit IR radiation in a second wavenumber range.

19. The heating element arrangement of claim 18, wherein the first and second zones are uniformly distributed on the first side of the substrate in the alternating pattern.

20. The heating element arrangement of claim 18, wherein the first and second wavenumber ranges do not overlap.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The above and further features of the present invention are now described in detail with respect to certain exemplary embodiments, which are shown by appended drawings and which below only serve for clarification and are thus not restrictive to the present invention. In the drawings:

(2) FIG. 1 shows a schematic sectional representation of a cooking appliance with a heating element arrangement according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(3) FIG. 2A shows a perspective view, which schematically represents the heating element arrangement according to a further exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(4) FIG. 2B shows a perspective view which schematically represents the bottom side of the heating element arrangement in FIG. 2B.

(5) It should be noted that the appended drawings are not necessarily true to scale and represent a somewhat simplified representation of various preferred features which serve to illustrate the fundamentals of the invention. The specific design features of the present invention, as they are disclosed herein, including e.g. specific dimensions, orientations, installation sites and shapes, are determined in part by the application provided separately herefor and the working environment. In particular, the thicknesses of coatings etc. are shown exaggerated, for clarification purposes.

(6) Elements which are the same or function the same are provided with the same reference characters in the figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

(7) Exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the appended drawings.

(8) FIG. 1 shows a simplified schematic sectional representation of a cooking appliance with a heating element arrangement 10 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention in a front view. The cooking appliance has a cooking compartment 8, which is delimited by a muffle 2, wherein a loading opening is embodied on the front panel. A food 50 can be introduced into the cooking compartment 8 and prepared, wherein the food 50 can be positioned on a food carrier 40. The muffle 2 is formed by opposing side walls 4, a base 6 and cover (not shown) and a rear wall (not shown).

(9) A heating element arrangement 10 formed as a surface heating element with a plurality of first and second heating zones 12 and 14 is arranged in an upper region of the muffle 2 for heating or grilling food 50. The first heating zones 12 are designed to emit IR radiation in a first wavelength range (L1) and the second heating zones 14 are designed to emit IR radiation in a second wavelength range (L2). The first wavelength range (L1) and the second wavelength range (L2) differ from one another.

(10) In the concrete instance, three first heating zones 12 and three second heating zones 14 are provided unrestrictedly. The plurality of first heating zones 12 has a first heating element 30 and the plurality of second heating zones 14 has a second heating element 32, so that during operation of the cooking appliance, the plurality of first heating zones 12 and the plurality of second heating zones 14 can be operated independently of one another with a first heating element 30 (heating circuit 1) and with a second heating element (heating circuit 2), in each instance.

(11) The first heating zones 12 are each designed such that a heating element 30 is provided on a top side of a subsection of a substrate 26 and a first coating 20 for emitting IR radiation in a first wavelength range (L1) is provided on its bottom side which faces the food 50. The second heating zones 14 are each designed such that a second heating element 32 is provided on a top side of a subsection of the substrate 26 and a second coating 22 for emitting IR radiation in a second wavelength range (L2) is provided on its bottom side. The first and the second coating 20 and 22 thus form the surface 16 of the first heating zone 12 or the surface 18 of the second heating zone 14.

(12) The two heating zones 12 and 14 can be activated separately by means of a controller (not shown). As a function of the type of controller carried out, both heating zones 12 and 14 or also just one of the two can therefore be operated. As a result, the cooking and browning processes can be controlled better and more easily.

(13) The first and second coating 20 and 22 which form the surfaces 16 and 18 of the heating zones 12 and 14 are produced by means of a surface coating method, in particular by means of thermal spraying, and have different coating materials.

(14) FIG. 2A shows a perspective view, which schematically represents a heating element arrangement according to a further exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The heating element arrangement 10 likewise formed as a surface heating element corresponds substantially to the surface heating element shown in FIG. 1 and only differs in that instead of in each case three first and second heating zones 12 and 14, for the sake of simplicity only two first heating zones 12 and two second heating zones 14 are shown in each case.

(15) It is clear from FIG. 2A that the first heating element 30 and the second heating element 32 are arranged in the form of a double meander. A gap 28 is provided in the substrate 26 between the first heating element 30 and the second heating element 32, in order to thermally decouple the two heating elements 30 and 32 from one another. Viewed cross-sectionally, the first heating element 30 is arranged substantially above a first coating 20 and the second heating element 32 is arranged substantially above a second coating 22. The first coating 20 forms a first surface 16 of the first heating zone 12 and the second coating 22 forms a second surface 18 of the second heating zone 14. The heating element arrangement has electrical terminals A for supplying power to the respective heating zones 12 and 14, it being possible to connect said terminals A to a controller (not shown) or suchlike.

(16) FIG. 2B shows a perspective view, which schematically represents the bottom side of the heating element arrangement in FIG. 2B. It can be seen from FIG. 2B that the first and the second coating 20 and 22 are distributed uniformly across the entire surface of the surface heating element. As a result, a uniform heating and browning of the food can be achieved. In the present case, the two coatings 20 and 22 are provided alternately in the form of strips on the substrate 26.

LIST OF REFERENCE CHARACTERS

(17) 2 muffle 4 side wall 6 base 9 cooking compartment 10 heating element arrangement 12 first heating zone 14 second heating zone 16 surface heating zone 1 18 surface heating zone 2 20 first coating 22 second coating 26 substrate 28 gap 30 first heating element 32 second heating element 40 food carrier 50 food L1 first wavelength range L2 second wavelength range A terminals