Glass ceramic worktop

Abstract

An item of equipment includes at least one worktop formed of at least one substrate made of transparent monolithic glass material with a surface area of greater than 0.7 m.sup.2. The substrate exhibits a light transmission T.sub.L of greater than 10% and an opacity indicator of between 5 and 90. The substrate is predominantly or completely bare or provided with coating(s) such that the substrate, thus coated, exhibits a haze of less than 15% and/or a light transmission T.sub.L of greater than 60% and/or an opacity indicator of less than 85. The item of equipment also includes at least one heating element and at least one interface for communication with at least one element of the worktop and/or with at least one external element for wireless communication. The item of equipment is devoid of light source(s).

Claims

1. An item of equipment, comprising: at least one worktop that includes a transparent monolithic tempered glass or glass-ceramic material substrate, a surface area of said substrate being greater than 0.7 m.sup.2, a flatness of said substrate being less than 0.1% of a diagonal of the substrate, and an expansion coefficient of said substrate being less than or equal to 15.Math.10.sup.7 K.sup.1, wherein a light transmission T.sub.L of said substrate is greater than 10% and an opacity indicator of said substrate is between 5 and 90; at least one heating element; and at least one interface for communication with at least one element of the worktop or with at least one external element for wireless communication, wherein said item of equipment is devoid of light source(s).

2. The item of equipment as claimed in claim 1, wherein the surface area of the substrate is greater than 0.9 m.sup.2, a thickness of said substrate is at least 2 mm, and the thickness of the substrate is less than 15 mm.

3. The item of equipment as claimed in claim 1, wherein the substrate occupies at least 50% of the surface area of the worktop.

4. The item of equipment as claimed in claim 1, wherein the substrate includes -quartz crystals in a residual vitreous phase.

5. The item of equipment as claimed in claim 1, wherein the substrate is predominantly or completely bare or coated, wherein, when coated, a haze of said coated substrate is less than 15%, or a light transmission T.sub.L of said substrate is greater than 60%, or an opacity indicator of said substrate is less than 85.

6. The item of equipment as claimed in claim 1, wherein a light transmission T.sub.L of said substrate is greater than 10% and less than or equal to 20%, or greater than 60%.

7. The item of equipment as claimed in claim 1, wherein the substrate includes colorants.

8. The item of equipment as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one heating element includes, at least one inductive heating means, the inductive heating means being located in one or more zones of the substrate or uniformly distributed under the substrate.

9. The item of equipment as claimed in claim 8, wherein cooking locations of the worktop located above the heating means, and/or other zones and/or elements and/or functions and/or decorations, are signaled by a permanent decoration.

10. The item of equipment as claimed in claim 1, wherein the item of equipment is configured to be activated by contact on at least one of the surface of the worktop, the interface, or the external element, or by movement.

11. The item of equipment as claimed in claim 1, wherein the interface is configured to perform wireless communication with the external element to the worktop.

12. The item of equipment as claimed in claim 1, wherein the worktop includes at least one added element in the form of a slab of mica, of wood, of plywood, of laminate, of plastic, of glass or of stone.

13. The item of equipment as claimed in claim 1, wherein the worktop is mounted on at least one supporting element forming a table, an uninterrupted or interrupted piece of furniture, or a counter.

14. A worktop, comprising: at least one substrate including transparent monolithic tempered glass or glass-ceramic material, a surface area of said substrate being greater than 0.7 m.sup.2, a flatness of said substrate being less than 0.1% of a diagonal of the substrate, and an expansion coefficient of said substrate being less than or equal to 15.Math.10.sup.7 K.sup.1, wherein a light transmission T.sub.L of said substrate is greater than 10% and an opacity indicator of said substrate is between 5 and 90, and said substrate is predominantly or completely bare or coated, wherein, when coated, a haze of said coated substrate is less than 15% or a light transmission T.sub.L of said substrate is greater than 60% or an opacity indicator of said substrate is less than 85.

15. A method, comprising: obtaining a transparent monolithic tempered glass or glass-ceramic material substrate, a surface area of said substrate being greater than 0.7 m.sup.2, a flatness of said substrate being less than 0.1% of a diagonal of the substrate, and an expansion coefficient of said substrate being less than or equal to 15.Math.10.sup.7 K.sup.1, wherein a light transmission T.sub.L of said substrate is greater than 10% and an opacity indicator of said substrate being between 5 and 90, wherein said substrate is predominantly or completely bare or coated, wherein, when coated, a haze of said coated substrate is less than 15% or a light transmission T.sub.L of said substrate is greater than 60%, or an opacity indicator of said substrate is less than 85; and using the substrate with the item of equipment as claimed in claim 1.

16. The item of equipment as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an element added to the substrate or the worktop, an assembly of the added element and the substrate or the worktop having a haze greater than 15% or a light transmission T.sub.L less than 60%, or an opacity indicator greater than 85.

17. The item of equipment as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one element of the worktop, in communication with the at least one interface, is the at least one heating element.

18. The item of equipment as claimed in claim 1, wherein a thickness of said substrate is 3 to 30 mm.

19. The item of equipment as claimed in claim 1, wherein a flatness of said substrate is less than 3 mm.

20. The item of equipment as claimed in claim 1, wherein the interface is configured to perform wireless communication with the external element to the worktop, and remotely activate the at least one heating element or control more than one functions of the item of equipment.

Description

(1) Other advantageous characteristics and details will emerge below from the description of a nonlimiting embodiment of the invention, with reference to the appended drawings, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 represents a diagrammatic perspective view of an item of equipment according to the invention;

(3) FIG. 2 represents a diagrammatic top view of a similar item of equipment (the utensils at the surface or the underlying elements of the piece of furniture not being represented);

(4) FIG. 3 represents a diagrammatic side view in which a section of the piece of furniture (23) has been removed in order to reveal certain components of the item of equipment.

(5) In this example, the item of equipment (1) according to the invention comprises a piece of furniture (2) formed of a casing (4) surmounted by a worktop (5) formed of at least one substrate made of glass-ceramic with a surface area of 2.6 m.sup.2, this substrate occupying the majority (in this instance all) of the surface (measured on the upper face) of the worktop and being formed of a transparent (monolithic) glass-ceramic plate (6), this plate/this substrate made of glass-ceramic being coupled to an added element (10) in the form of a laminate board (or chipwood panel) with a thickness of 8 mm, the glass-ceramic plate being of the type of that sold under the KeraLite reference by Eurokera, this plate exhibiting a smooth upper face and a smooth lower face (it also being possible for this face to be provided with tear drops) and a thickness of 5 mm, and exhibiting a light transmission T.sub.L of 88.38% and an opacity indicator of 26.21 (the assembly formed by the substrate and the laminate board exhibiting a light transmission T.sub.L of 0.01% and an opacity indicator of 100). The substrate is, for example, obtained by reducing, in the process for the manufacture of glass-ceramics of KeraLite type, the rate of passage in the ceramization furnace by 50%.

(6) The substrate made of glass-ceramic obtained exhibits a flatness of less than 2 mm (the flatness obtained being between 2 and 3 mm for a rate reduced by only 25% and being more than 15 mm for a rate unchanged with respect to that used in the abovementioned patent application to order to obtain a plate with standard dimensions of less than 0.4 m.sup.2), the flatness desired for good optical properties and good coupling and thermal efficiency properties in particular being less than 3 mm and preferably less than 2 mm.

(7) The item of equipment additionally comprises, in the present example, three heating elements (7), for example inductors, positioned under the plate (6). These inductors are, in the present case, distributed in the middle of the work surface but might just as easily be located at one end of the top.

(8) The item of equipment also comprises decorations (9, 11), for example made of enamel, for example placed on the upper or lower face of the substrate. These decorations, for example in the form of circles of color (9) delimiting each location (it being possible for the colors, if appropriate, to be identical or different according to the locations) and encircling the inductors, make it possible, for example, to signal the cooking locations in order to prevent contact with them when the heating elements are activated. They can also consist of information, logos, images (11), and the like.

(9) The item of equipment additionally comprises at least one interface (12) (hidden by the substrate) for communication with the heating elements, this interface also communicating wirelessly with an external unit in the form, for example, of a touch tablet (13) for the activation of different zones and functions of the plate or of the item of equipment. The external unit can be advantageously movable and lie on the worktop (FIG. 1) or be used for the remote activation (FIG. 3) of different zones or functions. Alternatively or cumulatively, the interface might also comprise or be connected to a permanent control panel located on the surface of the substrate (2) for the activation of different zones and functions, in particular of the substrate.

(10) If appropriate, the item of equipment can also be combined with or comprise a suction hood (14) overhanging the worktop.

(11) The item of equipment also comprises other elements, in particular electrical cables (15) for the activation of the heating elements, and comprises drawers (16) or cupboards (17) inserted into the casing supporting the worktop, for storing various articles, and the like. The item of equipment can also comprise other elements; for example, the worktop can comprise a trim, the substrate can be coated with an decoration, for example made of enamel, the casing can be uninterrupted or comprise different recesses (such as the recess (18)) or integrate other elements (for example a built-in oven, and the like). The worktop (5) can be used for different purposes, such as writing (as symbolized by the paper and the pen (19)), the support for objects (as symbolized by the tableware (20)), while making possible the cooking of food (as symbolized by the cooking receptacles (21)), and the like. If appropriate, the casing can also be replaced by supporting legs (for example only the walls 22 and 23, or four legs at the four corners, the item of equipment under the worktop in this case preferably being hidden by a localized enclosure with a thickness of a few centimeters under the substrate), such as a table.

(12) The item of equipment according to the invention can in particular be advantageously used to produce a new range of interactive and multiuse pieces of furniture in particular integrating cooking zones or a cooking function.