GLASS CERAMIC WORKTOP

Abstract

An appliance includes at least one worktop formed from at least one substrate made of a monolithic glazing material and of area larger than 0.7 m.sup.2. The substrate has a luminosity L* lower than 10, a haze lower than 30% and a light transmission T.sub.L lower than 10%. The appliance also includes at least one light source to materialize one or more zones or one or more elements or displays of the substrate, the at least one light source being located under the substrate and being hidden thereby when the at least one light source is turned off. The appliance also includes at least one interface for communicating with at least one element of the worktop and/or wirelessly with at least one external element. The appliance does not include any heating elements.

Claims

1. An appliance, comprising: at least one worktop formed from at least one substrate made of a monolithic glazing material and of area larger than 0.7 m.sup.2, said substrate having a luminosity L* lower than 10, a haze lower than 30% and a light transmission T.sub.L lower than 10%; at least one light source configured to materialize one or more zones or one or more elements or displays of the substrate, the at least one light source being located under the substrate and being hidden thereby when the at least one light source is turned off; and at least one interface for communicating with at least one element of the worktop and/or wirelessly with at least one external element, said appliance being without any heating elements.

2. The appliance as claimed in claim 1, wherein the area of the substrate made of a glazing material is larger than 0.9 m.sup.2, the thickness of said substrate is at least 2 mm, and said thickness of the substrate is smaller than 15 mm.

3. The appliance as claimed in claim 1, wherein the substrate made of a glazing material occupies at least 50% of the area of the worktop.

4. The appliance as claimed in claim 1, wherein the substrate is made of tempered glass or glass-ceramic.

5. The appliance as claimed in claim 1, wherein the substrate has a flatness lower than 0.1% of the diagonal of the substrate.

6. The appliance as claimed in claim 1, wherein the substrate is dark in appearance and has a luminosity L* lower than 7, and/or a haze lower than 20%, and/or a light transmission T.sub.L lower than or equal to 8%, the light transmission T.sub.L being nonzero.

7. The appliance as claimed in claim 1, wherein the substrate or the glazing material has an opacity indicator lower than 100 and higher than 93.

8. The appliance as claimed in claim 1, wherein one or more zones and/or elements and/or functions and/or decorations are signaled, on activation and/or permanently, by the at least one light source and/or by a permanent decoration.

9. The appliance as claimed in claim 8, wherein the one or more zones and/or elements and/or functions and/or decorations are signaled and/or revealed by the at least one light source, on activation of said at least one light source, said at least one source being placed under the substrate and allowing a luminous display to be formed via the transmission of light through the worktop.

10. The appliance as claimed in claim 8, wherein the visible face of the substrate is coated with an opacifying coating the degree of coverage of said opacifying coating in the coated zone being at least 5%, said opacifying coating having a refractive index different from that of the substrate, the one or more zones and/or elements and/or functions and/or decorations being signaled and/or revealed by the at least one light source, on activation of said at least one light source, said at least one light source being located on the same side as the visible face of the substrate, and allowing a luminous display to be formed via projection onto the visible face, which then forms a screen.

11. The appliance as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one light source or other components of the item of furniture are activatable via contact with the surface of the worktop and/or with the interface and/or with an external system, or via a movement.

12. The appliance as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one light source includes a plurality of light sources that are placed so that the angle between each source of the plurality of light sources, or between each element transmitting the light to the worktop, and the normal to the worktop is between 5 and 60, in order to minimize the effects of shadows projected by a person using the worktop.

13. The appliance as claimed in claim 1, further comprising at least one waveguide.

14. The appliance as claimed in claim 1, further comprising at least one optical filter so as to form a colored luminous zone of a chosen color, the filter being placed between the at least one light source and the substrate and being securely fastened to the at least one light source and/or to the substrate and/or to another intermediate element.

15. The appliance as claimed in claim 1, wherein the interface enables wireless communication with a system external to the worktop to allow the at least one light source to be activated and/or various functions to be controlled remotely.

16. The appliance as claimed in claim 1, wherein the interface allows various signals initiated via contact or a movement to be transmitted in order to activate various components and/or allow data to be downloaded and/or transmitted.

17. The item of furniture and/or appliance as claimed in one of claim 1, wherein the worktop comprises one or more functional and/or decorative coatings.

18. The appliance as claimed in claim 1, wherein the worktop is mounted on at least one or more than one supporting element, thus forming, with said supporting elements, a table, an unapertured unit, or a counter.

19. A worktop, comprising: at least one substrate made of a monolithic glazing material and of area larger than 0.7 m.sup.2, said substrate having a luminosity L* lower than 10, a haze lower than 30% and a light transmission T.sub.L lower than 10%.

20. A method, comprising: obtaining a substrate made of a monolithic glazing material and of area larger than 0.7 m.sup.2, said substrate having a luminosity L* lower than 10, a haze lower than 30% and a light transmission T.sub.L lower than 10%; and using the substrate with the appliance as claimed in claim 1.

Description

[0067] Other details and advantageous features will become more apparent below from the description of a nonlimiting embodiment of the invention, given with reference to the appended drawings in which:

[0068] FIG. 1 shows a schematic perspective view of an item of furniture and/or appliance according to the invention;

[0069] FIG. 2 shows a schematic top view of a similar item of furniture and/or appliance (the utensils on the surface and the underlying unit elements are not shown); and

[0070] FIG. 3 shows a schematic side view in which a side panel of the unit (23) has been removed in order to allow certain components of the item of furniture and/or appliance to be seen.

[0071] In this example the item of furniture and/or appliance (1) according to the invention comprises a unit (2) formed from a carcass (4) surmounted by a worktop (5) formed from at least one monolithic glass-ceramic substrate (6) of 2.7 m.sup.2 area, this substrate occupying most (in this case all) of the area (measured at the upper face) of the worktop. This substrate is for example a plate of the same type as those sold under the reference KeraBlack+by Eurokera, this plate having a smooth upper face and a lower face provided with studs, and a thickness of 8 mm, and having a luminosity L* of 0.12, a haze of 0.6%, a light transmission TL of 0.03% and an opacity indicator of 99.96. This substrate is for example obtained by proceeding in the way described in patent application WO 2012156444 but while decreasing the run speed through the ceramitization furnace by 50%.

[0072] Alternatively, this substrate may also for example be a 5.5 m.sup.2 glass-ceramic plate of the same type as those sold under the reference KeraVision by Eurokera, this plate having a smooth upper face and a smooth lower face, and a thickness of 6 mm, and having a luminosity L* of 1.08, a haze of 2.17%, a light transmission T.sub.L of 3.8% and an opacity indicator of 99.53. This substrate is for example obtained by proceeding as described in the patent application WO 2012001300 but while decreasing the run speed through the ceramitization furnace by 50%.

[0073] The substrate used is black in color (in both the aforementioned cases). In both cases, the glass-ceramic substrate obtained has a flatness of less than 2 mm (the flatness obtained being between 2 and 3 mm for a speed decreased by only 25%, and being more than 15 mm for a speed that is unchanged relative to that used in the aforementioned application to obtain a plate of standard size smaller than 0.4 m.sup.2), the flatness required to obtain good optical properties in particular being lower than 3 mm and preferably lower than 2 mm.

[0074] The item of furniture and/or appliance may also comprise one or more light sources (8, 8), by way of decoration for luminous effects, or intended to signal, for example, locations (for example for placing hot utensils), these sources possibly in particular being placed under the substrate and hidden by the substrate when they are turned off. These sources for example signal one or more zones, for example by way of one or more relatively large circles of colored light (9) delimiting each location (the colors possibly if needs be being identical or different for each location). In the present case, the sources are laterally offset relative to the lighting zones (as indicated in FIG. 3), and the light is transmitted to the selected zones by way of a waveguide (10). This optical guide (10) for example takes the form of a 3 mm-thick plate of clear borosilicate glass and the sources (8) are for example formed by a plurality of LEDs borne by a base housed in a profile, the sources being located on a portion of the edge face of the guide that is distant from the zones of illumination, the article furthermore comprising means for extracting the radiation emitted by the sources, these means taking the form of enamel-coated or sandblasted zones 11 each of which is located under each of the desired zones of illumination.

[0075] The item of furniture and/or appliance furthermore comprises at least one interface (12) (hidden by the substrate) for example for communicating with the light sources, this interface also communicating wirelessly with an external system for example taking the form of a touch-sensitive tablet (13) for controlling the activation of various zones or functions of the plate or item of furniture and/or appliance. The external system may advantageously be movable and be kept on the worktop (FIG. 1) or be used to remotely activate (FIG. 3) various zones or functions. Alternatively or cumulatively, the interface could also comprise or be connected to an integrated control panel, located on the surface of the substrate (2), for controlling the activation of various zones and functions, in particular of the substrate.

[0076] If needs be, the item of furniture and/or appliance may be associated with or also comprise (or alternatively to the illuminating system formed by the light sources under the substrate) an illuminating system (14) overhanging the worktop, this system incorporating at least one light source (8) for illuminating the worktop or signaling zones (in particular in the latter case when the upper face of the substrate (6) is coated with an opaque enamel).

[0077] The item of furniture and/or appliance also comprises other elements, especially electrical cables (15) for the activation of the sources, and comprises drawers (16) or cupboards (17) arranged in the carcass supporting the worktop, for storing various articles, etc. The item of furniture and/or appliance may also comprise other elements, for example the worktop may comprise a trim and the substrate may be coated with an optionally localized permanent decoration, an enamel decoration for example. The carcass may be unapertured or comprise various voids (such as the void (18)), or incorporate other elements (for example drawers, etc.). The worktop (5) may be used for various purposes, such as for writing (as symbolized by the paper and pen (19)), to hold objects (as symbolized by the tableware (20)), as a kitchen table (especially allowing food to be eaten or possibly hot cooking recipients (21) to be placed thereon), etc. If needs be, the carcass may also be replaced by supporting legs (for example only the panels 22 and 23, or four legs at the four corners, components located under the worktop in this case preferably being hidden by a localized housing of a few centimeters thickness, under the substrate) like those of a table.

[0078] The item of furniture and/or appliance according to the invention may especially and advantageously be used to create a new range of interactive and multiuse units without any cooking zones.