HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCE WITH ACCELERATION DETECTION AND/OR MEASURING MEANS AND CONTROL UNIT AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING A HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCE

Abstract

The present invention relates to a household appliance (1), in particular to a cooking hob, which comprises or is connected to an acceleration detection and/or measuring means (11) and a control unit (23) for controlling operating processes. The acceleration detection and/or measuring means (11), which may be an acceleration sensor and particularly a gravity sensor, is adapted for a detection of an acceleration of a section or a reference point of a wall or a panel (3) of the household appliance (1). The household appliance (1) may comprise a user interface (9) for providing information to a user, particularly status information, and/or for receiving input, particularly of control commands or data input, from the user. The acceleration detection and/or measuring means (11) is connected to the control unit (23) and/or, if applicable, to the user interface (9) for an exchange of data, and forms a trigger element for the control unit (23) and/or, if applicable, for the user interface (9). Further, the acceleration detection and/or measuring means (11) is adapted to provide a trigger signal for a control of a function and/or an operating process in the household appliance (1). Further, the present invention also relates to a method for controlling a household appliance (1), in particular a cooking hob. According to the invention, a function and/or an operating process in or of the household appliance (1) is triggered by an acceleration detection and/or measuring means (11), particularly by an acceleration sensor, more particularly by a gravity sensor, as a result of a detection of an acceleration of a section or a reference point of a wall or a panel (3) of the household appliance (1).

Claims

1. A household appliance, comprising configured to detect an acceleration of a section or a reference point of a wall or a panel of the household appliance, a control unit configured to control operating processes, and a user interface configured to provide status information of the household appliance to a user and/or to receive control commands or data input from the user, the acceleration sensor being connected to the control unit and/or to the user interface for exchange of data, and forming a trigger element for the control unit and/or for the user interface and being adapted to provide a trigger signal for a control of a function and/or an operating process in the household appliance, wherein the acceleration sensor is adapted to recognize a gesture control input, which causes a soft shock on an outer surface of the panel or the wall of the household appliance.

2. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein a specific communication between the user and the household appliance is provided, making use of a defined code for the user to perform such gesture control inputs thereby causing specific effects in or of the household appliance.

3. The household appliance according to claim 1, said household appliance being a cooking hob and said panel being a top plate thereof, wherein the acceleration sensor is adapted to recognize a placing of a cookware on the top plate of a cooking hob.

4. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein the acceleration sensor is adapted to recognize and/or to evaluate vibrations originating from specific operating conditions.

5. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein the acceleration sensor is an add-on module connected to the household appliance and allocated to the panel of the household appliance.

6. The household appliance according to claim 5, wherein the add-on module is adapted to perform or activate a boil detection function.

7. The household appliance according to claim 6, wherein the add-on module comprises control elements for user inputs.

8. The household appliance according to claim 7, said control elements comprising touch control elements adapted to activate the a boil detection function.

9. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein the acceleration sensor is configured to communicate wirelessly with the control unit and/or with the user interface of the household appliance and/or with an external device or module or sensor unit.

10. The household appliance according to claim 9, wherein the external device or module or sensor unit is an external computing device, or a gateway, or a sensor means or module arranged or arrangeable on the panel or distant therefrom and controlling or monitoring the panel, and/or an item placed thereon.

11. A method for controlling a household appliance, wherein a function and/or an operating process in or of the household appliance is triggered by an an acceleration sensor, as a result of a detection of an acceleration of a section or a reference point of a wall or a panel of the household appliance, wherein the acceleration is caused by a soft shock.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein a user's gesture control input is recognized following the detected acceleration as a result of a manual or mechanical action exerted on the household appliance.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the gesture control input comprises a pattern of at least one manual or mechanical action exerted on the household appliance, and triggers said function and/or operating process, the function and/or operating process being selected from among: an activation of a timer, a stop of an acoustic or optical signal provider, an activation of a user interface.

14. The method according to claim 11, said household appliance comprising a cooking hob, said panel comprising a top panel of the cooking hob, wherein the detected acceleration is a result of a placing of an item on the top panel of the cooking hob, wherein the triggered function and/or operating process is selected from among: an indication of a detected cookware on the cooking hob on a display of a user interface of the household appliance, an activation of a pot detection function, an estimation or a determination of a weight of the item, an activation of a function of the user interface of the household appliance, an activation of a control function for controlling the household appliance.

15. The method according to anyone of the claim 11, wherein the function and/or the operating process is triggered by the acceleration sensor dependent on additional information received from a temperature sensor monitoring temperature conditions of the item.

16. The household appliance according to claim 1, said gesture control input being a manual or mechanical action exerted on the household appliance, comprising one or more of: knocking, hammering, or typing on said wall or panel.

17. The household appliance according to claim 4, said specific operating conditions comprising a boiling of a fluid.

18. The household appliance according to claim 1, said acceleration sensor comprising a gravity sensor.

19. A household appliance comprising: a cooking hob having a top panel comprising a first cooking zone and a second cooking zone; an acceleration sensor configured to detect vibrations imparted to the top panel; a user interface configured to receive user inputs for controlling the cooking hob and to display status information to a user concerning operation of the cooking hob; and a controller operatively coupled to the user interface, to the acceleration sensor and to respective heating elements for delivering power to each of the first and second cooking zones; the acceleration sensor being configured to transmit to the controller information concerning vibrations detected at the top panel; wherein the controller is configured to: execute a first particular function of the household appliance upon detection by the acceleration sensor of a predetermined pattern of vibrations, corresponding to a gesture-control input by a user tapping or knocking on the top plate, that is associated with said first particular function; adjust the power delivered to the first cooking zone or to the second cooking zone, respectively, upon detection by the acceleration sensor of a pattern of vibrations corresponding to cavitation in a boiling liquid in a cooking utensil in the respective first or second cooking zone; and cause the user interface to display an indication of a placed cooking utensil on the first or the second cooking zone, and/or to execute a second particular function, upon detection by the acceleration sensor of a soft shock corresponding to placement of the cooking utensil on the first or the second cooking zone.

20. The household appliance according to claim 19, further comprising a temperature sensor configured to detect a temperature associated with the first cooking zone, wherein the controller adjusts said power delivery to the first cooking zone and/or causes the user interface to display said indication of the placed cooking utensil on said first cooking zone, based on both vibration data from the acceleration sensor and temperature data associated with the first cooking zone from the temperature sensor.

Description

[0021] The present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the drawings, in which

[0022] FIG. 1 is a schematic top view of an induction cooking hob with four cooking zone, a user interface and an acceleration sensor;

[0023] FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the induction cooking hob of FIG. 1 along the line II-II;

[0024] FIG. 3 is a schematic detail view of detail III indicated in FIG. 2, with additional components and wiring;

[0025] FIG. 4 is a schematic top view of the induction cooking hob of FIG. 1 with an indication of a gesture control action;

[0026] FIG. 5 illustrates the induction cooking hob of FIG. 2 with cooking vessel placed thereon;

[0027] FIG. 6 illustrates the induction cooking hob according to FIG. 5 with the cooking vessel during the movement of its placement; and

[0028] FIG. 7 illustrates the induction cooking hob according to FIG. 1 with additional temperature sensor.

[0029] With FIGS. 1 and 2, both in a top view and in a cross-sectional view along the line II-II indicated in FIG. 1, an induction cooking hob 1 is schematically illustrated, indicating by circles four cooking zones A, B, C, D rectangularly arranged on a glass ceramic top panel 3. Each cooking zone A, B, C, D is heated by induction coils 5 arranged close to a bottom surface 7 of the top panel 3. The induction cooking hob 1 is further equipped with a user interface 9 positioned at the front edge of the induction cooking hob 1. The induction cooking hob 1 further comprises an accelerometer 11, i.e. an acceleration sensor. Said accelerometer 11 is configured to determine and/or measure an acceleration, for example a vibration, of the centre of the top panel 3 in vertical direction during or due to the impact of a manual or mechanical action onto the top side 13 of the top panel 3.

[0030] The user interface 9 comprises a touch sensitive display adapted to receive user inputs for the operation of the cooking zones A, B, C, D and to display information, for example status information of the cooking zones A, B, C, D. The user can operate the cooking zones A, B, C, D through touch switches A′, B′, C′, D′, each one thereof assigned to one of the cooking zones A, B, C, D. Further touch switches 17 for other hob functions are covered as well.

[0031] FIG. 3 illustrates a detail view of one of the cooking zones A, B, C, D together with a schematic presentation of the wiring required for its operation. This illustration can also be seen as a basic configuration generally for an induction cooking hob 1 using the example of only one cooking zone A, B, C, D. FIG. 3 shows the section with the one cooking zone A, B, C, D, with the top panel 3 supporting a cooking pot 15 above the cooking zone A, B, C, D. The cooking zone A, B, C, D is exposed to electromagnetic waves emanated from the induction coil 5 located underneath the cooking zone A, B, C, D, the waves inducing eddy currents in the bottom of the cooking pot 15 with the effect of heating up the pot bottom. Located in the area of the cooking zone A, B, C, D is a thermal sensor 19, such as a thermostat providing information about a temperature in this area. Further, a induction generator 21 of magnetic waves is shown, which is connected to a controller 23, which controls the signals and the energy of the signals generated by the generator 21. A user interface controller 25 is also shown, which is connected to the controller 23 and to the accelerometer 11, which is a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) in the present example. As illustrated, the micro-electromechanical system 11 is attached to the induction cooking hob 1 indirectly via a dielectric shield 27, which may be made of a mica mineral substance being a hard substance, which does not substantially dampen vibrations and which protects the micro-electromechanical system 11 from electromagnetic waves emanated from the induction coil 5 or an electric field that builds up or is present during operation or at the induction cooking hob 1. At the same time, mica also provides good thermal isolation against heat transmitted from e.g. a hot cooking pot 15 through the glass ceramics top panel 3.

[0032] According to FIG. 4, a user indicated by a user's hand 29 is providing a gesture control input to the induction cooking hob 1. Said gesture control input is constituted by a manual or mechanical action upon the top panel 3 of the induction cooking hob 1, which may be a hammering, a knocking, or the like, indicated by movement 31. Said manual or mechanical action causes the top panel 3 to vibrate, even though there is an oscillation with only a small amplitude due to the character of the top panel 3. Nevertheless, the micro-electromechanical system 11 is sufficiently sensitive to detect and, if necessary, to measure the accelerated movements during said oscillations.

[0033] The afore-described mechanical action, i.e. the gesture control input, is understood by the induction cooking hob 1, or by its controller 23, respectively, as an input of a control command. A set of several gesture control commands may be defined by way of a set of patterns of manual or mechanical actions, which may be different sequences of knockings, hammerings, or the like. Similar to the well-known Morse code, different gesture control inputs may be predefined in a memory and/or a concordance list of the control circuitry of the induction cooking hob 1 and the user is enabled to trigger a function or an operating process by performing an associated gesture input. Such function or operating process may be one of: activating or stopping a timer function, stopping a buzzer or a flashing signal, activating a user interface 9 that is set in a stand-by mode or lighten up or switching on illumination means on the user interface that are dimmed out for energy saving, etc.

[0034] The above-mentioned way of usage of the accelerometer 11 in the induction cooking hob 1 is only a first application thereof. Other use cases are available and in the following two further ones are described by example.

[0035] With reference to FIG. 3, indicating the general hob configuration and the principle of heating up a substance 33 inside the cooking pot 15, the heating process and its effects will be further explained. At a certain point in time, when approaching the boiling point of the fluid, bubbles 35 start to form inside of the substance 33 and collapse again, which leads to vibrations and audible sound, see FIG. 5. These vibrations and the sound are detected by the micro-electromechanical system 11, so that such boiling or close-to-boiling status information is provided to the controller 23 of the induction cooking hob 1. With such kind of information, energy supply to the induction coil 5 of the cooking zone A, B, C, D may be regulated and controlled in a way that avoids boil-over of the substance 33 inside the cooking pot 15.

[0036] FIG. 6 illustrates another use case for an accelerometer 11 application in an induction cooking hob 1. Similar to the manual or mechanical action by way of a gesture control input according to FIG. 4, a touch-down movement of a cooking pot 15 on the top panel 3, indicated by arrow 37, in particular on a cooking zone A, B, C, D arranged on the top panel 3, even a comparably smooth touch-down, causes a vibration of the top panel 3 due to this kind of mechanical action of pot placement. Said vibration caused by pot placement is detected and identified by the controller 23 of the induction cooking hob 1 and a predefined action, i.e. an associated function and/or operating process is automatically started, which may be an activation of a pot detection function and/or indication of the detected pot 3, e.g. a respective display on the user interface 9, optionally with an activation for inputs of the touch key A′, B′, C′, D′ allocated to the occupied cooking zone A, B, C, D. Additionally or alternatively, a function of weight estimation for the respective cooking pot 15 and its content may be started. Moreover, any kind of function of the user interface 9 of the induction cooking hob 1 may be initiated or activated, including a specific hob control functionality.

[0037] With reference to FIG. 7, a further enhanced control mechanism is now described. According to this specific example, the accelerometer 11 and/or the controller 23 and/or the user interface 9 of the induction cooking hob 1, which units 9, 11, 23 are equipped with wireless communication means (indicated by symbol 41), communicate with a further sensor device, which is arranged on the top side 13 of the top panel 3 and also comprises wireless communication means. Said further sensor device is an infrared temperature sensor device 39 monitoring the upper side of the top panel 3, more specifically cooking pots 15 placed on any of the cooking zones A, B, C, D. Said monitoring relates to a temperature sensing of the outer surface of the cooking pot(s). To this end, the infrared temperature sensor device 39 is adapted to measure infrared radiations (indicated by dotted lines 43) emitted from heated cooking pots 15. That way, in addition or alternatively to the thermal sensors 19 in each one of the areas of the cooking zones A, B, C, D underneath the top panel 3 (see. FIG. 3) temperature information can be gathered from the cooking zones A, B, C, D and the cookware 15 placed thereon. With this information a more individualized control of the cooking zones A, B, C, D with only one accelerometer 11 in the centre are of the induction cooking hob 1 is enabled, because a signal of a boiling cooking pot can be easily allocated to the related cooking zone A, B, C, D with the additional information of the temperatures of the cooking pots 15.

[0038] In thinking one step further, with the afore-mentioned option to provide components of the cooking hob 1 with wireless communication means, also wireless communication with and external control from external smart devices like smartphones or tablet computers, or the like, may be made possible. This may be set up by a communication with said external device only via the controller 23 or via the user interface 9, but also a direct communication of the smart device with the accelerometer 11 or with the infrared temperature sensor device 39 may be considered, for example the smart device receiving directly information about the temperature of the cooking pot 15.

[0039] The accelerometer 11 and/or the infrared temperature sensor device 39 may be supplied with energy by a cable connection to the user interface 9 or to a power board included for the power supply of the induction coils 5. Alternatively, energy harvesting means may be provided, which are connected to or even implemented in the accelerometer 11 and/or to the infrared temperature sensor device 39 and which are tapping energy provided by the inductive field built up by the induction coils for the cooking process.

[0040] Although an illustrative embodiment of the present invention has been described herein with reference to the accompanying drawing, it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to that precise embodiment, and that various other changes and modifications may be affected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. All such changes and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0041] 1 induction cooking hob [0042] 3 top panel [0043] 5 induction coil [0044] 7 bottom surface [0045] 9 user interface [0046] 11 accelerometer [0047] 13 top side/top surface [0048] 15 cooking pot [0049] 17 touch switches [0050] 19 thermal sensor [0051] 21 induction generator [0052] 23 controller [0053] 25 user interface controller [0054] 27 dielectric shield [0055] 29 user's hand [0056] 31 movement of mechanical action [0057] 33 substance [0058] 35 bubbles [0059] 37 arrow for touch-down movement [0060] 39 infrared temperature sensor [0061] 41 wireless communication symbol [0062] 43 dotted line symbolizing infrared radiation [0063] A, B, C, D cooking zones [0064] A′, B′, C′, D′ touch switches