COOKING APPLIANCE

Abstract

A cooking appliance apparatus includes a fan unit, a sensor unit designed to detect an electrical fan parameter of the fan unit, a filter unit allocated to the fan unit, and a control unit designed to determine a filter parameter of the filter unit in dependence upon the fan parameter.

Claims

1-12. (canceled)

13. A cooking appliance apparatus, comprising: a fan unit; a sensor unit designed to detect an electrical fan parameter of the fan unit; a filter unit allocated to the fan unit; and a control unit designed to determine a filter parameter of the filter unit in dependence upon the fan parameter.

14. The cooking appliance apparatus of claim 13, constructed in the form of an induction cooking appliance apparatus.

15. The cooking appliance apparatus of claim 13, wherein the control unit is designed to maintain at least one further fan parameter as essentially constant, when determining the filter parameter.

16. The cooking appliance apparatus of claim 13, wherein the control unit includes a storage unit designed to store a reference fan parameter, said control unit designed to take the reference fan parameter into consideration when determining the filter parameter.

17. The cooking appliance apparatus of claim 13, further comprising an air guiding unit, said filter unit being arranged in a reversible manner on the air guiding unit.

18. The cooking appliance apparatus of claim 13, wherein the filter unit includes a smoke filter.

19. The cooking appliance apparatus of claim 13, further comprising a muffle designed to delimit at least in part a cooking compartment, said filter unit being arranged within the cooking compartment in an assembled state of the filter unit.

20. The cooking appliance apparatus of claim 13, wherein the fan parameter comprises an electrical current.

21. The cooking appliance apparatus of claim 13, wherein the filter parameter comprises a presence parameter.

22. The cooking appliance apparatus of claim 13, wherein the filter parameter comprises a soiling parameter.

23. The cooking appliance apparatus of claim 13, further comprising an appliance door, said control unit designed to take into consideration an opening state of the appliance door when determining the filter parameter.

24. A cooking appliance, in particular an induction cooking appliance, said cooking appliance comprising a cooking appliance apparatus which includes a fan unit, a sensor unit designed to detect an electrical fan parameter of the fan unit, a filter unit allocated to the fan unit, and a control unit designed to determine a filter parameter of the filter unit in dependence upon the fan parameter.

25. The cooking appliance of claim 24, constructed in the form of an induction cooking appliance.

26. A method for operating a cooking appliance apparatus, comprising: detecting with a sensor unit a fan parameter of a fan unit of the cooking appliance apparatus; and determining in dependence upon the fan parameter a filter parameter of a filter unit which is allocated to the fan unit.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising maintaining at least one further fan parameter as essentially constant, when determining the filter parameter.

28. The method of claim 26, further comprising: storing a reference fan parameter; and considering the reference fan parameter when determining the filter parameter.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein the fan parameter is a parameter selected from the group consisting of an electrical current, a presence parameter, and a soiling parameter.

30. The method of claim 26, further comprising considering an opening state of an appliance door when determining the filter parameter.

Description

[0029] In the drawings:

[0030] FIG. 1 shows a cooking appliance having a cooking appliance apparatus in a schematic view,

[0031] FIG. 2 shows the cooking appliance having the cooking appliance apparatus in a disassembled state of a filter unit of the cooking appliance apparatus in a schematic sectional view,

[0032] FIG. 3 shows the cooking appliance having the cooking appliance apparatus in an assembled state of a filter unit of the cooking appliance apparatus in a schematic sectional view and

[0033] FIG. 4 shows a diagram of a method for operation of the cooking appliance apparatus in a schematic view.

[0034] FIG. 1 illustrates in particular a cooking appliance 28a that is embodied in particular as an induction cooking appliance. The cooking appliance 28a could be embodied for example as a hob, in particular as an induction hob. In particular alternatively or in addition thereto, the cooking appliance 28a could be embodied for example as a grill appliance. In the present exemplary embodiment, the cooking appliance 28a is embodied in particular as an oven, advantageously as an induction oven.

[0035] The cooking appliance 28a has in particular at least one and advantageously precisely one cooking appliance apparatus 10a that is embodied in particular as an induction cooking appliance apparatus. For example, the cooking appliance apparatus 10a could be embodied as a hob apparatus, in particular as an induction hob apparatus. The cooking appliance apparatus 10a in the present exemplary embodiment is embodied in particular as an oven apparatus, in particular as an induction oven apparatus.

[0036] The cooking appliance apparatus 10a has in particular at least one and advantageously precisely one muffle 24a. The muffle 24a at least in part delimits in particular at least one and advantageously precisely one cooking compartment 22a. The muffle 24a at least essentially delimits the cooking compartment 22a in particular together with an appliance door 26a. The cooking appliance apparatus 10a has in particular at least one and advantageously at least the appliance door 26a.

[0037] The appliance apparatus 10a in the present exemplary embodiment has in particular five cooking compartment walls 50a. The cooking compartment walls 50a are in particular part of the muffle 24a. In particular, the muffle 24a has the cooking compartment walls 50a. In particular together with the appliance door 26a, the cooking compartment walls 50a at least essentially define the cooking compartment 22a.

[0038] One of the cooking compartment walls 50a is in particular embodied as a base wall 52a. One of the cooking compartment walls 50a is in particular embodied as a cover wall 54a. One of the cooking compartment walls 50 is in particular embodied as a rear wall 56a. Two of the cooking compartment walls 50a are in particular in each case embodied as a side wall 58a, 60a. In particular, only one of the cooking compartment walls 50a is described below.

[0039] The cooking appliance apparatus 10a has in particular at least one and advantageously precisely one operator interface 30a, in particular for an input and/or selection of operating parameters, for example of a heating power and/or of a heating power density and/or a heating zone. The operator interface 30a is in particular provided so as to output a value of an operating parameter to an operator.

[0040] The cooking appliance apparatus 10a has in particular at least one and advantageously precisely one control unit 16a. The control unit 16a is in particular provided so as to perform actions and/or to change settings in dependence upon operating parameters that are input by means of the operator interface 30a. The control unit 16a regulates, in particular in a heating operating state, a supply of energy to at least one heating element 32a.

[0041] In the present exemplary embodiment, the cooking appliance apparatus 10a in particular has at least one and advantageously precisely one, in particular at least the, and advantageously precisely the, heating element 32a. The heating element 32a is in particular embodied as a ring heating element. In particular, the heating element 32a is embodied as a resistance heating element.

[0042] The heating element 32a is in particular arranged in a rearward region of the muffle 24a. In particular, the heating element 32a is arranged within the cooking compartment 22a.

[0043] In particular in addition to the heating element 32a, the cooking appliance apparatus 10a could have for example at least one second heating element and advantageously at least one third heating element (not illustrated). The second heating element and/or the third heating element could be embodied in particular as an inductor.

[0044] In particular, the second heating element could be arranged outside of the cooking compartment 22a. The second heating element could be arranged in an installation position in particular above the cover wall 54a and in particular in a vicinity of the cover wall 54a. In particular, the second heating element could be provided so as to provide top heat. In one operating state in which the control unit 16a operates the second heating element, the second heating element in particular provides a top heat.

[0045] In particular, the third heating element could be arranged outside of the cooking compartment 22a. The third heating element could be arranged in an installation position in particular below the base wall 52a and in particular in a vicinity of the base wall 52a. In particular, the third heating element could be provided so as to provide bottom heat. In one operating state in which the control unit 16a operates the third heating element, the third heating element in particular provides a bottom heat.

[0046] The cooking appliance apparatus 10a in particular has at least one and advantageously precisely one fan unit 12a. In particular, the fan unit 12a has at least one fan wheel 36a. The fan unit 12a, in particular by means of the fan wheel 36a, is provided in particular so as to provide at least one airflow.

[0047] The fan unit 12a has in particular at least one and advantageously precisely one drive motor 40a (cf. FIGS. 2 and 3) for a drive of the fan wheel 36a. In particular, the drive motor 40a is embodied as an electric motor. In an operating state, the drive motor 40a drives the fan wheel 36a in particular by means of a drive torque.

[0048] The cooking appliance apparatus 10a has in particular at least one and advantageously precisely one air guiding unit 34a (cf. FIGS. 1 to 3). The air guiding unit 34a is arranged in particular within the cooking compartment 22a. In an assembled state, a main extent plane of the air guiding unit 34a is oriented in particular at least essentially parallel with respect to a main extent plane of the rear wall 56a.

[0049] The term a “main extent plane” of an object is in particular to be understood to mean a plane that is parallel with respect to a largest side surface of a smallest conceived geometric cuboid that only just completely encompasses the object and in particular extends through the center point of the cuboid. The term “essentially parallel” is to be understood here to mean in particular an orientation of a direction relative to a reference direction, in particular in a plane, wherein the direction with respect to the reference direction has a deviation in particular of maximum 8°, advantageously maximum 5° and particularly advantageously maximum 2°.

[0050] In an assembled state, the fan unit 12a, in particular the fan wheel 36a and/or the drive motor 40a, is arranged on a side of the air guiding unit 34a that is facing the rear wall 56a. The air guiding unit 34a is in particular provided so as to guide an air flow that is provided by the fan unit 12a. In an operating state, the air guiding unit 34a guides in particular an airflow that is provided by the fan unit 12a.

[0051] The air guiding unit 34a has in particular at least one passage region 38a that is provided in particular for a passage of at least one air flow. In particular, the fan unit 12a, in particular by means of the fan wheel 36a, in an operating state draws in air through the passage region 38a from a cooking region of the cooking compartment 22a.

[0052] The cooking appliance apparatus 10a has in particular at least one and advantageously precisely one filter unit 18a (cf. FIG. 3). The filter unit 18a is in particular provided so as in an operating state to filter at least an air flow that is provided by the fan unit 12a and in particular to at least in part remove from the airflow particles that are in the airflow.

[0053] The filter unit 18a has in particular at least one and advantageously precisely one smoke filter. In particular, the filter unit 18a by means of the smoke filter in an operating state filters at least one airflow that is provided by the fan unit 12a and at least in part removes from the airflow in particular particles that are in the airflow. The filter unit 18a is in particular allocated to the fan unit 12a.

[0054] The filter unit 18a can be arranged, in particular in a reversible manner, on the air guiding unit 34a. The filter unit 18a in an assembled state of the filter unit 18a is arranged on the air guiding unit 34a in a detachable manner in particular without tools. For example, the filter unit 18a could be arranged on the air guiding unit 34a in an assembled state of the filter unit 18a by means of a latch connection.

[0055] In an assembled state of the filter unit 18a, the filter unit 18a is in particular arranged within the cooking compartment 22a. In particular, the filter unit 18a in an assembled state of the filter unit 18a is arranged on a side of the air guiding unit 34a that is remote from the rear wall 56a.

[0056] The filter unit 18a is arranged in an assembled state of the filter unit 18a in particular when viewed in the fluid flow direction of an intake flow upstream of the passage region 38a. In particular, the passage region 38a and the filter unit 18a in an assembled state of the filter unit 18a are arranged in an in particular overlapping manner in the case of a perpendicular view of a main extent plane of the air guiding unit 34a. In the case of a perpendicular view of a main extent plane of the air guiding unit 34a, the passage region 38a is arranged in particular within a surface that is spanned by the filter unit 18a.

[0057] The cooking appliance apparatus 10a has in particular at least one and advantageously precisely one sensor unit 14a (cf. FIGS. 2 and 3). In the FIGS. 2 and 3, the sensor unit 14a is in particular only illustrated schematically. The sensor unit 14a is provided in particular so as to detect at least one electric fan parameter of the fan unit 12a. In an operating state, the sensor unit 14a detects in particular the electric fan parameter of the fan unit 12a.

[0058] In an operating state, the sensor unit 14a detects in particular an electric fan parameter of the drive motor 40a of the fan unit 12a. In the present exemplary embodiment, the fan parameter comprises at least one electrical current that is provided in particular for operation of the drive motor 40a.

[0059] In an operating state, the control unit 16a determines in particular, in dependence upon the fan parameter, at least one filter parameter of the filter unit 18a, which is allocated to the fan unit 12a. In particular, the control unit 16a is provided so as to determine, in dependence upon the fan parameter, the filter parameter of the filter unit 18a, which is allocated to the fan unit 12a.

[0060] The control unit 16a maintains at least a further fan parameter as at least essentially constant so as to determine the filter parameter (cf. also the table below). In the present exemplary embodiment, the further fan parameter comprises in particular at least one electrical voltage that is provided in particular for operation of the drive motor 40a. In particular, the further fan parameter comprises at least one rotational speed.

[0061] The control unit 16a has in particular at least one storage unit 20a (cf. FIG. 1). In particular, at least one reference fan parameter is stored in the storage unit 20a. Advantageously, a plurality of reference fan parameters are stored in the storage unit 20a. For example, the reference fan parameters could be stored in the storage unit 20a in the form of a table and/or in the form of a mathematical function. Only one of the reference fan parameters are described below.

[0062] In particular, the control unit 16a takes into consideration the reference fan parameter in the case of determining the filter parameter. In the case of determining the filter parameter, the control unit 16a compares in particular the detected fan parameter with the stored reference fan parameter. The control unit 16a determines the filter parameter in particular from a comparison of the detected fan parameter with the reference fan parameter.

[0063] In particular an extract of a test to determine the filter parameter is illustrated in the following table. In particular, test conditions and detected fan parameters are illustrated in the table.

TABLE-US-00001 Theo. Voltage Current Power Expert RPM Filter Door [V] [A] [W] RPM 1625 No Closed 23.819 0.338 9.100 1603 1625 No Open 23.829 0.379 9.000 1603 1625 Yes Closed 23.869 0.225 5.400 1603 1625 Yes Open 23.871 0.225 5.300 1603 1625 No Closed 23.840 0.316 7.500 1600 1625 No Open 23.800 0.336 8.000 1600 1625 Yes Closed 23.870 0.196 4.590 1600 1625 Yes Open 23.871 0.200 4.750 1600

[0064] In particular, a theoretical value of a rotational speed is represented in a first column that is labelled “Theo. RPM”. In particular, a presence of the filter unit 18a is represented in a second column that is labelled “Filter”. In particular, an opening state of the appliance door 26a is represented in a third column that is labelled “Door”.

[0065] In particular, a detected value of an electrical voltage that is provided for operation of the drive motor 40a is represented in the unit volts in a fourth column that is labelled with “Voltage [V]”. In particular, a detected value of an electrical current that is provided for operation of the drive motor 40a is represented in the unit amps in a fifth column that is labelled “Current [A]”. In particular, a detected value of an electrical power that is provided for operation of the drive motor 40a is represented in the unit watts in a sixth column that is labelled “Power [W]”. In particular, a detected value of a rotational speed is represented in a seventh column that is labelled “Expert. RPM”.

[0066] It is in particular apparent from the table that the fan parameter that comprises an electrical current is dependent upon a presence of the filter unit 18a. In particular, a value of the fan parameter that comprises an electrical current is lower in the case of a presence of the filter unit 18a than in the case of an absence of the filter unit 18a. The filter parameter that the control unit 16a determines, in dependence upon the fan parameter, comprises in particular at least one presence parameter of the filter unit 18a.

[0067] As is apparent in particular from the table, the dependence of the fan parameter is in particular not dependent upon the presence of the filter unit 18a. It is apparent in particular from the table that for the determination of the filter parameter the control unit 16a maintains as at least essentially constant the further fan parameter that comprises at least one rotational speed. In particular for the determination of the filter parameter, the control unit 16a maintains as at least essentially constant the further fan parameter that comprises at least one electrical voltage.

[0068] In the case of determining the filter parameter, the control unit 16a in particular takes into consideration at least one opening state of the appliance door 26a. In particular, the opening state of the appliance door 26a influences a saturation value of the fan parameter.

[0069] In particular, in addition to the filter parameter that comprises at least one presence parameter of the filter unit 18a, the control unit 16a determines, in dependence upon the fan parameter, at least one filter parameter that comprises at least one soiling parameter of the filter unit 18a. The filter parameter that the control unit 16a determines, in dependence upon the fan parameter, comprises in particular at least one soiling parameter of the filter unit 18a.

[0070] In a method for operation of the cooking appliance apparatus 10a, at least one filter parameter of the filter unit 18a, which is allocated to the fan unit 12a, is determined in dependence upon the fan parameter. In particular, in a detection step 42a, the electrical fan parameter of the fan unit 12a is detected in particular by means of the sensor unit 14a (cf. FIG. 4).

[0071] In particular in a determining step 44a, the filter parameter of the filter unit 18a, which is allocated to the fan unit 12a, is determined in dependence upon the fan parameter. The reference fan parameter is taken into consideration in the case of determining the filter parameter, in particular in the determining step 44a. In particular, the further fan parameter is maintained as constant for the determination of the filter parameter, in particular in the detection step 42a and/or in the determining step 44a.

[0072] In particular in an action step 46a, in particular by way of the control unit 16a, in particular in dependence upon the determined filter parameter, at least one action is at least introduced and advantageously performed. The action could be for example an output of at least one item of information to an operator. In particular alternatively or in addition thereto, the action could be in particular an execution of a cooking program and/or a cooking process.

LIST OF REFERENCE CHARACTERS

[0073] 10 Cooking appliance apparatus [0074] 12 Fan unit [0075] 14 Sensor unit [0076] 16 Control unit [0077] 18 Filter unit [0078] 20 Storage unit [0079] 22 Cooking compartment [0080] 24 Muffle [0081] 26 Appliance door [0082] 28 Cooking appliance [0083] 30 Operator interface [0084] 32 Heating element [0085] 34 Air guiding unit [0086] 36 Fan wheel [0087] 38 Passage region [0088] 40 Drive motor [0089] 42 Detection step [0090] 44 Determining step [0091] 46 Action step [0092] 50 Cooking compartment wall [0093] 52 Base wall [0094] 54 Cover wall [0095] 56 Rear wall [0096] 58 Side wall [0097] 60 Side wall