GLASS-CERAMIC WORKTOP

Abstract

An item of furniture or appliance includes at least one worktop formed from at least one substrate made of a transparent monolithic glazing material and of area larger than 0.7 m.sup.2, equipped with a coating so that the substrate equipped with the coating has a haze higher than 15%, a light transmission T.sub.L lower than 60% and an opacity indicator higher than 85. The item of furniture or appliance also includes at least one heating element, at least one light source to light up one or more zones or one or more elements or displays of the substrate, the source being located plumb with the substrate in order to form a display by projection, or under the substrate in order to form a display by transmission through the substrate, and at least one interface for communicating with at least one element of the worktop.

Claims

1-20. (canceled)

21. An item of furniture or appliance, comprising: at least one worktop formed from at least one substrate made of a transparent monolithic glazing material and of area larger than 0.7 m.sup.2, equipped with a coating so that the substrate equipped with the coating has a haze higher than 15%, a light transmission T.sub.L lower than 60% and an opacity indicator higher than 85; at least one heating element; at least one light source configured to light up one or more zones or one or more elements or displays of the substrate, the source being located plumb with the substrate in order to form a display by projection, or under the substrate in order to form a display by transmission through the substrate; and at least one interface for communicating with at least one element of the worktop.

22. The item of furniture or appliance as claimed in claim 21, wherein the area of the substrate made of a glazing material is larger than 0.9 m.sup.2 and a thickness of said substrate is at least 2 mm and smaller than 15 mm.

23. The item of furniture or appliance as claimed in claim 21, wherein the substrate has a flatness lower than 0.1% of a diagonal of the substrate.

24. The item of furniture or appliance as claimed in claim 21, wherein the substrate is made of tempered glass or glass-ceramic.

25. The item of furniture or appliance as claimed in claim 21, wherein the glazing material has a light transmission T.sub.L higher than 60% and the substrate made of the glazing material equipped with the coating has a haze higher than 40%, a light transmission T.sub.L lower than 30% and an opacity indicator higher than 90.

26. The item of furniture or appliance as claimed in claim 21, wherein the glazing material contains colorants.

27. The item of furniture or appliance as claimed in claim 21, wherein the at least one heating element includes one or more inductive heating means, the one or more inductive heating means being located in one or more zones of the substrate or being uniformly distributed under the substrate occupying at least 25% of the area of the substrate.

28. The item of furniture or appliance as claimed in claim 27, wherein at least one of cooking locations on the worktop, plumb with the heating means, other zones, elements, functions, and decorations are signaled, on activation or permanently, by one or more light sources or by a permanent decoration.

29. The item of furniture or appliance as claimed in claim 28, wherein the at least one of the cooking locations, other zones, elements, functions, and decorations are signaled or revealed or by the at least one light source, on activation of said source, said source being placed above the substrate or on a same side as a visible face of the substrate, and allowing a luminous display to be formed via projection onto the face, which then forms a screen, said source being placed under the substrate and allowing a luminous display to be formed via the transmission of light through the worktop.

30. The item of furniture or appliance as claimed in claim 28, wherein the coated substrate has a light transmission T.sub.L of at least 5%, and the at least one of the cooking locations, other zones, elements, functions, and decorations are signaled or revealed by the at least one light source, on activation of said source, said source being placed under the substrate and being hidden thereby when turned off, said source allowing a luminous display to be formed via transmission through the worktop.

31. The item of furniture or appliance as claimed in claim 21, wherein the at least one light source is activatable via at least one of contact with a surface of the worktop, with the interface, with an external system, and via a movement.

32. The item of furniture or appliance as claimed in claim 21, wherein the item of furniture or appliance comprises a plurality of light sources that are placed so that the angle between each source, 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 effects of shadows projected by a person using the worktop.

33. The item of furniture or appliance as claimed in claim 21, wherein the interface enables wireless communication with a system external to the worktop to allow heating zones or light sources to be activated or various functions to be controlled remotely, the external system including a keyboard, a tablet, a touch screen, or a cellphone, and the wireless communication being of limited range.

34. The item of furniture or appliance as claimed in claim 21, wherein the interface allows various signals initiated via contact or a movement to be transmitted in order to activate various components or allow data to be downloaded or transmitted, the data being transmitted to light sources to be displayed on a surface of the worktop.

35. The item of furniture or appliance as claimed in claim 33, wherein the item of furniture or appliance comprises one or more interfaces allowing the activation of the heating zones to be coordinated with the activation of the light sources.

36. The item of furniture or appliance as claimed in claim 21, wherein the worktop comprises one or more functional or decorative coatings based on enamel, paint, or one or more thin films.

37. The item of furniture or appliance as claimed in claim 21, wherein the worktop is mounted on one or more supporting elements to form, with said supporting elements, a table, an unapertured unit, or a counter.

38. The item of furniture or appliance as claimed in claim 21, wherein the at least one interface is configured to communicate wirelessly with at least one external element.

39. A worktop, comprising: at least one substrate made of a transparent monolithic glazing material and of area larger than 0.7 m.sup.2, equipped with a coating so that the substrate equipped with the coating has a haze higher than 15%, a light transmission T.sub.L lower than 60% and an opacity indicator higher than 85, the worktop being configured to form part of the item of furniture or appliance as claimed in claim 21.

40. A process for manufacturing the item of furniture or appliance as claimed in claim 21, comprising: forming the worktop from at least one glass-ceramic substrate of area larger than 0.7 m.sup.2, the forming including carrying out at least one cycle of ceramitization of a glass plate of area larger than 0.7 m.sup.2 in order to obtain said substrate, and in which run speed is decreased by at least 25% or a length of the ceramitization furnace or dwell time in said furnace is increased by at least 25% relative to an optimal or conventional speed, length or dwell time, respectively, used to obtain a glass-ceramic substrate of area smaller than 0.4 m.sup.2.

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 glass-ceramic substrate of 2 m.sup.2 area, formed from a transparent (monolithic) glass-ceramic plate (6) (the glass-ceramic intrinsically having a light transmission T.sub.L of 88%), this glass-ceramic plate being equipped with a coating (10) made of paint of 42 m thickness based on silicone resins including black pigments, this coated plate being of the same type as those sold under the reference KeraResin by Eurokera, this plate having a smooth upper face and a smooth lower face (this face likewise possibly being provided with studs), and a thickness of 4 mm, the coated substrate having a haze of 66.7%, a light transmission T.sub.L of 0.03% and an opacity indicator of 99.96. This substrate is for example obtained by decreasing, in the process for manufacturing glass-ceramics of the KeraResin type, the run speed through the ceramitization furnace by 50%.

[0072] 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 and good coupling and thermal efficiency properties in particular being lower than 3 mm and preferably lower than 2 mm.

[0073] The item of furniture and/or appliance furthermore comprises in the present example three heating elements (7), inductors for example, placed under the plate (6). These inductors are in the present case arranged in the middle of the worktop, but they could equally well be located at one end of the worktop.

[0074] The item of furniture and/or appliance also comprises three light sources (8) intended to signal the cooking locations and placed above the substrate (plumb above the worktop). These sources allow the cooking locations to be signaled, for example by way of a disk or a circle of colored light (9) delimiting each location (the colors possibly if needs be being identical or different for each location) and encircling the inductors, when these sources are activated, or even when the heating elements are activated if the sources are connected to said elements via an appropriate interface. The sources (8) are for example formed by a plurality of LEDs borne by a base housed in a profile, and for example integrated into an extractor hood (14) located plumb above the worktop. These sources, apart from signaling heating zones, may also or alternatively serve to illuminate (locally or entirely) the worktop, or to display by projection various items of information, such as data to be displayed, culinary recipes (11), etc.

[0075] The item of furniture and/or appliance furthermore comprises at least one interface (12) (hidden by the substrate) for communicating with the heating elements, and, if needs be, 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] The item of furniture and/or appliance also comprises other elements, especially electrical cables (15) for the activation of the heating elements and for the activation of the sources, and comprises drawers (15) 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 a built-in oven, 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)) while also allowing food to be cooked (as symbolized by the cooking recipients (21)), 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.

[0077] 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 especially integrating cooking zones or a cooking function.