HOB

Abstract

A hob has a hob plate and a plurality of heating devices arranged beneath the hob plate, wherein the hob plate is designed such that it transmits light in the wavelength range visible to the human eye. The heating device has an electrical resistance heater arranged on a support with thermal insulation. IR-stimulable material including quantum dots is arranged as an indicator light or lighting means on the resistance heater or on the thermal insulation or on the hob plate. The IR-stimulable material is formed in such a way that it can be excited to output light for the indicator light by excitation light in the IR wavelength range.

Claims

1. A hob comprising a hob plate and comprising at least one heating device being arranged beneath said hob plate, wherein: said hob comprises a hob plate being designed to transmit light in a wavelength range visible to a human eye; said heating device comprises an electrical resistance heater being arranged on a support with a thermal insulation; IR-stimulable material is provided as an indicator light or lighting means being formed in such a way that it can be excited to output light or emit light by excitation with light in an IR wavelength range; and said IR-stimulable material is arranged on at least one of said resistance heater, said thermal insulation, said hob plate and an additional support.

2. The hob according to claim 1, wherein said IR-stimulable material has a long-term temperature stability at temperatures of greater than 1000 C. to 1300 C.

3. The hob according to claim 1, wherein said IR-stimulable material comprises erbium or is doped with erbium.

4. The hob according to claim 3, wherein said IR-stimulable material comprises Er3+.

5. The hob according to claim 1, wherein said IR-stimulable material is quantum dots or wherein it has quantum dots.

6. The hob according to claim 1, wherein said IR-stimulable material is provided as an indicator light in a region or in a heating region of the at least one heating device.

7. The hob according to claim 1, wherein said IR-stimulable material is arranged at least partially directly above said heating device on said hob plate.

8. The hob according to claim 7, wherein said IR-stimulable material is arranged at least partially directly above said heating device on a bottom face of said hob plate.

9. The hob according to claim 8, wherein said IR-stimulable material is applied as a coating in a non-removable manner onto said hob plate.

10. The hob according to claim 1, wherein said IR-stimulable material is an integral constituent part of said hob plate.

11. The hob according to claim 1, wherein said IR-stimulable material is admixed with a material of said hob plate.

12. The hob according to claim 1, wherein said IR-stimulable material is provided directly on said heating device.

13. The hob according to claim 12, wherein said IR-stimulable material is applied as a coating on said thermal insulation.

14. The hob according to claim 12, wherein said IR-stimulable material is provided directly on said resistance heater.

15. The hob according to claim 14, wherein said IR-stimulable material is applied as a coating on said resistance heater.

16. The hob according to claim 1, wherein said IR-stimulable material is applied to a support being fitted to said heating device, said support being positioned between said heating device and said hob plate.

17. The hob according to claim 16, wherein said support is in a form of a light guide.

18. The hob according to claim 16, wherein said support is made from one of the following materials: metal, glass or glass-ceramic.

19. The hob according to claim 1, wherein said IR-stimulable material is designed to display two different colors during operation as an indicator light, wherein said two different colors are produced by different application at different temperatures.

20. The hob according to claim 1, wherein thermochromic material is provided in a layer structure over said IR-stimulable material.

21. The hob according to claim 20, wherein said thermochromic material is provided on said hob plate or beneath said hob plate.

22. The hob according to claim 20, wherein said thermochromic material is provided with uniform surface-area coverage.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

[0026] Exemplary embodiments of the invention are schematically illustrated in the drawings and will be explained in greater detail in the text which follows. In the drawings:

[0027] FIG. 1 shows a section through a hob according to the invention comprising a radiant heating body to which IR-stimulable or quantum dot coatings are applied in different ways;

[0028] FIG. 2 shows a section through a tubular heating body as an alternative heating device;

[0029] FIG. 3 shows a schematic illustration of a multilayer coating with a thermochromic coating over a quantum dot coating;

[0030] FIG. 4 shows a plan view of the hob according to FIG. 1 with a radiant heating body illustrated using a dashed line and a lighting ring, illustrated using a dotted line, of a luminous quantum dot coating; and

[0031] FIG. 5 shows a radiation spectrum of quantum dots with two main wavelength ranges of the radiation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0032] FIG. 1 shows a section through a hob 11 according to the invention which is designed largely in a conventional manner. The hob has a hob plate 13, advantageously a hob plate which is composed of glass ceramic such as, for example, KeraVision from EuroKera or Hightrans from SCHOTT. A radiant heating body 16 is pressed onto a bottom face 14 of the hob plate 13, as is customary. The hob can have a plurality of such radiant heating bodies.

[0033] The radiant heating body 16 is constructed largely in accordance with the abovementioned prior art and has a plate- or board-like support 17 which is composed of thermally insulating material. A circumferential support edge 18 is mounted or integrally formed on the outside of the radiant heating body. Under certain circumstances, the support 17 which is composed of thermally insulating material can also be held in the manner of a sheet-metal plate, but this is not important for the invention. An oblique edge fillet 19 can be provided between the support edge 18 and the support 17. A resistance heater 21 is arranged in a standing manner on the support 17. The resistance heater is in the form of an upright flat strip and runs in a spiral or meandering manner on the support 17.

[0034] A coating comprising IR-stimulable material, here comprising material comprising quantum dots, can be arranged on the radiant heating body 16 and/or the support 17 or the support edge 18 in different ways. A first possibility is a quantum dot coating 23a on the top face of the support edge 18. The quantum dot coating can extend around the entire circumference or form individual points, regions, symbols or the like. Since this quantum dot coating 23a is pressed directly onto the bottom face 14 of the hob plate 13, it is very clearly visible from above. However, at the same time, it may be possible that only a small extent of the said quantum dot coating can be reached by the IR radiation of the resistance heater 21 of the radiant heating body 16. An IR-stimulable material of this kind can either have quantum dots with erbium doping from the start or be designed in accordance with the abovementioned document U.S. Pat. No. 4,806,772 A.

[0035] A further IR-stimulable quantum dot coating 23b is provided on the inwardly facing side of the support edge 18. The further IR-stimulable quantum dot coating can also be formed entirely or largely circumferentially as a kind of ring, or as an alternative individual points or the like, as has been explained above for the quantum dot coating 23a. Although the quantum dot coating 23b on the sides of the support edge 18 is less clearly visible from above, it can be very readily irradiated by the IR radiation of the resistance heater 21.

[0036] A further IR stimulable quantum dot coating 23c is applied on the edge fillet 19 which is additionally provided for this purpose. This quantum dot coating 23c can be both identified very clearly from above and also can be readily irradiated by the IR radiation of the resistance heater 21. Coating can also be performed in different forms, as long or even continuous strips, or as an alternative as individual points, symbols or the like, here.

[0037] According to a further possibility, an IR-stimulable quantum dot coating 23d can be applied on the support 17 or the top face of the support, for example centrally, but also at the edge region. Although a particularly large surface area may not be available here under certain circumstances, both visibility and ability to irradiate are very good.

[0038] A further possibility for an IR-stimulable coating is a quantum dot coating 23e on the bottom face 14 of the hob plate 13. The quantum dot coating has the advantage that it is both very clearly visible from above and can be irradiated very readily by the IR radiation of the resistance heater 21. However, the quantum dot coating has the disadvantage that it is not applied to the radiant heating body 16 itself, but rather just to the hob plate 13. Therefore, it has to be applied in completely different working steps.

[0039] As an alternative to a coating, a foil, a glass panel or some other suitable support on which a quantum dot coating 23 is applied can be stuck on in each case.

[0040] FIG. 2 shows an alternative heating device, as could be used for an oven or else for a hob. A tubular heating body 116 has a metal tube in which a heating wire 121 runs. In addition, the tube is filled with pulverulent or granular insulating material. A tubular heating body 116 of this kind can be designed in the manner cited in the introductory part and form the abovementioned resistance heater.

[0041] An IR-stimulable quantum dot coating 123 is applied on the tubular heating body 116 at the top. The IR-stimulable quantum dot coating can cover substantially the top half, but, for example, also only a top third or a top quarter which can also be seen or can be identified as clearly as possible from above. Although the resistance heaters 21 of the radiant heating body 16 of FIG. 1 can be provided directly with a quantum dot coating, the high temperatures of the resistance heaters during heating operation of approximately 1100 C. make coating difficult. In addition, the degree of efficiency could be adversely affected.

[0042] FIG. 3 schematically shows a layer structure comprising an IR-stimulable quantum dot coating 23 on which a thermochromic coating 25 is arranged. As has been described above, the thermochromic coating 25 can change its color or even become transparent at a certain temperature. Therefore, a quantum dot coating 23 which is situated beneath the thermochromic coating becomes visible or is no longer visible at this temperature. Furthermore, the color may change owing to the thermochromic coating 25. With reference to FIG. 3, it is also easy to imagine how a layer structure with still more layers could be formed, for example even a plurality of IR-stimulable quantum dot coatings one above the other.

[0043] FIG. 4 shows a plan view of the hob 11 from FIG. 1 with lights of an IR-stimulable quantum dot coating 23c as indicator light 24 in the form of a circumferential lighting ring, illustrated using a dotted line. This indicator light 24 can be identified through the hob plate 13 and can constitute, for example, an operation indicator or heat indicator for the radiant heating body 16 or the heating operation of the radiant heating body.

[0044] FIG. 5 shows an emission spectrum of an IR-stimulable quantum dot coating or of material comprising quantum dots. The quantum dots are quantum dots from CAN, Hamburg, with the name CANdots Series X Green. These quantum dots comprise so-called core particles which are composed of NaYF.sub.4:Yb, Er. This is the lower curve with the very small deflections at approximately 540 nm and 650 nm. The deflections can be excited to light up by IR radiation.

[0045] Furthermore, the upper curve for quantum dots comprising so-called core/shell particles is shown. The core/shell particles are composed of NaYF.sub.4:Yb, Er/NaYF.sub.4. The maxima of this emission or radiation are far higher but, in principle, are found in approximately the same wavelength. The color produced is then green. The respective IR-stimulable materials comprising quantum dots are irradiated with near-field IR light with a wavelength of 980 nm, for example as is contained in the spectrum of the radiant heating body 16 or of the resistance heater 21 during heating operation.