Cooking appliance and method for limiting cooking utensil temperatures using time-to-target criteria

A cooking appliance, comprising:

• a heating source;
• a temperature sensor, the temperature sensor positioned to sense the temperature of a bottom surface of a cooking utensil when the cooking utensil is placed on or adjacent to the heating source;
• an energy control device for modulating the power provided to the heating source;
• a controller, the controller in operative communication with the temperature sensor and the energy control device, the controller configured for
• providing power to the heating source according to a first control mode, the first control mode comprising calculating a time interval tlimit for a temperature of a cooking utensil positioned on the heating source to reach a target temperature limit Tlimit;
• determining whether the time interval tlimit to reach the target temperature limit Tlimit is less than or equal to a predetermined time interval limit tturn_off and, if so, then
• providing power to the heating source according to a second control mode, the second control mode comprising reducing the heating source power to a minimum power level Pmin and incrementing a timer toff;
• determining whether the timer toff has surpassed a threshold time tthr and, if so, then
• providing power to the heating source according to a third control mode,
• wherein power is provided to the heating source in the third control mode using a proportional-integral or proportional-integral-derivative control algorithm.

A cooking appliance, comprising:

• a heating source;
• a temperature sensor, the temperature sensor positioned to sense the temperature Tsensed of a bottom surface of a cooking utensil when the cooking utensil is placed on or adjacent to the heating source;
• an energy control device for modulating the power provided to the heating source;
• a controller, the controller in operative communication with the temperature sensor and the energy control device, the controller configured for
• providing power to the heating source according to a first control mode, the first control mode comprising calculating a time interval tlimit for a temperature of a cooking utensil positioned on the heating source to reach a target temperature limit Tlimit;
• determining whether the time interval tlimit to reach the target temperature limit Tlimit is less than or equal to a predetermined time interval limit tturn_off and, if so, then
• providing power to the heating source according to a second control mode, the second control mode comprising reducing the heating source power to a minimum power level Pmin and incrementing a timer toff;
• determining whether the timer toff has surpassed a threshold time tthr and, if so, then
• providing power to the heating source according to a third control mode;
• comparing the temperature Tsensed sensed by the temperature sensor to a disabling threshold temperature Tresume to determine if the temperature Tsensed of the cooking utensil is less than the disabling threshold temperature Tresume and, if so, then
• providing power to the heating source according to the first control mode,
• wherein power is provided to the heating source in the third control mode using a proportional-integral or proportional-integral-derivative control algorithm.