Cooking vessel detection apparatus, cooking vessel detection method, and induction heating cooker
AssigneeLG Electronics Inc.
InventorBada Yoon
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An induction heating cooker comprises a rectifying unit for rectifying an AC voltage from a power supply to a DC voltage and first and second switching units for switching to alternately apply the DC voltage from the rectifying unit to the working coil for driving the working coil. A device of sensing a cooking container in the induction heating cooker comprises a first current sensing unit configured to sense a first current flowing between the power supply and the rectifying unit, a second current sensing unit configured to sense a second current flowing to the working coil, and a controller configured to determine if the cooking container placed on the working coil is present based on the first and second currents.
Claims3
A device of sensing a cooking container in an induction heating cooker, the induction heating cooker comprising a rectifying unit for rectifying an AC voltage from a power supply to a DC voltage and first and second switching units for switching to alternately apply the DC voltage from the rectifying unit to a working coil for driving the working coil, comprises:
- a first current sensing unit connected between the power supply and the rectifying unit to sense a first current flowing between the power supply and the rectifying unit;
- a second current sensing unit connected between a node and the working coil to sense a second current flowing to the working coil, the node being connected to the first switching unit and to the second switching unit;
- and
- a controller,
- wherein the controller is configured:
- to digitally process the first current and the second current, respectively to generate a first digital signal and a second digital signal,
- to generate a ratio signal based on the first digital signal and the second digital signal,
- to compare the ratio signal with a predetermined value,
- to determine that the cooking container is present on the working coil when the ratio signal is greater than the predetermined value, to continuously drive the working coil, and
- to determine that the cooking container is not present on the working coil when the ratio signal is less than the predetermined value, to stop the driving of the working coil,
- wherein the ratio signal includes a numerator and a denominator, the numerator is the second digital signal, and the denominator is the first digital signal.
A method of sensing a cooking container in an induction heating cooker, the induction heating cooker comprising a rectifying unit for rectifying an AC voltage from a power supply to a DC voltage and first and second switching units for switching to alternately apply the DC voltage from the rectifying unit to a working coil for driving the working coil, comprising:
- connecting between the power supply and the rectifying unit to sense a first current flowing between the power supply and the rectifying unit;
- connecting between a node between the first and second switching units and the working coil to sense a second current flowing to the working coil;
- digitally processing the first current and the second current, respectively to generate a first digital signal and a second digital signal,
- generating a ratio signal based on the first digital signal and the second digital signal,
- comparing the ratio signal with a predetermined value,
- determining that the cooking container is present on the working coil when the ratio signal is greater than the predetermined value, to continuously drive the working coil, and
- determining that the cooking container is not present on the working coil when the ratio signal is less than the predetermined value, to stop the driving of the working coil,
- wherein the ratio signal includes a numerator and a denominator, the numerator is the second digital signal, and the denominator is the first digital signal.
An induction heating cooker, comprises:
- a power supply configured to generate an AC voltage;
- a rectifying unit configured to rectify the generated AC voltage to a DC voltage;
- first and second switching units configured to switch the DC voltage from the rectifying unit to alternately apply the DC voltage to a working coil for driving the working coil;
- a first current sensing unit connected between the power supply and the rectifying unit to sense a first current flowing between the power supply and the rectifying unit;
- a second current sensing unit connected between a node between the first and second switching units and the working coil to sense a second current flowing to the working coil;
- and
- a controller,
- wherein the controller is configured:
- to digitally process the first current and the second current, respectively to generate a first digital signal and a second digital signal,
- to generate a ratio signal based on the first digital signal and the second digital signal,
- to compare the ratio signal with a predetermined value,
- to determine that a cooking container is present on the working coil when the ratio signal is greater than the predetermined value, to continuously drive the working coil, and
- to determine that the cooking container is not present on the working coil when the ratio signal is less than the predetermined value, to stop the driving of the working coil,
- wherein the ratio signal includes a numerator and a denominator, the numerator is the second digital signal, and the denominator is the first digital signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.