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US 11,486,574 B2Granted
Gas cooking appliance with ignition position indicator
AssigneeMidea Group Co., Ltd.
InventorsRichard W. Cowan, Felix Conde Zelocuatecatl
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A cooking appliance and method generate an audible and/or visual indication to a user when a user control for a gas burner is in a position within which an igniter is active and a gas valve is supplying sufficient gas flow to the gas burner to support ignition and thereby assist a user in properly positioning the user control during ignition of the burner.
Claims19
A cooking appliance, comprising:
- a gas burner;
- an igniter disposed adjacent to the gas burner to ignite the gas burner;
- a gas valve configured to regulate gas flow to the gas burner;
- a burner control coupled to the gas valve to vary the gas flow to the gas burner, the burner control movable between first, second, third and fourth ranges of positions, wherein in the first and fourth ranges the igniter is inactive and in the second and third ranges of positions the igniter is active, and wherein in the first and second ranges the gas valve supplies insufficient gas flow to the gas burner to support ignition and in the third and fourth ranges the gas valve supplies sufficient gas flow to the gas burner to support ignition;
- and
- a control circuit configured to generate an indication to a user when the burner control is positioned within the third range of positions to assist the user in properly positioning the burner control during ignition of the burner.
3 more elements
A cooking appliance, comprising:
- a gas burner;
- an igniter disposed adjacent to the gas burner to ignite the gas burner;
- a mechanical gas valve configured to regulate gas flow to the gas burner;
- a burner control mechanically coupled to the gas valve to vary the gas flow to the gas burner, the burner control including a rotary control actuator that is rotatable from an off position, and first and second switches positioned adjacent thereto, the rotary control actuator including one or more cam lobes configured to engage the first and second switches to actuate the first and second switches within respective first and second ranges of rotational positions of the rotary control actuator, wherein a starting position of the second range of rotational positions has a greater rotational offset from the off position than a start position of the first range of rotational positions;
- and
- a control circuit configured to activate the igniter in response to actuation of the first switch and to generate an indication to a user in response to actuation of the second switch, wherein the control circuit is configured to disable a self-clean mode for the cooking response in response to actuation of either of the first and second switches.
3 more elements
A cooking appliance, comprising:
- a gas burner;
- an igniter disposed adjacent to the gas burner to ignite the gas burner;
- a mechanical gas valve configured to regulate gas flow to the gas burner;
- a burner control mechanically coupled to the gas valve to vary the gas flow to the gas burner, the burner control including a rotary control actuator that is rotatable from an off position, and first and second switches positioned adjacent thereto, the rotary control actuator including one or more cam lobes configured to engage the first and second switches to actuate the first and second switches within respective first and second ranges of rotational positions of the rotary control actuator, wherein a starting position of the second range of rotational positions has a greater rotational offset from the off position than a start position of the first range of rotational positions;
- and
- a control circuit configured to activate the igniter in response to actuation of the first switch and to generate an indication to a user in response to actuation of the second switch, wherein the control circuit is configured to generate a second indication to the user when a duration the first switch has been actuated meets an alert criterion.
3 more elements
A cooking appliance, comprising:
- a gas burner;
- a flame detector positioned to sense a flame emitted by the gas burner;
- an igniter disposed adjacent to the gas burner to ignite the gas burner;
- a mechanical gas valve configured to regulate gas flow to the gas burner;
- a burner control mechanically coupled to the gas valve to vary the gas flow to the gas burner, the burner control including a rotary control actuator that is rotatable from an off position, and first and second switches positioned adjacent thereto, the rotary control actuator including one or more cam lobes configured to engage the first and second switches to actuate the first and second switches within respective first and second ranges of rotational positions of the rotary control actuator, wherein a starting position of the second range of rotational positions has a greater rotational offset from the off position than a start position of the first range of rotational positions;
- and
- a control circuit configured to activate the igniter in response to actuation of the first switch and to generate an indication to a user in response to actuation of the second switch, wherein the control circuit is further configured to generate a second indication to the user when a duration either the first switch or the second switch has remained actuated while the flame detector fails to detect a flame meets an alert criterion.
4 more elements
A method of igniting a gas burner of a cooking appliance controlled by a burner control coupled to a gas valve that varies gas flow to the gas burner, the method comprising:
- in response to user movement of the burner control away from an off position and to a first position having a first offset from the off position, activating an igniter disposed adjacent to the gas burner;
- and
- in response to user movement of the burner control beyond the first position and to a second position having a second offset from the off position that is greater than the first offset, generating an indication to a user to assist the user in properly positioning the burner control during ignition of the burner, wherein when the burner control is in the first position, the gas valve supplies insufficient gas flow to the gas burner to support ignition and when the burner control is in the second position, the gas valve supplies sufficient gas flow to the gas burner to support ignition, and wherein the indication is inactive when the burner control is positioned in the first position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.