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US 12,120,803 B2Granted
Cooking appliance with variable microwave and turntable timing
AssigneeHaier US Appliance Solutions, Inc.
InventorMark Heimerdinger
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of operating cooking appliance includes receiving, by a controller of the cooking appliance, an input indicating a time of a cooking operation. The method also includes activating a motor to rotate a turntable within a cooking cavity defined in a casing of the cooking appliance throughout the time of the cooking operation and activating a microwave module to deliver microwave energy into the cooking cavity during at least a portion of the rotation of the turntable. The method further includes varying at least one of a speed of the rotation of the turntable and a duty cycle of the microwave module during the cooking operation.
Claims13
A method of operating a cooking appliance, the method comprising:
- receiving, by a controller of the cooking appliance, an input indicating a time of a cooking operation;
- activating a motor to rotate a turntable at a rotation speed within a cooking cavity defined in a casing of the cooking appliance throughout the time of the cooking operation, whereby the turntable completes a revolution within the cooking cavity in a revolution time;
- activating a microwave module to deliver microwave energy into the cooking cavity during at least a portion of the rotation of the turntable, the microwave module located off-center to the cooking chamber, whereby a proximal area of the turntable is directly exposed to the microwave energy from the microwave module while the microwave module is activated and a distal area of the turntable is not directly exposed to the microwave energy from the microwave module while the microwave module is activated;
- and
- varying a duty cycle of the microwave module during the cooking operation, wherein the revolution time of the turntable is equal to a total time duration of the duty cycle of the microwave module, the total time duration of the duty cycle of the microwave module comprising an on portion and an off portion, the total time duration of the duty cycle of the microwave module is constant throughout the cooking operation, the total time duration comprising a plurality of equivalent segments, and wherein varying the duty cycle of the microwave module comprises performing the on portion during a first segment of the plurality of equivalent segments of the total time duration during a first iteration of the duty cycle of the microwave module and performing the on portion during a second segment of the plurality of equivalent segments of the total time duration during a second iteration of the duty cycle of the microwave module, whereby the proximal area of the turntable throughout the second iteration of the duty cycle of the microwave module is congruent with and entirely offset from the proximal area of the turntable throughout the first iteration of the duty cycle of the microwave module.
2 more elements
A method of operating a cooking appliance, the method comprising:
- receiving, by a controller of the cooking appliance, an input indicating a time of a cooking operation;
- activating a motor to rotate a turntable within a cooking cavity defined in a casing of the cooking appliance at a first speed during a first portion of the time of the cooking operation and at a second speed different from the first speed during a second portion of the time of the cooking operation;
- and
- activating a microwave module to deliver microwave energy into the cooking cavity during the first portion of the time of the cooking operation and deactivating the microwave module during the second portion of the time of the cooking operation, wherein the first speed is higher than the second speed, whereby an entire area of the turntable is directly exposed to the microwave module during the first portion of the time of the cooking operation.
1 more element
A method of operating a cooking appliance, the method comprising:
- receiving, by a controller of the cooking appliance, an input indicating a time of a cooking operation;
- activating a motor to rotate a turntable at a rotation speed within a cooking cavity defined in a casing of the cooking appliance throughout the time of the cooking operation, whereby the turntable completes a revolution within the cooking cavity in a revolution time;
- activating a microwave module for a plurality of duty cycles to deliver microwave energy into the cooking cavity during at least a portion of the rotation of the turntable, each duty cycle of the microwave module having a total time duration that is equal to the total time duration of every other duty cycle of the plurality of duty cycles of the microwave module;
- and
- varying each duty cycle of the plurality of duty cycles of the microwave module during the cooking operation, wherein the revolution time is equal to the total time duration of each duty cycle, the total time duration of each duty cycle comprising an on portion and an off portion, and wherein varying each duty cycle during the cooking operation comprises performing the on portion of the total time duration of a first duty cycle of the plurality of duty cycles before the off portion of the total time duration of the first duty cycle, the first duty cycle contemporaneous with a first revolution of the turntable, followed by performing the on portion of the total time duration of a subsequent duty cycle of the plurality of duty cycles after the off portion of the total time duration of the subsequent duty cycle, the subsequent duty cycle contemporaneous with a subsequent revolution of the turntable, wherein a first area of the turntable is proximate the microwave module during the on portion of the first duty cycle, a second area of the turntable is proximate the microwave module during the on portion of the subsequent duty cycle, and the second area of the turntable is congruent with and offset from the first area of the turntable.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.