Modular position and state sensing system and method

A controlled cooking system having a cooking system controller and including a removable filter pan, the controlled cooking system comprising:

• a multipurpose sensing module disposed proximate to the removable filter pan, the removable filter pan being removable from the controlled cooking system, and the multipurpose sensing module comprising:
• a capacitive sensor adapted to read a status parameter of fluid disposed within the filter pan;
• a sealed control box housing sensor electronics in communication with the capacitive sensor, the sensor electronics are adapted to receive the status parameter from the capacitive sensor;
• a control box connector portion adapted to allow the sensor electronics to communicate with the cooking system controller of the controlled cooking system;
• a second controller adapted to receive static and dynamic feedback from the sensor electronics based on the received status parameter;
• and
• the second controller is further adapted to determine whether the removable filter pan is in position based on a signal received from the control box connector portion when the control box connector portion and a cooking system connector portion of the controlled cooking system are blindly coupled together.