Dual mode solid fuel grilling appliance
AssigneeDansons US, LLC
InventorsJustin Johnson, Perini Divya D. Valla Malla
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A combustion chamber sized to receive a quantity of solid fuel is in fluid communication with a cooking region of a grilling appliance. A control system is operable in at least a smoke mode and a temperature mode. When operated in the smoke mode, the control system operates a fuel delivery system and draft inducer in accordance with predetermined fuel and combustion air delivery schedules. When operated in the temperature mode, the control system operates the fuel delivery system based on a feedback signal derived from the temperature of the cooking region. A user interface operatively associated with the control system allows a user to operate the grilling appliance in either of the smoke mode or the temperature mode.
Claims26
A grilling appliance, comprising:
- a base;
- a lid operatively associated with said base, said lid being moveable between at least an opened position and a closed position, said base and said lid defining a cooking region therein when said lid is in the closed position;
- a combustion chamber operatively associated with said base, said combustion chamber having a combustion air inlet and an outlet, the outlet of said combustion chamber being in fluid communication with the cooking region, said combustion chamber sized to receive a quantity of solid fuel;
- a fuel delivery system operatively associated with said combustion chamber, said fuel delivery system operable to deliver solid fuel to said combustion chamber;
- a draft inducer having an air inlet and an air outlet, the air outlet of said draft inducer being fluidically connected to the combustion air inlet of said combustion chamber;
- a temperature sensor operatively associated with said cooking region;
- a control system operatively connected to said fuel delivery system, said draft inducer, and said temperature sensor, said control system being operable in at least:
- a smoke mode, wherein said control system operates said fuel delivery system and said draft inducer so that solid fuel within said combustion chamber is burned in a fuel-rich combustion mode;
- and
- a temperature mode, wherein said control system operates said fuel delivery system so that solid fuel within said combustion chamber is burned in a normal combustion mode, the normal combustion mode having a fuel/combustion air ratio that is lower than a fuel/combustion air ratio of the fuel-rich combustion mode, wherein said control system operates said fuel delivery system based on a preset temperature and an additive combination of a temperature sensed by said temperature sensor and a margin temperature;
- and
- a user interface operatively associated with said control system, said user interface allowing a user to operate said grilling appliance in either of the smoke mode or the temperature mode.
The grilling appliance of 1, further comprising an ignitor operatively associated with said combustion chamber, said ignitor being operatively connected to said control system, said control system being operable to energize said ignitor and to de-energize said ignitor.
The grilling appliance of claim of 3, wherein said ignitor is operatively associated with the air inlet of said combustion chamber so that when energized, said ignitor heats combustion air entering said combustion chamber to a temperature sufficient to initiate combustion of solid fuel contained within said combustion chamber.
A method of operating a grilling appliance, comprising:
- sensing the input of at least one of a smoke mode operation signal or a temperature mode operation signal;
- if the sensed input is a smoke mode operation signal, then:
- operating a fuel delivery system and a draft inducer of the grilling appliance so that solid fuel within a combustion chamber is burned in a fuel-rich combustion mode;
- and
- if the sensed input is a temperature mode operation signal, then:
- operating the fuel delivery system of the grilling appliance based on a preset temperature and an additive combination of a sensed temperature and a margin temperature so that solid fuel within the combustion chamber is burned in a normal combustion mode, the normal combustion mode having a fuel/combustion air ratio that is lower than a fuel/combustion air ratio of the fuel-rich combustion mode.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed by at least one computer processor, cause the computer processor to:
- sense the input of at least one of a smoke mode operation signal or a temperature mode operation signal;
- if the sensed input is a smoke mode operation signal, then:
- operate a fuel delivery system and a draft inducer of a grilling appliance so that solid fuel within a combustion chamber is burned in a fuel-rich combustion mode;
- and
- if the sensed input is a temperature mode operation signal, then:
- operate the fuel delivery system of the grilling appliance based on a preset temperature and an additive combination of a sensed temperature and a margin temperature so that solid fuel within the combustion chamber is burned in a normal combustion mode, the normal combustion mode having a fuel/combustion air ratio that is lower than a fuel/combustion air ratio of the fuel-rich combustion mode.
A grilling appliance having at least one cooking region, comprising:
- a combustion chamber having a combustion air inlet and an outlet, the outlet of said combustion chamber being in fluid communication with a cooking region of the grilling appliance, said combustion chamber sized to receive a quantity of solid fuel;
- a fuel delivery system operatively associated with said combustion chamber, said fuel delivery system operable to deliver solid fuel to said combustion chamber;
- a draft inducer having an air inlet and an air outlet, the air outlet of said draft inducer being fluidically connected to the combustion air inlet of said combustion chamber;
- a temperature sensor operatively associated with the cooking region, said temperature sensor producing an output signal related to the temperature of the cooking region;
- a control system operatively connected to said fuel delivery system, said draft inducer, and said temperature sensor, said control system being operable in at least:
- a smoke mode, wherein said control system operates said fuel delivery system and said draft inducer in accordance with predetermined respective fuel and combustion air delivery schedules based on the output signal produced by said temperature sensor and a preset temperature;
- and
- a temperature mode, wherein said control system operates said fuel delivery system based on the preset temperature and an additive combination of the output signal produced by said temperature sensor and a margin temperature;
- and
- a user interface operatively associated with said control system, said user interface allowing a user to operate said grilling appliance in either of the smoke mode or the temperature mode.
A method of operating a grilling appliance, comprising:
- sensing the input of at least one of a smoke mode operation signal or a temperature mode operation signal;
- if the sensed input is a smoke mode operation signal, then:
- operating a fuel delivery system and a draft inducer of the grilling appliance in accordance with predetermined respective fuel and combustion air delivery schedules based on a temperature of a cooking region of the grilling appliance and a preset temperature;
- and
- if the sensed input is a temperature mode operation signal, then:
- operating the fuel delivery system based on the preset temperature and an additive combination of the temperature of the cooking region of the grilling appliance and a margin temperature.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed by at least one computer processor, cause the computer processor to:
- sense the input of at least one of a smoke mode operation signal or a temperature mode operation signal;
- if the sensed input is a smoke mode operation signal, then:
- operate a fuel delivery system and a draft inducer of a grilling appliance in accordance with predetermined respective fuel and combustion air delivery schedules based on a temperature of a cooking region of the grilling appliance and a preset temperature;
- and
- if the sensed input is a temperature mode operation signal, then:
- operate the fuel delivery system based on the preset temperature and an additive combination of the temperature of a cooking region of the grilling appliance and the margin temperature.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.