Pan sensor and heat generation unit having the pan sensor and cooking range having the heat generation unit and control method thereof

A heat generation unit comprising:

• a cooking pan;
• a radiant heater for supplying heat to the cooking pan;
• and
• a pan sensor installed in the radiant heater to sense whether the cooking pan is mounted above the radiant heater, the pan sensor having a sensor ring for detecting variation in electrostatic capacitance depending on whether the cooking pan is mounted above the radiant heater.

A cooking range comprising:

• a top plate for mounting a cooking pan thereon;
• one or more radiant heaters installed in the top plate for supplying heat to the cooking pan;
• one or more pan sensors, respectively installed in the radiant heaters, for sensing the cooking pan, each pan sensor having a sensor ring for detecting variation in electrostatic capacitance depending on whether the cooking pan is mounted above the radiant heater;
• and
• a controller for controlling each radiant heater based on a sensor output value of each pan sensor.

A control method of a cooking range including a cooking pan, a top plate, a radiant heater, a pan sensor and a controller, the method comprising:

• sensing whether the cooking pan is mounted on the top plate by a pan sensor;
• supplying power to the radiant heater by the controller to perform a cooking operation when sensing that the cooking pan is mounted;
• and
• blocking power supplied to the radiant heater by the controller to stop the cooking operation when sensing that the cooking pan is not mounted while the cooking operation is operated.