Heater
AssigneeKoninklijke Philips N.V.
InventorMarcel Sladecek
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present application relates to a heater (6) for heating food received in a container (2) to prevent overheating and/or scorching of the food. The heater (6) has a heating element (9) and a control unit configured to initially operate the heating element (9) at a higher initial temperature setting so that, when a container (2) is disposed adjacent to the heating element (9), the temperature of the container is increased rapidly, and to reduce the temperature setting of the heating element (9) to the operating temperature setting when the higher initial temperature setting is reached. The present application also relates to an apparatus for heating food and a method of operating a heater (6) for heating food.
Claims9
An apparatus for heating food comprising
- a container and
- a heater for heating food received in the container,
- the heater comprising a heating element and a control unit configured to operate the heating element (9) at a predetermined operating temperature setting, and
- the container being disposed adjacent to but spaced from the heater,
- wherein the control unit is configured to initially operate the heating element to heat up to a higher initial temperature setting so that the temperature of the container is increased rapidly to a container operating temperature, and to reduce the temperature setting of the heating element to the operating temperature setting when the higher initial temperature setting is reached so that the temperature of the container is maintained at its container operating temperature.
A method of operating an apparatus comprising a container and a heater for heating food received in the container, the heater comprising a heating element, and the container being disposed adjacent to but spaced from the heater, the method including the step of initially operating the heating element at a higher initial temperature setting so that the temperature of the container increases rapidly to a container operating temperature, and then reducing the temperature setting of the heating element to a lower predetermined operating temperature setting when the higher initial temperature setting is reached so that the temperature of the container is maintained at its container operating temperature.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.