Method and system for auto-adjusting an active range of a gas cooking appliance
AssigneeMidea Group Co., Ltd.
InventorsRichard W. Cowan, Vern A. Neal
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A cooking appliance includes a gas cooking element, an electromechanical valve fluidly coupled with the gas cooking element to regulate a flow of gas to the cooking element, a flame detector configured to detect an active state of a flame for the gas cooking element, a manually-actuated user control movable over a range of positions, and a controller coupled to the electromechanical valve, the flame detector, and the manually-actuated user control. The controller is configured to initiate a calibration process to determine an active range for the gas cooking element.
Claims29
A cooktop appliance, comprising:
- a plurality of gas burners;
- a plurality of electromechanical valves, each of which fluidly coupled with one of the plurality of gas burners to regulate a gas flow rate thereto;
- one or more flame detectors positioned to detect an active state of a flame for each of the plurality of gas burners;
- a plurality of manually-actuated user controls, each of which movable over a range of positions;
- and
- a controller coupled to the plurality of electromechanical valves, the one or more flame detectors, and the plurality of manually-actuated user controls to selectively control the plurality of electromechanical valves to regulate output levels of the plurality of gas burners in response to user input received through the plurality of manually-actuated user controls,
- wherein the controller is configured to initiate a calibration process to determine an active range for each of the plurality of gas burners, wherein the controller determines the active range for a first gas burner among the plurality of gas burners by controlling a first electromechanical valve for the first gas burner when the first gas burner is active to reduce the gas flow rate to the first gas burner while detecting the flame of the first gas burner with a first flame detector among the one or more flame detectors until the flame is detected to be extinguished to determine a minimum valve position of the electromechanical valve for the first gas burner at which the flame can remain alight.
A cooking appliance, comprising:
- a gas cooking element;
- an electromechanical valve fluidly coupled with the gas cooking element to regulate a gas flow rate thereto;
- a flame detector configured to detect an active state of a flame for the gas cooking element;
- a manually-actuated user control movable over a range of positions;
- and
- a controller coupled to the electromechanical valve, the flame detector, and the manually-actuated user control to selectively control the electromechanical valve to regulate an output level of the gas burner in response to user input received through the manually-actuated user control,
- wherein the controller is configured to initiate a calibration process to determine an active range for the gas cooking element, wherein the controller determines the active range for the gas cooking element by controlling the electromechanical valve for the gas cooking element when the gas cooking element is active to reduce the gas flow rate to the gas cooking element while detecting a flame of the gas cooking element with the flame detector until the flame is detected to be extinguished to determine a minimum valve position of the electromechanical valve for the gas cooking element at which the flame can remain alight.
A method of determining an active range for a gas cooking element, the method comprising:
- igniting the gas cooking element;
- controlling an electromechanical valve coupled with the gas cooking element to reduce a gas flow rate to the gas cooking element;
- detecting a flame of the gas cooking element to determine when the flame is extinguished;
- and
- determining a minimum valve position of the electromechanical valve for the gas cooking element at which the flame can remain alight.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.