Power control for appliance using high inrush current element

In an apparatus including a heating element and power control means for applying power to said element at different levels corresponding to the selection of one of a plurality of manually operable power level settings, said settings including an OFF setting, the improvement wherein said power control means responds to the transition from an OFF setting to another selected power setting to activate said element at a power level sufficient to produce a visible glow therefrom for a preselected time prior to activating the element at a power level corresponding to said selected power setting.

A cooking appliance including a heating element, said element giving off a visible glow almost instantaneously when operated at a first predetermined power level, power control means including a plurality of operator selectable power settings including an OFF setting, means for applying power to said element at different power levels in response to selection of said settings, and transient means for detecting the transition from said OFF setting to one of said other settings and for applying, in response to said transition, power to said element at said first predetermined power level for a first preselected time.

A power control system for controlling power to a resistive heating element in response to a selection by an operator of one of a plurality of power level settings comprising:

• first transient means for applying power to said element at a first power level lower than that associated with the selected power level setting for a first preselected time,
• second transient means operative in response to the passage of said first preselected time for applying power to said element at a second power level higher than said first power level for a second predetermined time, and
• steady state means operative in response to the passage of said second preselected time to control power to said element in accordance with said selected power level.

The method of informing the operator of an electric heating appliance that the appliance has been turned ON comprising the steps of detecting the transition of said appliance from an OFF condition to a first selected power level, and operating the heating element of said appliance for a first preselected time in response to said transition at a first predetermined power level different from said first selected power level to produce a visible glow.

A power control system for controlling power to a heating element in response to selection by an operator of one of a plurality of power settings comprising:

• power control means for applying different levels of power to said element in response to selection of different ones of said settings, and
• transient control means responsive to selection of at least one of said settings for successively applying two distinct levels of power to said element for preselected times before applying power at the level associated with said selected one setting.