Back to results
US 5,350,903 AGranted
Cooking appliance having a cooling mechanism and method of operation
AssigneeKabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
InventorTamotsu Takei
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A cooking appliance has a cooking compartment accessed by a door. After cooking is finished, a sensor detects the temperature within the cooking compartment. Then a cooling fan cools components in the cooking appliance for a period of time dependent on the detected temperature. A control circuit changes the period for cooling in accordance with the time that the door is open while the fan is on.
Claims9
A cooking appliance, comprising;
- a) a cooking compartment for receiving food;
- b) a door, which is coupled to the cooking compartment, for accessing the cooking compartment;
- c) means, coupled to the cooking compartment, for heating food received in the cooking compartment;
- d) a cooling fan for cooling the cooking compartment;
- e) means for determining how long the door is open;
- and
- f) means, responsive to the determining means, for changing period for operating the cooling fan in relation to how long the determining means determines that the door is open.
4 more elements
A cooking appliance comprising:
- a) a cooking compartment for receiving food;
- b) a door, coupled to the cooking compartment, for accessing the cooking compartment;
- c) means, coupled to the cooking compartment, for heating food received in the cooking compartment;
- d) a cooling fan, coupled to the cooking compartment, for cooling the cooking compartment;
- e) means, coupled to the cooking compartment, for determining if the door is open;
- and
- f) means for reducing a period for operating the cooling fan as the door is open for a longer amount of time.
4 more elements
A cooking appliance comprising:
- a) a cooking compartment for receiving food;.
- b) a door, coupled to the cooking compartment, for accessing the cooking compartment;
- c) means, coupled to the cooking compartment, for heating food received in the cooking compartment;
- d) a cooling fan, coupled to the cooking compartment, for cooling the cooking compartment;
- e) means, coupled to the cooking compartment, for determining if the door is open;
- f) means for detecting a temperature within the cooking compartment and for determining an initial period for operating the cooling fan based on the temperature;
- and
- g) means for changing the initial period for operating the cooling fan based on the determination made by the determining means.
5 more elements
A cooking appliance, comprising:
- a) an outer case;
- b) a cooking compartment in the outer case for receiving food;
- c) a door, coupled to the outer case, for accessing the cooking compartment;
- d) at least one component between the outer case and the cooking compartment;
- e) means, coupled to the outer case, for cooling the at least one component;
- f) temperature detecting means, coupled to the outer case, for detecting the temperature within the outer case;
- g) means, coupled to the temperature determining means and the cooling means, for determining a period for operating the cooling means based on the temperature;
- h) means, coupled to the period determining means, for counting the period;
- i) open door determining means, coupled to the outer case, for determining if the door is open;
- and
- j) means, coupled to the period counting means and the open door determining means, for changing a counting speed of the counting means in accordance with the determination made by the open door determining means.
8 more elements
A cooking appliance, comprising:
- a) an outer case;
- b) a cooking compartment, located in the outer case, for receiving food;
- c) a door, coupled to the outer case, for accessing the cooking compartment;
- d) at least one component between the outer case and the cooking compartment;
- e) cooling means, coupled to the cooking compartment, for cooling the component after cooking is finished;
- f) temperature detecting means, coupled to the cooking compartments, for detecting the temperature within the cooking compartment;
- g) period determining means, coupled to the cooling means and the temperature detecting means, for determining a period for operating the cooling means based on the temperature detected by the temperature detecting means;
- h) counting means, coupled to the period determining means, for counting the period;
- i) open door detecting means, coupled to the outer case, for detecting if the door is open;
- and
- j) means, coupled to the counting means and the open door detecting means, for increasing a counting speed of the counting means while the door is open.
8 more elements
A method of controlling a cooling fan in a cooking appliance having a cooking compartment, comprising the steps of:
- detecting the temperature within the cooking compartment;
- determining a period of time for operating the cooling fan based on the detected temperature;
- determining how long a door of the cooking compartment is open;
- and
- changing the determined period of time in accordance with the determination of how long the door is open.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.