Lamp heated iron with temperature control means
AssigneeU.S. Philips Corporation
InventorKlaus Klinkenberg
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An electric smoothing iron is provided which has a soleplate (3) which has a low heat capacity and which is heatable by means of light energy produced by lamps (6), reflectors (7) being provided to reflect the light to the soleplate (3), and the temperature of the soleplate (3) being monitored by means of a sensor, which iron comprises a microprocessor (13) which receives the measurement values from the sensor (12) and compares said measurement values with presettable nominal values of a temperature control device (14), which microprocessor is connected to a power control unit (15) which acts as a half-wave control and operates the lamps separately, in series or in parallel.
Claims27
An electric iron comprising a soleplate (2) which has a low heat capacity and which is heatable by means of light energy produced by a plurality of lamps (6), reflectors (7) provided to reflect the light to the soleplate (2), a sensor (12) which monitors the temperature of the soleplate (2), and a microprocessor (13) which receives measurement values from the sensor (12) and compares said measurement values with presettable nominal values of a temperature control device (14), said microprocessor being connected to a power control unit (15) which acts as a half-wave control of the mains voltage by controlling the number of half-waves during which the lamps are ON and the number of half-waves during which the lamps are OFF and operates the lamps in accordance with the current power requirement,
- wherein responsive to the difference between the actual temperature and the nominal temperature remaining uninterruptedly below a predetermined value for a predetermined duration, the microprocessor identifies a condition of rest of the iron and switches back to a lower standby temperature which is safe for the fabric to be ironed, and
- wherein after identification of the rest condition the microprocessor stores and measures the soleplate temperature, computes a gradient therefrom and compares it with a preceding computed gradient, identifies predetermined changes as the start of the ironing process and switches to the previous nominal temperature.
An electric iron comprising a soleplate (2) which has a low heat capacity and which is heatable by means of light energy produced by a plurality of lamps (6), reflectors (7) being provided to reflect the light to the soleplate (2), and the temperature of the soleplate (2) being monitored by means of a sensor (12), and a microprocessor (13) which receives the measurement values from the sensor (12) and compares said measurement values with presettable nominal values of a temperature control device (14), said microprocessor being connected to a power control unit (15) which acts as a half-wave control of the mains voltage by controlling the number of half-waves during which the lamps are ON and the number of half-waves during which the lamps are OFF and operates the lamps in accordance with the current power requirement, wherein
- a transparent partition (3a) is disposed inside the housing (1) of the irons spaced from the inner side of the soleplate (2) between the lamps (6) and the soleplate (2), between which partition and the soleplate (2) a steam chamber (3b) is formed into which water or steam can be fed.
An electric iron as claimed in claim 26 wherein the microprocessor (13) has a timing element which at a given time intervals checks whether the nominal temperature of the soleplate (2) has changed relative to its actual temperature and is responsive to a difference between the nominal and the actual temperature to control the temperature of the soleplate to the new nominal temperature by increasing or reducing the light power.
An electric iron comprising a soleplate (2) which has a heat capacity of approximately 0.5 to 1.5.times.10.sup.-4 Wh/Kcm.sup.2 and which is heatable by means of light energy produced by a plurality of lamps (6), reflectors (7) being provided to reflect the light to the soleplate (2), and the temperature of the soleplate (2) being monitored by means of a sensor (12), and a microprocessor (13) which receives the measurement values from the sensor (12) and compares said measurement values with presettable nominal values of a temperature control device (14), said microprocessor being connected to a power control unit (15) which acts as a half-wave control of the mains voltage by controlling the number of half-waves during which the lamps are ON and the number of half-waves during which the lamps are OFF and operates the lamps in accordance with the current power requirement, wherein
- a transparent partition (3a) is disposed inside the housing (1) of the irons spaced from the inner side of the soleplate (2) between the lamps (6) and the soleplate (2), between which partition and the soleplate (2) a steam chamber (3b) is formed into which water or steam can be fed.
An electric iron comprising a soleplate (2) which has a low heat capacity and which is heatable by means of light energy produced by a plurality of lamps (6), reflectors (7) provided to reflect the light to the soleplate (2), a sensor (12) which monitors the temperature of the soleplate (2) and a microprocessor (13) which receives the measurement values from the sensor (12) and compares said measurement values with presettable nominal values of a temperature control device (14), said microprocessor being connected to a power control unit (15) which acts as a half-wave control of the mains voltage by controlling the number of half-waves during which the lamps are ON and the number of half-waves during which the lamps are OFF and operates the lamps in accordance with the current power requirement,
- wherein responsive to the difference between the actual temperature and the nominal temperature remaining uninterruptedly below about 1K for a duration of about twelve measuring cycles, the microprocessor identifies a condition of rest of the iron and switches back to a lower standby temperature which is safe for the fabric to be ironed, and
- wherein after identification of the rest condition the microprocessor (13) stores and continually updates the soleplate temperature, computes a gradient therefrom, stores said gradient and compares it with a preceding computed gradient, identifies distinct changes as the start of the ironing process and switches to the previous nominal temperature.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.