Carbon monoxide sensed oven cleaning apparatus and method
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsKresimir Odorcic, Omar Haidar, Robert Cissell, Michael McGonagle, Scott Horning
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A self-cleaning oven includes an oven cavity, a gas sensor in flow communication with the oven cavity, and a controller configured to select one of a plurality of self-clean cycle times based upon a peak value of sampled signals of the gas sensor.
Claims21
A self-cleaning oven comprising:
- an oven cavity;
- a gas sensor in flow communication with the oven cavity;
- a controller configured to select one of a plurality of self-clean cycle times based upon a peak value of an output signal from said gas sensor in a self-clean cycle;
- and
- a cooling fan, said controller configured to cycle said fan on and off, and, when said fan is off, to read a sensor output from said gas sensor.
A self-cleaning oven comprising:
- an oven cavity;
- an exhaust vent in flow communication with said cavity;
- a gas sensor in flow communication with said exhaust vent;
- a controller configured to select one of a plurality of predetermined self-clean cycle times based upon a peak value of an output signal of said gas sensor;
- and
- a cooling fan, said controller configured to cycle said fan on and off according to predetermined on and off time parameters, said controller further configured to sample a gas sensor output when said fan is off.
A self-cleaning oven comprising:
- an oven cavity;
- an exhaust vent in flow communication with said cavity;
- a gas sensor in flow communication with said exhaust vent;
- a cooling fan;
- and
- a controller configured to:
- cycle said fan on and off for a predetermined number of times in a self-clean cycle, and, when said fan is off, to read a sensor output from said gas sensor;
- once a predetermined number of sensor readings have been obtained, identifying a peak value of said readings;
- and
- based upon said identified peak value of said readings, selecting one of a plurality of predetermined self-clean cycle times based upon said identified peak value.
A method of controlling an oven in a self-clean cycle, the oven including an oven cavity and a gas sensor in flow communication with the oven cavity, the oven further including a controller receiving an output signal from said gas sensor and operatively coupled to an oven heating element to raise a temperature of the oven cavity, said method comprising:
- initiating a self-clean cycle when activated by a user;
- operating the oven heating element to heat the oven cavity;
- sensing a level of gas in said oven cavity at predetermined intervals over a predetermined time period;
- based on said sensed gas levels, identifying one of a plurality of soil levels in the oven cavity and selecting a self-clean time value in response to the sensed gas levels;
- subtracting a reference value from a peak value to generate an absolute value;
- and
- comparing the absolute value with at least one pre-determined soil level to determine the self-clean time value.
A method of controlling an oven in a self-clean cycle, the oven including an oven cavity and a gas sensor in flow communication with the oven cavity in an exhaust vent, the oven further including a controller receiving an output signal from said gas sensor and operatively coupled to an oven heating element to raise a temperature of the oven cavity, the oven including a cooling fan in flow communication with said controller, said method comprising:
- initiating a self-clean cycle when activated by a user;
- operating the oven heating element to heat the oven cavity;
- establishing a reference signal from the gas sensor in a first stage of the self-clean cycle;
- cycling the fan on and off in a second stage of the self-clean cycle;
- sensing a level of gas in said exhaust vent in an off portion of each cycling of the fan to obtain a predetermined number of sensor readings;
- identifying a peak value of the sensor readings in the second stage;
- subtracting the reference signal from the peak value to determine an absolute value of the sensor readings;
- and
- based upon the absolute value of the sensor readings, selecting one a plurality of predetermined self-clean times.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.