DE29511270U1 - Household electrical appliance, particularly a hotplate, stove or part of these appliances - Google Patents

Description

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The innovation concerns an electrical appliance for domestic use, in particular a hotplate, a stove or part of these appliances.

Such an appliance is generally made of sheet metal. With particular but not exclusive reference to hotplates, various types of these hotplates are known, which operate with gas or with electric heating elements. These hotplates generally have a work surface (on which the gas burners, for example, are arranged) made of enamelled sheet metal, stainless steel or glass ceramic.

These hobs (or parts of them, such as burner heads or electric hotplates) and domestic electrical appliances (cookers, dishwashers, refrigerators) in general have a number of disadvantages. For example, they have only a limited resistance to more or less localised mechanical stresses which could lead to permanent deformation of the external surface of the appliance (or part of an appliance, such as the metal worktop of the hob), loss of the enamel layer or breakage of the surface (such as a glass worktop).

Furthermore, in the case of a hotplate, the work surface made of glass ceramic is particularly expensive. The edges of such a work surface also generally have right-angled corners, which can be dangerous during transport.

Furthermore, there is little scope for giving the external surfaces of the household electrical appliance (or its stationary parts) different shapes or colours, because in both cases the nature of the metal or glass material of the appliance or part of the appliance (for example the working surface of the hob) prevents this and because the cost of the operations involved in creating such

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different shapes and colors are high.

One aim of the innovation is to create an electrical appliance for domestic use, in particular a hotplate, a stove or part of these appliances, in which the described disadvantages of the known electrical appliances are avoided.

A particular objective of the innovation is to create an electrical appliance for domestic use whose external surface has a high resistance to mechanical and thermal stresses, is easy to clean, can be made in a wide variety of shapes and colors, can be provided with surface ornaments, either patterns or high-relief ornaments or low-relief ornaments, and has very low manufacturing costs.

A further aim of the innovation is to create a free-standing electrical appliance for domestic use or a part of such an appliance, which is provided with mechanical fastening elements (for example brackets) in order to facilitate the installation of the appliance.

These and other objects which will be apparent to the person skilled in the art are achieved by the electrical device or a part of this device being designed in accordance with the appended claims.

The present innovation will be more clearly understood from the attached drawings, which are exemplary embodiments that do not limit the scope of protection. They show:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a working surface of a cooking plate according to the invention,

Fig. 2 is an exploded view of a gas cooking plate according to the invention,

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Fig. 3 is an exploded view of a hotplate according to the invention with electrical heating elements,

Figures 4, 5 and 6 show cross sections through different types of hotplates, these cross sections leading through a heating element of these hotplates, and

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a freestanding cooking appliance according to the invention.

In Figures 1-6, a cooking plate comprises a body forming a working surface 2 and a plurality of heating elements, which may be known gas burners (Figures 2 and 4), conventional electric heating plates 4, electrical resistance elements 5 (Figures 3 and 5) or conventional halogen lamps 6, which are associated with a conventional housing and reflector element 7 covered with a flat glass-ceramic element 8 (Fig. 6).

According to the innovation, at least the work surface 2 is made of ceramic, preferably and advantageously of individually fired ceramic, for example of the "tuttapasta" type. This ceramic surface is produced according to known processes used, for example, in the manufacture of tiles. This surface is thus made in one piece, which has a plurality of holes 10 which serve as seats for the heating elements 3, 4 and 6.

The surface of the single fired ceramic (or other glassy paste ceramic) may be flat, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, or may have a plurality of raised portions 11 (as shown in Figure 1) forming grids 12 for supporting food containers during food preparation. In the embodiment shown in Figure 1, the surface 2 has a portion 13 provided with holes 14 and a hole 15 for receiving corresponding

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members (buttons not shown) which serve to activate the heating elements and, in the case of gas burners, a standard push button for activating a spark generator (not shown) associated with the gas burners. The part 13 is separated from the part 17 (in which the holes 10 and the grids 12 are present) of the surface 2 by means of a raised part 18. The raised part 18 and the raised parts 11, as well as any support rings 20 which run around the holes 10 serving to accommodate the heating elements, are integral parts of the surface 2 (formed in one piece with this surface).

As mentioned, the surface 2 is manufactured according to methods used for the manufacture of tiles. This method includes a step in which the body of the tile (or surface 2) is shaped before the tile is placed in a kiln. Preferably and advantageously, mechanical members (such as the brackets 23 shown in Figures 4, 5 and 6) are connected to the surface before firing in order to enable the cooking plate 1 to be fixed to a common piece of kitchen furniture or to enable the heating elements to be supported.

Alternatively, a fastening member 24 for a corresponding bracket 23 is connected to the surface 2 (or better to the bottom 2A of the cooking plate). This fastening member and this bracket can also be connected to the cooking plate 1 after the surface 2 has been manufactured.

When the cooking plate 1 comprises gas burners, the gas burners comprise a conventional cup-shaped insert 26 which carries the gas nozzle, is inserted in the associated hole 10 and is bonded to the surface 2. In all cases, a layer, for example an annular layer, of sealing material 28, such as silicone, is arranged around the burners 3 or the heating plates 4 or the glass-ceramic elements 8.

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The heads 3A of the burners 3 can be of known types or can be made of ceramic material having the same shape and color as the surface 2. Similarly, the upper part of the electric heating plates 4 and an upper part of the buttons for switching on the heating elements can be made of ceramic material in order to improve the overall appearance of the cooking plate 1.

The cooking plate 1 may be a built-in type and connected to a free-standing cooker 100 (Fig. 7). This cooker comprises an oven 50, a control panel 51 with buttons 52 for operating and controlling the cooking plate 1 of the oven 51 and a movable lid 53 for covering the cooking plate 1. The cooker 100 has sides 55 and under the oven a known pull-out compartment 56 closed off by a front panel 57.

According to the invention, a front panel 60 of the oven 50 and/or the control panel 51 and the front panel 57 and/or at least the heads of the knobs 52 and/or the lid 53 and/or the sides 55 are made of preferably individually fired ceramic, which makes it possible to make the appearance of the electrical appliance very attractive. These parts of the electrical appliance have seats for the oven handle 63 and other seats or recesses required for supporting or accommodating the essential and necessary elements for using the appliance 1 or 100.

An electrical appliance for domestic use or a part of this appliance according to the invention can be manufactured in a large number of different surface shapes, colors and patterns by making the cooking plate from ceramic or from individually fired ceramic. This can give the electrical appliance a very aesthetic character at low manufacturing costs. Furthermore, the electrical appliance has a high resistance to thermal and mechanical stress.

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Various embodiments of the invention have been described. Other embodiments are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Claims (10)

JHI 94-021 -S ·'*; ·**5**&Igr;" I*&idigr; Protection claims 1. Electrical appliance for domestic use, for example a hotplate (I)/ a stove or the like, or a part of an electrical appliance, for example an oven door (50), the head (3A) of a burner (3), an electric heating plate (4) or the like, characterized in that it has a one-piece ceramic body, preferably made of individually fired ceramic. 2. Electrical device according to claim 1, characterized in that it has seats or recesses (10) which are necessary for holding the essential elements required for the use of the device (1, 100). 3. Electrical appliance according to claim 1, preferably a hotplate, characterized in that raised parts (11) are provided which act as support grids (12), are arranged near the seats (10) for the heating elements (3, 4, 6) and are integral parts of the body of the work surface (2). 4. Electrical device according to claim 3, characterized in that the individually fired ceramic body (2) has a part (13) with seats (14) for the actuating members of the heating elements (3, 4, 6), this part (13) being separated from a part (17) having the seats (10) of these heating elements by a raised part (18) formed integrally with the ceramic body. 5. Electrical appliance according to claim 3, characterized in that the seats (10) for the heating elements (3, 4, 6) of the individually fired ceramic body (2) have annular, raised parts (20) which are made in one piece with the ceramic body. 6. Electrical appliance according to claim 3, characterized in &Pgr;&Egr;&Igr; 94-021 ·· · j &iacgr;!'&igr;'&iacgr;&iacgr;··· that the individually fired ceramic body has members (23, 24) for fastening the hotplate to a conventional piece of kitchen furniture or for holding the heating elements. 7. Electrical appliance according to claim 3, preferably a hotplate, characterized in that it has a movable cover (53) made of ceramic. 8. Electrical appliance according to claim 3, characterized in that the heating elements, in particular the gas burners (3) and the upper parts of the electric heating plates (4), consist at least partially of ceramic. 9. Electrical appliance according to claim 3, preferably a stove, characterized in that a front plate (60) is provided which consists at least partially of ceramic. 10. Electrical appliance for domestic use, in particular a free-standing stove (100), characterized in that it has ceramic parts (1, 51, 53, 55, 57, 60).