EP2868979B1 - Cooking device and method for controlling a cooking device - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a cooking appliance for the preparation of food and a method for controlling a cooking appliance.

Cooking appliances, which are used for the preparation of food and are used in commercial kitchens, often have more than one electric heater, for example, to provide hot air or steam or to heat a Garfläche. Such cooking appliances have a high performance potential in order to prepare food to be cooked in high quality. Correspondingly, the individual performances of the heating devices are also high, so that the overall result is a high nominal connection capacity, which corresponds to the sum of the individual maximum outputs of the heating devices, the so-called gross output. The power potential of the cooking appliance correlates with the gross power of the cooking appliance. It has been found that the cooking device seldom requires the full nominal connected load, since in many applications the heaters are either not all at the same time or not at full power. It follows that during much of the operation, there is often a lower actual connected load than the nominal connected load of the cooking appliance. However, due to legal regulations, the entire electrical connection of the cooking appliance must be designed for the nominal connected load of the cooking appliance. Thus, the electrical protection of the cooking appliance must be designed for the nominal connected load. In addition to the electrical fuses must also structural conditions, such as available cable cross-sections of the electrical connection to be adapted to the nominal power consumption.

Especially in smaller kitchens, it may happen that the nominal connection performance of the cooking devices known from the prior art can not be reliably provided, so that operators of smaller kitchens could not set up these powerful cooking appliances. In addition, customers falsely associate a high nominal connected load with a high power requirement or a high current consumption.

Another problem that results from a high nominal connected load is that it is for the customer of a utility company is often more favorable if the entire connection does not have to be designed for a (high) nominal connected load, which in practice is seldom actually used.

From the prior art, in particular the US 2013/0213951 A1 . US 2005/173401 A1 . EP 1 267 129 A2 . EP 2 587 163 A1 as well as the EP 0 828 406 A1 , Among other things, ovens and / or stoves are known for the home, which can be set in some cases a maximum connection power value, which is not exceeded during operation.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a cooking appliance which has a lower nominal connected load with at least the same power potential.

The object of the invention is achieved by a cooking appliance for the preparation of food, with at least two heaters, each having a predetermined maximum heating power, a control with which the heaters are controlled, a programmable power storage, in which a permissible connection power value of the cooking appliance is deposited and a cooking process memory in which cooking processes to be processed are stored, wherein the controller is set up to control and / or regulate the power consumption of the heating devices with regard to cooking processes and the permissible connected load of the cooking appliance and wherein the controller is set up to handle the future To calculate the power requirement and compare it with the stored connection power value in order to optimally distribute the available connection power to the individual heating devices by the available connection power from the control is distributed to the upcoming cooking processes, so that the power consumption of the individual heaters is coordinated, whereby the controller is set up to operate the heaters so that the connected load does not exceed the stored connection power value at any time.

The basic idea of the invention is to intelligently control and / or regulate the connected load of the cooking appliance by means of a controller in such a way that the connected load requested by the cooking appliance is always below the predetermined power Connection power value is or at most equal to this. The connection power value stored in the cooking appliance thus acts as an upper barrier for the actual energy demanded by the electric heaters of the cooking appliance electrical services. Although the gross power of the cooking appliance may be higher than the connection power value stored in the programmable connected load memory. Nevertheless, the cooking appliance according to the invention has a lower nominal connected load with the same power potential. As a result, such high-performance cooking appliances can also be used in smaller kitchens in which an operation of a cooking appliance with such a performance potential was previously not possible. In addition, smaller sized electrical fuses can be used, which can reduce costs. Through the cooking process memory, the controller can calculate the future power requirement (in particular the future power consumption) and compare it with the available connection power, which is defined by the connection power value stored in the programmable connected load memory. The available connection power can then be distributed by the control to the upcoming cooking processes. As a result, the power consumption of the individual heaters is coordinated so that the performance potential of the cooking appliance can be optimally utilized. Thus, an optimal cooking result can be achieved, wherein an optimum cooking result is to be understood as a cooking result that is optimal under the present conditions. This is especially to be understood in terms of energy. Here, for example, a (slightly) worse cooking result, but this is not recognizable for the customer.

One aspect of the invention provides that the connected load value is below 80% of the sum of the maximum heating powers of the heaters, in particular below 60%. Such a reduction in the nominal connected load is already sufficient to allow the majority of smaller kitchens to operate such a powerful cooking appliance.

In particular, a priority list is stored in the cooking process memory or a priority control is installed on the basis of which the controller calculates and allocates the distribution of the available connected load to the heating devices. The priority regulator is based on information from the cooking process memory, the cooking process steps to be served next, their power requirement, the available connection power and the heating requirement of a heating device. Through the priority list, particularly high-performance cooking processes can be given preference, so that It is guaranteed that the food is optimally prepared. High-performance cooking processes can be frying or frying processes, whereas preheating processes or holding processes with lower power consumption have a lower priority and thus a lower priority.

According to a further aspect of the invention, the programmed connection power value is specified by the manufacturer. This can not be changed by the user of the cooking appliance, whereby the reliability of the cooking device is ensured.

According to one aspect of the invention, the heating devices are associated with at least two separate cooking areas of the cooking appliance, in particular two pots. This makes it possible to operate a cooking appliance with two separate cooking areas or cooking chambers so that the nominal power consumption of the cooking appliance is less than the gross power, while if necessary, the associated with a crucible heater can be operated with a power that is higher than that Half of the nominal connected load.

A further aspect of the invention provides that the heating devices are assigned to different cooking zones of a cooking surface. Here, too, there is the advantage that, if required, one of the heaters can be operated at a high power, which in one example with two heaters is higher than half the nominal connected load, without this connected load being exceeded during operation of the cooking appliance.

In particular, the heaters are assigned to different cooking zones in a cooking chamber. These may be different types of heating, which at least deliver their heating power in a common cooking chamber. The heaters can also be arranged in the common cooking chamber. For example, the heaters are an infrared radiation source and a microwave source.

Furthermore, the object of the invention is achieved by a method for controlling a cooking appliance of the aforementioned type, wherein the controller accesses the connection value memory in order to read out the connection power stored there and evaluate the upcoming cooking processes, on the basis of Evaluation, a prioritization takes place and the controller divides the available connection power according to the prioritization on the heaters so that the permissible connected load is not exceeded. The process ensures that the food to be cooked can be optimally prepared, whereby the connection performance value stored in the programmable connected load memory is not exceeded. Thus, although the connected load is less than the sum of the gross power of the heaters, the cooking appliance may have corresponding performance potential over many operating ranges of the gross power. An optimal cooking preparation is to be understood as a cooking preparation that is optimal under the present conditions. In this case, for example, a (slightly) worse Garzubereitung present, which is not recognizable for the customer.

A further aspect of the invention provides that the controller, when it allocates the heating power of the individual heaters within the permissible connection power, takes into account the next cooking process steps to avoid that one of the heaters can not then be allocated the heating power which is in the With regard to the cooking process step, it would actually be necessary. The controller can "look to the future" and thereby take into account the future power consumption. This allows the controller to run the currently running cooking processes in a modified compared to the normal state mode, for example, slightly delayed to prevent that it comes in one of the following process steps to a performance bottleneck, since the barrier of the nominal connected load attacks.

In particular, as a result of the prioritization, the controller may temporarily completely block a cooking zone associated with one of the heaters. This happens when at least a second very intensive cooking process is to be started, wherein the then required connection power of the cooking appliance would be above the available power connection. Here, the controller intervenes in such a way that it temporarily blocks a cooking zone so as not to jeopardize the quality of the cooking process due to a power loss.

For example, the controller can control two cooking zones of the cooking appliance in particular in such a way that they are actuated in cycles so that the total connected load is less than the rated power stored in the programmable connected load memory.

Furthermore, the controller can control a multiplicity of heating devices, which are assigned to a single cooking surface, in such a way that, overall, a homogeneous power distribution results on the cooking surface, which has no power losses compared to a permanent heating power of the heating devices.

Furthermore, the cooking appliance may have heating devices which have such a high heating power that even results in an increased power potential of the cooking appliance. In extreme cases, each of the heaters may have a maximum power consumption corresponding to the nominal connected load of the cooking appliance. The connected load of the entire cooking appliance is nevertheless lower than the gross output due to the control and the stored connection power value. As a result, cooking devices with a higher performance potential can be provided with a constant nominal connected load.

A further aspect of the invention provides that the controller hides or marks certain cooking processes on the basis of the evaluation of the upcoming cooking processes, so that they can not be activated directly by a user, in particular power-intensive cooking processes. By hiding or marking, the user is indirectly informed that the available connection power is insufficient to start the desired cooking process. This ensures that the user does not think of a malfunction of the cooking appliance if the cooking process selected by him does not start. Due to the blanking he realizes that this cooking process is currently not available.

Furthermore, the controller can control and / or regulate at least one further cooking appliance, so that the available connection power is divided between the at least two cooking appliances. This optimally distributes the total available power to all cooking appliances. each Cooking device may have its own controller, which communicates with the control of another cooking appliance. The controller calculates the power that needs to be provided for each cooking appliance and distributes the available power accordingly. Alternatively, a first cooking appliance may have a controller that communicates with the other cooking appliance so that the first cooking appliance may be considered as a kind of master cooking appliance.

In particular, after the evaluation of the upcoming cooking processes and the available connected load, the controller can specify cooking process sequences or times for the start of cooking processes in order to optimally utilize the available connection performance. The user thus receives suggestions from the control of the cooking appliance in order to obtain an energetically optimal preparation. To this end, the controller may include a planning unit that optimally plans all upcoming cooking processes energetically.

• Figur 1 eine schematische Darstellung eines erfindungsgemäßen Gargeräts, und
• Figur 2 ein Flussdiagramm, das das Verfahren wiedergibt.

Further advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from the following description and the drawings, to which reference is made. In the drawings show:

• FIG. 1 a schematic representation of a cooking appliance according to the invention, and
• FIG. 2 a flow chart that reflects the process.

FIG. 1 shows a cooking appliance 10, which is used for the preparation of food, wherein the cooking appliance 10 has a controller 12. The controller 12 controls and / or regulates a first heating device 14 and a second heating device 16, which are associated with a first cooking region 18 and a second cooking region 20, respectively.

The two cooking zones 18, 20 can be two separate cooking chambers, for example two different crucibles, or two cooking zones of a common cooking surface 22. These two generally different embodiments of the cooking appliance are indicated by the dashed line between the two cooking regions 18, 20 in FIG. 1 indicated schematically.

Alternatively, the two cooking areas 18, 20 may be provided in a common cooking space, so that the heating devices 14, 16 are assigned to the common cooking space, in particular are arranged there. For example, the heaters 14, 16 may be an infrared radiation source and a microwave source.

The controller 12 is also connected to a power storage 24 and a cooking process memory 26. In Garprozessspeicher 26 are different cooking processes that can run the cooking appliance 10, and the cooking processes associated with prioritized, can be accessed by the controller 12.

In the connected value memory 24, a connection power value can be stored by the manufacturer, which determines the maximum connected load of the cooking device 10. This may be less than the gross output of the individual heaters 14, 16. An operator of the cooking appliance 10 has no access to the connected value memory 24 and can not change the connection power value defined therein, which ensures the operational safety of the cooking appliance 10.

The connection power value stored in the connection value memory 24 is taken into account by the controller 12 at any time during the operation of the cooking device in such a way that the actual power demanded by the heating devices 14, 16 is never higher than the connection power value. The connection power value thus acts as an upper limit for the power consumption of the two heaters 14, 16.

This ensures that the cooking appliance 10 has a nominal connected load that is below the gross power of the two heaters 14, 16. In other words, the nominal connection performance of the cooking appliance 10 can be determined by the connection power value by the manufacturer, whereby the cooking appliance 10 can be set and set up to the individual wishes or connection-related conditions of the operator of the cooking appliance 10 and still has a high performance potential corresponding to the gross output.

In general, the controller 12 controls and / or regulates the at least two heating devices 14, 16 as a function of the connection power value stored in the connection value memory 24 and the prioritization of the cooking processes stored in the cooking process memory 26. The controller 12 evaluates the forthcoming cooking processes and the generally available connection performance.

Optionally, an external energy management system 28 may also be provided (shown in dashed lines), which serves to regulate the peak loads of the cooking appliance 10. However, the energy management system 28 does not lead to a reduction of the connected load and thus also not to a reduction in the need for protection, as is provided according to the invention by the controller 12 with the connected-value memory 24 and the cooking process memory 26.

The exact operation of the controller 12 is based on the in FIG. 2 shown method for controlling the cooking appliance 10, which is shown in the form of a flow chart.

First, the controller 12 accesses the cooking process memory 26 and determines the upcoming cooking processes and the associated power consumption of the heaters 14, 16.

On the basis of the upcoming cooking processes and the associated power consumption is determined in the controller 12, whether a regulation of the heaters 14, 16 is necessary. This is necessary when the upcoming cooking processes result in a power consumption that exceeds the connection power value stored in the connection value memory 24.

If the power consumption of the heaters 14, 16 is below the stored connection power value, then a regulation is not necessary, and the heaters 14, 16 are controlled accordingly by the controller 12. The total power required by the upcoming cooking processes can thus be provided by the cooking appliance 10, since it is within the available connection power.

However, if the power consumption to be expected from the heaters 14, 16 exceeds the power rating, then the controller must 12 regulate the heaters 14, 16. For this purpose, the controller 12 again accesses the cooking process memory 26 to determine the prioritization of the respective upcoming cooking processes, which are also stored in the cooking process memory 26.

Due to the prioritization individual cooking processes can be classified with a higher prioritization than other cooking processes, so that they are preferably treated by the controller 12. Such cooking processes, which have higher prioritization, are typically energy intensive cooking processes, such as deep frying or frying, with processes such as preheating or temperature maintenance having less prioritization. Would reduce the heating power during searing, this would affect the food; for a seared steak it is essential that a high energy input occurs over a short period of time. During a preheat or hold phase, on the other hand, the brief interruption or reduction of the energy supply hardly has any effect; the only consequence is a longer process time. In general, low-priority cooking processes are those cooking processes in which a time delay does not lead to any loss of quality of the cooked food.

After determining the prioritization of the respective cooking processes, the controller 12 calculates the activation time of the respective heaters 14, 16. For example, by means of a nested clocking of the two heaters 14, 16, a reduction in performance can be achieved which is sufficient for the connection power then required Cooking device 10 is below the connection power value.

If the requested total power of the cooking device 10 can not be lowered sufficiently by a clocking of the two heaters 14, 16, the controller 12 can activate one of the two heaters 14, 16 with a time delay or lower their heating power during the cooking process. In the case of energy-weaker cooking processes, this results in an extension of the cooking process, since they typically have a lower prioritization than energy-consuming processes, so that, for example, a heating up of a soup is delayed somewhat.

The cooking appliance 10 can thus execute successive cooking processes in succession via the controller 12 in such a way that the food items located on the respective cooking areas 18, 20 are optimally prepared, with in the worst case only a time delay of a cooking process.

In general, an optimal cooking result or optimal cooking preparation can be achieved. An optimal cooking result or optimum cooking preparation is understood to mean a cooking result which is optimal under the present conditions. For example, there may also be a (slightly) worse cooking result or a (slightly) worse cooking preparation, which, however, is not recognizable to the customer. However, the energy distribution is considered optimal, so that under the given circumstances an optimal cooking result is present.

If the upcoming cooking processes in both cooking zones 18, 20 are intensive in terms of power, the controller 12 can even temporarily block one of the two heating devices 14, 16 and the associated cooking zone 18, 20. This ensures that no cooking process is started, which could not be enough power in the course of the cooking process suddenly available. As a result, an optimal cooking result is always achieved.

The use of only one of the two cooking areas 18, 20 is unproblematic, since the connection power value is typically above 50% of the gross power of the cooking appliance 10.

As mentioned above, the at least two cooking zones 18, 20 may represent cooking zones of the common cooking surface 22. Especially with such an embodiment of the cooking appliance 10, the at least two associated heaters 14, 16 can be switched clocked by the controller 12, so that the overall result is a reduced nominal connected load of the cooking appliance 10.

The heaters 14, 16 can each have a power that is quite high compared to the nominal connected load of the cooking appliance, for example, in the order of 60% to 90%. This results If necessary, a high performance in a cooking area, without the cooking appliance requires a high power connection.

The controller 12 controls the at least two heaters 14, 16 so that they never simultaneously provide their maximum heating power. This is guaranteed by the connection power value stored in the connection value memory 24, which is used by the controller 12. The controller 12 controls, for example, the two heaters 14, 16 in such a way that a total of no performance losses on the cooking surface 22 occur.

The controller 12 may also hide due to the evaluation of the upcoming cooking processes certain cooking processes. By hiding these cooking processes, which are particularly intensive in terms of performance such as frying, it is ensured that they can not be selected by the user. This clarifies to the user that this desired cooking process is currently too high-powered to be executed.

Furthermore, the controller 12 indicates after the evaluation of the upcoming cooking processes and the available connection power cooking process sequences or times for the beginning of cooking processes. As a result, the cooking processes desired by the operator can run in a planned manner in order to make optimal use of the available connection power in terms of energy. For this purpose, the controller 12 may comprise a planning unit. The operator can, for example, enter that certain food items should be cooked at a certain time, whereupon the controller 12 plans the individual cooking processes accordingly and prepares energetically optimal combinations of the cooking processes or proposes to the operator for selection, which he can then select. The items to be cooked may be, for example, pasta, potatoes, vegetables, meat or other food items.

Furthermore, the controller 12 of the cooking appliance 10 can communicate with a controller 12 of at least one further cooking appliance 10 and control and / or regulate the further cooking appliance 10 accordingly. Alternatively, the further cooking appliance 10 can also be connected to the cooking appliance 10, so that the one controller 12 controls the further cooking appliance 10 directly. On the whole, this makes it possible to split the available connection power to the at least two cooking devices 10.

Claims (13)

1. A cooking appliance (10) for preparing food to be cooked, comprising at least two heating devices (14, 16) which each have a predetermined maximum heating power, a controller (12) which controls the heating devices (14, 16), a programmable connection value memory (24) in which an admissible connection power value of the cooking appliance (10) is deposited, and a cooking process memory (26) in which cooking processes to be executed are deposited, wherein the controller (12) is configured to control and/or regulate the power consumption of the heating devices (14, 16) with regard to forthcoming cooking processes and the admissible connection power of the cooking appliance (10), and wherein the controller (12) is configured to calculate the future power demand and compare it with the deposited connection power value, in order to optimally distribute the available connection power to the individual heating devices by distributing the available connection power from the controller to the forthcoming cooking processes, so that the power consumption of the individual heating devices is adjusted to each other, whereby the controller (12) is configured to operate the heating devices (14, 16) such that the connection power does not exceed the deposited connection power value at any time.
2. The cooking appliance (10) according to claim 1, characterized in that the connection power value lies below 80 % of the sum of the maximum heating powers of the heating devices (14, 16), in particular below 60 %.
3. The cooking appliance (10) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that in the cooking process memory (26) a priority list is deposited or a priority control is installed, on the basis of which the controller (12) calculates and assigns the distribution of the available connection power to the heating devices (14, 16).
4. The cooking appliance (10) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the programmed connection power value has been fixed by the manufacturer.
5. The cooking appliance (10) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the heating devices (14, 16) are associated to at least two separate cooking zones (18, 20) of the cooking appliance (10), in particular to two pans.
6. The cooking appliance (10) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the heating devices (14, 16) are associated to different cooking zones (18, 20) of a cooking area (22).
7. The cooking appliance (10) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the heating devices (14, 16) are associated to different cooking zones (18, 20) in a cooking space.
8. A method for controlling a cooking appliance (10) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the controller (12) accesses the connection value memory, in order to read out the connection power value deposited there, and evaluates the forthcoming cooking processes, that on the basis of the evaluation a prioritization is made, and that the controller (12) distributes the available connection power to the heating devices (14, 16) corresponding to the prioritization such that the admissible connection power value is not exceeded.
9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that the controller (12), when it assigns the heating power of the individual heating devices (14, 16) within the admissible connection power, takes account of the next cooking process steps to be executed, in order to avoid that one of the heating devices (14, 16) then cannot be assigned the heating power which would actually be necessary with regard to the cooking process step.
10. The method according to any of claims 8 and 9, characterized in that as a result of the prioritization of a cooking zone (18, 20) to which one of the heating devices (14, 16) is associated, the controller (12) can block completely at times.
11. The method according to any of claims 8 to 10, characterized in that due to the evaluation of the forthcoming cooking processes the controller (12) fades out or marks certain cooking processes, so that the same cannot directly be activated by a user, in particular power-intensive cooking processes.
12. The method according to any of claims 8 to 11, characterized in that the controller (12) controls and/or regulates at least one further cooking appliance (10), so that the available connection power is distributed to the at least two cooking appliances (10).
13. The method according to any of claims 8 to 12, characterized in that after the evaluation of the forthcoming cooking processes and of the available connection power, the controller (12) indicates cooking process sequences or times for the beginning of cooking processes, in order to optimally utilize the available connection power.

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