EP3037734B1

EP3037734B1 - Portable cooking assembly with a foldable hood

Info

Publication number: EP3037734B1
Application number: EP15200534.4A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Simone BIOCCO; Emiliano Palma; Cristiano Damiani
Original assignee: Faber SpA
Current assignee: Faber SpA
Priority date: 2014-12-19
Filing date: 2015-12-16
Publication date: 2020-01-15
Anticipated expiration: 2035-12-16
Also published as: ES2781092T3; DK3037734T3; EP3037734A1; PL3037734T3

Description

The present invention concerns a cook assembly comprising a cooktop and its respective filtering hood, an assembly that, when not used, can have a space occupation extremely small, so as to make it portable.
Movable cooktops of reduced dimensions are known, to be used in small rooms or on campers or boats, or outdoor, and anyway in all of those applications wherein a reduced space occupation is essential or convenient.
These cooktops usually comprise one only or at most two rings, in which heating is traditionally provided by electrical resistors (if the possibility exists of using an electric power source) or via burners powered by a combustible gas (in particular a bottled combustible gas).
US 2010/282738 A discloses a cooking appliance, encompassing a base unit and a stove top, which can be tilted relatively to the base unit. TW M 457 851 U discloses a portable cooking stove with a smoke absorbing hood.
The present invention is inspired by a thought according to which the use of the cooktops as described above produces smokes and/or vapors and/or smells in any case, and no hood is usually provided (especially in the case that these cooktops are used outdoor) to prevent such smokes/vapors/smells from getting dispersed in the environment, thus constituting a source of a possible and not negligible disturbance for those who are in the neighborhood.
Therefore an object of the present invention consists of realizing a cooking assembly, comprising a small dimensions cooktop, which does not present the drawbacks mentioned above of the movable cooktops known so far.
Another object consists of realizing a cooking assembly of said type which, when its respective cooktop is not used, can assume a definitely smaller space occupation, so as to make it portable.
Such objects are achieved and their respective technical problems are solved thanks to the cooking assembly having the characteristics specified in the attached claims.
The invention will be more easily understandable from the following description of an explanatory embodiment thereof. In such description reference will be made to the attached drawings, wherein:

figure 1: is a perspective view of a cooking assembly according to the present invention, in its condition of use;
figure 2: is a front view of the cooking assembly according to figure 1;
figure 3: is a vertical cross-section along the trace 3-3 of figure 2;
figure 4: is a top view thereof;
figure 5: is a front view similar to that of figure 2, but in which the cooking assembly is shown in its non-use condition;
figure 6: is a side view, from the right, of the assembly shown in figure 1 in its non-use condition;
figure 7: is a rear view thereof;
figure 8: is a top view thereof.

As shown in the figures, the cooking assembly 10 comprises a roughly rectangular cooktop 12, of a movable type and having rather small dimensions. The figures also show that the cooktop 12 is provided with two cooking elements of different powers, identified by the reference numerals 14 and 16 respectively, which, in this specific case, use induction heating means connectable (via an appropriate electrical cable, not shown) to an electrical power source. However, it is obvious that the heating means can be of any other types and in particular heating means based on the use of electrical resistors or made up of burners receiving power from a bottled combustible gas.
To one of the longer edges of the cooktop 12 there is connected, via cylindrical hinge connection means 20, a suction hood 18 of a flattened type, also having a roughly rectangular shape, which can assume two extreme positions, namely an opening position (which corresponds to a condition of use of the assembly 10) represented in figures 1-4, and a closing position (equivalent to the non-use condition of the assembly 10) according to figures 5-8.
As shown in figure 3, the hood 18 comprises a suction grid 22 on its front face and is used as a support for conventional anti-grease filtering means 23 (in particular anti-grease filters of a washable type). In this specific case there are also provided conventional anti-smell filtering means 25 (in particular active carbons anti-smell filters, which shall be periodically replaced). A part of the external housing of the hood 18 is removable to make it possible to replace said filtering means.
The air flow sucked via the suction grid 22 is generated by an electrically operated tangential fan 24, whose delivery line is connected to an exhaust grid 26 visible in figures 3 and 8.
The hood 18 is also provided with lighting means consisting of a lighting strip 28 (better visible in figure 2) having an overturned-U shape, which follows the three free sides of the hood 18 at a certain distance and surrounds the grid 22 in correspondence with the mentioned three sides. The lighting strip 28 uses, as a light source, a set of LEDs which receive power via conventional electrical connections (not shown for the sake of simplicity) terminating in the mentioned removable electrical cable.
The upper panel 30 of the cooktop 12, which surrounds the cooking elements 14 and 16, is removable to make it possible to access the electronic circuits underneath used to control the latter, the fan 24, and the lighting means 28. The control electronic circuits also include a microswitch which makes it possible to deactivate the heating means used to heat the cooking elements 14 and 16 whenever the hood 18 is set to its closing position.
In the specific case here illustrated, the controls that allow to use the assembly 10 have been located on the upper panel 30 and have been collectively referred to with the reference numeral 32 (figures 1 and 4).
According to the invention, the tangential fan 24 is installed inside the cooktop housing. Connections are provided between its suction line and the suction grid 22, as well as between the fan delivery line and the outlet grid 26 when the cooking assembly is set to its condition of use (hood forming an angle of 90° with respect to the cooktop). This makes it possible to obtain a hood having a smaller thickness with respect to the example shown in figure 3. In this example, which is not part of the invention, the hood 18 incorporates the fan 24. According to the invention it is possible to obtain an assembly that, in the non-use condition, has a reduced thickness with respect to the assembly 10 illustrated in the figures.
It results from the foregoing that, thanks to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a portable cooking assembly having a very small space occupation, usable in practice wherever an electrical power source, or bottles of combustible gas, in the burners-based version, are available, an assembly that comprises a suction hood which allows to remove the smokes/vapors/smells generated by the use of its respective cooktop, thus preventing them for getting dispersed in the environment and causing disturbances. In particular, with reference to the figures, it can be noted that the cooking assembly according to the present invention can assume a configuration that resembles the so-called laptops, i.e. those battery powered computers which have reduced dimensions and weight.

Claims

A cooking assembly (10) comprising a cooktop (12), of a portable type and provided with at least one cooking element (14, 16), and one filtering hood (18), of a flattened type, provided with means (24) for sucking, via at least one sucking opening (22) thereof, the smokes and/or vapors produced by the use of the cooktop (12) to generate a flow which goes through anti-grease filtering means (23) which the hood (18) is provided with, said flow discharging, via at least one exhaust opening (26) which the hood (18) is also provided with, in the same environment wherein the cooking assembly (10) is installed, the suction opening or openings (22) of the hood (18) being provided on its surface facing the cooktop (12) and the exhaust opening or openings (26) on the remaining surface of the hood (18), wherein an edge of the hood (18) is hinged to a corresponding edge of the cooktop (12) so as to be capable of assuming two angular positions with respect to the cooktop (12), in one of which, the closing position, the hood (18) is superimposed to the cooktop (12) to make the assembly (10) assume the minimum space occupation in the non-use condition, whereas in the other position, or opening position, the hood (18) forms with the cooktop (12) a substantially right angle to make it possible to use the assembly (10) characterized in that the means for generating the suction flow of the hood (18) comprise an electrically operated tangential fan (24), the suction opening being formed of a grid (22) provided on the surface of the hood (18) facing the cooktop (12), whereas the exhaust opening consists of a grid (26) provided on the opposite surface of the hood (18), said tangential fan being housed inside the cooktop.
A cooking assembly (10) according to claim 1,
wherein the flow also goes through anti-smell filtering means (25) provided in the hood (18).
A cooking assembly (10) according to claim 1,
wherein the cooking element or elements (14, 16) are provided with heating means of an induction type.
A cooking assembly (10) according to claim 1,
wherein the cooking element or elements (14, 16) are provided with heating means of an electrical resistor type.
A cooking assembly (10) according to claim 1,
wherein the cooking element or elements (14, 16) are provided with heating means consisting of burners powered by a bottled combustible gas.
A cooking assembly (10) according to claim 1,
wherein the cooking element or elements (14, 16) are two.
A cooking assembly (10) according to claim 1,
wherein both the cooktop (12) and the hood (18) have such shapes and dimensions as to make the hood (18) exactly superimposible to the cooktop (12) in the non-use condition of the assembly (10).
A cooking assembly (10) according to claim 7,
wherein the shape of the cooktop (12) and of the hood (18), hence of the assembly (10), is rectangular in the non-use condition.
A cooking assembly (10) according to claim 1,
wherein the hood (18) is provided with lighting means (28) for lighting the cooktop (12).
A cooking assembly (10) according to claim 9,
wherein the lighting means (28) comprise LEDs.
A cooking assembly (10) according to claim 9,
wherein the lighting means form a lighting strip (28) arranged on the surface of the hood (18) facing the cooktop (12), the lighting strip (28) having an overturned-U shape which follows the free edges of the hood (18).