ES2441647R1 - Induction heating device with a control unit - Google Patents

Abstract

Induction heating device with a control unit. # The invention relates to an induction heating device (12), in particular, to an induction cooking field device, with at least three heating units by induction (20, 22, 24, 26), at least two heating frequency units (30, 35), at least one control unit (14) and at least one connection unit (40), the which has at least a first connection module (50) that is provided for, depending on signals from the control unit (14), to connect any two of the at least three induction heating units (20, 22, 24, 26) in parallel to different heating frequency units (30, 35), where the heating frequency units (30, 35) are operated during operation by different phases (32, 37) of a multi-phase current connection , in order to achieve greater total heating power and / or improved flexibility in a distribution of total available power.

Claims (2)

SPANISH OFFICE OF THE PATENTS AND BRAND Application no .: 201131970 SPAIN Date of submission of the application: 05.12.2011 Priority Date: REPORT ON THE STATE OF THE TECHNIQUE 51 Int. Cl.: H05B6 / 12 (2006.01)  RELEVANT DOCUMENTS

Category

56 Documents cited Claims Affected

X

WO 2011135470 A1 (BSH BOSCH SIEMENS HAUSGERAETE et al.) 03.11.2011, 1-9

page 1, lines 12-19,28-32; page 2, lines 1-10; page 3, lines 15-34; page 4, lines 1-5;

page 5, lines 16-26; page 8, line 22 - page 10, line 11; page 10, line 21 - page 11,

line 9; page 12, lines 18-33; Figures 2a, 4.

TO

EN 2358819 A1 (BSH ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES SPAIN) 16.05.2011, one

page 4, lines 4-8; figures 1-2.

TO

WO 2005104621 A1 (JUNKER GMBH O et al.) 03.11.2005, one

summary; Figures 1-5.

TO

EN 2338863 T3 (BSH BOSCH SIEMENS HAUSGERAETE) 05.13.2010, 1-2

summary; Figures 1-4.

TO

ES 2128941 A1 (BALAY SA) 16.05.1999, 1-2

summary; Figure 1.

Category of the documents cited X: of particular relevance Y: of particular relevance combined with other / s of the same category A: reflects the state of the art O: refers to unwritten disclosure P: published between the priority date and the date of priority submission of the application E: previous document, but published after the date of submission of the application

This report has been prepared • for all claims • for claims no:

Date of completion of the report 02/14/2014

Examiner J. M. Vázquez Burgos Page 1/5

REPORT OF THE STATE OF THE TECHNIQUE Minimum documentation sought (classification system followed by classification symbols) H05B Electronic databases consulted during the search (name of the database and, if possible, terms of search used) INVENES, EPODOC, WPI, INTERNET WRITTEN OPINION Date of Written Opinion: 02.22.2014 Statement

Novelty (Art. 6.1 LP 11/1986)

Claims Claims 1-9 IF NOT

Inventive activity (Art. 8.1 LP11 / 1986)

Claims Claims 1-9 IF NOT

The application is considered to comply with the industrial application requirement. This requirement was evaluated during the formal and technical examination phase of the application (Article 31.2 Law 11/1986).  Opinion Base.- This opinion has been made on the basis of the patent application as published. WRITTEN OPINION  1. Documents considered.- The documents belonging to the state of the art taken into consideration for the realization of this opinion are listed below.

Document

Publication or Identification Number publication date

D01

WO 2011135470 A1 (BSH BOSCH SIEMENS HAUSGERAETE et al.) 03.11.2011

D02

EN 2358819 A1 (BSH APPLIANCES SPAIN) 05/16/2011

D03

WO 2005104621 A1 (JUNKER GMBH O et al.) 03.11.2005

D04

ES 2338863 T3 (BSH BOSCH SIEMENS HAUSGERAETE) 05/13/2010

D05

ES 2128941 A1 (BALAY SA) 05/16/1999

 2. Statement motivated according to articles 29.6 and 29.7 of the Regulations for the execution of Law 11/1986, of March 20, on Patents on novelty and inventive activity; quotes and explanations in support of this statement The claimed invention discloses an induction heating device with at least 3 heating units, 2 frequency units, 1 control unit and several connection modules. The first allows two of the heating units to be connected in parallel with different frequency units, which are fed by different phases. A second connection module allows two of the heating units to be connected to different resonance units. Likewise, the control unit is adapted to, after a time t, have connected a higher number of heating units in an alterative or sequential manner, and also to alternate between two frequency units that which feeds to a heating unit. The document of the state of the art closest to the invention is D01 and discloses a cooking device suitable for the use of induction, in which there is a control unit adapted to control a connection unit capable of establishing joints electric between two inverters and a set of four heating units, with any possible combination of two pairs of two elements on each side. Claim 1 For clarity, and as far as possible, the same wording used in claim 1 is used. The references in parentheses correspond to D01. The technical characteristics that are not found in document D01 are indicated in square brackets and in bold. Induction heating device (Figure 2a), especially induction cooking field device, with at least three induction heating units (L1, L2, L3, L4), at least two frequency units of heating (28, 30), at least one control unit (14) and at least one connection unit (40), which has at least one first connection module that is provided for, depending on signals from the control unit (14), connect any two of the at least three induction heating units (L1, L2, L3, L4) in parallel to different heating frequency units (28, 30) (10, page 8, line 22 - page 10, line 11) [where the heating frequency units are operated during operation by different phases of a multi-phase current connection]. The main difference between document D01 of the closest state of the art and the invention claimed in 1 is the way of feeding each of the frequency units: in D01 it is based on the same source of alternating (single-phase), and in 1 by different phases of a polyphase current. The technical effect that this implies is that of allowing a greater heating power, since in 1 each inverter has twice the power than in D01. The objective technical problem underlying this difference is to increase the alternating power of the inverters. Its resolution (using polyphase feeds instead of monophasics) is considered to be well known in the state of the art (Documents D02 and D03 are examples of this), so that a person skilled in the art would solve said technical problem with a reasonable expectation of success, without resorting to inventive activity. Therefore, in light of D01, the invention lacks inventive activity as set forth in article 8 of the 1986 Patent Law. Claims 2 to 9 The second connection unit object of 2 would not be found in D01, although the connection unit contained in said document is suitable for connecting two different elements to any two of a set of up to four other elements. Since the object of 2 is a unit capable of connecting two different resonance units to any two of at least 3 heating units, one skilled in the art would resort without the need for inventive activity to the solution set forth in D01 to, with an expectation Reasonable success, obtain the characteristics claimed in 2.  WRITTEN OPINION The adaptation of the control unit claimed in 3, to simultaneously switch (synchronize) the connection units object of 1 and 2 respectively would be implicit in D01, since the unit shown therein is adapted to control the temporary activation of the elements of connection comprising said unit (page 5, lines 16-26; page 10, lines 21-page 11, line 9), the extension of synchronization to additional elements not having any technical difficulty that a person skilled in the art could not overcome without need to resort to inventive activity. The object of claim 4 would be included in that of 1, since compliance with the latter implies that two heating units of the at least three can each be connected to a different frequency unit from that of the other heating unit. And this includes the case object of 4, where one of the frequency units is connected to at least one of the heating units. Assuming that the connection between resonance units and heating units is made with the same type of unit used in D01, and reasoning similarly, it is concluded that the object of 5 would be included in that of 2. The configuration claimed in 6 constitutes a well-known connection technique, of which document D01 constitutes an example. The adaptation of the control unit claimed in 7, in order to be able to operate a number of heating units greater than that of frequency units after a given time would be contemplated in D01, since the control unit is adapted to vary the configuration of the connection unit over time (page 5, lines 16-26; page 10, lines 21 page 11, line 9), adopting any possible state of the switching elements that compose it, which implies the possibility of, after all of a given time, having adopted those states that involve the connection of more heating units than frequency units. Reasoning similarly, it is concluded that the adaptation to switch a heating unit between two frequency units (synonymous between two phases), object of 8, would be contemplated by D01. Also, taking into account the object of 9 and its dependency relationships, the characteristics object of said claim could be obtained by a person skilled in the art from those of D01, without resorting to the inventive activity. Consequently, taking into account the above considerations and the dependency relationships of each of the preceding claims, it is concluded, in the light of document D01, that claims 2 to 9 do not meet the requirement of inventive activity, as is defined in article 8 of the 1986 Patent Law.