ES2781248A1 - Combined appliance with cooking field and smoke extractor device and procedure for putting a combined appliance into operation. (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding) - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention refers to a combined appliance, which comprises a cooking field (3) with a cover plate (30) and at least one heating module (31) and a smoke extractor device (2) arranged below the cooktop (3) to suck air from the space above the cooktop (3) through at least one recess (300) of the cover plate (30), characterized in that the recess (300) is incorporated into the The center of the cover plate (30) and the smoke extractor device (2) has at least two fans (20) that are controllable separately. Likewise, the invention refers to a method for putting into operation a combined apparatus (1) of the type set forth. (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding)

Description

APPLIANCE COMBINED WITH COOKING FIELD AND

SMOKE EXTRACTING DEVICE, AND PROCEDURE

FOR THE COMMISSIONING OF AN APPLIANCE

COMBINED

The present invention refers to a combined appliance with a cooking field and a smoke extractor device, as well as a method for putting a combined appliance of this type into operation.

In kitchens, it is known to use so-called countertop fans to suck the vapors and mist that are generated when cooking, instead of the extractor hoods that are arranged above a cooking field, for example, next to the wall of the room or the roof. From application WO 2012/146237 A1, for example, a cooking range with central suction downwards of the cooking vapors is known. In this cooking range, one or more castings are incorporated into the area around the geometric center of gravity of its surface. Below the cooking field, there are devices for the extraction of cooking vapors. The devices for extracting the cooking vapors are preferably realized as radial fans, which are fixed to the underside of the cooking range housing and through which the air is sucked upwards from the cooking steam suction chambers located below.

A disadvantage of this arrangement is that the demands on the radial fans to generate a sufficient vacuum are greater, since the flow of the cooking vapors has to be diverted.

In order to save energy, in the application W02012 / 146237 A1, it is proposed that one or more sectoral and openable and reversibly lockable closing elements be provided in the emptying. However, this solution has the disadvantage that the structure of the combined apparatus becomes more complex and it is necessary to separately control or manually actuate the closing element.

Therefore, the present invention solves the technical problem of providing a combination apparatus which with a simple structure requires less energy and which, nevertheless, makes possible a safe suction of the vapors and mist from the space existing above the combination apparatus.

The invention is based on the discovery that this technical problem can be solved by providing several fans in the combined apparatus that are separately controllable.

According to a first aspect, the present invention therefore refers to a combined appliance, which comprises a cooking range with a cover plate and at least one heating module and a smoke extractor device arranged below the cooking range to suction air from the space above the cooktop through at least one recess in the cover plate. The combined appliance is characterized in that the drain is incorporated in the center of the cover plate and the smoke extractor device has at least two fans that are controllable separately.

The combined appliance according to the invention comprises a cooking field and a smoke extractor device. These two components of the combined device are designed as a single unit. This means that the two components of the combined appliance are fixed to each other directly or indirectly and that they can be installed as a unit, for example on a worktop. Therefore, the combined apparatus constitutes a mounting unit, that is, an assembled or pre-assembled unit, or a pre-assembled unit.

According to the invention, the cooking range comprises at least one heating module, also referred to as heating element below, and a cover plate. The cover plate covers the at least one heating module upwards, in particular the size of the heating module or its radius of action. The heating module can constitute, for example, an induction module. However, the heating module can alternatively also be an electric heating module in the form of a heating coil. Finally, it is also possible that at least one of the heating modules of the cooking range constitutes a gas burner. In the last mentioned embodiment, the cover plate does not completely cover the heating module, but where it is located it has a through opening for inserting the burner head.

According to the invention, the smoke extractor device comprises at least two fans, also referred to as blowers in the following.

According to the invention, at least one emptying is provided in the cooking range. The drain is built into the cooktop cover plate. Furthermore, it is It is possible that the cooking area has, apart from the cover plate, a housing in which the heating modules are housed. In this embodiment, preferably additionally at least one recess of the cover plate, a corresponding number of recesses are incorporated in corresponding positions on the underside of the cooktop housing.

According to the invention, the smoke extractor device is arranged below the cooking field. The expression "arranged below the cooking field" includes the concept of a smoke extractor device in which at least a part of the fan of the smoke extractor device is lower than the point of greatest depth of the cooking field. , the fume extractor device is in any case arranged below the upper side of the cooking field The two or more fans of the fume extractor device are preferably fully offset downwards relative to the heating modules.

Directional indications such as "up" and "down" refer to the combined appliance in its assembled and installed state, that is, in that state in which it is inserted, for example, on a horizontal worktop.

According to the invention, the air in the space above the cooking area and, in particular, the vapors and steam generated during cooking, are sucked through the at least one emptying of the cooking area. Therefore, the emptying of the cooktop and, in particular, of the cooktop cover plate, can also be called the suction opening of the combination appliance or of the smoke extractor device.

According to the invention, the recess is incorporated in the center of the cover plate. The term "center of the cover plate" includes the concept of the center of the width of the cover plate. The recess may have a round cross section. In this case, the recess is preferably located in the center of the surface of the cover plate. cover plate If the cutout has a rectangular cross section, then the width will be less than the depth of the cutout.

According to the invention, the smoke extractor device of the combined appliance has two or more fans. According to a preferred embodiment, the smoke extractor device has exactly two fans.

The fan preferably comprises a fan housing, which is designed, for example, as a spiral housing. A fan wheel is housed in the fan housing, which is driven by a motor also housed in the fan housing. The fan housing has an air inlet opening through which the suctioned air can reach the fan wheel. Furthermore, the fan housing has an air outlet opening through which the air can be expelled radially into a discharge channel or directly from the combined appliance. In a blower that is a radial blower, the air inlet opening is preferably located in the area of the axis of the fan wheel.

The two or more fans are controllable separately. The term "separately controllable" includes the concept of fans that can be activated and deactivated independently of each other. Also, the term "separately controllable" includes the concept of fans that can be set to a fan power independently of each other.

Since the fans are separately controllable, the conditions prevailing in the space above the cooktop can be specifically taken into account. For example, it is possible to activate only one of the fans, while the other or the other fans remain off. Additionally or alternatively, a specific fan power can be set. By way of example, one of the fans can be driven with a higher fan power and at least one other can be driven with a lower fan power. Thanks to this flexible control, excessive power consumption can be avoided.

According to one embodiment, at least two fans are arranged below the cooking range on opposite sides of the drain. The term "arranged on opposite sides of the recess" includes the concept of fans which, in a perpendicular projection of the recess down, are adjacent to the recess on the opposite side of the projection. Therefore, with a recess that is incorporated in the middle of the width of the cover plate and that extends in the direction of the depth of the cover plate, a fan can be arranged, for example, below the middle left of the cover plate and the second fan under the right half of the cover plate. Since at least two fans have this arrangement, an asymmetric suction of the air can be produced in a directed manner from the space present above the cooking range and, with it, the conditions existing in said space can be taken into account.

According to a preferred embodiment, the combined apparatus has a control unit for controlling the fans and for monitoring the heating module. The control unit is configured to monitor information regarding the activation of heating modules. For this, the control unit has an electronic unit that receives the information regarding the activation, for example, using a communication protocol. Since the control unit serves both to control the fans and to monitor the heating module (s), the information regarding the activation can be processed in the control unit and one or more appropriate fans can be selected. Preferably, the fan (s) are selected by means of their relative position with respect to an activated heating module.

Therefore, according to an embodiment, the control unit has an input for receiving information regarding the status of the heating module. Therefore, apart from information regarding the activation, i.e. if a heating module is switched on, information regarding the status of the heating module can also be processed in the control unit, for example, the degree of heating in the one that is triggered. Other information regarding status can be which part of a heating module is activated. This is of particular interest if a heating module forms more than one cooking zone. In this case, the status information can provide data regarding the activated cooking zone.

The control unit is preferably configured in such a way that, upon recognizing the activation of at least one heating module arranged on one side of the drain, it activates at least one fan arranged on the opposite side of the drain. In this way, the air is sucked from above the heating module activated obliquely downwards in the direction of the fan located below the opposite part of the cover plate. This oblique or transverse suction has the advantage that the air stream does not have to be deflected in a marked way, as would be the case when the air is sucked from above a heating module through a fan located below this module. heating. Therefore, the respective fan can be driven with a lower number of revolutions, whereby the energy consumption is reduced.

According to one embodiment, the control unit has a user interface for manually entering control instructions. Preferably, a fan can be activated or deactivated by the user through the user interface and, more preferably, the fan power can be indicated for the fan in question. Thus, the combined apparatus can be operated even more efficiently. If, for example, only one fan is automatically activated by the control unit, but the user wants more powerful suction due to the fact that the generated a lot of steam, it can select another fan and activate it and, preferably, adjust the fan power for that fan.

According to one embodiment, at least two cooking zones are formed in a heating module. In this embodiment, the heating module can be a continuous heating module consisting of several heating units. The heating units of the heating module can be combined here to form a cooking zone depending on at least one container for cooking product placed on the cooking field. The heating units of a heating module can be activated if it is recognized that a container for cooking product is placed on them. In this embodiment, in which several cooking zones can be formed on the heating module that are activated depending on the position of a cooking product container in the area of the cooking product container, the heating module can be used flexibly. However, it is also possible that at least two fixed cooking zones are formed in the heating module, that is to say that two fixed areas of the heating module can be used to heat the cooking product container. In these embodiments, in which more than one cooking zone is formed by means of a heating module, the control unit preferably monitors and recognizes which cooking zone is activated.

According to one embodiment, the combined appliance can have a position recognition device for recognizing the position of a cooking container on the cooking range and the position recognition device is connected to the control unit. This embodiment is advantageous in the case of automatic activation of a cooking zone on a flexible heating module with several heating elements. The position can be recognized here directly by the heating elements themselves, their activation status being monitored. Thanks to the recognition of the position of a cooking container on the cooking field, the activation of the heating module can be quickly recognized and one or more suitable fans can be controlled.

Preferably, the fan of the fume extractor device is fixed on the floor of an appliance housing. Here, the air inlet opening of the fan preferably points upwards. By means of this arrangement of the fans, the necessary deflection of the air stream can be further reduced with oblique or transverse suction of the air from one side of the cooking range through a fan underneath the other side of the cooktop. Therefore, the energy required and the generation of noise are also reduced in this way.

According to another aspect, the invention refers to a method for putting into operation a combined apparatus according to the invention. The method is characterized in that the activation status of at least one part of a heating module is monitored and, when the activation of at least one part of a heating module is recognized, at least one fan is selected in the control unit and the fan is automatically activated.

The advantages and characteristics that have been described and will be described in connection with the combined apparatus are valid (insofar as they are applicable) correspondingly for the method and vice versa and, if necessary, are described only once.

According to a preferred embodiment, when the activation of at least a part of at least one heating module that is arranged on one side of the drain is recognized, at least one fan arranged on the opposite side of the drain is activated. In this way, the oblique or transverse air suction described above is achieved.

According to an embodiment, the activation of the at least one fan, which is carried out automatically by the control unit, also comprises adjusting the fan power. The fan power can be selected in the control unit corresponding to the degree of heating of the heating module with which it is currently being operated. The higher the degree of heating, the higher the fan power that is chosen for the fan that is activated.

In the following, the invention is explained again in more detail by means of the attached figures. Here, they show:

Figure 1: a top view on a schematic representation of a first embodiment of the combined apparatus according to the invention;

Figure 2: a top view on a schematic representation of a second embodiment of the combined apparatus according to the invention;

Figure 3: a schematic perspective view of a third embodiment of the combined apparatus according to the invention;

Figure 4: a schematic sectional view of the first embodiment of the combined apparatus according to the invention in a first state;

Figure 5: a schematic sectional view of the first embodiment of the combined apparatus according to the invention in a second state; and

Figure 6: a schematic block representation of an embodiment of the control unit of a combined apparatus according to the invention.

In figure 1, a first embodiment of a combination apparatus 1 according to the invention is shown. The combined appliance 1 comprises a cooking range 3 and a smoke extractor device 2. The cooking range 3 is arranged in the upper area of the combined appliance 1. In the embodiment shown, the cooking range 3 is made up of a cover plate 30 and heating elements 31 arranged below the cover plate 30. In figure 1, of the fume extractor device 2 only the fans 20 are schematically indicated.

As can be seen from FIG. 1, a recess 300 is incorporated in the middle of the width of the cover plate 30 of the cooking range 3. The recess 300 has a rectangular cross section and extends in the depth direction. of the cover plate 30. The two heating modules 31 are arranged adjacent the recess 300, where a heating module 31 is provided on the left next to the recess 300 and a heating module 31 is provided on the right next to the emptying 300. The heating modules 31 are arranged in each case below the cover plate 30 and preferably fixed thereto from below.

In Figure 2, a second embodiment of the combination apparatus 1 is shown. This embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that four heating modules 31 are provided which constitute round heating modules 31. Two heating modules 31 are provided in the left half of the cover plate 30 and two heating modules 31 are provided in the right half of the cover plate 30. Furthermore, in the second embodiment, four fans 20 are provided. , each of which is arranged below the heating modules 31. In FIG. 2, the areas where the heating modules 31 rest from below on the cover plate 30 are the cooking zones 32 of the heating field. cooking 3. On the contrary, in the first embodiment, the cooking zones 32 can be defined, for example, in a flexible manner by supporting a container for cooking product, therefore they are not represented in FIG. 1.

In figure 3, a third embodiment of the combined apparatus 1 according to the invention is shown. In the third embodiment, the combination apparatus 1 also has two fans 20, of which only one is shown in Figure 3 so that the components can be better recognized. Therefore, the third embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that the recess 300 of the cover plate 30 has a round cross section in this embodiment. The recess 300 is incorporated in the middle of the surface of the cover plate 300.

In all of the three embodiments, the fans 20 are separately controllable from each other.

In Fig. 4, the first embodiment of the combination apparatus 1 is shown in a first state. In this state, the right heating module 31 is activated. This can be recognized by a control unit 4 (see figure 6). Upon recognition of the activation of the right heating module 31, the left fan 20 is activated. In this way, air is sucked from above the right side of the cooking range 3 towards the left fan 20.

In contrast, in the second state of the first embodiment, shown in Fig. 5, the left heating module 31 is activated. This can be recognized by a control unit 4 (see figure 6). Upon recognition of the activation of the left heating module 31, the right fan 20 is activated. In this way, air is sucked from above the left side of the cooking range 3 towards the right fan 20.

In Figure 6, a schematic block representation of an embodiment of a control unit 4 is shown. This may be a control unit 4 for the first embodiment of the combination apparatus 1.

In the embodiment shown, the control unit 4 has a user interface 40. The control unit 4 is connected to the left and right heating module 41, 42 in such a way that information can be received via this connection concerning the activation in the control unit 4. Furthermore, the control unit 4 is connected with the left and right fan 43, 44 in such a way that they can be controlled separately. Preferably, the user can select through the user interface 40 the fan 43, 44 to be activated or can deactivate a fan 43 or 44.

Therefore, with the present invention a combination apparatus is created which has a suction opening arranged in the middle, which can be made as a slot. In the smoke extractor device of the combined appliance, at least two fans are provided. Each of the fans and, in particular, the fan motor, can be electronically activated to suck the air stream from the cooking zone (s) on one side of the cooking range. The fans here work independently. Preferably, the left cooking zone (s) is / are controlled by the right fan (s) and the right cooking zone (s) is / are controlled (s) by the left fan (s). Thanks to this left-right configuration, a better air stream path can be generated and with it, the suction efficiency can be increased.

The independent control of the two or more independent fan motors is directed by a control unit of the electronics of the apparatus, which can also have a user interface or user interface. The user interface is transparent to the user.

The combined appliance can have, for example, a width of 60 cm or 80 cm.

The control unit-user interface of the appliance preferably knows at all times which heating module or which cooking zone of the cooking range is activated and can therefore control which specific fan motor is to be activated.

The present invention has multiple advantages. In particular, it is possible to optimize the energy consumption of the combined appliance for the smoke extractor device, which can also be called a ventilation system (ECO design). The concept of independent control of the fans of the present invention provides the maximum suction flow, as well as known solutions, if the two fans are in operation simultaneously for the same time for the maximum ventilation requirements, although they can also be activated saving energy by controlling it separately.

Additionally, activating only one fan provides an energy saving option if only one side of the cooktop is activated. The other fan (s) can stand here. This possibility does not fit with known combined devices.

Also, noise reduction is achieved. In particular, the option to operate only one fan reduces the noise in the environment if only one fan is needed.

REFERENCE SYMBOLS

Combined appliance

Appliance housing

Smoke extractor device

Fan

Cooking range

Cover plate

Emptied

Heating module

Cooking zone

Control unit

User interface

Left heating module

Right heating module

Left fan

Right fan

Claims (12)

1. Combined appliance, which comprises a cooking field (3) with a cover plate (30) and at least one heating module (31) and a smoke extractor device (2) arranged below the cooking field (3 ) to suck air from the space above the cooking range (3) through at least one recess (300) of the cover plate (30), characterized in that the recess (300) is incorporated in the center of the plate cover (30) and the smoke extractor device (2) has at least two fans (20) that are controllable separately. Combination appliance according to claim 1, characterized in that at least two fans (20) are arranged below the cooking range (3) on opposite sides of the recess (300). Combination device according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the combination device (1) has a control unit (4) for controlling the fans (20) and for monitoring the heating module (31). Combined appliance according to claim 3, characterized in that the control unit (4) has an input for receiving signals relating to the status of the heating module (31). Combination appliance according to one of Claims 3 or 4, characterized in that the control unit (4) is configured in such a way that, when it recognizes the activation of at least one heating module (31) arranged on one side of the drain ( 300), activates at least one fan (20) arranged on the opposite side of the drain (300). Combination device according to one of Claims 3 to 5, characterized in that the control unit (4) has a user interface (40) for manual input of control instructions. Combination appliance according to one of Claims 1 to 6, characterized in that at least two cooking zones (32) are formed in a heating module (31). Combination appliance according to one of Claims 3 to 7, characterized in that the combined appliance (1) has a position recognition device for recognizing the position of a cooking container on the cooking range (3) and the device for Position recognition is connected to the control unit (4). Combination appliance according to one of Claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the fan (20) of the fume extractor device (2) is fixed on the floor of an appliance housing (10). Method for putting a combination device into operation according to one of Claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the activation state of at least one part of a heating module (31) is monitored and, when the activation of the At least one part of a heating module (31), in the control unit (4) at least one fan (20) is selected and the fan (20) is automatically activated. Method according to claim 10, characterized in that, when the activation of at least one part of at least one heating module (31) which is arranged on one side of the drain (300) is recognized, at least one fan (20 ) arranged on the opposite side of the recess (300). Method according to one of claims 10 or 11, characterized in that the activation of the fan (20) also comprises the adjustment of the fan power.