KR20200107826A - Method for operating a hob having a plurality of cooking points, and hob - Google Patents

Abstract

In order to operate a hob having multiple cooking points, for the hob, the maximum power consumption is provided as a power limit, and maximally, the power corresponding to the power limit can be divided among the plurality of cooking points. For each cooking point, a display device capable of displaying a currently set power level as a power display is provided. For each cooking point, the set power is always displayed in an associated power display, the maximum available and selectable power is always displayed, and the setting for the cooking points is still associated with the power limit, which is always adhered to. After setting the possible power for the cooking point, for each cooking point, the maximum available power is still displayed for the cooking points until the power limit is reached. In this regard, the power available at each cooking point is immediately identifiable.

Description

METHOD FOR OPERATING A HOB HAVING A PLURALITY OF COOKING POINTS, AND HOB}

The present invention relates to a method for operating a hob having a plurality of cooking points, and to a correspondingly configured hob configured to perform the method.

Methods for power display on a hob are variously known in the prior art, for example from US 7525063 B2, DE　10　2011　006　274　B3 and DE　10　2016　223　848　A1. Thereby, the power or power level at which the cooking point is currently set can be displayed to the operator, possibly in various ways. Based on this power display, the operator can monitor whether the power or power level corresponds to a desired state.

The present invention is based on the object of providing the method mentioned in the introduction and the hob mentioned in the introduction, in which problems in the prior art can be avoided, and in particular, it is possible to display additional information to the operator.

This object is achieved by a method with the features of claim 1 and by a hob with the features of claim 15, which hob is configured for carrying out this method. Advantageous and preferred configurations of the invention are included in the further claims and are described in more detail below. In this case, some of the features are only mentioned for the method or only for the hob. However, regardless of that, the features are intended to be applicable to both method and hob independently and independently of each other. The wording of the claims is expressly incorporated by reference in the content of the description.

For hobs, provision is made so that the entire hob has maximum power consumption. Alternatively, the maximum power consumption may apply only to the part of the hob that is connected to the phase of the electric mains in the house, for example only the left and right halves, respectively. The maximum power consumption represents a power limitation that depends on the provided power of the power supply by, for example, electric mains in the house. This will be explained in much more detail below. The power limit as maximum power consumption should be sufficient for the operation of the entire hob, even if, for example, a plurality of cooking points are intended to be operated. A corresponding method for an induction hob is known from US 2009/250454 A1; Even in that case, it is also necessary to jointly handle the power limitation for a plurality of inductively operated cooking points.

Since this power limit mentioned exists for the hob, at the most, the power corresponding to this power limit can be split between a plurality of cooking points. Depending on the size of this power limit and the power consumption of the individual cooking points, in particular the maximum power consumption, the cooking points can be partially operated with their maximum individual power, for example also two of them. Then, the power still remaining until the power limit is reached can be divided among the other cooking points. The exact way this is done and what priorities in this case will possibly be assigned or utilized are not critical to the invention. What is important here is, for the operator, how those available powers can be displayed to the operator in order to simplify the selection of power or power levels for possible cooking points in terms of power limitations.

For each cooking point, a display device is provided to display the currently set power, which may also be a power level as a power display or may be displayed there. This serves to provide the operator with information about which power or power level is particularly dominant at the cooking point. Based on this, it is also possible to take a decision as to whether the power or the power level may possibly be increased. For this purpose, the set power is always displayed correctly for each cooking point in the associated power display. This can be done in a manner known per se. On the other hand, it is possible to provide a dedicated and separate display device for each cooking point. On the other hand, it is also possible to provide a common display device for a plurality or all of the cooking points, for example a large display, advantageously a so-called full graphics display as a kind of screen.

According to the present invention, the maximum available and selectable power is always displayed for each cooking point, where the aforementioned power limit of the hob is, if the maximum available and selectable power has been set for the cooking point. It is still observed. This information is displayed to the operator in addition to the above-mentioned power display of the currently set power or power level. After setting of the possible power for the cooking point, the maximum available power is still displayed for this cooking point and for each of the other cooking points, in particular in the respective associated power display until the power limit is reached. This means that if the power is changed at the cooking point, this display of still the most available and selectable power for each cooking point can always change. In this case, it does not matter whether the power is increased or decreased at the cooking point as the power or power reserve available or selectable for the other cooking points will then change in most cases.

Thus, according to the invention, it is possible to display to the operator the available power for each cooking point that is set to the maximum and can also be provided. Thus, targeted motion control can be implemented. In particular, it is possible to avoid possible frustration for the operator if the operator selects a specific power setting for a particular cooking point, but this power cannot be set at the cooking point due to the power limit or maximum available power for the entire hob. . As a result of the respective permanent or dynamic adaptation of the display of the maximum available power for each cooking point until the power limit is reached, the operator does not necessarily need to know the dependencies behind it, but nevertheless, the operator In other words, it is always known exactly how much power is still available at maximum at which cooking point. A power higher than this displayed power simply cannot be set for this cooking point.

Advantageously, whenever the power setting is changed at any cooking point, i.e. whenever the power is increased or decreased, until the power limit is reached, the maximum available power is still available for one cooking point or another. A check is made for each of the points to determine whether it has changed. This can, in practice, preferably be checked at each cooking point. In the case of such a check, e.g. a hob with a total of 4 cooking points, if one cooking point is operated with high power, the other cooking point is operated with low power and the other two cooking points are not operated at all, it is probably high power. It is clear that for all cooking points except for the cooking point operated with the maximum allowable power in each case for this cooking point will still be available as such. However, this, of course, does not work for each of these cooking points, but rather, for example, only works for one of them. As a result, the picture that may be displayed for the operator is that it can be operated at that maximum power or that the maximum power is displayed for all cooking points if there is still enough power until the maximum available power limit is reached. Is that it can be set. However, if this is then actually done for one of the cooking points, in practice, the power is too close to the power limit, for example its maximum power for the third cooking point or for each of the two remaining cooking points. It may be the case that only half of the are still available. Then, what is actually expressed in the power display for the cooking point(s) is that only about half of the maximum power will still be available. However, as a result, the operator also knows immediately and at first glance that more than half of the maximum allowable power for this cooking point is actually unavailable and thus also cannot be set.

In this case, provision for each change of power setting at the cooking point can preferably be made so that for each of the other cooking points a change of the light emitting display of still maximum available power is accompanied by a change of the light emitting display until the power limit is reached . As a result, the power still available is displayed for each cooking point by the light emitting display. Advantageously, in this case, for each cooking point, a power display can be provided, which is capable of representing, for example, two items of information simultaneously. First, this is the currently set power or power level, and in practice preferably, the power is displayed as a power level. In the case of a single-digit power display, these power levels are generally from 0 to 9, ie from no power to full power. This can be even higher in the case of a two-digit power display. In this regard, the display device may very generally comprise at least one light-emitting displayed digit as a light-emitting display to mainly display the currently set power. Indeed, there may also be two digits. Such a power display of the currently set power or power level has largely obtained acceptance, and in fact, is very well understood and very intuitive.

In order to display the still available power, there are at least two possibilities. According to a first basic possibility, the display device may also include an additional digit or a pair of digits in the light emitting display in order to be able to display the still maximum available power until the power limit is reached. Then, in order that this numerical display can be distinguished from other numerical displays for the currently set power, it is recommended, for example, to implement a numerical display for the currently set power in a first brighter mode. Then, the numerical display of the still maximum available power can be carried out in a second mode or the digits can be illuminated in a second mode, which is darker than the above-mentioned first mode. Alternatively, the representation may also be smaller, ie a reduced size or a different color or flashing.

A second basic possibility lies in the display device further comprising a segment display with a plurality of light-emitting displayable segments. The luminescent displayable segments are also referred to as bar graphs. The luminescent displayable segments are arranged in a line, particularly advantageously, as a straight line. Advantageously, there are 1 to 20 segments, particularly advantageously, 7 to 10 segments. Thus, they actually correspond again to a single-digit numeric display as described above. The currently set power may be displayed by a corresponding number of segments illuminated in the first mode. In this case, the first mode as described above is a bright mode. The number of brightly illuminated segments in the first mode corresponds to the power level set at this cooking point. Here, the provision of the above-mentioned numerical display, advantageously a single-digit numerical display, for example displaying the same information once again as a direct digit can additionally also be made. Until the power limit is reached for this cooking point, the still maximum available power is, above the segments illuminated in the first mode, those additional segments that still display the maximum available power until the power limit is reached. Can be displayed by the fact that they are illuminated in the second mode. If the segment display has, for example, 9 segments corresponding to power levels 0 and 1 to 9 and power level 5 is set for this cooking point, advantageously, 5 segments starting from the left are in the first mode. It emits brightly. If the maximum available power is power level 7 then two additional segments adjacent to the brightly lit segments may be weakly lit in the second mode as described above. In this regard, the operator knows that this cooking point is currently operating at power level 5 and can be maximally operated at power level 7. Primarily, if the currently set power is then further displayed with Digit 7 as a luminescent display, then the operator can very quickly and instinctively register the currently set power and maximum available power, and also, for example, visually compare them to each other. Or relate to each other. This results in a very advantageous and convenient motion control of the hob.

In principle, it can also be assumed that the second mode is brighter than the first mode, but of course, the case as described above is more feasible, since the power actually set is still more important to the operator than the power available.

In order to signal to the operator that the power that will exceed the power limit cannot be set, various known signaling means may be provided. Various known signaling means can be acoustic and/or visual; Primarily, beeps or beeps are considered feasible.

Moreover, in the case of a segment display, in particular in the case of a respective light-emitting display that is not illuminated in the first mode and is not illuminated in a second mode that will not be illuminated at all, provision can be made to those segments. Then, it is possible to achieve maximum differentiation for fast and instinctive motion control.

In the configuration of the present invention, the operating elements are integrated into the display device so as to be considered as a fully operating device. The operating elements can, in principle, be arbitrarily configured for the present invention. Advantageously, the operating elements are configured as touch switches or have touch sensors, especially advantageously, capacitive touch sensors or sensor elements. They can even be arranged under the above-mentioned segment display, so that for the purpose of motion control the finger can be placed over one of the segments, the touch sensor registering it and initiating the motion function.

In an advantageous configuration of the invention, the power limit depends only on the overall maximum available power for the hob, ie only the power limit as explained in the introduction. The boundary conditions at the individual cooking points, eg the individual maximum power that can be set, are not critical. In this regard, the power display of both the currently set power and the still maximum available power performs best at conventional power levels that do not need to be divided proportionally, as is known.

In this regard, for example, in the case of a single-phase connection of the hob given a mains voltage of 230 V in Germany, the small power required by the display device of the hob together with the relevant controller for its operation minus the total power of 3.7 kW. Only can be distributed between individual cooking points. From this, it is clear that the maximum available power for a hob with 4 cooking points is relatively limited. Even in the case of a conventional two-phase connection of the hob, the total power with a value of 7.4 kW in the case of 4 cooking points or even 6 cooking points is almost sufficient to operate all cooking points with its maximum allowable power. There is nowhere. The display of each of the maximum power available or, for example, the remaining power that can be distributed, represents a significant gain here as a convenience to the operator.

Then, for the hob, according to the invention, a provision is actually made for a display device capable of actually displaying powers, for example. However, the precisely segmented display mentioned above is very advantageous here, as it can provide the desired display function, even in an isolated state, and thus is better suited than a numeric display alone.

These and further features are apparent from the claims as well as from the description and drawings, wherein the individual features are in each case independently or in the form of subcombinations in the embodiments of the invention and in other fields. It may be realized as a plurality, and protection may represent the advantageous and essentially protectable embodiments claimed herein. The subheadings and subdivision of this application into individual sections do not limit the general validity of the statements made below.

Exemplary embodiments of the invention are schematically illustrated in the drawings and described in more detail below. In the drawings:
1 shows a top view of a hob according to the invention by way of a very simple example.
FIG. 2 shows an enlarged view of one of the display devices of the hob from FIG. 1;
Figures 3-6 show four different ways of representation as to how the four display devices of the hob from Figure 1 can be operated in accordance with the present invention.

1 illustrates a top view of a hob 11 according to the invention illustrated in a simplified manner. The hob 11 comprises a conventional hob plate 12 provided with four cooking points 14a to 14d. Each of the cooking points 14a to 14d is formed by a dedicated heating device; These may be radiant heating devices or induction heating devices. The cooking point 14c is very large and has significantly more power than others, for example at least 50% more. The cooking point 14b is somewhat larger than the cooking points 14a and 14d. It has a diameter of approximately 2 cm larger and can have 30% more power. The connecting cable 13 extends from the hob toward the right, which cable can be plugged in symbolically such as a conventional socket and is intended to illustrate that a specific power limit for the hob is provided here, the power The limitation results from normal service connection. In this regard, given a mains voltage of 230 V and a fuse protection of 16 A, the maximum power consumption of the hob 11 can be approximately 3.7 kW. If approximately 100 W is subtracted as the power demand for the controller of the hob 11, then 3.6 kW of heating power can be generated or available in the hob 11. Alternatively, provision for electrically connecting the hob 11 to two phases of a three-phase connection in a home can also be made; Then, the maximum power consumption or power limit is doubled. Then, as explained in the introduction, the maximum power consumption is provided for each phase.

Thus, the hob 11 here has a power limit of 3.6 kW. Higher power consumption for the cooking points 14a to 14d should not be allowed here by the controller of the hob.

In the front area, the hob 11 comprises an ON switch 16 and also four display devices 17a to 17d. As is apparent from the arrangement, each of the display devices 17a to 17d is uniquely and fixedly assigned to exactly one cooking point 14a to 14d. In this case, the display device 17a is assigned to the cooking point 14a and so on.

An enlarged example of the display device 17 is illustrated in FIG. 2. In this case, the display device 17 is not only serving purely to display information or as a power display, but for this purpose, mainly, a numerical display 19 with two digits 21a and 21b Is provided, which is here configured as a 7-segment display. Thus, each digit 21a and 21b is formed by seven light emitting segments 22 in a conventional manner. Under the numerical display 19, the display device 17 also comprises a segment display 25 having nine segments 26a to 26i arranged in a straight line. Each of the segments has exactly the same width but different heights, or is constructed in a trapezoidal manner and rises slightly as a whole. The segments 26a to 26i can also be made to emit light individually, similar to the emissive segments 22 of the numerical display 19 or can be represented in an illuminating manner. In this case, dedicated LEDs are provided for each segment 26a to 26i. Arranged under each segment 26, as illustrated by the dotted lines, there is essentially a conventional known touch sensor 28, advantageously a capacitive touch sensor of a correspondingly configured touch switch device. . This is known to a person skilled in the art, including for such sliders, ie, touch strips, as referred to corresponding to the segment display 25. In this regard, as an example, reference is made to US 8519291 B2, DE 10 2005 018 298 A1 or DE 10 2016 223 848 A1. These touch sensors 28 may, for example, form an operating device or perform an operating function within the display device 17, so that the functions of a display or light-emitting display and functions of motion control can be achieved with the display device 17. have. The operation control of the segment display 25 as a slider by the touch sensors 28 is also implemented as known from the prior art. When a finger is placed on one of the segments 26a to 26i above the corresponding touch sensor 28, this is understood as a motion control to set the power or power level of 1 to 9 corresponding to the segment 26. do.

Then, Fig. 3 illustrates how the four display devices 17a to 17d indicate whether the power level 5 has been set for the rear left cooking point 14a in the corresponding display device 17a. In the numerical display 19 of the display device 17a, the power level 5 is luminescent displayed by the right digit. This is advantageously carried out to emit light or to emit brightly, as illustrated by the corresponding dense hatching. The power level 5 is further expressed on the segment display 25 by the first five segments 26a to 26e that emit brightly. This is also illustrated by dense hatching. Starting from the left, if only these 5 segments were lit, this would be a light-emitting display according to the prior art. However, according to the invention, the power consumption of the cooking point 14a at power level 5 is, for example, 1 kW, so that it is still well below the aforementioned power limit. The remaining four segments 26 actually emit light, of course, but, as illustrated by weak hatching, significantly weaker or lesser degree. In this case, the dense hatching of the five segments 26 on the left corresponds to the first bright mode as explained in the introduction. The weak hatching of the four segments 26 on the right corresponds to the weakly illuminated second mode. These two modes can be very well distinguished from each other, and thus, for the display device 17a and thus for the display device 17a, the power level 5 is set but the maximum power or the highest power level 9 can also be set within the above-mentioned power limit. For the cooking point 14a, it is possible to quickly re-recognize.

The slightly larger cooking point 14b on the rear right can also be operated at full power or maximum power level 9 but not active at the present time. As a result, the numerical display 19 is dark, but as illustrated by the weak hatching, the nine segments 26 of the segment display 25 are dimly illuminated in the second mode. The same applies to the display device 17d of the front right cooking point 14d, which cooking point 14d corresponds to the cooking point 14a in terms of its power. It can also be operated with full power, in particular, in addition to the operation of the cooking point 14a with power level 5.

A different situation applies only to the front left cooking point 14c, which can be designed for significantly higher power at maximum power level 9, for example approximately 3 kW. Given a power limitation of 3.6 kW and a power consumption of 1 kW at the cooking point 14a, this 3 kW is not obviously available, so the weak lighting in the second mode is non-operated in the segment display 25. For the cooking point 14c it is expressed only for the first 8 segments. The ninth segment on the far right is not illuminated at all to indicate to the operator that the cooking point 14c can only be operated at its maximum up to power level 8. However, the "8" is not separately displayed.

The operation of the cooking point 14c with power level 8 is illustrated in FIG. 4. At the cooking point 14a with the display device 17a, as displayed on the display device 17c, as a result of the operation of the cooking point 14c with power level 8, now, in fact, there is no more reserve power. There was no change at all, except for the change of not doing. Thus, as well as for the cooking point 14a in the display device 17a, the reserve power is not indicated by the correspondingly weakly illuminated segments; Here, starting from the left, only the first 5 segments emit light in the still bright first mode.

The fact is maintained for the two cooking points 14b and 14d, of course, that it can no longer be operated since there is no more reserve power. Consequently, neither the numerical displays nor the segment displays or segments are illuminated in any form; It is left completely dark.

Figure 5 illustrates a further modification going from the example in Figure 3, in which case only power level 4 has been set for the cooking point 14c in the touch sensors of the segment display. As a result, the numerical display 19 shows digit 4. Likewise, in the first mode, starting from the left, the first four segments 26 of the segment display 25 emit brightly, that is, they are densely hatched. However, as is apparent from Fig. 4, the cooking point 14c can also still be operated up to power level 8, for this reason, the next four segments are dimly lit in the second mode. Since power level 9 is not available due to the maximum power limitation, only the ninth segment is never illuminated again at all.

However, since now some reserve power is still available due to the low power of the cooking point 14c compared to FIG. 4, the cooking point 14a can also still be operated up to the power level 8. Thus, four additional segments 25 are dimly illuminated in the second mode to indicate this reserve power.

The cooking point 14b can be operated at a maximum up to power level 4, and for this reason, the first four segments 26 starting on the left are dimly illuminated in the second mode. Since the power is not set, the associated numerical display 19 is left dimmed or unilluminated.

The cooking point 14d at the front right is somewhat smaller than the cooking point 14b, and advantageously corresponds to the cooking point 14a in terms of size; It can be operated at maximum up to power level 5. Thus, starting on the left, the first five segments 26 are also weakly illuminated in the second mode and correspondingly weakly hatched. This numerical display is also left dark because no power is set.

Proceeding from the state in FIG. 5, FIG. 6 illustrates how the power level 2 was set by the display device 17d for the cooking point 14d on the right. Thus, starting on the left, the first two segments 26 emit strongly in the first mode and are represented in a densely hatched manner. As a result of this additional power consumption of the cooking point 14d, the cooking point 14a can only be operated maximally up to the power level 7, and for this reason, only two additional luminous segments are second as an indication of the reserve power. Dimly lit in mode. In a similar fashion, the display device 17c also shows that only three additional segments 26 are dimly illuminated in the second mode. As a result, the maximum power level 7 can be set here.

For the cooking point 14d at the bottom right, a power level 2 is set, and for this reason, the first two segments 26 starting on the left are illuminated brightly in the first mode. According to Fig. 5, since this cooking point 14d can be operated at maximum up to power level 5, three additional segments, then also correspond in a weakly lit, weakly hatched manner in the second mode. Is expressed by

Compared to Fig. 5, less reserve power is also left for the cooking point 14b at the top right, since some power is then transferred to the cooking point 14d also due to its set power level 2. Then, it can be operated maximally with power level 3, for this reason the first three segments 26 starting on the left are weakly illuminated in the second mode and represented by weak hatching.

As a result, from the illustrated exemplary embodiments that have been described together, it becomes clear how in the power display for each cooking point the power set at the cooking point is always displayed. This is advantageously done first by means of a clear numerical display that does not display anything other than the set power. Additionally, the provision of a segment display for each cooking point is also done, which in fact also displays the currently set power or power level. However, it is also additionally used to display the maximum available power for this corresponding cooking point. The important point in this case is that, for each cooking point here, the maximum available power for this cooking point is displayed and this power is, however, for example the power is set for an additional cooking point and The next point is that if the additional cooking point consumes power, of course, it can be reduced or completely unavailable. Then, the maximum available power for the cooking point is reduced overall due to the predefined power limit.

Claims (15)

As a method for operating a hob having a plurality of cooking points,
-Maximum power consumption is provided as a power limit for the entire hob,
-Maximally, the power corresponding to the power limit can be divided among a plurality of cooking points,
-For each cooking point, a display device is provided, on the display device, the currently set power or power level can be displayed as a power display,
-The set power is always displayed for each cooking point in the relevant power display,
here,
-For each cooking point, the maximum available and selectable power is always displayed, the setting of the power for the cooking point is still associated with the power limit, which is always observed,
-After the setting of the possible power for the cooking point, the maximum power still available for this cooking point until the power limit is reached is displayed for this cooking point and for each of the other cooking points. Method for operating a hob with cooking points of. The method of claim 1,
After each change of the power setting at any cooking point, a check is made to determine whether the maximum available power has changed for each of the other cooking points until the power limit is reached. Method for operating a hob with cooking points of. The method of claim 2,
The check is performed at each cooking point to determine whether the maximum available power has been changed for each of the other cooking points until the power limit is reached, with a hob having a plurality of cooking points. How to make it work. The method of claim 2,
A hob with a plurality of cooking points, with each change of the power setting at a cooking point, accompanied by a change in the luminous display of still maximum available power until the power limit is reached for each of the other cooking points. How to operate. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A method for operating a hob having a plurality of cooking points, wherein the display device comprises at least one luminescent displayed digit for the currently set power. The method of claim 5,
The display device further further comprises an additional digit or pair of digits to display the still maximum available power until the power limit is reached. 2. A method for operating a hob with a plurality of cooking points. The method of claim 6,
The additional digits are illuminated in a second mode darker than a first mode in which digits for the light emitting display of the currently set power are represented. A method for operating a hob having a plurality of cooking points. The method of claim 1,
The display device further comprises a segment display having a plurality of luminescent displayable segments between 1 and 20 arranged in a line, the currently set power being by a corresponding number of segments illuminated in the first mode. Displayed, and the maximum available power until the power limit is reached, above that segment, further segments, in a second mode in a manner corresponding to the maximum available power still until the power limit is reached. A method for operating a hob with a plurality of cooking points, displayed by the fact that it is illuminated at. The method of claim 8,
The currently set power is displayed by a corresponding number of segments illuminated in the first mode in a manner in which the displayed digit corresponds to a corresponding power level. The method of claim 8,
In the case of a light emitting display, the digits or segments in the first mode are illuminated brighter than the digits or segments in the second mode. A method for operating a hob with a plurality of cooking points. The method of claim 8,
A method for operating a hob with a plurality of cooking points, wherein the segments of each light emitting display that are not illuminated in the first mode and not illuminated in the second mode are not illuminated at all. The method of claim 1,
The power limit depends only on the overall maximum available power for the hob, and does not depend on boundary conditions at one of the cooking points. A method for operating a hob with a plurality of cooking points. The method of claim 12,
The power limit also does not depend on boundary conditions in the hob itself. A method for operating a hob with multiple cooking points. The method of claim 12,
The method for operating a hob having a plurality of cooking points, wherein the power limit depends on the provided power of the power supply by the electric mains in the house. As a hob for carrying out the method according to claim 1,
A hob comprising a plurality of cooking points and a display device for each of the cooking points, the display devices being configured to display as a power display the power or power level set for the associated cooking point.

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