Vessel for sous vide cooking on an induction cooktop with magnetic stirring and wireless temperature control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10028609-B2
Application number	US-201514984375-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 30, 2015
Priority date	Dec 30, 2015
Publication date	Jul 24, 2018
Grant date	Jul 24, 2018

Abstract

A sous vide cooking device includes an induction hob having a housing with a cooking surface. One or more heating elements are disposed within the housing adjacent the cooking surface. A motor is disposed in the housing. A cooking vessel assembly with inner and outer vessels is removably supported on the cooking surface. A stirring plate is rotatably received within the inner vessel. A magnetic coupling system includes an upper magnetic coupler disposed on the stirring plate, and a lower magnetic coupler disposed in the housing and operably coupled to the motor. The lower magnetic coupler is configured to rotate the upper magnetic coupler and the stirring plate within the cooking vessel as powered by the motor. A wireless temperature measuring device is coupled to the outer vessel for measuring a water temperature within the cooking vessel assembly.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A sous vide cooking device, comprising:
an induction hob having a housing with a cooking surface;
one or more heating elements disposed within the housing adjacent the cooking surface;
a motor disposed in the housing;
a cooking vessel removeably supported on the cooking surface, the cooking vessel including an outer vessel having a bottom wall and a sidewall upwardly extending therefrom to define a cavity, and an inner vessel removeably received in the cavity of the outer vessel, the inner vessel including a vented bottom wall and a sidewall upwardly extending therefrom to define a cooking cavity;
a stirring plate rotatably received within the cooking cavity of the inner vessel;
a support grate having a plurality of apertures disposed therethrough, wherein the support grate is disposed within the cooking cavity of the inner vessel above the stirring plate to separate the cooking vessel between upper and lower portions, wherein the stirring plate is disposed within the lower portion of the cooking vessel; and
a magnetic coupling system including an upper magnetic coupler disposed on the stirring plate and a lower magnetic coupler disposed in the housing and operably coupled to the motor, wherein the upper and lower magnetic couplers are magnetically coupled using one or more magnets when the cooking vessel is received on the cooking surface of the housing, and further wherein the lower magnetic coupler is configured to rotate the stirring plate within the cooking vessel as powered by the motor.

2. The sous vide cooking device of claim 1 , wherein the sidewall of the outer vessel is spaced apart from the sidewall of the inner vessel to define a gap therebetween.

3. The sous vide cooking device of claim 2 , wherein the gap at least partially defines a water circulation path within the cooking vessel.

4. The sous vide cooking device of claim 3 , wherein the bottom wall of the outer vessel is spaced apart from the vented bottom wall of the inner vessel to define a spacing therebetween.

5. The sous vide cooking device of claim 4 , wherein the spacing at least partially defines a water circulation path within the cooking vessel.

6. The sous vide cooking device of claim 1 , wherein the stirring plate further includes a disk-shaped planar body portion having a plurality of blade members and slots disposed therethrough for driving water along a water circulation path.

7. The sous vide cooking device of claim 1 , wherein the inner vessel includes a ledge disposed within the cooking cavity.

8. The sous vide cooking device of claim 7 , wherein the support grate is supported on the ledge within the cooking cavity of the inner vessel.

9. A sous vide cooking device, comprising:
an induction hob having a housing with an upper cooking surface;
one or more heating elements disposed within the housing adjacent the cooking surface;
a cooking vessel assembly supported on the cooking surface and configured to hold an amount of water for heating by the one or more heating elements, wherein the cooking vessel assembly includes an inner vessel received within a cavity of an outer vessel;
a gap defined between outer surfaces of the inner vessel and inner surfaces of the outer vessel;
a support grate having a plurality of apertures disposed therethrough, the support grate positioned above the stirring plate within a cooking cavity of the inner vessel to partition the cooking cavity of the inner vessel between upper and lower portions;
a stirring plate received within the lower portion of the cooking cavity of the inner vessel and rotatably supported therein, the stirring plate having an upper magnetic coupler and one or more blade members disposed thereon;
a lower magnetic coupler disposed in the housing and operably coupled to a motor for powering rotation of the lower magnetic coupler within an interior of the housing, wherein the upper and lower magnetic couplers are magnetically coupled using one or more magnets when the cooking vessel assembly is received on the upper cooking surface of the housing; and
wherein water within the cooking vessel assembly is circulated along a water circulation path that is partially defined by the gap between the inner vessel and outer vessel upon rotation of the stirring plate.

10. The sous vide cooking device of claim 9 , wherein the inner vessel further includes a vented bottom wall and a sidewall upwardly extending therefrom to define the cooking cavity.

11. The sous vide cooking device of claim 10 , wherein the inner vessel further includes one or more standoff features extending downwardly from the vented bottom wall and abutting a bottom wall of the outer vessel to define a spacing between the bottom wall of the outer vessel and the vented bottom wall of the inner vessel.

12. The sous vide cooking device of claim 11 , wherein the water circulation path is at least partially defined by the spacing between the inner vessel and the outer vessel.

13. The sous vide cooking device of claim 9 , wherein the cooking cavity of the inner vessel includes a ledge disposed therearound, and further wherein the support grate is positioned on the ledge above the stirring plate within the cooking cavity of the inner vessel.

14. The sous vide cooking device of claim 9 , including:
a temperature sensing device supported on a rim of the outer vessel and having a probe disposed within the gap defined between the inner vessel and outer vessel.

15. A sous vide cooking device, comprising:
an induction hob having one or more heating elements disposed within an interior of a housing and adjacent a cooking surface;
an outer vessel having a circumferential sidewall extending upwardly from a bottom wall to define a cavity, wherein the bottom wall of the outer vessel is configured to be abuttingly supported on the cooking surface of the induction hob;
an inner vessel having a circumferential sidewall extending upwardly from a vented bottom wall to define a cooking cavity, the inner vessel received in the cavity of the outer vessel and including one or more stand-off features extending downwardly from the vented bottom wall of the inner vessel to abuttingly support the inner vessel on the bottom wall of the outer vessel;
a gap defined between outer surfaces of the inner vessel and inner surfaces of the outer vessel;
a stirring plate received within the cooking cavity of the inner vessel and configured for rotation therein, the stirring plate having a generally planar body portion with slots disposed therethrough, wherein water disposed within the outer vessel is circulated upon rotation of the stirring plate along a water circulation path that is partially defined by the gap between the inner vessel and outer vessel and is further defined through the vented bottom wall of the inner vessel; and
a support grate having a plurality of apertures disposed therethrough, the support grate positioned above the stirring plate within the cooking cavity of the inner vessel.

16. The sous vide cooking device of claim 15 , wherein the stirring plate includes an upper magnetic coupler and one or more blade members disposed thereon.

17. The sous vide cooking device of claim 16 , including:
a lower magnetic coupler disposed in the housing of the induction hob and operably coupled to a motor for powering rotation of the lower magnetic coupler within an interior of the housing, wherein the upper and lower magnetic couplers are magnetically coupled using one or more magnets, such that a magnetic torque between the upper and lower magnetic couplers rotates the upper magnetic

Assignees

• Whirlpool Co

Inventors

• Snyder Joseph

Classifications

• H05B6/12

  Cooking devices · CPC title

• A47J27/10 Primary

  Cooking-vessels with water-bath arrangements for domestic use · CPC title

• H05B6/1209

  induction cooking plates or the like and devices to be used in combination with them · CPC title

• H05B6/065

  using coordinated control of multiple induction coils · CPC title