Induction hob

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10555381-B2
Application number	US-201515521639-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 26, 2015
Priority date	Dec 3, 2014
Publication date	Feb 4, 2020
Grant date	Feb 4, 2020

Abstract

An induction hob including at least one switching element and at least one induction coil is provided. The switching element provides an alternating current flow through the induction coil. Cooling means provide airflow through the induction hob for cooling the switching element and the induction coil. The induction coil is arranged at a first side of a first plate-shaped support element and the switching element is arranged at a first side of a second plate-shaped support element. The first support element and the second support element are connected to one another and are arranged at a distance in order to form an air channel therebetween. The cooling means are arranged such that airflow is provided through the air channel.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An induction hob comprising at least one switching element and at least one induction coil, the switching element providing an alternating current flow through said induction coil and cooling means providing an airflow through the induction hob for cooling said switching element and said induction coil, wherein the induction coil is arranged at a first side of a first plate-shaped support element and the switching element is arranged at a first side of a second plate-shaped support element, wherein the first plate-shaped support element and the second plate-shaped support element are connected to one another and arranged at a distance in order to form an air channel between the first and second plate-shaped support elements, wherein the air channel is formed between a second side of the first plate-shaped support element and a second side of the second plate-shaped support element, said second sides of the first and second plate-shaped support elements being arranged respectively opposite the first sides of the respective first and second plate-shaped support elements, and wherein the cooling means are arranged such that an airflow is provided through said air channel.

2. The induction hob according to claim 1 , said at least one switching element comprising a plurality of switching elements and said at least one induction coil comprising a plurality of induction coils, wherein said plurality of induction coils is arranged at said first side of said first plate-shaped support element and said plurality of switching elements is arranged at said first side of said second plate-shaped support element.

3. The induction hob according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second plate-shaped support elements are made of a material comprising thermal conductivity greater than 200 W/(m*K), said material being selected from the group consisting of aluminum, copper and metal alloys thereof.

4. The induction hob according to claim 1 , wherein the distance between the first and the second plate-shaped support elements is between 10 mm and 20 mm.

5. The induction hob according to claim 4 , said distance being 12 mm, 14 mm, 16 mm or 18 mm.

6. The induction hob according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one induction coil is in thermally conductive contact with the first side of the first plate-shaped support element and the at least one switching element is in thermally conductive contact with the first side of the second plate-shaped support element.

7. The induction hob according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one induction coil is glued to the first side of the first plate-shaped support element.

8. The induction hob according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one switching element is included in an electronic power module powering the induction coil and said power module is mounted on the first side of the second plate-shaped support element using Insulated Metal Substrate (IMS) technology.

9. The induction hob according to claim 1 , wherein one of said plate-shaped support elements laterally protrudes beyond the other plate-shaped support element, wherein said protrusion is used for deflecting the air flow provided by said cooling means.

10. The induction hob according to claim 1 , wherein the cooling means are adapted to provide an air flow in a flow direction that is inclined relative to the longitudinal direction of the air channel by an angle α, wherein α is between 25° and 45°.

11. The induction hob according to claim 1 , wherein the first sides of the first and second plate-shaped support elements face away from each other.

12. The induction hob according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second plate-shaped support elements each comprise a second side, and the air channel is formed between the second sides of the first and second plate-shaped support elements.

13. A method for cooling at least one switching element and at least one induction coil of an induction hob by cooling means providing an airflow through the induction hob, the method comprising the steps of:
providing a first plate-shaped support element, the at least one induction coil being arranged at a first side of said first plate-shaped support element;
providing a second plate-shaped support element, the at least one switching element being arranged at a first side of said second plate-shaped support element,
wherein the first plate-shaped support element and the second plate-shaped support element are connected to one another and arranged at a distance in order to form an air channel between the first and second plate-shaped support element, and
wherein the air channel is formed between a second side of the first plate-shaped support element and a second side of the second plate-shaped support element, said second sides of the first and second plate-shaped support elements being arranged respectively opposite the first sides of the respective first and second plate-shaped support elements;

providing an airflow through said air channel for cooling said at least one switching element and said at least one induction coil by removing heat from the first and second plate-shaped support elements.

14. An induction hob comprising a first, thermally conductive plate-shaped support element and a second, thermally conductive plate-shaped support element connected to and arranged at a distance from one another to form an air channel between an inner faces of the first plate-shaped support element and an inner face of the second plate-shaped support element, an induction coil mounted to and in thermally conductive contact with an outer face of the first plate-shaped support element opposite the inner face thereof, a switching element mounted to and in thermally conductive contact with an outer face of the second plate-shaped support element opposite the inner face thereof, a fan arranged to direct a flow of air along a flow direction toward, and at an angle, α, relative to, the inner surface of one of said first and second plate-shaped support elements, so that said flow of air will be deflected into said air channel to draw heat generated from said induction coil and from said switching element, respectively, from the first and second plate-shaped support elements, each of said first and second plate-shaped support elements having a thermal conductivity of at least 200 W/(m*K).

15. The induction hob of claim 14 , said induction coil being glued to the outer face of said first plate-shaped support element via a thermally conductive adhesive, said switching element being mounted to the outer face of said second plate-shaped support element via an Insulated Metal Substrate (IMS) arrangement wherein said second plate-shaped support element forms a baseplate of said IMS arrangement and is covered by a dielectric layer, wherein a copper layer covers said dielectric layer and provides electrical connectivity to the switching element.

16. The induction hob of claim 14 , said inner faces of both said first and second plate-shaped support elements being devoid of components that will impede said flow of air from flowing through said air channel.

Assignees

• Electrolux Appliances AB

Inventors

• Chappell Lee
• Hoffmann Harald
• Viroli Alex
• Jeanneteau Laurent
• Fattorini Andrea

Classifications

• H05B6/1263 Primary

  using coil cooling arrangements · CPC title

• H05B2213/03

  Heating plates made out of a matrix of heating elements that can define heating areas adapted to cookware randomly placed on the heating plate · CPC title

• H05B2206/022

  Special supports for the induction coils · CPC title

• H05B6/1272

  with more than one coil or coil segment per heating zone · CPC title