Pellet grills

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11248801-B2
Application number	US-201916678022-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 8, 2019
Priority date	Jan 25, 2019
Publication date	Feb 15, 2022
Grant date	Feb 15, 2022

Abstract

Pellet grills and associated methods of operation are disclosed. An example pellet grill includes an ignitor configured to be activated. The ignitor has a duty cycle associated with a number of activations of the ignitor. The example pellet grill further includes one or more processors configured to determine whether the duty cycle has violated a threshold. The one or more processors are further configured, in response to determining that the duty cycle has violated the threshold, to generate a notification indicating that the threshold has been violated. The one or more processors are further configured to cause the notification to be presented at a user interface of the pellet grill.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A pellet grill, comprising:
a glow plug powered by direct current received from a direct current power supply of the pellet grill, the glow plug configured to be activated to ignite pellet fuel contained in a burn pot of the pellet grill; and
one or more processors of a control board operatively coupled to the glow plug, the control board configured to periodically activate the glow plug, the one or more processors configured to:
determine a duty cycle corresponding to a number of activations of the glow plug by the control board;
determine whether the duty cycle has violated a threshold corresponding to a predetermined life expectancy of the glow plug;
in response to determining that the duty cycle has violated the threshold, generate a notification indicating that the threshold has been violated, the notification including a request for user input to reset the duty cycle; and
cause the notification to be presented at a user interface of the pellet grill.

2. The pellet grill of claim 1 , wherein the duty cycle indicates a consumed number of activations of the glow plug, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine whether the duty cycle has violated the threshold by determining whether the consumed number of activations has exceeded a consumed life threshold.

3. The pellet grill of claim 1 , wherein the duty cycle indicates a remaining number of activations of the glow plug, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine whether the duty cycle has violated the threshold by determining whether the remaining number of activations associated with the duty cycle has fallen below a remaining life threshold.

4. The pellet grill of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine whether the duty cycle has violated the threshold based on count data maintained by a duty cycle counter of the pellet grill, the count data representing the number of activations of the glow plug, the count data being incremented each time the glow plug is activated, the count data being resettable in response to an input received at the user interface of the pellet grill.

5. The pellet grill of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the notification to be wirelessly transmitted from the pellet grill to a device located remotely from the pellet grill.

6. The pellet grill of claim 1 , wherein the notification is a first notification, and wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
determine whether the duty cycle has been reset;
in response to determining that the duty has been reset, generate a second notification indicating that the duty cycle has been reset; and
cause the second notification to be presented at the user interface of the pellet grill.

7. A method, comprising:
periodically activating a glow plug of a pellet grill via a control board of the pellet grill to ignite pellet fuel contained in a burn pot of the pellet grill, the glow plug being powered by direct current received from a direct current power supply of the pellet grill;
determining, via one or more processors of the control board, a duty cycle corresponding to a number of activations of the glow plug by the control board;
determining, via the one or more processors, whether the duty cycle has violated a threshold corresponding to a predetermined life expectancy of the glow plug;
in response to determining that the duty cycle has violated the threshold, generating, via the one or more processors, a notification indicating that the threshold has been violated, the notification including a request for user input to reset the duty cycle; and
presenting the notification at a user interface of the pellet grill.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the duty cycle indicates a consumed number of activations of the glow plug, and wherein determining whether the duty cycle has violated the threshold includes determining whether the consumed number of activations has exceeded a consumed life threshold.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the duty cycle indicates a remaining number of activation of the glow plug, and wherein determining whether the duty cycle has violated the threshold includes determining whether the remaining number of activations has fallen below a remaining life threshold.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein determining whether the duty cycle has violated the threshold is based on count data maintained by a duty cycle counter of the pellet grill, the count data representing the number of activations of the glow plug, the count data being incremented each time the glow plug is activated, the count data being resettable in response to an input received at the user interface of the pellet grill.

11. The method of claim 7 , further comprising wirelessly transmitting the notification from the pellet grill to a device located remotely from the pellet grill.

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein the notification is a first notification, and wherein the method further comprises:
determining, via the one or more processors, whether the duty cycle has been reset;
in response to determining that the duty has been reset, generating, via the one or more processors, a second notification indicating that the duty cycle has been reset; and
presenting the second notification at the user interface of the pellet grill.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors of a control board of a pellet grill to at least:
determine a duty cycle corresponding to a number of activations of a glow plug of the pellet grill by the control board, the glow plug being periodically activated by the control board to ignite pellet fuel contained in a burn pot of the pellet grill, the glow plug being powered by direct current received from a direct current power supply of the pellet grill;
determine whether the duty cycle has violated a threshold corresponding to a predetermined life expectancy of the glow plug;
in response to determining that the duty cycle has violated the threshold, generate a notification indicating that the threshold has been violated, the notification including a request for user input to reset the duty cycle; and
cause the notification to be presented at a user interface of the pellet grill.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the duty cycle indicates a consumed number of activations of the glow plug, and wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the one or more processors to determine whether the duty cycle has violated the threshold by determining whether the consumed number of activations has exceeded a consumed life threshold.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the duty cycle indicates a remaining number of activations of the glow plug, and wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the one or more processors to determine whether the duty cycle has violated the threshold by determining whether the remaining number of activations has fallen below a remaining life threshold.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the one or more processors to determine whether the duty cycle has violated the threshold based on count data maintained by a duty cycle counter of the pellet grill, the count data representing the number of activations of the glow plug, the count data being incremented each time the glow plug is activated, the count data being resettable in respon

Assignees

• Weber Stephen Products Llc

Inventors

• Donnelly Brian C
• Lundberg Ryan P
• Eckhardt David

Classifications

• A47J36/321

  the electronic control being performed over a network, e.g. by means of a handheld device · CPC title

• H04L67/125

  involving control of end-device applications over a network · CPC title

• F23G2205/121

  Screw conveyor · CPC title

• F23G7/105

  of wood waste · CPC title

• F23B1/36

  shaft-type · CPC title