Oven preheat boost using cooktop lockout

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9506657-B2
Application number	US-201414507996-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 7, 2014
Priority date	Oct 7, 2014
Publication date	Nov 29, 2016
Grant date	Nov 29, 2016

Abstract

An oven range appliance is provided with features for locking out one or more cooktop elements of the oven range to boost preheat performance and thereby decrease the time required to preheat the cooking chamber of the oven range. A method for operating an oven range appliance also is provided. The method includes features for locking out one or more cooktop elements of the oven range to boost preheat performance and thereby decrease the time required to preheat the cooking chamber of the oven range.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for operating an oven range appliance, the oven range appliance including a cooking chamber configured for receipt of food items for cooking, the oven range appliance also including a cooktop having one or more cooktop elements for heating or cooking food items, the method comprising the steps of:
establishing a cooking chamber temperature set point T pre for the cooking chamber;
activating a heating element of the cooking chamber;
determining whether a boost preheat mode of the cooking chamber has been chosen and, if so, then
activating one or more lockout elements to lockout one or more of the cooktop elements;

activating an additional heating element of the cooking chamber;
sensing whether the temperature in the cooking chamber has reached at least T pre and, if so, then
activating the one or more lockout elements to unlock to the one or more locked out cooktop elements, and
initiating a cooking cycle of the cooking chamber.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of providing a signal to a user of the oven range appliance, during the step of initiating the cooking cycle, that the cooking chamber temperature has reached at least T pre .

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of counting a time t lock during the step of activating the one or more lockout elements.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein if the temperature in the cooking chamber has not reached at least T pre , the method further comprises the steps of:
determining whether the time t lock has reached at least a threshold time t thr and, if so, then
activating the one or more lockout elements to unlock the one or more locked out cooktop elements;

sensing whether the temperature in the cooking chamber has reached at least T pre and, if so, then
initiating the cooking cycle of the cooking chamber.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of executing a normal preheat algorithm if the boost preheat mode has not been chosen.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of activating the one or more lockout elements to lockout one or more cooktop elements comprises opening one or more relays between the one or more cooktop elements and a power supply.

7. A method for operating an oven range appliance, the oven range appliance including a cooking chamber configured for receipt of food items for cooking, the oven range appliance also including a cooktop having one or more cooktop elements for heating or cooking food items, the method comprising the steps of:
establishing a cooking chamber temperature set point T pre for the cooking chamber;
activating a heating element of the cooking chamber;
determining whether a boost preheat mode of the cooking chamber has been chosen and, if so, then
activating one or more lockout elements to lockout one or more of the cooktop elements;

counting a time t lock ;
activating an additional heating element of the cooking chamber;
determining whether the time t lock has reached at least a threshold time t thr and, if so, then
activating the one or more lockout element to unlock to the one or more locked out cooktop elements.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising the steps of:
sensing, after the step of activating the one or more lockout elements to unlock the one or more cooktop elements, whether the temperature in the cooking chamber has reached at least T pre and, if so, then
initiating a cooking cycle of the cooking chamber, and
providing a signal to a user of the oven appliance that the cooking chamber temperature has reached at least T pre .

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the step of activating a heating element comprises activating a bake heating element of the cooking chamber, and wherein the step of activating an additional heating element comprises activating a broil heating element of the cooking chamber.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the step of activating a heating element comprises activating a bake heating element of the cooking chamber, and wherein the step of activating an additional heating element comprises activating a convection heating element of the cooking chamber.

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein the step of activating a heating element comprises activating a bake heating element of the cooking chamber, and wherein the step of activating an additional heating element comprises activating both a broil and a convection heating element of the cooking chamber.

12. The method of claim 7 , further comprising the steps of:
sensing, during the step of determining whether the time t lock has reached at least the threshold time t thr , whether the temperature in the cooking chamber has reached at least T pre and, if so, then
activating the one or more lockout elements to unlock the one or more locked out cooktop elements, and
initiating a cooking cycle of the cooking chamber.

13. An oven range appliance, comprising:
a cabinet defining a cooking chamber configured for receipt of food items for cooking, the cooking chamber comprising a plurality of heating elements configured to heat the cooking chamber;
a cooktop having one or more cooktop elements configured for heating or cooking food items;
one or more lockout elements configured to lock out the one or more cooktop elements from a power supply; and
a controller in operative communication with the heating elements of the cooking chamber, the one or more cooktop elements, and the one or more lockout elements, the controller configured for
establishing a cooking chamber temperature set point T pre for the cooking chamber;
activating one of the plurality of heating elements;
determining whether a boost preheat mode of the cooking chamber has been chosen and, if so, then
activating one or more of the lockout elements to lockout one or more of the cooktop elements;

activating an additional heating element;
sensing whether the temperature in the cooking chamber has reached at least T pre and, if so, then
activating the one or more lockout elements to unlock to the one or more locked out cooktop elements, and
initiating a cooking cycle of the cooking chamber.

14. The oven range appliance of claim 13 , wherein the controller is further configured for providing a signal to a user of the oven range appliance, during the step of initiating the cooking cycle, that the cooking chamber temperature has reached at least T pre .

15. The oven range appliance of claim 13 , wherein the controller is further configured for counting a time t lock during the step of activating the one or more lockout elements to lockout one or more of the cooktop elements.

16. The oven range appliance of claim 15 , wherein if the temperature in the cooking chamber has not reached at least T pre , the controller is further configured for
determining whether time t lock has reached at least a threshold time t thr and, if so, then
activating the one or more lockout elements to unlock the one or more locked out cooktop elements.

17. The oven range appliance of claim 13 , wherein the controller is further configured for executing a normal preheat algorithm if the boost preheat mode has not been chosen.

18. The oven range appliance of claim 13 , wherein the additional heating element comprises a boost heating element.

19. The oven range appliance of claim 13 , wherein the controller is configured to activate a bake heating element at the step of activating one of the plurality of heating elements, and
wherein the controller is configured to activate

Assignees

• Gen Electric
• Haier U S Appliance Solutions Inc

Inventors

• Armstrong James Lee
• Wiseman Joshua Stephen

Classifications

• F24C7/085

  on baking ovens · CPC title

• H05B3/0076

  for cooking, e.g. in ovens (lamps specially adapted for non-metallic cooking plates H05B3/742, H05B3/744) · CPC title

• F24C7/082 Primary

  on ranges, e.g. control panels, illumination · CPC title

• F24C7/087

  of electric circuits regulating heat · CPC title

• F24C7/08

  Arrangement or mounting of control or safety devices · CPC title