Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100092625 | ENERGY MANAGEMENT OF HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES - A cooking appliance comprises one or more power consuming features/functions including at least one of a cooking cavity having a heating element and a cooking surface having a surface heating element. A controller is configured to receive and process a signal indicative of current state of an associated energy supplying utility. The controller operates the cooking appliance in one of a plurality of operating modes, including at least a normal operating mode and an energy savings mode, in response to the received signal. The controller is configured to at least one of selectively delay, adjust and disable at least one of the one or more power consuming features/functions to reduce power consumption of the cooking appliance in the energy savings mode. | 04-15-2010 |
20110071696 | LOAD SHEDDING SYSTEM FOR AN ELECTROMECHANICALLY CONTROLLED OVEN - A system for reducing peak power usage in a cooking appliance having an oven cavity therein is provided. The system includes at least one power consuming unit with at least two separately controllable elements, a user adjustable electromechanical switching device for controlling energization of the at least one power consuming unit, a control configured to receive and process a utility state signal indicative of the current state of an associated utility; and an element switching device responsive to the control and configured to selectively enable and disable energization of one of the elements in response to the utility state signal. | 03-24-2011 |
20110114627 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MINIMIZING CONSUMER IMPACT DURING DEMAND RESPONSES - An electromechanically controlled cooking appliance is provided. The cooking appliance includes one or more power consuming elements including at least one of a surface heating unit for surface cooking and an oven heating unit for heating a cooking cavity, at least one of an infinite switch and a thermostat, a control configured to receive and process a signal indicative of the current state of an associated utility including a peak demand state and an off-peak demand state and operate the cooking appliance in one of a plurality of operating modes, at least one of the power consuming elements operating at a lower power level when in the energy saving mode than in the normal operating mode, and a first element status sensor adapted to provide feedback to the control indicative of whether at least one of the one or more power consuming elements is in use, wherein at the conclusion of an energy savings mode, the controller is configured to use said feedback to determine when to restore the at least one or more power consuming elements to its normal mode power level. | 05-19-2011 |
20110115296 | STANDY POWER REDUCTION - A standby power system for an appliance having a power input coupled to a main power source includes a power enabling device coupled between the main power source and power input of the appliance, a standby power state sensing device coupled to the power enabling device, and a power restore device coupled to the power enabling device. | 05-19-2011 |
20110148390 | APPLIANCE HAVING A USER GRACE PERIOD FOR REINITIATING OPERATING WHEN IN DEMAND RESPONSE ENERGY MODE - An energy consuming device comprises a power consuming feature/function and a controller operatively connected to the power consuming feature/function. The controller is configured to operate the device including the power consuming feature/function in one of a plurality of operating modes, including at least a normal operating mode during an associated off-peak demand period of an associated energy supplying utility and an energy savings mode during an associated peak demand period of the associated energy supplying utility. The controller is configured to provide a user a grace period during the associated peak demand period to allow the user to change the operating mode of the power consuming feature/function from the energy savings mode to another operating mode including the normal operating mode thereby allowing additional use of the power consuming feature/function during the associated peak demand period. | 06-23-2011 |
20110214660 | SYSTEM FOR MONITORING A COOLING FAN OF AN APPLIANCE - A system for monitoring a cooling fan having one or more fans blade and utilized in an appliance having a heating element. Such a system generally includes an electric switch actuated by a magnetic field of a magnet mounted on a rotary member of the cooling fan. The electric switch can be located proximate to the magnet, such that the magnet rotates past the electric switch to actuate the electric switch via the magnetic field at a switching frequency with each rotation of the rotary member. Such a system can include a circuit responsive to an electrical signal from the electric switch. The circuit can generates a signal indicative of the status of the cooling fan, based on the switching frequency of the electric switch. Such a signal can prevent overheating of the heating elements in case of a failure of the cooling fan. | 09-08-2011 |
20110290781 | HYBRID RANGE AND METHOD OF USE THEREOF - An appliance includes an oven cavity; a gas burner disposed within the oven cavity; an electrical heating element disposed within the oven cavity; and a controller in operative communication with the gas burner and the electrical heating element, the controller being configured to receive a signal indicative of a current state of an associated utility, and to selectively activate at least one of the gas burner and the electrical heating element based upon the signal. | 12-01-2011 |
20120312806 | DEMAND SUPPLY MANAGEMENT OVERRIDE OPTIONS - An appliance and method for enabling a consumer to easily override a low energy mode of an appliance to enable a feature or function of the appliance not typically available in the low energy mode. When an appliance or device is in an energy savings mode, multiple consumer requests for a given feature or function within a prescribed period of time can operate to override the energy savings mode and permit operation of the feature and/or function. | 12-13-2012 |
20130309958 | FAN AIRFLOW MONITORING SYSTEM IN AN APPLIANCE - An independent monitoring system and method for measuring the airflow rate in an appliance and determining its sufficiency is provided. An airflow detection system that monitors airflow rate (velocity) in an appliance is separate from the primary appliance control system and can determine whether a sufficient flow of air through air passageways occurs during operation of the appliance. An appliance component or subsystem can be controlled (e.g. activated or deactivated) by the airflow monitoring system based on the detected airflow rate. | 11-21-2013 |
20140070927 | APPLIANCE REMOTE CONTROL ENABLE MODE - A system and method of remotely interacting with an appliance system are provided. A remote device, such as a computer, a smartphone, a tablet, etc., can initiate communications with an appliance through a communications network. When a remote enablement mode is initiated at the appliance, the remote device can interact with the appliance. For instance, the remote device can initiate operational cycles, activate notifications, perform diagnostic routines, etc. The remote enablement mode can be initiated by a user within the proximity of the appliance using a remote enable interface. The remote enable interface can be a mechanical device, an electromechanical device, and/or a selection through a user interface coupled to the appliance. | 03-13-2014 |