Patent application number | Description | Published |
20120119660 | LIGHTING COMPENSATION FOR APPLIANCES - Apparatus and methodology is provided to control lighting associated with an appliance. Ambient light proximate the appliance and/or light from one or more lighting devices associated with the appliance is monitored and used to control the energization of the appliance lighting devices. Lighting device may include illumination devices as well as indicia display devices. The controller is configured to compensate lighting levels over the lifetime of the lighting devices to provide consistent lighting from the appliance lighting under all operating conditions. | 05-17-2012 |
20120120386 | WATER COLOR SENSING HARDWARE AND METHODOLOGY FOR APPLIANCES - Apparatus and methodologies are provided to selectively activate a liquid usage option in a washing apparatus based on the color of the liquid. Light from different light sources is passed through a liquid to be tested and the intensity of the light passing through the liquid is measured. The measurement is adjust based on a measurement of the turbidity of the liquid and the measurement compared to a reference value derived from measurements of a clear liquid. A decision is made based on the adjust measured color of the liquid regarding retention of the liquid for further use in the washing apparatus. The liquid tested may correspond to grey water from a previous wash cycle. | 05-17-2012 |
20120125910 | VOLTAGE SWITCHING MICROSWITCH FOR HOT SURFACE IGNITER SYSTEM - A voltage switching microswitch is provided for supplying power to a hot surface igniter in a gas burning system. The microswitch is configured to operate concurrently with manual operation of a gas control valve such that rotation of an operating stem of the gas control valve produces rotation of a cam within the microswitch. The cam is configured to operate a pair of reed switches so that a relatively high voltage from a power supply is applied to the hot surface igniter following a first predetermined amount of rotation of the cam and a relatively lower voltage is applied to the hot surface igniter following a second predetermined amount of rotation of the cam to maintain the temperature of the igniter. | 05-24-2012 |
20120152290 | PORT ASSEMBLY FOR USE WITH A CLEANING DEVICE AND METHOD FOR ASSEMBLING THE SAME - A port assembly for use with a refillable storage container of a cleaning device includes a cap assembly having a sensor aperture and an outlet aperture. The cap assembly is configured to couple to a lip of the storage container. A sensor assembly extends through the sensor aperture and is coupled to the cap assembly, and an outlet assembly extends through the outlet aperture and is coupled to the cap assembly. The outlet assembly is coupled in fluid communication with a cleaning cavity of the cleaning device and the storage container. | 06-21-2012 |
20120285946 | UTENSIL QUALITY FEEDBACK FOR INDUCTION COOKTOP - Methodology, apparatus and computer programming are provide that permit an induction cooking appliance to evaluate a utensil for use with the appliance. A user may manually initiate an evaluation that will prompt the user to place a utensil on the appliance for evaluation. An evaluation is made based on differences between the expected energy and actual energy delivered. A score related to suitability for use of the utensil may then be displayed to the user. | 11-15-2012 |
20120285948 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETECTING VESSEL PRESENCE AND CIRCUIT RESONANCE FOR AN INDUCTION HEATING APPARATUS - Systems and methods for detecting vessel presence and circuit resonance for an induction heating apparatus are disclosed. A detector circuit generates an output signal based on a feedback signal corresponding to a signal, such as current, flowing through an induction heating coil. The output signal has a duty cycle corresponding to the proximity of operating frequency of the induction heating apparatus to resonance. Changes in the duty cycle of the output signal can be monitored to determine the presence or absence of a vessel on the induction heating coil. | 11-15-2012 |
20120305546 | INDUCTION COOKTOP PAN SENSING - An induction heating system includes a heating coil operable to inductively heat a load with a magnetic field, a variable high frequency power source supplying a high frequency current to the heating coil, a detector for detecting a current through the coil and providing a current signal representative of the current, a controller for controlling the frequency of the current to the heating coil and responsive to the current signal from the detector to capture and analyze a current signature, the controller being operative to sweep a current operating frequency across an operating frequency spectrum, and to combine a sum of the current signature with a two-sample swing of the current signature, and determine a presence of a load on the heating coil and control the frequency of the current to the coil based on a signal resulting from the combined signal. | 12-06-2012 |
20120312804 | AUDIBLE NOISE MANIPULATION FOR INDUCTION COOKTOP - A method for operating an induction cooktop having multiple induction heating coils includes monitoring a characteristic of the heating coils indicative of audible noise generated by simultaneous operation of multiple induction heating coils. Upon indication of audible noise from the monitored characteristic, an operating characteristic of at least one of the induction heating coils is varied so as to change the audible noise into a pre-defined, stored audible noise pattern that is desirous to a consumer or user of the cooktop. | 12-13-2012 |
20130030552 | OPTICALLY-PROJECTED USER INTERFACE FOR APPLIANCES - An apparatus comprises a front projection system operatively mounted as part of an appliance and configured to optically project a virtual user interface; an optics system operatively mounted as part of the appliance and configured to direct the virtual user interface optically projected by the front projection system onto a given surface; a user input system operatively mounted as part of the appliance and configured to receive one or more input selections made by a user in correspondence with one or more features that are part of the virtual user interface optically projected by the front projection system on the given surface via the optics system; and a controller operatively coupled to the front projection system and the user input system, and configured to control operation of one or more components of the appliance in response to the one or more input selections made by the user in correspondence with the one or more features that are part of the virtual user interface. | 01-31-2013 |
20130175259 | INDUCTION COOKING ELECTROMAGNETIC INDUCED REJECTION METHODS - An induction cooking system and method that prevents a valid key touch from being rejected is provided. A noise rejection apparatus can prevent noise from influencing the determination of a valid key touch. | 07-11-2013 |
20130200069 | CONTROL METHOD FOR AN INDUCTION COOKING APPLIANCE - A system and method of controlling an induction cooking appliance based on a feedback signal. A feedback signal sampling time interval may be triggered when a power control signal has a magnitude of zero. The feedback signal sample may be used to calculate a status factor and the appliance may be controlled based on the calculated status factor. | 08-08-2013 |
20130320000 | METHOD TO DETECT A POSITION OF A COOKWARE UTENSIL IN AN INDUCTION COOKTOP SYSTEM - An induction cooktop appliance system and method for controlling the induction cooktop appliance based on a cookware position is provided. A variable power signal can be applied to an induction coil from an inverter. The power signal can be driven at a test frequency and an operating frequency. An electrical signal can be detected across a shunt resistor based on the test frequency and a cookware position can be determined based on the electrical signal. The operating frequency supplied to the induction coil can be modified based on determined cookware position. | 12-05-2013 |
20140014647 | INDUCTION COOKTOP PAN SENSING - An induction heating system includes an induction heating coil operable to inductively heat a load with a magnetic field; a detector for detecting a current through the coil and providing a current signal representative of the current; and a controller with a memory in communication with a processor. The memory includes program instructions for execution by the processor to detect a presence of the load on the induction heating coil based on a characteristic of the current signal; determine a resonant frequency of the system with the load from a characteristic of the current signal; determine operational performance characteristics of the system; and output an indication of the operational performance characteristics of the system. | 01-16-2014 |
20140197160 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROTECTING SWITCHING ELEMENTS IN AN INDUCTION HEATING SYSTEM - The present disclosure provides systems and methods for protecting switching elements in an induction heating system. A switching power loss associated with a switching element of the induction heating system can be calculated and an operating frequency of the induction heating system can be adjusted based upon the switching power loss. According to one aspect, the switching power loss can be classified into one of a plurality of threat zones based upon the magnitude of the switching power loss and the operating frequency can be adjusted based upon the threat zone into which the switching power loss is classified. According to another aspect, the switching power loss can be calculated based at least in part on a duty cycle of an output signal. The duty cycle of the output signal can provide an indication of the proximity of the operating frequency of the induction heating system to resonance. | 07-17-2014 |