Midea Group Co., Ltd.

National Oilwell Varco, L.p.

Richard W Cowan

Daniel J Trice

Vern Alden Neal

Felix Conde Zelocuatecatl

Nathan Ernell Nelson

John Kenneth Hooker

Frank Benjamin Springett

Travis James Miller

Mark Wayne Wilson

Cameron James Wyatt

James William Weir

James Landrith

Alex Michael Belote

A sheet panel assembly includes a gap formed in a corner region which is covered with a corner cap member. The corner cap may include various retention mechanisms, such as snaps or spring clips, pin and slots, swaged/flared pins, bendable tabs, and adhesives, to retain the corner cap once installed to cover the gap.

Appliance corner cap

An over-the-range microwave appliance includes a pot filler water dispenser for dispensing water to a vessel situated on a cook top below the microwave. The microwave includes a pot filler housing adjacent a cooking cavity that creates a recess into which the pot filler is housed that is not visible from the front of the appliance. The pot filler includes a dispensing hose or conduit that is retractable or retractably mounted within the pot filler housing recess. The dispensing hose is biased into a stowed position and can be pulled against the bias to place the dispensing hose into a deployed condition, thereafter returning to its stowed position.

Microwave with water dispenser

A cooking apparatus includes a control circuit configured to generate an alert in response to sensed movement of an oven door. In some instances, the alert may be audible, and in some instances, the alert may be generated in response to movement of the oven door prior to receiving any user input through a user interface of the cooking apparatus. In some instances, the alert may be generated in response to movement of the oven door away from a closed position without returning to the closed position within a preset period of time.

Oven door alert

A system for controlling digital gas valves of an appliance utilizing a configurable duty cycle that includes a configurable ON time, a configurable cycle period and one or more configurable burner power level variables. In some instances, the configurable duty cycle may be configured at least in part by operation of a control knob, and in some instances, multiple burner power levels may be specified such that cycling may be performed between multiple burner power levels.

Digital gas valve burner control systems and methods

A cooking appliance such as a range or stovetop incorporates cooking container sensing for controlling burner ignition and/or triggering events in programmed cooking sequences.

Cooking container sensing for ignition triggering and programmed cooking

A system for controlling an appliance having a plurality of burners operated by a plurality of digital gas valves includes a plurality of control selectors that are configurably assigned to a specified burner or burners.

Configurable control selectors

An igniter assembly for a gas cooking appliance is disclosed herein. In some embodiments, the igniter assembly may have an igniter that can be removed from and/or inserted into an igniter socket/base through a surface of a cooking appliance without having to remove the surface of the cooking appliance. Accordingly, when the surface is being cleaned after cooking applications, the igniter can be removed from the surface, thereby eliminating any potential damage to the igniter and allowing the surface to be thoroughly cleaned. After cleaning, the igniter can then be re-inserted into the igniter socket through the surface of the cooking appliance without having to remove the surface of the cooking appliance.

Igniter assembly for a gas cooking appliance

A cooking apparatus includes a control circuit configured to operate an electronic lock on demand in response to user input provided to a user interface. The electronic lock may be operable regardless of whether the oven is active, and cooking operations may be started, stopped or modified even when the electronic lock is engaged.

On demand oven door lock

A cooking appliance includes a self-closing user control for a cooking element that is capable of automatically returning to an off position whenever it is released by a user in a portion of the movable range of positions for the self-closing user control, yet also is capable of maintaining its position in another portion of the movable range of positions for the self-closing user control.

Cooking appliance with self-closing user control

An igniter assembly for a gas cooking appliance is disclosed herein. In some embodiments, the igniter assembly may have an igniter that can be removed from and/or inserted into an igniter socket through a surface of a cooking appliance without having to remove the surface of the cooking appliance. Accordingly, when the surface is being cleaned after cooking applications, the igniter can be removed from the surface, thereby eliminating any potential damage to the igniter and allowing the surface to be thoroughly cleaned. After cleaning, the igniter can then be re-inserted into the igniter socket through the surface of the cooking appliance without having to remove the surface of the cooking appliance.

An apparatus for reducing undesired change in cooking valve configuration. An appliance may include one or more guard members. The one or more guard members may be adjacent one or more control knobs operably connected to one or more valves. The guard member may overlap one or more portions of the outer periphery of the control knob extending from the control panel in a variety of applications.

Apparatus for reducing undesired change in cooking appliance configuration

A cooking appliance includes: a gas cooking element; an igniter disposed adjacent to the gas cooking element to ignite the gas cooking element; a gas valve for regulating gas flow to the gas cooking element; a burner control mechanically coupled to the gas valve to vary the gas flow to the gas cooking element; a sensor for detecting the positioning of the burner control in an ignition range of positions; and a control circuit coupled to the igniter and the sensor and to activate the igniter in response to detected movement of the burner control into the ignition range of positions, the control circuit further configured to maintain activation of the igniter for a predetermined minimum length of time once activated.

Minimum ignition period for gas burners

A method and apparatus for a cooking appliance having an alert for energization of one or more burners. The cooking appliance may include an ignition enable control. The cooking appliance may include a locked mode and an unlocked mode. The cooking appliance may include one or more alarms to alert the user.

Method and apparatus to alert energization of cooking appliance surface burners

A system for a two-step activation for a valve includes at least one valve control selector having an output representative of a valve position and a touch sensor having an output representative of a permission to operate said valve.

Growing community of inventors

Louisville, KY, United States of America

Richard W Cowan