The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 08, 2002
Filed:
Oct. 10, 2000
Ertugrul Berkcan, Niskayuna, NY (US);
Vivek Venugopal Badami, Schenectady, NY (US);
Paul Randall Wilson, Scotia, NY (US);
Emilie Thorbjorg Saulnier, Rexford, NY (US);
General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY (US);
Abstract
A system for automatically controlling the temperature of the cooking surface of a cooking surface of a solid-surface cooktop and, consequently, the temperature of the cooking utensil on the cooking surface, by detecting cooking utensil-related properties through the solid-surface cooktop. The cooking utensil-related properties include presence/absence, removal/placement, and other physical properties such as utensil type, size, warpage, and temperature and load size. Automatic control is based on monitoring the heat transfer characteristics from the energy source to the cooktop and the utensil to infer the utensil properties. This is achieved by sensing or inferring a parameter indicative of the temperature of a monitored area that includes at least a portion of the cooktop or of the cooking utensil placed on the upper surface of a cooktop, as well as a parameter indicative of power applied to a controllable heat source, and detecting signal properties using an evolutionary algorithm.