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:
Mar. 05, 2013
Filed:
Jun. 23, 2008
Koji Niiyama, Hyogo, JP;
Keiko Isoda, Hyogo, JP;
Masamichi Komada, Hyogo, JP;
Panasonic Corporation, Osaka, JP;
Abstract
There is provided an induction cooker capable of detecting failures in an infrared ray sensor with excellent accuracy. The induction cooker includes an infrared-ray detection unit () which includes an infrared-ray incidence section () to detect an infrared ray entering the infrared-ray incidence section, the infrared ray being radiated from a bottom surface of a pan, passing through a top plate, and entering the infrared-ray incidence section; a infrared-ray temperature calculation unit () operable to calculate a temperature of the bottom surface of the pan based on an output of the infrared-ray detection unit; a light emitting unit () which is provided below the top plate and emits light with a first luminance for indicating a position of the infrared-ray incidence section (); and a failure detection unit () operable to detect failures in the infrared-ray detection unit based on an amount of a change of an output of the infrared-ray temperature calculation unit which is based on an output of the light emitting unit. The failure detection unit () controls the light emitting unit to emit light with a second luminance higher than the first luminance and detects failures in the infrared-ray detection unit based on whether or not an amount of an increase in the output of the temperature calculation unit falls within a predetermined range.