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:
Jul. 07, 2015
Filed:
Jan. 21, 2010
Masafumi Sadahira, Shiga, JP;
Tomoya Fujinami, Shiga, JP;
Naoaki Ishimaru, Shiga, JP;
Izuo Hirota, Hyogo, JP;
Takahiro Miyauchi, Hyogo, JP;
Fumitaka Ogasawara, Hyogo, JP;
Masafumi Sadahira, Shiga, JP;
Tomoya Fujinami, Shiga, JP;
Naoaki Ishimaru, Shiga, JP;
Izuo Hirota, Hyogo, JP;
Takahiro Miyauchi, Hyogo, JP;
Fumitaka Ogasawara, Hyogo, JP;
Panasonic Corporation, Osaka, JP;
Abstract
There is provided a heating/cooking equipment capable of accurately determining boiling over. The heating/cooking equipment includes: a top plate () connected to a reference potential; a heating unit () configured to heat an object to be heated placed on the top plate; an electrode () arranged under the top plate; a capacitance detecting unit () configured to detect the electrostatic capacitance of the electrode; a boiling over detecting unit () configured to detect whether or not a material to be cooked in the object to be heated has boiled over on the top plate, based on a value of the electrostatic capacitance detected by the capacitance detecting unit; and a control unit () configured to control the heating operation of the heating unit based on a boiling over detection result from the boiling over detecting unit. The capacitance detecting unit () detects a change in the electrostatic capacitance of the electrode by exploiting capacitive coupling between the electrode and the reference potential which is enhanced by increase in a boiled over amount of the material to be cooked with moisture contained in the material to be cooked functioning as a dielectric when the material to be cooked boils over on the top plate.