EP0930468A1 - Cooking apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The cooking appliance has at least one upper essentially plane plate and at least one heating element. The plate has a concave shape (9) under which the heating element is placed. This is calibrated to a maximum temperature of the order of 450 degrees C. The heater has two temperature limiters which are triggered at maximum temperatures of 400 to 580 degrees C. The heating element, is regulated by a thermostat, and is of an annular shape placed peripherally under the concavity.

Description

The present invention relates to a cooking appliance comprising an essentially flat upper plate and at least one cooking hearth.

In the field of equipment intended for domestic use, the changes in appliances used in the kitchen, imposed by constraints aesthetic and / or technical, have been constant and important during last years.

In particular, the design of cooking appliances has undergone many modifications.

Thus, it has been known for a long time for enameled sheet cookers using natural gas or LPG burners as cooking stoves. The advantages provided by such cookers, directly linked to the nature of the aforementioned cooking zones, are well understood: flexibility of use, low thermal inertia, immediate visibility of the power settings heated. The disadvantages of these stoves are also as, for example, the presence of a metal grid in the form of a frame, the frequent cleaning is necessary.

What's more, the aesthetics of these cookers seem more and more old-fashioned, even with the recent use of a molded glass plate on which the gas burners are installed.

Cooktops have also been known for a long time commonly called "electric plates" using as fireplaces cooking of electric resistances arranged under circular plates metallic. These cooktops have the essential advantage of no longer have metal grates since the cooking utensils are placed directly on the aforementioned hot plates.

Concomitantly with the appearance of the concept of integrated kitchen, a a significant change has been made to the cooktops. This change consisted in using baking trays as glass ceramic material.

These plates, now widely used, benefit, among other things, two notable advantages, namely the ease of cleaning (the fact that the surface of a ceramic hob is essentially flat) and an aspect resolutely new exterior giving a more modern look.

In addition, these ceramic glass hobs have been associated with new cooking stoves such as halogen lamps and induction fireplaces.

In addition to the aforementioned modifications to the cooking, the design of the cookware has also undergone many modifications.

In particular, cooking vessels of the pan or saucepan type, although that having retained their primary function, namely reheating and / or cooking foods they contain, have seen their external appearance and structure evolve considerably.

Some of these changes were imposed only by aesthetic constraints (color, decorative pattern).

Another part of these modifications has to do with the fact that homes have also evolved both by their dimensions (dimensions defining the active heating part) only by their nature (lamp hearths halogen, induction fireplaces).

For example, pots or pans have been developed from material ferromagnetic so that they can be adapted to induction fireplaces.

However, to date there is a need to improve the adequacy between on the one hand parts of cooking appliances other than fireplaces cooking themselves (radiant or halogen heating element, gas burner, inductor) and, on the other hand, the cooking vessels.

Indeed, in use, an imperfect adequacy can lead to various disadvantages.

In the particular case of cooktops, the use of cookware specific, for example of large dimensions and / or having a surface finish can be tricky on hotplates in vitroceramic.

This can make it difficult to center containers precisely, particularly large, in line with the underlying cooking zones to the plate so that their bottom is not necessarily homogeneously heated over their entire surface.

Likewise, since the containers are not necessarily limited in their relative displacement with respect to the plate, that is to say that they are not not confined to a specific area thereof, they may create scratches superficial, if any detrimental to the mechanical strength of the plate. From a security point of view, this can sometimes be dangerous in the extent to which unsophisticated persons, for example children, manipulating these same hot containers can, without excessive effort, slide them onto the plate and finally, drop them from the hob concerned.

The object of the invention is then to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks and to offer in particular a cooking appliance for domestic use which allows to position all cooking vessels with sufficient precision existing while limiting their movement by an uninformed person.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cooking appliance for domestic use which eliminates the use of a container cooking.

These objects are achieved according to the invention by a cooking appliance having at least one substantially planar top plate and at least a cooking hearth characterized in that said plate comprises at least a concavity under which said cooking hearth is placed.

It is specified that, within the framework of the invention, it is necessary to understand by the expression “cooking hearth”, any means of heating such as a radiant element or a gas burner and / or any other means contributing to heating such as an inductor contributing to an induction heating.

According to an advantageous characteristic of the invention, the cooking hearth is a heating element. This heating element can be radiant or halogen.

The term "radiant" should be understood as consisting of a electrical resistance.

This can be in the form of a conductive metal wire. She can also be in the form of a conductive layer of adequate resistivity such as that described in the Certificate of Utility FR / U 2 744 116. The choice of such a shape can be advantageous when it is preferable that the cooking according to the invention retains a space comparable to that of a cooking appliance of the same type according to the state of the art, i.e. an appliance cooking not comprising a concavity according to the invention.

This can be particularly the case in configurations where the concavity has a significant depth.

Preferably, the heating element according to the invention is calibrated at a maximum temperature of the order of 450 ° C. This allows cooking direct of all types of food in the concavity according to the invention without risk of excessive overheating.

It is also possible to couple the heating element with two limiters temperature triggered at maximum temperature 400 ° C and 580 ° C, these temperatures being understood as those established at the concavity surface.

The user can, in this configuration, either choose to carry out the direct cooking of food, either by using cooking utensils classic cooking.

To regulate the heating power of the heating element, it is better to do it by a thermostat operating from the measurement of the temperature between the hob and the cooking hearth considered. We thus avoid the use of an energy metering device which imposes a percentage of time between running and stopping state.

As a preferred arrangement, the heating element has advantageously an annular shape and is placed partially peripheral under concavity.

According to an advantageous characteristic of the invention, the plate can be glass-ceramic material.

According to another advantageous characteristic of the invention, the concavity itself is made of glass ceramic material.

It can then be a ceramic hob whose appearance is in harmony with kitchen furniture such as that described in the international patent application WO 98/01676.

Advantageously, the plate according to the invention can additionally have at least one opening into which a burner is inserted gas type atmospheric and / or at least one flat heating zone under which is placed another cooking zone, such as a heating element or a induction fireplace.

According to this configuration, the cooking appliance according to the invention is mixed because it includes at least two different heat sources per direct and indirect transfer thereof.

Such a configuration allows the user to cook and / or reheat the foods as desired, especially taking into account certain criteria, such as the nature of the food, possibly the type of container (s) placed at its disposition.

According to this same configuration, the plate consists of at least two juxtaposed modules, one of the two modules comprising at least one concavity, the other comprising at least one opening and / or at least one zone flat heating. This modular configuration of the plate is very advantageous, more particularly in the case where the cooking appliance constitutes a hob integrated into the kitchen furniture.

In fact, from the design of the so-called “integrated” kitchen, the user final can make choices on several levels.

In addition to the choice of furniture desired and its arrangement, it can now choose the nature of the cooking zones that make up the hob cooking and the way they are arranged in it.

Preferably, the aforementioned modules are assembled together by a mechanical device preventing infiltration of all liquid particles and / or solids likely to be present on each of the modules.

This device is advantageously a seal preferably resistant to high temperature and waterproof, silicone seal type.

As regards the connection of the concavity to the plate, two alternatives can be considered: the concavity can be removable or integrated into the plate.

The first alternative can be chosen, for example when the food intended to be cooked and / or reheated in the concavity according to the invention are rather of the liquid type.

Those skilled in the art will take care, according to this alternative, to ensure, once the concavity removed from the plate, in particular a seal, as well as insulation satisfactory in terms of safety, especially in the compliance with the standards relating to household electrical appliances in force.

Preferably, the concavity according to the invention comprises a bottom flat, advantageously parallel to the plane of the plate. It is thus more convenient place a cooking container in the concavity when it is best to make.

This flat bottom can advantageously be circular. Such a background has the advantage of having no sharp edges detrimental to the ease of cleaning concavity.

Preferably, this circular flat bottom has a diameter of between 100 mm and 400 mm. Such a range allows the possible use of all existing cooking vessel standards.

According to an additional characteristic, the flat bottom can have a transmission in the wavelengths of the visible T _T and / or infrared T _IR domain differentiated from that of the rest of the plate, from preferably at least 10% lower.

Such a characteristic is advantageous from an aesthetic point of view insofar as one can give an aspect to the concavity in contrast with that of the rest of the plate, commonly transparent brown.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the peripheral edge upper is raised relative to the plane of the plate.

According to an additional characteristic of the invention, the depth p concavity is between 20 mm and 80 mm. With such characteristic, the cooking appliance retains the correct dimensions and the concavity has a sufficient useful cooking volume with respect to the quantity of food (s) to be cooked and / or reheated.

According to a preferred variant, the concavity in accordance with the above is covered with a bell. Preferably, this allows vision. She can have a glass or glass-ceramic wall. Thus covered, the concavity allows the user to obtain so-called “steaming” of the food contained in the container placed inside the concavity or contained directly in the concavity.

Advantageously, the bell comprises a sheet of material ferromagnetic and at least one inductor is placed under the concavity, of preferably in its peripheral part.

Once the heating element and the inductor are in working order, the cooking mode of food is similar to that of an "oven". Indeed, the food is cooked directly and / or heated by the bottom of the concavity but they are also from above via the bell become heated thanks to the inductor.

In addition, such a cooking method is perfectly suited to new cooking habits. Indeed, it allows cooking fast and efficient of prepared items like those that are frozen.

When the concavity is not used as a heating zone, it can be advantageously covered with a board, of the wooden board type. This is preferably of complementary shape on at least part of the depth of concavity.

The user of the cooking appliance then has a work plan on which food can be directly prepared.

Such an "integrated" work plan saves space in the kitchen since the user does not need to spare inside it place specifically intended for the preparation of food.

The cooking appliance which has just been described is perfectly suited for constitute a hob or part of a stove.

• figure 1 : une table de cuisson conforme à l'invention intégrée au mobilier de cuisine ;
• figure 2a : une vue en coupe selon l'axe A-A d'une partie de la table de cuisson selon la figure 1 ;
• figure 2b et 2c : une vue en coupe selon l'axe A-A de cette même partie respectivement recouverte d'une cloche et d'une planche en bois.

Other details and advantageous characteristics of the invention will emerge below from the description of an illustrative but non-limiting embodiment, made with reference to the figures which represent:

• Figure 1 : a hob according to the invention integrated into kitchen furniture;
• Figure 2a : a sectional view along the axis AA of a part of the hob according to Figure 1;
• Figure 2b and 2c : a sectional view along the axis AA of the same part respectively covered with a bell and a wooden board.

In Figure 1 is shown a hob 1 integrated into a kitchen furniture 2. This hob 1 includes a hob firing in vitroceramic material 3, essentially flat and smooth, resting on a metal frame 4 on which four cooking zones 5 are fixed, elements partially represented in FIG. 2.

The ceramic glass hob 3 consists of two modules juxtaposed 6, 7 assembled together by a silicone seal 8, resistant to high temperature and waterproof.

The first module 6 has an integrated concavity 9, next to which is a flat and circular heating zone 10 delimited, of in a manner known per se, by a line of white enamel 11. It comprises also in its marginal part of the sensitive keys 12, that is to say operated by the approach of a finger. The sensor keys 12 constitute the respective control means of the four cooking zones 5 fixed under the plate 3. The second module 7, meanwhile, also has a zone circular and flat 13 for heating and an opening 14 in which is inserted a gas burner 15 constituting one of the four cooking zones 5. Around the opening 14 are distributed three bosses 141, 142, 143 intended to support a cooking container whose contents are to be heated by the burner 15. These bosses are obtained in accordance with the technique described in patent application WO 97/00407.

The other cooking zones 5 consist of two parts heating elements, not shown, each comprising a halogen lamp placed respectively under the two flat and circular heating zones 10, 13 and a heating element 5, represented in FIG. 2, constituted by a electrical resistance 16 in the form of a set of metal wires conductors 17.

Figure 2 is a sectional view along the axis A-A of the concavity 9 integrated into the aforementioned first module 6. This concavity 9 has a flat bottom 18, parallel to the plane of the plate 3 and of circular diameter and of the order of 300 mm. The depth p of the concavity 9 is approximately equal to 50 mm. His upper peripheral edge is raised relative to the plane of the plate 3.

Immediately under the flat bottom 18 of the concavity 9 is placed a electrical resistance 16 in the form of a set of metal wires cylindrical conductors 17 arranged so that once supplied with current it heats homogeneously the entire circular surface of said bottom 18.

This set of metal wires 17 is fixed to a support made of material ceramic 19, itself being mounted in the metal frame 4 of the table cooking 1.

Tightly mounted on the lower periphery of the concavity with the ceramic support 19 an inductor 20.

In Figure 2b we see that the concavity is covered with a bell 21 which has an outer wall 22 of ceramic glass and inside a sheet made of ferromagnetic material 23 allowing vision through its opening 24. The sheet of ferromagnetic material 23 constitutes the other part induction heating means supplemented by inductor 20.

When designing, the skilled person will ensure that its structure either such that once the inductor 20 in working order, the currents which cross, called "warm-up", are sufficient to ensure a minimum heating power inside the precisely delimited enclosure by bell 21 and concavity 9.

In particular, he will watch over industrial manufacturing facilities and mounting inside the bell 21 to make this sheet 23 in a single room.

The cooking mode of this set is "free" and depends on the setting whether or not the electrical resistance 16 and inductor 20.

Figure 2c, finally, shows that when none of these elements 16, 20 is in working order, the concavity can be covered with a wooden board 25 of complementary shape over a height h of 30 mm.

To validate the direct cooking function obtained according to the invention, we carried out different cooking tests of several types of food placed directly in concavity 9, using exclusively the resistance electric 1 6.

Table 1 below indicates, for each type of food, the range temperatures set for cooking in ° C as well as the time required in min.

When oil has been used to cook the food, this is indicated in brackets. Examples Food types Cooking temperature range (° C) Cooking time (min) 1 Pork cutlet (Oil) 350-400 6 min for 150 g of meat 2 Pork cutlet 350-400 6 min for 150 g of meat 3 Leg of lamb (Oil) 350-400 8 min for 200 g of meat 4 Ground beef (Oil) 350-400 6 min for 150 g of meat 5 Chopped steak 350-400 6 min for 150 g of meat 6 Chipolatas (Oil) 210-250 20 min for 6 sausages 7 Chipolatas 210-250 20 min for 6 sausages 8 Tomato (Oil) 250-280 12 to 18 min for 8 washers 9 Tomato 250-280 12 to 18 min for 8 washers 10 Onions (Oil) 250-280 18 min for 4 washers 11 Onions 250-280 18 min for 4 washers 12 Pancakes 200 3 to 4 min per pancake

We then proceeded to clean the concavity after three firings of the same type of food, except chipolatas where cleaning has been made after each cooking of 6 sausages.

The products used are, first of all, a commonly used product for cleaning dishes and the product sold under the name commercial "Kiraviv" commonly used for cleaning plates vitroceramics.

In addition to cleaning, we noted the severity index of each type of food. This index is representative of the difficulty put to clean the food considered and therefore its ability to try.

It is stated here that the more difficult the cleaning operation, the more the severity index is high.

It is also specified that the severity indices were noted after the cooking 20 kg of each type of food.

Table 2 below groups together, for the same types of food as those in Table 1, the cleanings undergone as well as the severity index. Examples Product (s) used for cleaning Severity rating 1 Kiraviv then dishes 0.03 2 Kiraviv then dishes 0.03 3 Kiraviv then dishes 0.03 4 Kiraviv then dishes 0.03 5 Kiraviv then dishes 0.03 6 Kiraviv then dishes 0 7 Kiraviv then dishes 0 8 Washing up 0 9 Washing up 0 10 Washing up 0 11 Washing up 0 12 Washing up 0

Reading these tables, it becomes clear that direct cooking food on a ceramic hob proposed by the invention as well as the related cleaning is not a problem.

Obviously, it goes without saying that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

Thus, the inductor 20 can be replaced by a heating element and thus allowing cooking rather of the “steam” type.

Claims (23)

Cooking appliance (1) comprising at least one substantially flat upper plate (3) and at least one cooking hearth (5, 16, 17), characterized in that said plate comprises at least one concavity (9) under which is placed said cooking hearth. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the cooking hearth is a heating element. Apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that said heating element is calibrated at a maximum temperature of the order of 450 ° C. Apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that it is coupled to two temperature limiters, the triggering of which is carried out respectively at a maximum temperature of the order of 400 ° C and 580 ° C. Apparatus according to one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that said heating element is regulated by a thermostat. Apparatus according to one of claims 2 to 5, characterized in that said heating element has an annular shape and is placed partially peripheral under the concavity. Apparatus according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the plate is made of glass-ceramic material. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the concavity is made of glass ceramic material. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the plate further comprises at least one opening (14) into which is inserted an atmospheric type gas burner (15) and / or at least one flat heating zone (10, 13) under which is placed another cooking hearth, such as a heating element (5) or an induction hearth. Apparatus according to claim 9, characterized in that the plate consists of at least two modules (6, 7) juxtaposed, one of the two modules (6) comprising at least one concavity (9), the other comprising at at least one opening (14) and / or at least one flat heating zone (13). Apparatus according to claim 10, characterized in that said modules are assembled together by a mechanical device preventing infiltration. Apparatus according to claim 11, characterized in that said mechanical device preventing infiltration is a seal (8), preferably of high temperature resistance and tight, of the silicone seal type. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the concavity is removable or integrated into the plate. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the concavity comprises a flat bottom (18), advantageously parallel to the plane of the plate. Apparatus according to claim 14, characterized in that the flat bottom (18) of the concavity is circular, preferably of diameter between 100 mm and 400 mm. Apparatus according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that the flat bottom has a transmission in the wavelengths of the infrared T _IR and / or visible T _L domain differentiated from that of the rest of the plate, preferably at least 10% lower. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the upper peripheral edge is raised relative to the plane of the plate. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the depth p of the concavity is between 20 mm and 80 mm. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the concavity is covered with a bell (21), preferably allowing vision (24). Apparatus according to claim 19, characterized in that the bell has a glass or glass-ceramic wall (28). Apparatus according to claim 19 or 20, characterized in that the bell comprises a sheet of ferromagnetic material (23), and in that at least one inductor (20) is placed under the concavity (9), preferably in its part peripheral. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 18, characterized in that the concavity is covered with a board (25), preferably of complementary shape over at least part of the depth of the concavity. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it constitutes a hob or part of a cooker.

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