Cooking stove

• US 20050236390A1
• Filed: 03/29/2005
• Published: 10/27/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rinnai Corporation
• Original Assignee: Rinnai Corporation
• Inventors: Yamada, Hiroyuki, Hata, Shinichiro, Gama, Atsuhito, Hirota, Kazuya
• Granted Patent: US 7,176,418 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 219/445.100
• CPC Class Codes: F24C 3/124 Control panels
• CPC Class Codes: F24C 3/126 on ranges

Abstract

The present invention provides a cooking stove that prevents an instruction from being given using the touch switch owing to a factor different from the user'"'"'s operation, while hindering the user from having an incongruous or anxious feeling when operating the touch switch. Touch switches 10 to 13 are provided on a glass top plate covering a top surface of a cooking stove main body accommodating a left burner and a right burner; the touch switches 10 to 13 sense an object that contacts with or approaches the top surface of the glass top plate. When any of the touch switches is turned on and then turned off again, heating control means 31 executes a pre-assigned process to the touch switch. When the touch switch is turned on, lighting control means 32 changes the displays of display sections 14 to 17 to ones corresponding to the state of a burner after the process has been executed before executing a pre-assigned process to the touch switch.

Claims

1. A cooking stove comprising:

a touch switch provided on a top plate covering a top surface of a cooking stove main body accommodating heating means, to allow a user to give an instruction on activation of the heating means, the touch switch sensing an object that contacts or approaches the top surface of the top plate; and

heating control means for determining whether the touch switch is in a sensing state or a non-sensing state to perform a predetermined operation pre-assigned to the touch switch, on the heating means in accordance with a result of the determination,

wherein the cooking stove comprises;

state display means for displaying a state of the heating means; and

display control means for, when the touch switch shifts from the non-sensing state to the sensing state, changing display contents of the state display means to display corresponding to a state of the heating means after the predetermined operation has been performed, and

the heating control means performs the predetermined operation on the heating means when the touch switches shifts from the non-sensing state to the sensing state and then returns to the non-sensing state.

2. The cooking stove according to claim 1, wherein after the touch switch has shifted from the non-sensing state to the sensing state, when touch switch does not return to the non-sensing state within a predetermined time, the display control means stops the display corresponding to the state of the heating means after the predetermined operation has been performed.

3. The cooking stove according to claim 1, comprising error informing means, and

wherein after the touch switch has shifted from the non-sensing state to the sensing state, when touch switch does not return to the non-sensing state within a predetermined time, the display control means causes the error informing means to report this error.

4. The cooking stove according to claim 2, comprising error informing means, and

wherein after the touch switch has shifted from the non-sensing state to the sensing state, when touch switch does not return to the non-sensing state within a predetermined time, the display control means causes the error informing means to report this error.