ENERGY MANAGEMENT IN A MICROWAVE COOKING APPLIANCE
First Claim
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1. A microwave oven comprising:
- a cooking cavity;
a RF generation module configured to deliver microwave energy into the cooking cavity;
a controller for receiving and processing a signal indicative of a current state of an associated energy supplying utility for determining whether to operate the microwave oven in one of a normal operating mode and an energy saving mode; and
a power source operatively associated with the controller and the RF generation module, the power source configured to receive a signal from the controller and transmit the signal to the RF generation module to operate the microwave oven in normal operating mode or in energy saving operating mode in accord with the signal received from the controller.
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Abstract
A microwave oven comprises a cooking cavity and a RF generation module configured to deliver microwave energy into the cooking cavity. A controller receives and processes a signal indicative of the current state of an associated energy supplying utility for determining whether to operate the microwave oven in one of a normal operating mode and a power saving mode in response to the received signal. A power source is operatively associated with the controller and the RF generation module, and is configured to receive a signal from the controller and cause the microwave oven to operate in normal operating mode or in power saving operating mode in accord with the signal.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A microwave oven comprising:
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a cooking cavity; a RF generation module configured to deliver microwave energy into the cooking cavity; a controller for receiving and processing a signal indicative of a current state of an associated energy supplying utility for determining whether to operate the microwave oven in one of a normal operating mode and an energy saving mode; and a power source operatively associated with the controller and the RF generation module, the power source configured to receive a signal from the controller and transmit the signal to the RF generation module to operate the microwave oven in normal operating mode or in energy saving operating mode in accord with the signal received from the controller. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A microwave oven control method, comprising:
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communicating with an associated utility; determining a state for an associated energy supplying utility, the utility state being indicative of at least a peak demand period or an off-peak demand period; operating the microwave oven by delivering power to the microwave oven from an RF generation module in a normal mode during the off-peak demand period or in an energy saving mode during the peak demand period; and blocking the communication with the associated utility when the energy generation module is energized to prevent unreliable communications during operation of the microwave oven. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14)
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15. A microwave oven comprising:
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a cooking cavity; a RF generation module configured to deliver microwave energy into the cooking cavity; a controller for receiving and processing a signal indicative of current state of an associated energy supplying utility for determining whether to operate the microwave oven in one of a normal operating mode and a power saving mode; and a power source operatively associated with the controller and the RF generation module, the power source configured to receive a signal from the controller and transmit the signal to the RF generation module to cause the microwave oven to operate in normal operating mode or in power saving operating mode in accord with the signal, wherein the power source is a multi-tap transformer. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification