EP2535646A1

EP2535646A1 - Cooker pan support and cooker using the pan support

Info

Publication number: EP2535646A1
Application number: EP12171773A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Weiwei Miao; Meng Yang; Shenzhou Zhang
Original assignee: BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeraete GmbH
Current assignee: BSH Hausgeraete GmbH
Priority date: 2011-06-17
Filing date: 2012-06-13
Publication date: 2012-12-19
Also published as: CN202141094U

Abstract

A cooker pan support (1) and a cooker (8) using the pan support (1) are presented. The pan support (1) includes a pan support base (2) and support legs (3) disposed on the pan support base (2). An energy collecting unit (4) is disposed on at least one of the support legs (3), and the energy collecting unit (4) matches with a pan bottom to absorb heat energy and conduct the heat energy to the pan bottom. In this way, a contact area of the pan support with the pan bottom is greatly increased, and meanwhile, the amount of heat conducted through the pan support (1) to the pan bottom is also greatly increased, thereby improving the thermal efficiency. Besides, force distribution on each of the support legs (3) is improved, which increases the overall strength of the pan support (1).

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a household cooker pan support and a cooker using the pan support.

Related Art

An existing cooker in the current market generally includes a cooker panel, a burner disposed on the panel, a pan support surrounding the burner, and a liquid containing tray which is disposed around the burner on the panel and matches with the pan support to contain soup or food spilling from a boiling pan in cooking.
A conventional pan support used in the existing cooker generally includes a pan support bottom frame and four support legs at a base portion. Beyond that, the four support legs do not have any stiffener structure. In this way, it is easy to crush the support legs when the pan support bears a heavy load, or the support legs are broken when a user drops the pan support by accident in cleaning. Besides, in the conventional pan support, only upper end surfaces of the four support legs contact a pan bottom. In this way, a contact area of the pan support with the pan bottom is small, which causes the high-temperature pan support to conduct a small amount of heat to the pan bottom, resulting in a low heat-conducting efficiency and a waste of energy.
Unless supported by sufficient evidences, the prior art described herein does not mean that it is known to those of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of this application.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to overcome defects in the structure of the existing cooker pan support, the invention aims to provide an energy collecting pan support of a simple structure, improved strength, and high energy collecting efficiency. Such a pan support can ensure that a cooker is more efficient, energy-saving and environment-friendly to use, which greatly improves the energy utilization rate.
A technical solution adopted by the invention to solve the technical problem thereof is:

a cooker pan support, including a pan support base and support legs disposed on the pan support base, in which an energy collecting unit is disposed on at least one of the support legs, and the energy collecting unit matches with a pan bottom to absorb heat energy and conduct the heat energy to the pan bottom.

In this way, a contact area of the pan support with the pan bottom is greatly increased, so that most of the heat dissipating outward may be conducted to the pan bottom through the high-temperature pan support, thereby greatly improving the thermal efficiency.
In another embodiment of the invention, the energy collecting unit and the support leg are integrally formed.
In another embodiment of the invention, the energy collecting unit is detachably disposed on the support leg.
In another embodiment of the invention, an upper end surface of the energy collecting unit and an upper end surface of the support leg are kept in the same plane.
In this way, the pan bottom can fully contact the upper end surfaces of the pan support leg and the energy collecting unit, which increases a heat-conducting area and improves the thermal efficiency.
In another embodiment of the invention, more than one energy collecting unit is disposed on the support leg, and the energy collecting units are separated from each other.
In another embodiment of the invention, upper end surfaces of the separated energy collecting units are not in the same horizontal plane.
In this way, a pan support may match with pan bottoms of different shapes, which improves the stability of the pan bottom placed on the pan support, enlarges the contact area of the pan support with the pan bottom, and increases the heat-conducting area.
In another embodiment of the invention, the number of the support legs is more than two, and the energy collecting unit is disposed on each of the support legs.
In another embodiment of the invention, the energy collecting units on the support legs are integrated to form an energy collecting ring.
In this way, in one aspect, the contact area of the pan support with the pan bottom is greatly increased, which increases the amount of conducted heat, effectively improves the thermal efficiency, and reduces energy consumption. In another aspect, the energy collecting ring plays the role of a stiffener on each of the support legs, which improves force distribution on each of the support legs, and increases structural strength of the pan support to a large extent, thereby preventing the pan support from being easily fractured in using.
In another embodiment of the invention, the number of the support legs is more than three, and the energy collecting ring disposed on the support legs is shaped like a triangle, a rectangle, a polygon or a ring.
In another embodiment of the invention, more than one energy collecting ring is disposed on the support legs, and the energy collecting rings are separated from each other.
In another embodiment of the invention, heights H of the energy collecting rings relative to the pan support base progressively increase along an outward direction from a center of the energy collecting rings, so that the pan support can match with a conical-bottomed pan.
In another embodiment of the invention, the width h of the energy collecting ring is between 1 mm to 30 mm, and the thickness d is between 1 mm to 30 mm.
In another embodiment of the invention, the width h of the energy collecting ring is 3 mm, and the thickness d is 3 mm.
In this way, the energy collecting ring is not too close to fire or is completely away from fire, which avoids burning of the energy collecting ring in the fire, and avoids excessive CO to be produced to increase the CO content in the air.
In another embodiment of the invention, in a working state, the energy collecting unit or the energy collecting ring rarely contacts fire or is completely away from fire.
Another technical solution adopted by the invention to implement the technical objective is a cooker, which includes a cooker panel, a burner and a pan support as described above. The pan support is placed on the cooker panel.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following accompanying drawings are merely provided for schematically illustrating and explaining the invention, but not intended to limit the scope of the invention, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a pan support according to the invention; and
FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a cooker using the pan support.

List of Reference Numerals:

1-Pan support; 2-Base; 3-Support leg; 4-Energy collecting unit; 5-Energy collecting ring; 6-Cooker panel; 7-Burner; 8-Cooker; 9-Upper end surface of the energy collecting unit or the energy collecting ring; 10-Upper end surface of the support leg; h-Width of the energy collecting ring; d-Thickness of the energy collecting ring; H-Height of the energy collecting unit or the energy collecting ring relative to the base.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

To make the objective, solutions and beneficial effects of the invention more clearly, the invention is further illustrated below with reference to the accompanying drawings and exemplary embodiments.
An embodiment of a cooker pan support put forward by the invention is shown in FIGs.1 and 2. The pan support in this embodiment includes a pan support base 2, pan support legs 3 disposed on the base 2, and an energy collecting unit 4 disposed on the pan support leg. The pan support base 2 is generally shaped like a rectangle, for example, a square, or is shaped like a ring, for example, a circle. The pan support legs 3 may be fixed on the pan support base 2 in a buckling or welding manner. Or, the pan support legs 3 and the base 2 may be integrally cast and formed, so that the support legs 3 are fixed on the base 2. The energy collecting unit 4 may be shaped like a line, an arc or a curve, in which the shape of a long line or a circular arc is preferred to facilitate the manufacturing and present a more coordinated appearance. The energy collecting unit 4 is detachably disposed on the support leg 3 by being buckled or directly matching with a recessed portion of an upper end surface 10 of the support leg 3. The energy collecting unit 4 may also be fixed on the support leg 3 in a welding manner or by being integrally cast with the support leg 3. Through such settings, an upper end surface 9 of the energy collecting unit 4 may match with a pan bottom placed thereon, so that the energy collecting unit 4 absorbs heat energy dissipating outward and conducts the heat energy to the pan bottom, thereby achieving the effect of heating the pan bottom by collecting energy. That the energy collecting unit 4 matches with the pan bottom means that the upper end surface 9 of the energy collecting unit 4 can fully contact bottoms of pans of different shapes, such as a flat-bottomed pan or a conical-bottomed pan, to achieve a largest contact area. Meanwhile, the pan bottoms of different shapes can be stably placed on the upper end surface 9 of the energy collecting unit 4, so that different pans can all be stably placed on the pan support for heating. To ensure the stable effect, the upper end surface 9 of the energy collecting unit 4 and the upper end surface 10 of the support leg 3 are kept in the same plane. In order to enlarge the heat-conducting contact area of the energy collecting unit 4 with the pan bottom, a plurality of energy collecting units 4 may be disposed on the support leg 3, and may be evenly and separately distributed in the same plane. However, in order to make the plurality of energy collecting units 4 better match with a conical-bottomed pan, the upper end surfaces 9 of the plurality of energy collecting units 4 may not be in the same horizontal plane, and may be distributed along an outward direction from a center of the pan bottom with heights H relative to the base 2 progressively increasing. A preferred casting material for the energy collecting unit 4 is a material of high temperature resistance and good thermal conductivity, such as cast iron, stainless steel or a cold-rolled steel plate.
As shown in FIGs. 1 to 2, every support leg 3 is disposed with the energy collecting unit 4, and the energy collecting units 4 may be integrated to form an energy collecting ring 5. The energy-collecting ring 5 may be shaped like a triangle, a rectangle, a polygon or a ring, in which the shape of a circular arc or a quadrangle is preferred herein. The number of the energy collecting ring 5 is between 1 and 100. 3 energy collecting rings are preferred herein, and are separately distributed on the support legs 3. The upper end surface 9 of each of the energy collecting rings 5 and the upper end surfaces 10 of the support legs 3 are kept in the same plane. In this way, the pan bottom can fully contact the upper end surfaces of the energy collecting rings 5 and the upper end surfaces of the support legs 3, thereby enlarging the heat-conducting area. Meanwhile, the energy collecting rings 5 may also be disposed in the following way. That is, the heights H of the energy collecting rings 5 relative to the pan support base progressively increase along an outward direction from a center of the energy collecting rings, so that the bottom of a conical-bottomed pan is stably placed on the energy collecting rings 5 and fully contacts the energy collecting rings 5. The width h of the energy collecting ring 5 is between 1 mm and 30 mm, and 3 mm is preferred herein. The thickness d of the energy collecting ring 5 is between 1 mm and 30 mm, and 3 mm is preferred herein. The thickness d may not be too large, so as to ensure that the energy collecting ring 5 rarely contacts fire or is completely away from fire, thereby avoiding an increased CO content in the air.
As shown in FIG. 2, the invention also puts forward a cooker 8, which includes a cooker panel 6, a burner 7 and a pan support described in the above embodiment. The pan support 1 is placed on the cooker panel 6. The cooker may be a gas stove, an induction cooker, or a stove combining a gas stove and an induction cooker.
It should be noted that the invention is not limited to the above embodiments, but covers all the possible implementations determined according to the claims and the disclosure of the specification. Therefore, any simple modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made without departing from the spirit and principle of the invention shall fall within the protection scope of the invention.

Claims

A cooker pan support (1), comprising a pan support base (2) and support legs (3) disposed on the pan support base (2), characterized in that:
an energy collecting unit (4) is disposed on at least one of the support legs (3), and the energy collecting unit (4) matches with a pan bottom to absorb heat energy and conduct the heat energy to the pan bottom.
The cooker pan support according to claim 1, characterized in that:
the energy collecting unit (4) and the support leg (3) are integrally formed.
The cooker pan support according to claim 1, characterized in that:
the energy collecting unit (4) is detachably disposed on the support leg (3).
The cooker pan support according to claim 1, characterized in that:
an upper end surface (9) of the energy collecting unit (4) and an upper end surface (10) of the support leg are kept in the same plane.
The cooker pan support according to claim 1, characterized in that:
more than one energy collecting unit (4) is disposed on the support leg (3), and the energy collecting units (4) are separated from each other.
The cooker pan support according to claim 5, characterized in that:
upper end surfaces (9) of the separated energy collecting units (4) are not in the same horizontal plane.
The cooker pan support according to claim 1, characterized in that:
the number of the support legs (3) is more than two, and the energy collecting unit (4) is disposed on each of the support legs (3).
The cooker pan support according to claim 7, characterized in that:
the energy collecting units (4) on the support legs (3) are integrated to form an energy collecting ring (5).
The cooker pan support according to claim 8, characterized in that:
the number of the support legs (3) is more than three, and the energy collecting ring (5) disposed on the support legs (3) is shaped like a triangle, a rectangle, a polygon or a ring.
The cooker pan support according to claim 9, characterized in that:
more than two energy collecting rings (5) are disposed on the support legs (3), and the energy collecting rings (5) are separated from each other.
The cooker pan support according to claim 10, characterized in that:
heights H of the energy collecting rings (5) relative to the pan support base progressively increase along an outward direction from a center of the energy collecting rings (5).
The cooker pan support according to claim 8, characterized in that:
the width h of each of the energy collecting rings (5) is between 1 mm to 30 mm, and the thickness d is between 1 mm to 30 mm.
The cooker pan support according to claim 12, characterized in that:
the width h of each of the energy collecting rings (5) is 3 mm, and the thickness d is 3 mm.
The cooker pan support according to any one of the above claims, characterized in that:
in a working state, the energy collecting unit (4) or the energy collecting ring (5) rarely contacts fire or is completely away from fire.
A cooker (8), comprising a cooker panel (6), a burner (7) and a pan support (1) according to any one of the above claims, wherein the pan support (1) is placed on the cooker panel (6).