Whirlpool

A cordless kitchen appliance (20) has a motor housing (22), a drive assembly (24) disposed within the motor housing (22), a battery (91) selectively attached to the motor housing (22) to power the drive assembly (24), and an operable assembly (26) selectively coupled to the motor housing (22) and selectively engaged with the drive assembly (24) to allow the drive assembly (24) to rotate a cylindrical blade (38) of the operable assembly (26). A user may insert food items into the operable assembly (26), pressing the food items against the cylindrical blade (38) with a pusher (40) to process the food items. The cordless kitchen appliance (20) provides a variety of safety features including multiple interlock mechanisms (158), (182) and a microcontroller configured to control the operation of the drive assembly (24). Further, the cordless kitchen appliance (20) provides a variety of convenience features, including release mechanisms and structures configured to facilitate the storage of the cordless kitchen appliance (20) when the cordless kitchen appliance (20) is not in use.

A method for estimating coil current for an inductive cooking appliance may include receiving a multiplicity of measured voltage drops for each of a predetermined inverter period across a shunt resistor arranged on a low side of an inverter, extract at least one of a root mean square (RMS) and a peak voltage for the multiplicity of voltage drops received during a predetermined inverter period, and determine a coil current based on the extracted at least one of the RMS and peak voltages.

A vacuum pump (10) for withdrawal of air from a food container (12) includes a housing (14) defining an axis (16) with an inlet port (18) at an operative end (20) of the housing (14) and a battery-receiving cavity (22) disposed on a second end (23) of the (14) opposite the operative end (20) for releasably retaining a battery pack (24) on the second end (23) of the housing (14). A compressor (26) is disposed in the housing (14) and is operable to create negative pressure at the inlet port (18). The compressor (26) is further selectively electrically connectable with the battery. An annular outer gasket (28) is disposed at the operative end (20) aligned with the axis (16) the housing (14) and defines a withdrawal cavity (30) in fluid communication with the inlet port (18). The annular outer gasket (28) is sized to stably support the vacuum pump (10) on a surface with the axis (16) positioned normal to the surface (S).

A cooking appliance (10) includes a first heating element (12A) and a second heating element (12B). A user interface (14) includes a display module (16) and a button input module (18) aligned with the display module (16). A control system (100) configured to generate, with the display module (16), a first slider graphic (20A) associated with the first heating element (12A) and a second slider graphic (20B) associated with the second heating element (12B). The control system (100) is further configured to generate, on the display module (16), a first power regulation icon (22A) moveable based on user input along the first slider graphic (20A) to regulate a temperature output of the first heating element (12A), and a second power regulation icon (22B) moveable based on user input along the second slider graphic (20B) to regulate a temperature output of the second heating element (12B).

The invention relates to a method of controlling an induction cooking appliance (10) having a cook surface (12) and an induction coil (15) electrically connected with a power supply (52), and with a cooking vessel (20) disposed on the cook surface (12), the method comprising obtaining a target power level for a cooking cycle, obtaining an initial power-frequency curve (120) including a plurality of power levels at a plurality of frequencies, and alternating between operating the power supply (52) in a first mode and a second mode to iteratively update the plurality of power levels and obtain an updated power-frequency curve, wherein operating the power supply (52) in the first mode includes operating the power supply (52) to adjust a power output of the induction coil (15) toward the target power level, and operating the power supply (52) in the second mode includes operating the power supply (52) to update at least one power level of the plurality of power levels.

An induction cooking appliance (10) includes a cooktop (12) having a cook surface (14), an induction coil (16) below the cook surface (14) and configured to heat cookware (18) on the cook surface (14), and control circuitry (26) in communication with the induction coil (16) and the temperature sensor (20, 22). The control circuitry (26) is configured to measure an inductance (L) of the induction coil (16), determine a first temperature estimate based on the inductance (L), monitor the inductance (L) of the induction coil (16) for detection of a change of the inductance (L) and, if the change of the inductance (L) is detected, determine a rate of the change of the inductance (L) over a predetermined time interval, whereby if the rate of change of the inductance (L) exceeds a pre-determined rate of change, reduce a weight of the change of the inductance (L) in processing the estimated temperature of the cookware (18), and control a power supply (46) supplied to the induction coil (16) based on the estimated temperature of the cookware (18).

A cooktop (10) including: a heating element (14) positioned to increase the temperature of a cooking vessel (26) placed over the heating element (14); and a controller (20) in communication with the heating element (14) and a human-machine interface (18), the controller (20) configured (a) to determine a temperature of the cooking vessel (26), or change thereof, as a function of time and (b) to determine, as a function of at least the determined temperature of the cooking vessel (26), or change thereof, as a function of time (i) that a food item (32) that was within the cooking vessel (26) is no longer within the cooking vessel (26) or (ii) that liquid (52) originally within the food item (32) or within the cooking vessel (26) generally has escaped therefrom and (b), as a consequence of (a), to perform a remedial action.

An induction cooktop includes a first coil, a second coil, switching circuitry including a first full-bridge inverter that drives the first coil, a second full-bridge inverter that drives the second coil, and a shared half-bridge inverter common to the first full-bridge inverter and the second full-bridge inverter, and control circuitry configured to operate the switching circuitry at a common switching frequency to generate different power levels among the first coil and the second coil.

A fluid delivery device (11) is coupled to an appliance body (12) of an appliance (10) and includes a spout (16) that defines a spout aperture (54) formed of a drip portion (56) of the spout (16) and an oblique portion (58) of the spout (16). The spout (16) also has a rear wall (53) that forms a portion of a spout interior (52) of the spout (16). An angle between the oblique portion (58) and the rear wall (53) and an angle between the oblique portion (58) and the drip portion (56) function to, at least partially, control the delivery of fluid from the appliance body (12) to a user through the spout aperture (54). Further, the spout (16) can have a rim (60) that circumscribes the spout aperture (54) and that is formed by both the oblique portion (58) and the drip portion (56). The rim (60) can define a peripheral recess (64), wherein the dimensions of the peripheral recess (64) further control the delivery of fluid from the spout aperture (54) to the user.

A dicer assembly (12, 112, 212) for a food processor appliance (10) includes a blade unit (14, 114, 214) that has a driven hub (16, 116, 216), a first arm (18, 118, 218) that extends from the driven hub (16, 116, 216), and a second arm (20, 120, 220) that extends from the driven hub (16, 116, 216) opposite the first arm (18, 118, 218). A first blade is connected to and extends along the first arm (18, 118, 218). A first trolley (24, 124, 224) extends from the first arm (18, 118, 218) opposite the driven hub (16, 116, 216) and a second trolley (26, 126, 226) extends from the second arm (20, 120, 220) opposite the driven hub (16, 116, 216). An outer ring (28, 128, 228) defines a guide rail (30, 130, 230) slidably coupled with the first trolley (24, 124, 224) and the second trolley (26, 126, 226).