Cooking appliance with a rapid-cooling function of a cooking chamber

Abstract

The invention relates to a cooking appliance (1) having a cooking chamber (12) which is designed to receive, through an access opening (13), preferably along the longitudinal axis (X), an item to be cooked, and having a closure element (14) which is designed to close and release the access opening (13) of the cooking chamber (12), wherein the cooking appliance (1), preferably a control unit (19) of the cooking appliance (1), is designed and configured to carry out a rapid-cooling function and / or a keep-warm function of the cooking chamber (12). The cooking appliance (1) is characterised in that the cooking appliance (1), preferably a control unit (19) of the cooking appliance (1), is designed and configured • to detect removal of the item to be cooked from the cooking chamber (12) and • in response to the detected removal to end the rapid-cooling or keep-warm function.

Description

[0001] Description

[0002] Cooking appliance with a function of rapid cooling of a cooking chamber

[0003] The invention relates to a cooking appliance with a function of rapid cooling of a cooking chamber.

[0004] Cooking appliances are known which have an immobile, i.e., fixed, cooking chamber formed with the cooking appliance, in which the food to be cooked can be arranged in or on a cooking utensil and cooked with the cooking chamber of the cooking appliance closed. Such a cooking appliance can be, for example, an oven, a steam cooker, a combination oven with a steam cooker, and the like. Such cooking appliances with a fixed cooking chamber usually have, at least in Germany, an overall height of approximately 45 cm along the vertical axis, although ovens with an overall height of approximately 60 cm are also common. Such a cooking appliance is shown in the document EP 2 466211 B1.

[0005] Such cooking appliances with a fixed cooking chamber have in common that they have an outer housing which essentially encloses the cooking appliance on the outside and protects its individual components and elements, as well as making them easier to handle together. Within the cooking appliance, an interior space is formed which represents the cooking chamber and is essentially enclosed by an inner housing, also referred to as a cooking chamber muffle or muffle. Between the inner housing and the outer housing, a housing space is formed as an intermediate space, in which functional elements of the cooking appliance, such as a control system or control unit, an electrical power supply and other components which serve the intended use of the cooking appliance can be arranged. In depth from the front, i.e. viewed from the user's perspective, the outer housing ora panel in the form of a furniture material or in the form of a control panel and the like together with the inner housing closes off the housing space so that the housing space is not accessible to the user.

[0006] The interior of the cooking appliance has a through-opening at the front in depth as an access opening, through which the interior of the cooking appliance is accessible to the user in order to insert cooking utensils into the interior of the cooking appliance as its cooking chamber and to arrange them there, as well as to remove cooking utensils from the interior of the cooking appliance after the food has been cooked. The access opening can be opened by the user by means of a closure element, for example in the form of a door that can be pivoted to the side, a flap that can be pivoted downwards, or the like, in order to access the interior of the cooking appliance, as described above, or to close the interior of the cooking appliance and carry out the cooking operation or process. Such a closure element can be closed or have a viewing window to allow the user a view into the closed interior of the cooking appliance.

[0007] The document DE 20 2006 019 656 U1 shows that the opening of a closure element of a cooking chamber can be detected by sensors.

[0008] It is known from DE 10 2021 104 990 A1 that the cooking chamber of a cooking appliance can be monitored by a camera. The image sensor can be triggered, for example, by the opening of a closure element of a cooking chamber, as disclosed in US 2018 / 0152995 A1 and EP 3608 593 B1.

[0009] Such cooking appliances with a fixed cooking chamber are usually designed as built-in appliances or as built-in kitchen appliances in order to be arranged with their outer casing in a space-saving manner and at a height that is easily accessible for the user along the vertical axis in kitchen furniture, such as in built-in kitchen cupboards, and to be flush with the surfaces of the other cooking appliances, drawers, doors and the like of the kitchen furniture towards the front towards the user with their locking element and, if necessary, also with their panel (see above), which can improve the visual impression for the user. Such cooking appliances can, however, also be designed as individual, separate appliances which can be set up and operated in particular on a work surface in a kitchen unit. This can simplify flexibility of use as well as procurement and disposal.

[0010] From the publication US 2022 / 0279956 A1 it is known to keep food warm at a lower temperature in a cooking appliance after the end of the cooking process.

[0011] The documents EP 3 904 769 A1 and US 2022 / 0279956 A1 disclose that when a food item is removed from the cooking appliance, a heating element for heating the cooking chamber of the cooking appliance can be switched off.

[0012] The rapid cooling function is well known in such cooking appliances, especially ovens. With the "rapid cooling" function, the food and the cooking chamber can be cooled relatively quickly after the cooking process has ended, i.e., brought from the relatively high temperature of the preceding cooking process to a significantly lower temperature, such as the usual ambient or room temperature, relatively quickly or at an accelerated rate. For example, the publication DE 10 2016 102 245 A1 shows a cooking appliance with a rapid cooling function.

[0013] This function is useful when an automatic cooking process has ended and further cooking of the food, which would or could lead to overcooking, is to be avoided in order to maintain or maintain the desired cooking result according to the automatic cooking process. This can, in particular, prevent the food from burning.

[0014] The rapid cooling function can also be used if an automatic program is to be started immediately after a cooking process that is designed for a "cold" cooking chamber, i.e., a cooking chamber at ambient or room temperature. If the temperature of the cooking chamber does not match this initial situation, i.e., is significantly higher than ambient or room temperature, this can affect the automatic cooking process and impair the cooking result.

[0015] The "rapid cooling" function can be implemented, for example, by automatically opening the cooking chamber's closing element, such as its door or flap, a little at the end of the cooking process so that the warm or hot air from the previous cooking process can escape through the gap from the cooking chamber to the outside of the cooking appliance. This can accelerate the cooling of the cooking chamber. Furthermore, if a cooling fan of the cooking appliance is operated as part of the rapid cooling function and ambient air is drawn into the cooking chamber, this can improve the discharge of the heated air to the outside of the cooking appliance and thus accelerate the cooling of the cooking chamber. Once the ambient or room temperature is reached, the rapid cooling function can be automatically ended.

[0016] In conjunction with the rapid cooling function, a keep-warm function can be used, as shown in document DE 10 2010 061 339 A1. With the "keep-warm" function, the food can be kept warm after the cooking process has ended without unwanted further cooking. The food is thus kept warm at a preset temperature that is, on the one hand, sufficiently high to keep the food warm or hot, which can improve the quality of the food for consumption, and, on the other hand, sufficiently low to prevent further cooking, so that the already achieved and desired cooking result cannot be altered or impaired.

[0017] In this case, the rapid cooling function can be used as described above, but when the preset keep-warm temperature is reached, the locking element is automatically closed again to retain the residual heat in the cooking chamber. If necessary, the cooking chamber can also be operated at the preset keep-warm temperature to enable longer keep-warm periods or to keep food warm as precisely as possible at the preset temperature.

[0018] The rapid cooling function thus continues automatically until the ambient or room temperature is reached. This can be done by measuring the temperature in the cooking chamber and specifying the usual ambient or room temperature. Alternatively, the user of the cooking appliance can end the rapid cooling function if necessary.

[0019] The keep-warm function runs automatically or continuously, as the function itself has no end. Therefore, the user must terminate the function when keeping warm.

[0020] The disadvantage in both cases is that the respective function continues to run automatically if or as soon as the user removes the food from the cooking chamber, even though the respective function is no longer needed, unless a cooled cooking chamber is required for a subsequent automatic cooking process. This leads to unnecessary energy consumption for actively cooling the cooking chamber, e.g., using the cooling fan in the rapid cooling function, or for additionally heating the cooking chamber to the preset temperature in the keep-warm function.

[0021] A particular disadvantage of the keep-warm function is that it continues to run and consumes energy if the user forgets to switch it off.

[0022] The invention addresses the problem of providing a cooking appliance with a rapid cooling function and / or a keeping-warm function as described above, so that energy consumption can be reduced or kept low when using this function or functions. At the very least, an alternative to known cooking appliances of this type is to be created.

[0023] According to the invention, this problem is solved by a cooking appliance having the features of independent claim 1. Advantageous embodiments and further developments of the invention emerge from the following dependent claims.

[0024] Thus, the invention relates to a cooking appliance with a cooking chamber configured to receive a cooking item through an access opening, preferably along the longitudinal axis, and with a closure element configured to close and open the access opening of the cooking chamber, wherein the cooking appliance, preferably a control unit of the cooking appliance, is configured and set up to perform a function of rapid cooling and / or keeping the cooking chamber warm. The cooking appliance is characterized in that the cooking appliance, preferably the control unit of the cooking appliance, is configured and set up

[0025] • to detect the removal of the food from the cooking chamber and

[0026] • to terminate the rapid cooling or warming function in response to the detected removal.

[0027] In other words, the user can be relieved of the burden of having to cancel or forget to use the quick cooling or keep warm function once the food is no longer needed. This can increase the user's comfort when using the cooking appliance. It can also avoid wasting energy while performing the quick cooling or keep warm function.

[0028] The invention is based on the finding that when a cooking appliance is in operation, i.e., during a cooking process, it can be assumed that there is actually food in the cooking chamber. Therefore, after the cooking process has been completed, a rapid cooling function can be initiated, as previously known, followed by a keep-warm function, either additionally or separately, to achieve the corresponding advantages described above.

[0029] If the invention detects that the food has been removed from the cooking chamber by the user, the reason for performing or continuing the rapid cooling or keeping warm function is eliminated. This function can thus be automatically or independently terminated by the cooking appliance or its control unit in response to the detected removal of the fully cooked food, so that the user does not have to do this and cannot forget it.

[0030] This may be delayed or only occur when the food is removed from the cooking chamber, as will be described in more detail below.

[0031] According to one aspect of the invention, the cooking appliance, preferably the control unit of the cooking appliance, is designed and configured to detect an opening and / or closing of the closure element, wherein the cooking appliance, preferably the control unit of the cooking appliance, is further designed and configured to detect the removal of the food to be cooked from the cooking chamber based on the detected opening and / or closing of the closure element.

[0032] This can represent a comparatively simple way to detect or conclude that opening and / or closing, in particular opening and closing at the same time, means removing the food from the cooking chamber and, based on this, to terminate the rapid cooling or keeping-warm function. This detection can occur, in particular, from detecting the movement of the closure element, which can enable such a simple and direct conclusion. Additionally or alternatively, this detection can occur from a change in the temperature and / or air flow of the cooking chamber, since this change can be attributed to a temporarily open closure element.

[0033] One aspect is that the cooking appliance, preferably the control unit of the cooking appliance, is designed and configured to deactivate at least one heating element of the cooking appliance, preferably all heating elements of the cooking appliance, during the rapid cooling function. This makes it easier to reduce the temperature in the cooking chamber.

[0034] In any case, the opening and / or closing can be carried out sufficiently clearly so that a gap-like opening of the closure element by the user in order to be able to view the food in the cooking chamber can be ruled out, which would not sufficiently release the access opening of the cooking chamber for removing the food from the cooking chamber.

[0035] One aspect is that the closure element closes the access opening of the cooking chamber in a closed position and releases the access opening of the cooking chamber in an open position, i.e., opens it completely to allow food to be placed in or removed from the cooking chamber. In a ventilation position, the closure element is opened so wide that the access opening of the cooking chamber is only slightly open, allowing air to circulate with the surroundings.

[0036] According to one aspect, a gap-like opening is excluded or an opening relevant for removing the food can be detected when the closure element is moved completely into the open position. However, it is also possible to use an incomplete opening of the closure element to detect the removal of food. For example, if the manner of opening, in particular the angular position, of the closure element has exceeded a limit value. This limit value is preferably 75 percent of the complete opening, particularly preferably 90% of the complete opening. In the case of a closure element moved about a rotation axis with an angular position of 0 degrees in the closed position, the limit value can also be 60 degrees, preferably 77 degrees, particularly preferably 85 degrees.

[0037] According to a further aspect of the invention, the cooking appliance, preferably the control unit of the cooking appliance, is designed and configured to detect the opening and / or closing of the closure element from a sensor-detected movement of the closure element. For this purpose, an angle sensor, a position limit switch, or an acceleration sensor of the closure element can be used, for example. This allows the corresponding properties and advantages to be implemented in concrete terms, as already described above.

[0038] According to a further aspect of the invention, the cooking appliance, preferably the control unit of the cooking appliance, is designed and configured to detect the opening and / or closing of the closure element from a sensor-detected temperature change in the cooking chamber. This can be done, for example, using a temperature sensor in the cooking chamber. This allows the corresponding properties and advantages to be implemented in concrete terms, as already described above.

[0039] According to a further aspect of the invention, the cooking appliance, preferably the control unit of the cooking appliance, is designed and configured to detect the opening and / or closing of the closure element from a sensor-detected change in the cooking chamber humidity. This can be done, for example, using a humidity or gas sensor in the cooking chamber. This allows the corresponding properties and advantages to be implemented in concrete terms, as already described above.

[0040] Even if a drop in cooking chamber humidity isn't attributed to the door being opened, measuring the cooking chamber humidity can be used to determine the presence or absence of food in the cooking chamber. Food releases moisture into the cooking chamber during the cooking process. If the cooking chamber humidity doesn't increase during cooking, it can be assumed that there is no food in the cooking chamber.

[0041] At the end of the cooking process and thus at the start of the rapid cooling process, the cooking chamber humidity typically reaches a high level. Opening the door quickly drops this reading to almost 0 vol%. If the door is closed again and the absolute cooking chamber humidity rises again, there is food in the cooking chamber that can release moisture. If the cooking chamber humidity stagnates after the door is closed, this indicates an empty cooking chamber, and the rapid cooling and warming process can be terminated.

[0042] According to a further aspect of the invention, the cooking appliance, preferably the control unit of the cooking appliance, is designed and configured to detect the opening and / or closing of the closure element from a sensor-detected change in the air flow of the cooking chamber. This can be done, for example, by means of an air flow sensor of a fan of the cooking chamber. This allows the corresponding properties and advantages to be implemented in concrete terms, as already described above. According to a further aspect of the invention, the cooking appliance has an image capture element which is designed and arranged to optically capture the cooking chamber and / or the access opening, preferably along the vertical axis, wherein the cooking appliance, preferably the control unit of the cooking appliance, is designed and configured to detect the removal of the food to be cooked from the cooking chamber based on at least one optically captured image of the image capture element.

[0043] The image capture element can, in particular, be a camera for capturing a wide area of ​​the cooking chamber, preferably with depth information. The optically captured image data can then be processed using known image processing and pattern recognition methods to identify the item being cooked or various items being cooked from the optically captured image data.

[0044] This can provide particularly reliable information about whether and what kind of food is currently in the cooking chamber. However, this can also result in comparatively high costs in terms of acquisition and installation costs, installation space, data processing, and energy consumption. If necessary, an image capture element already present in the cooking chamber for other purposes can be used additionally as described above, which can further reduce the costs.

[0045] According to a further aspect of the invention, the optical detection by the image capture element occurs in response to a detected closure of the closure element. This can minimize the effort required for optical detection and only allow the cooking chamber to be viewed using optical data after a change in the presence or absence of the food has actually occurred due to the opening and subsequent closing.

[0046] According to a further aspect of the invention, the cooking appliance, preferably the control unit of the cooking appliance, is designed and configured to delay the termination of the rapid cooling and / or keeping-warm function by a predetermined period of time, preferably by at least 30 seconds. This allows the user to remove the food and then, for example, after partially consuming the removed food, place the remaining food back into the cooking chamber to keep it warm during the rapid cooling function or to use the keeping-warm function, which continues to operate as before during this period.

[0047] According to a further aspect of the invention, the cooking appliance, preferably the control unit of the cooking appliance, is designed and configured to continue the rapid cooling and / or keeping-warm function if a renewed opening and / or closing of the closure element is detected within the predetermined period. Thus, the first opening and closing can be interpreted as removal of the food, and the subsequent second opening and closing can be interpreted as returning the (remaining) food to the cooking chamber for keeping warm, as previously described. This can enable the specific implementation.

[0048] According to a further aspect of the invention, the cooking appliance, preferably the control unit of the cooking appliance, is designed and configured to continue the rapid cooling and / or keeping-warm function if, within the predetermined period of time, the insertion of the food into the cooking chamber is detected based on at least one new optically captured image from the image capture element. Thus, the previously described image processing and pattern recognition can also be used in this case, as already described.

[0049] According to a further aspect of the invention, the renewed optical detection by the image capture element occurs in response to a detected renewed closure of the closure element. Thus, the corresponding previously described properties and advantages can also be applied in this case.

[0050] According to a further aspect of the invention, the (repeated) optical capture by the image capture element takes place continuously or regularly. This may increase the effort, but the presence or absence of the food in the cooking chamber or the removal of the food from the cooking chamber can be detected without the need to detect the opening and / or closing of the closure element, so that the corresponding effort for this can be dispensed with. Continuous capture can be understood as a continuous sequence of images in the form of a film. Regular capture can be understood as optical capture at specific or discrete time intervals, for example once per second, every five seconds, and the like, which can be sufficiently frequent to enable the user to react conveniently and energy-efficiently to the removal of the food from the cooking chamber.

[0051] In other words, cooking appliances have functions such as rapid cooling and keeping warm, which initially only make sense as long as there is food in the cooking appliance.

[0052] According to the invention, the cooking appliance, such as an oven, should be able to know its loading status (loaded or empty) at any time, for example, using a cooking chamber camera. The loading status of the cooking chamber is checked at the start of operation or a cooking process and / or each time the closure element is opened. This can be done using an image and a classification, e.g., in a cloud, or by evaluating several images in chronological order and assessing the changes.

[0053] For example, the cooking process ends and rapid cooling is selected. The load status is known, and rapid cooling only starts if there is food in the appliance.

[0054] As soon as the user removes the food during rapid cooling—this happens frequently, as the end-of-cooking signal is heard and rapid cooling has already started before entering the kitchen—the load status is checked (every time the door is opened). Once the food is removed, rapid cooling ends immediately.

[0055] This also applies to the warming step after rapid cooling.

[0056] This can also be useful for other functions that necessarily involve cooking food.

[0057] In some cases, a buffer time could be used before the end of the rapid cooling process. For example, this would ensure that the cooking appliance only switches itself off after 30 seconds during the rapid cooling process, provided that no new food is detected in the cooking chamber by then or until then. For example, a lasagne item may be fully cooked and rapid cooling is started, followed by a keeping warm process. If the user takes the lasagne out of the cooking chamber and closes it again, the rapid cooling / keeping warm process is not ended immediately. Instead, a predetermined period of time is waited to see whether the remaining lasagne, after portions have been removed, is not put back in the cooking chamber to be kept warm. In this case, it makes sense not to switch the appliance off immediately, otherwise the user would have to remember not to close the locking element in order to prevent the rapid cooling or keeping warm process from ending automatically.To prevent keeping warm, which would be energetically sensible, but would result in less space or risk of burns.

[0058] In any case, the user doesn't have to turn off the device and can't forget to do so. This feature is convenient and protects against unnecessary energy consumption.

[0059] An embodiment of the invention is shown purely schematically in the drawings and is described in more detail below. It shows

[0060] Figure 1 is a perspective view of a cooking appliance according to the invention in the form of an oven with an open access opening, viewed diagonally from the front and top; and

[0061] Figure 2 shows a longitudinal section through the cooking appliance according to the invention from Figure 1 with the access opening slightly open. The above figures are viewed in Cartesian coordinates. A longitudinal axis X extends, which can also be referred to as depth X or length X. A transverse axis Y extends perpendicular to the longitudinal axis X, which can also be referred to as width Y. A vertical axis Z extends perpendicular to both the longitudinal axis X and the transverse axis Y, which can also be referred to as height Z and corresponds to the direction of gravity. The longitudinal axis X and the transverse axis Y together form the horizontal X, Y, which can also be referred to as the horizontal plane X, Y.

[0062] Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a cooking appliance 1 according to the invention in the form of an oven 1 with an open access opening 13, viewed diagonally from the front and top. Figure 2 shows a longitudinal section through the cooking appliance 1 according to the invention in Figure 1 with the access opening 13 slightly open.

[0063] A cooking appliance 1 according to the invention is thus considered using the example of an oven 1. The oven 1 has an outer housing 10, which can also be referred to as an outer housing 10 and which essentially closes off or encloses the oven 1 to the outside. The outer housing 10 closes off along the longitudinal axis X towards the front, i.e. towards the user, in the upper area with a panel 10a containing operating and display elements (not shown). An inner housing 11, which can also be referred to as an inner housing 11, is arranged within the outer housing 10. The inner housing 11 closes off with the outer housing 10 along the longitudinal axis X to the rear, along the vertical axis Z downwards and upwards, and along the transverse axis Y on both sides, so that an intermediate space 12a is formed between the outer housing 10 and the inner housing 11, which intermediate space 12a can also be referred to as the housing space 12a. This intermediate space 12a represents the interior of the oven 1.

[0064] The inner housing 11 also essentially encloses an interior space 12 in which a cooking process can be carried out. For this purpose, corresponding elements for heating the interior space 12 (not shown) are arranged in the intermediate space 12a or in the cooking chamber 12. Accordingly, the interior space 12 can also be referred to as the cooking chamber 12.

[0065] The cooking chamber 12 is accessible to the user from the front along the longitudinal axis X through an access opening 13 located below the panel 10a. The access opening 13 can be closed and opened by means of a closure element 14 in the form of a flap 13. For this purpose, the flap 14 is connected to the outer casing 10 of the oven 1 by means of at least one hinge (not designated) so as to pivot upwards about the transverse axis Y, so that the flap 14 can be pivoted upwards away from the user to close the access opening 13 and downwards towards the user to release the access opening 13 and access the cooking chamber 12, see Figure 1.

[0066] The cooking chamber 12 has a side wall 12a on each side along the transverse axis Y, on each of which a removable support grid 15 is arranged. A telescopic rail 16 is removably attached to each support grid 15 at the same height along the vertical axis Z, which together form a pair of telescopic rails 16. The telescopic rails 16 are each designed in three parts along the longitudinal axis X (not shown), so that a front rail element is connected to a rear rail element of the telescopic rail 16 by means of a middle rail element, wherein the rear rail element is held fixedly and removably on the respective support grid 15.

[0067] A cooking utensil containing food, such as a baking tray (not shown), can be placed by the user onto the pair of telescopic rails 16 or their front rail elements in order to be pushed into and pulled out of the cooking chamber 12 along the longitudinal axis X. This can make it easier for the user to insert the baking tray containing food into the cooking chamber 12 and to remove it from the cooking chamber 12.

[0068] The closure element 14 or the flap 14 has a closure element sensor 14a in the form of an angle sensor 14a to detect the position of the flap 14. An image capture element 17 in the form of a camera 17 is arranged on the ceiling (not labeled) of the inner housing 11 and is directed downwards into the cooking chamber 12 essentially along the vertical direction Z in order to optically capture the chamber as completely as possible from above. Furthermore, a fan 18 in the form of a blower 18 is provided to convey a cold air flow through a fan duct 18a in the form of a blower duct 18a into the cooking chamber 12. Position limit switches and / or acceleration sensors can also be used as angle sensors, in particular.

[0069] The cooking appliance 1 or the oven 1 further comprises a control unit 19 for operating the cooking appliance 1 or the oven 1 and its functions. This includes the rapid cooling function followed by keeping food warm.

[0070] In order to relieve the user of the cooking appliance 1 or the oven 1 of having to terminate the rapid cooling or warming function by operating the panel 10a, which could also be forgotten, the control unit 19 of the cooking appliance 1 is designed and configured to detect the removal of the food from the cooking chamber 12 and, in response to the detected removal, to terminate the rapid cooling or warming function. For this purpose, the cooking appliance 1 or the oven 1 or its control unit 19 can detect an opening and closing of the flap 14, whereby the removal of the food from the cooking chamber can be detected and concluded. The opening and closing of the flap 14 can be determined from a sensor-detected movement of the flap 14 by means of the closure element sensor 14a, from a sensor-detected temperature change of the cooking chamber 12 by means of a corresponding

[0071] temperature sensor (not shown) and / or from a sensor-detected air flow change in the air flow of the fan 18 by means of a corresponding air flow sensor (not shown).

[0072] In order to increase the reliability of the information regarding whether the food was actually removed from the cooking chamber 12 when the flap 14 was opened and closed, the removal of the food from the cooking chamber 12 can additionally be based on at least one optically captured image of the image capture element 17. This can be combined in that the optical capture by the image capture element 17 occurs in response to a detected closing of the flap 14, so that unnecessary operation of the image capture element 17 can be avoided.

[0073] If a cooking utensil containing food is only briefly removed from the cooking chamber 12 and the remaining food in the cooking utensil is subsequently to be kept warm in the cooking chamber 12, the termination of the rapid cooling and / or keeping warm function can be delayed by a predetermined period of time, for example, 30 seconds. If a repeated opening and closing of the flap 14 as described above is detected within this period, the rapid cooling and / or keeping warm function is continued, since in this case it can be assumed that the cooking utensil with the remaining food was placed back into the cooking chamber 12 by the user to continue to be kept warm.

[0074] In this case, too, an optical verification can be performed using the image data of the image capture element 17 to determine whether the cooking utensil with the food is actually present in the cooking chamber 12. List of reference symbols (part of the description)

[0075] X Longitudinal axis; Depth; Length

[0076] Y transverse axis; width

[0077] Z vertical axis; height

[0078] X, Y Horizontal; horizontal plane

[0079] I Cooking appliance; oven

[0080] 10 outer casing; outer casing

[0081] 10a aperture

[0082] II inner casing; inner casing

[0083] 12 Interior; cooking chamber

[0084] 12a Side walls of the cooking chamber 12

[0085] 12b Intermediate space; housing space

[0086] 13 Access opening

[0087] 14 Closure element; flap

[0088] 14a Closure element sensor; angle sensor

[0089] 15 support grids

[0090] 16 telescopic rails

[0091] 17 Image capture element; camera

[0092] 18 fans; blowers

[0093] 18a Fan duct; blower duct

[0094] 19 Control unit

Claims

Patent claims 1. Cooking appliance (1) with a cooking chamber (12) which is designed to receive a food to be cooked through an access opening (13), preferably along the longitudinal axis (X), and with a closure element (14) which is designed to close and open the access opening (13) of the cooking chamber (12), wherein the closure element (14) closes the access opening (13) of the cooking chamber (12) in a closed position, opens the access opening (13) of the cooking chamber (12) in an open position, i.e., completely opens it, in order to place food in the cooking chamber (12) or to remove it from it, and in a ventilation position opens the access opening (13) of the cooking chamber (12) so wide that the closure element (14) is opened a gap, whereby an exchange of air with the environment is possible, wherein the cooking appliance (1), preferably a control unit (19) of the cooking appliance (1), is designed and configured,to detect the removal of the food from the cooking chamber (12) and, in response to the detected removal, to terminate a function of the cooking appliance (1), characterized in that the cooking appliance (1), preferably the control unit (19) of the cooking appliance (1), is designed and configured to perform a function of rapid cooling of the cooking chamber (12), wherein the rapid cooling function comprises that the closure element (14) of the cooking chamber (12), such as its door or flap, is automatically opened a gap after the end of a cooking process or the cooking operation, so that the warm or hot air from the previous cooking process can escape through the gap from the cooking chamber to the outside of the cooking appliance and / or a cooling fan of the cooking appliance (1) is operated, whereby ambient air is conveyed into the cooking chamber (12), so that the warm or hot air from the previous cooking process is displaced to the outside of the cooking appliance (1),wherein the rapid cooling function is automatically terminated when a target temperature is reached in the cooking chamber (12), the target temperature being lower than that, Temperature in the cooking chamber (12) during the cooking process or the cooking procedure and is equal to or greater than the room temperature in the installation room of the cooking appliance (1), wherein the cooking appliance (1), preferably the control unit (19) of the cooking appliance (1), is designed and configured to end the function of rapid cooling or keeping warm in response to the detected removal of the food from the cooking chamber.

2. Cooking appliance (1) according to claim 1, wherein the cooking appliance (1), preferably the control unit (19) of the cooking appliance (1), is designed and configured to detect a complete opening and / or closing of the closure element (14), wherein the cooking appliance (1), preferably the control unit (19) of the cooking appliance (1), is further designed and configured to detect the removal of the food to be cooked from the cooking chamber (12) based on the detected opening and / or closing of the closure element (14).

3. Cooking appliance (1) according to claim 2, wherein the cooking appliance (1), preferably the control unit (19) of the cooking appliance (1), is designed and configured to detect the opening and / or closing of the closure element (14) from a sensor-detected movement of the closure element (14).

4. Cooking appliance (1) according to claim 2 or 3, the cooking appliance (1), preferably the control unit (19) of the cooking appliance (1), is designed and configured to switch off at least one heating element, preferably all heating elements of the cooking appliance (1) during the rapid cooling function.

5. Cooking appliance (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the cooking appliance (1), preferably the control unit (19) of the cooking appliance (1), is designed and configured to detect the opening and / or closing of the closure element (14) from a sensor-detected temperature change of the cooking chamber (12), in particular by means of a temperature sensor, or from a sensor-detected change in the cooking chamber humidity in the cooking chamber, in particular by means of a humidity or gas sensor.

6. Cooking appliance (1) according to one of the claims one of the preceding claims, wherein the cooking appliance (1), preferably the control unit (19) of the cooking appliance (1), is designed and configured to detect the opening and / or closing of the closure element (14) from a sensor-detected change in the air flow of the cooking chamber (12).

7. Cooking appliance (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the closure element (14) of the cooking appliance (1), preferably the control unit (19) of the cooking appliance (1), is designed and configured to detect the opening and / or closing of the closure element (14) from a sensor-detected movement of the closure element (14), in particular into an open position of the closure element (14) or out of an open position of the closure element (14).

8. Cooking appliance (1) according to one of the preceding claims, with an image capture element (17) which is designed and arranged to optically capture the cooking chamber (12) and / or the access opening (13), preferably along the vertical axis (Z), wherein the cooking appliance (1), preferably the control unit (19) of the cooking appliance (1), is designed and arranged to detect the removal of the food to be cooked from the cooking chamber (12) based on at least one optically captured image of the image capture element (17).

9. Cooking appliance (1) according to one of claims 2 to 6 and according to claim 7, wherein the optical detection by the image detection element (17) takes place in response to a detected closing of the closure element (14).

10. Cooking appliance (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the cooking appliance (1), preferably the control unit (19) of the cooking appliance (1), is designed and configured to delay the termination of the rapid cooling and / or warming function by a predetermined period of time, preferably by at least 30 seconds.

11. Cooking appliance (1) according to one of claims 2 to 6 and according to claim 9, wherein the cooking appliance (1), preferably the control unit (19) of the cooking appliance (1), is designed and arranged to perform the function of rapid cooling and / or to continue keeping warm if a renewed opening and / or closing of the closure element (14) is detected within the predetermined period of time.

12. Cooking appliance (1) according to one of claims 7 or 8 and according to claim 9, wherein the cooking appliance (1), preferably the control unit (19) of the cooking appliance (1), is designed and configured to continue the function of rapid cooling and / or keeping warm if, within the predetermined period of time, an introduction of the food to be cooked into the cooking chamber (12) is detected based on at least one new optically captured image of the image capture element (17).

13. Cooking appliance (1) according to one of claims 2 to 6 and according to claim 11, wherein the renewed optical detection by the image detection element (17) takes place in response to a detected renewed closing of the closure element (14).

14. Cooking appliance (1) according to one of claims 7, 8, 9 or 12, wherein the (re)optical detection by the image detection element (17) takes place continuously or regularly.

Images