Cooker Top Plate Structure for Visible Heating Display and Heat Isolation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional heating cookers with induction heating systems face challenges in displaying the heating state effectively due to visibility issues and thermal effects, particularly with black-based top plates, which compromise design and material costs.
Innovation Solution
A heating cooker design featuring a top plate with a transparent low-expansion crystallized glass substrate, a black-based design layer, a diffusion region with pearl pigment, and a light-blocking layer, allowing for improved visibility and reduced thermal impact by spacing the display device from the top plate, enabling the use of inexpensive materials and maintaining a uniform, flat, and high-design appearance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If the display device is spaced apart from the top plate to reduce thermal effect, then the heat resistance requirement is reduced and material cost decreases, but the visibility and display position stability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
A light guide plate is introduced as an intermediary component between the light emitting device and the top plate. The light guide plate transmits light from the emitting device to the top plate surface, allowing the emitting device to be positioned farther from the top plate (reducing thermal effect) while maintaining display visibility through the light guide function.
Solution Approach 2:
The light emitting device is arranged in the vertical dimension below the top plate rather than being positioned close to the surface. By utilizing the vertical space and employing the light guide plate to project light upward, the system reduces thermal exposure while maintaining visual display function through dimensional repositioning.
2Shape
If the top plate uses a light-blocking layer to prevent internal structures from being seen, then the design appearance is improved, but the flatness and uniformity deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The top plate utilizes a black-based color scheme with controlled light transmission properties. By carefully selecting the black base color and its light transmission characteristics, the plate blocks views of internal structures while maintaining a uniform, flat appearance from the exterior, resolving the conflict between aesthetic design and manufacturing precision.
3Shape
If the top plate uses transparent glass with light-blocking layer to achieve design appearance, then the aesthetic quality is improved, but the cost and structural complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The top plate is constructed as a composite structure combining transparent glass with a black-based light-blocking layer. This composite material approach achieves both the aesthetic quality of transparency and the design appearance of blocking internal structures, while integrating these functions into a unified plate structure rather than separate components.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enhances visibility and thermal performance, allowing for a high-design, low-cost heating cooker with both light-blocking and light-transmitting properties, reducing the visibility of internal structures and enabling adjustable light transmission for improved user experience.
Implementation Method 1
a light emitting device disposed in the outer case, for displaying e.g. the state of heating effected by the heater element
Implementation Method 2
a diffusion region disposed partially on an undersurface of the design layer, for diffusedly emitting light from the light emitting device
Implementation Method 3
a light-blocking layer disposed on the undersurface of the design layer at least at a portion other than the diffusion region, for blocking light from below
Implementation Method 4
an IH cooker using an induction heating system for heating
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5A~5B
AI summary
A heating cooker includes: a top plate on which a cooking container to be heated is placed; an outer case as a main body having an upper surface on which the top plate is placed; a heater heating the cooking container; and a light emitting device disposed in the outer case, for displaying the heating state. The top plate includes: a glass substrate having a transparent light-transmitting low-expansion crystallized glass made mainly of Li2O-AL2O3-SiO2 and having β-quartz solid solution, having a crystal size smaller than the wavelength of visible light; a design layer having a black-based color disposed on an undersurface of the glass substrate; a diffusion region disposed partially on an undersurface of the design layer, for diffusedly emitting light from the light emitting device; and a light-blocking layer disposed on the undersurface of the design layer other than the diffusion region, for blocking light from below.