Electric Grill with Segmented Movable Plates for Uneven Food Thickness
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electric grills with two opposing grill plates often result in uneven cooking due to differences in food height, leading to overcooking or undercooking, and applying pressure to compensate can deform food and cause sticking.
Innovation Solution
The grill plates are designed with multiple segments that can be adjusted relative to each other and their bases, allowing for optimal adaptation to food thickness, with independent heating control and a mechanism for homogeneous pressure distribution, ensuring even cooking.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stress or pressure
If the upper grill plate is pressed hard to compensate for height differences, then cooking pressure is improved, but food deformation and sticking occur
Solution Approach 1:
The grill plate is divided into multiple independently movable plate segments that can adjust their position individually. This segmentation allows each segment to adapt to the height of food items placed on it, providing uniform cooking pressure without deforming the food, as each segment moves independently to match the food surface contour.
Solution Approach 2:
The plate segments are designed to be dynamically movable rather than fixed. They can automatically displace relative to their plate base depending on the size and shape of grilled food, enabling the grill plate to dynamically adapt its surface to match varying food heights and maintain optimal contact pressure without causing deformation.
2Device complexity
If a single fixed grill plate is used, then device complexity is reduced, but uneven cooking occurs due to food height variations
Solution Approach 1:
The grill plate is segmented into multiple independently controllable sections. Each plate segment can be adjusted individually to match the height of food items, ensuring that all areas of the grill plate maintain optimal cooking contact regardless of food height variations, thereby achieving uniform cooking across the entire surface.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the grill plate can have different heights and positions tailored to the specific food items placed on them. Each plate segment can be locally adjusted to provide the optimal cooking surface for the food beneath it, allowing customized cooking conditions for different areas of the grill plate simultaneously.
3Ease of manufacture
If the grill plate height is fixed, then manufacturing simplicity is improved, but adaptability to different food thicknesses deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The plate segments are designed with movable mounting mechanisms that allow automatic displacement relative to the plate base. This dynamic capability enables each segment to adjust its height position according to the thickness of food items placed on the grill, providing versatile adaptability while maintaining relatively simple manufacturing through standardized movable joint designs.
Data Source
Figure 1
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Figure 4~5
AI summary
The invention relates to an electric grill (1) with two grill plates (3, 4) opposite each other with respect to their large plate surfaces, jointly spanning a grilling chamber (2), wherein the grill (1) has a first grill plate (3) for supporting food to be grilled (5, 6) and a second grill plate (4) which can be moved relative to the first grill plate (3), and wherein each grill plate (3, 4) is assigned a plate base (7, 8) which holds the grill plate (3, 4). In order to adapt the grilling chamber (2) to different sized items (5, 6), it is proposed that at least one grilling plate (3, 4) has at least one plate segment (9 to 16) which is movable and which is held on the plate base (7, 8) depending on the size and/or shape of the item (5, 6) placed in the grilling chamber (2) and which is automatically movable relative to the plate base (7, 8) holding this plate segment (9 to 16).