Gas Grill Zone Grouping for Multi-Burner Temperature Uniformity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing gas grills require manual adjustment of gas flow for temperature control, necessitating user presence and making it difficult to maintain uniform temperatures across multiple burners, especially in indirect cooking zones, which are sensitive to external factors like wind and temperature.
Innovation Solution
A gas grill with a control module that groups cooking zones into a cooking group, allowing for centralized temperature control via a control loop, using electric gas valves and heat deflectors to manage direct and indirect heating zones, enabling precise temperature adjustment and automated cooking processes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If manual dials are used to control gas flow to burners, then the user can adjust cooking temperature, but the user must be present at the grill throughout the cooking process and cannot easily maintain uniform temperatures across multiple burners
Solution Approach 1:
The control module automatically monitors temperature sensors and adjusts gas valve openings to maintain desired cooking temperatures without requiring continuous user presence or manual intervention. The system serves itself by detecting temperature deviations and autonomously correcting them through proportional gas flow control.
Solution Approach 2:
Temperature sensors continuously monitor the cooking zones and provide feedback to the control module, which then adjusts the gas valve openings accordingly. This closed-loop feedback system enables automatic temperature maintenance across multiple burners, resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and extent of automation.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple burners are used for cooking, then both direct and indirect cooking are enabled, but maintaining homogenous temperature in indirect zones becomes a fiddly task highly sensitive to external factors
Solution Approach 1:
The control module uses temperature sensors in each cooking zone to continuously monitor conditions and automatically adjusts gas valve openings to compensate for external factors like wind and temperature changes. This feedback mechanism maintains reliable temperature uniformity across multiple burners regardless of environmental conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces manual mechanical adjustment of gas flows with an automated electronic control system that uses sensors and proportional valve control. This substitution eliminates the fiddly manual task of maintaining temperature uniformity and provides reliable control despite external disturbances.
3Ease of operation
If iterative manual adjustment is used to set temperature across multiple burners, then cooking zones can be configured, but the process is time-consuming and highly sensitive to external factors
Solution Approach 1:
The control module automatically configures and optimizes temperature settings for multiple cooking zones without requiring iterative manual adjustment. The system performs the temperature setup action in advance and maintains it automatically, eliminating the time-consuming manual configuration process while remaining easy to operate through simple user interface selections.
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically configures cooking zones and adjusts temperatures without requiring repeated manual intervention. Once the user selects a cooking mode, the control module independently manages all temperature adjustments, significantly reducing setup time while maintaining ease of operation.
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
Enables easy control of multiple cooking zones with precise temperature management, allowing for various cooking methods and recipes, reducing user intervention and improving cooking consistency across zones.
Implementation Method 1
each of the plurality of cooking zones is corresponding to at least one heating module
Implementation Method 2
indirect cooking refers to cooking by means of convection
Implementation Method 3
the at least one heat deflector is configured to shield radiation heat from the at least one direct heating zone to the at least one indirect heating zone
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosure relates to a gas grill and control method thereof. The gas grill comprises a housing defining a cooking chamber, a plurality of cooking zones in the cooking chamber, wherein each of the plurality of cooking zones is corresponding to at least one heating module, a gas supply module configured to provide gas to the at least one heating module of each of the plurality of cooking zones, a control module configured to control the gas supply module and the at least one heating module corresponding to each of the plurality of cooking zones based on a control input, and a user interface configured to generate the control input, wherein the control module is further configured to group at least two of the plurality of cooking zones to a cooking group based on the control input and control the heating modules corresponding to the cooking group based on the control input.