Heating element for a cooking appliance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional cooking appliances, such as ovens and microwaves, suffer from slow cooking times and poor food quality, highlighting a need for improved heating technologies that can enhance cooking efficiency and quality.
Innovation Solution
A heating element comprising conductive strips that generate infrared radiation, designed with a continuous sheet of material featuring elliptical cutouts and zig-zag configurations, optimized to reduce energy waste and enhance heating surface area, is integrated into a cooking appliance to provide faster and more efficient cooking.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional heating methods (ovens, microwaves) are used, then cooking can be performed, but cooking times are slow and food quality is poor
Solution Approach 1:
The heating element is divided into multiple segments with cutouts arranged in patterns, allowing selective heating zones that target food more efficiently while reducing heat loss to surrounding areas, thereby improving both cooking speed and food quality
Solution Approach 2:
The heating element features varying cutout patterns and segment configurations that create different heating intensities in different zones, enabling localized optimized heating that improves food quality while reducing overall cooking time
2Productivity
If heating element surface area is increased to improve heating efficiency, then more energy is wasted heating non-food areas
Solution Approach 1:
The heating element is segmented with strategic cutouts that reduce the total active heating surface area while maintaining or improving heating efficiency through concentrated, targeted heat zones that focus energy on food rather than empty space
Solution Approach 2:
The heating element design changes the distribution and concentration of heating zones through varying cutout patterns, creating optimized heating surfaces that deliver higher energy density to food areas while minimizing energy waste in non-food zones
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 heating element generates infrared radiation, reducing cooking times and improving food quality by efficiently directing heat to the food, while minimizing energy loss to non-food areas within the cooking cavity.
Implementation Method 1
a plurality of conductive strips that generate infrared radiation
Implementation Method 2
conductive strips that generate infrared radiation
Data Source
AI summary
A heating element for a cooking appliance includes terminals that act as electrically conductive contact points. One or more buses are arranged between the terminals, and connect one or more heating element segments in a zig-zag configuration. The heating element segments are connected in series and are arranged parallel with one another. Each heating element segment includes a plurality of cutouts linked together and having an elliptical shape. The terminals, heating element segments, and buses are a continuous single sheet of conductive material. A method of making the heating element includes forming a pattern into the sheet of conductive material by etching the pattern into the conductive sheet using photolithography.