Kitchen appliance comprising a lighting unit and method for actuating a lighting unit
Solution Overview
Problem
Kitchen appliances often have suboptimally positioned lighting due to design constraints and lack flexible adjustment options for lighting type and intensity.
Innovation Solution
A kitchen appliance with a lighting unit that includes a detection unit to gather parameters and a changing unit to adjust light settings, utilizing multiple optics with different directional angles and opening angles to control light output based on user position and ambient conditions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If lighting units are integrated into kitchen appliances with fixed design, then the appliance structure remains simple and compact, but the lighting position and type cannot be flexibly adjusted
Solution Approach 1:
The lighting unit is segmented into independent components: light sources, multiple optics with different directional angles, and control units. This allows selective activation of different lighting configurations without redesigning the entire appliance structure, resolving the contradiction between adaptability and structural simplicity
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from static fixed lighting to dynamic adjustable lighting through electronically controllable light sources and switchable optics. The lighting characteristics can be changed in real-time based on user needs without physical reconfiguration, maintaining structural simplicity while achieving flexibility
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple optics with different directional angles are integrated into the lighting unit, then lighting can be adjusted to various user scenarios, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple optics with different directional angles are merged into a single integrated lighting unit housing. This consolidation allows the system to provide diverse lighting patterns (focused, diffuse, directional) without requiring separate lighting devices, achieving scenario adaptability while containing complexity within one modular unit
Solution Approach 2:
The lighting unit is designed as a multi-functional component that can serve multiple purposes: task lighting, ambient lighting, and accent lighting. By incorporating multiple optics that can be selectively activated, a single device performs functions that would traditionally require multiple separate lighting solutions
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 flexible and adaptive lighting that can be easily adjusted to various user scenarios and ambient conditions, improving functionality and user convenience without requiring manual operation or additional housing modifications.
Implementation Method 1
Each LED emits light into a specific zone on a lens, each zone having its own focal characteristics
Implementation Method 2
Each zone having its own focal characteristics
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2a~3b
Figure 4
AI summary
The present invention relates to a kitchen appliance (1) which has at least one lighting unit (100) with at least one light source (101). The at least one lighting unit is characterized in that the kitchen appliance (1) comprises a detection unit (103) for detecting parameters and the at least one lighting unit (100) has a changing unit (103) which uses the detected parameters to control a change in at least one light setting , includes. Furthermore, a method for actuating at least one such lighting unit (100) of a kitchen appliance (1) is described.