FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to cooking systems, in particular cooking hob type systems. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A typical kitchen is only used a few times a day and the rest of the time it represents wasted space. With increasing population growth in inner cities, and increasingly small dwellings, efficient utilization of space becomes extremely important.

A fitted kitchen typically results in space that cannot be used for other purposes.

Mobile cooking systems are known, which can be used on a table for example, thereby using space which functions at one time as a kitchen food preparation area and at other times as a dining area or a living area. These systems can be bulky and inconvenient to use and store when not in use.

There is therefore a continued need for a cooking system which enables an efficient use of space and which is easy to use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention is defined by the claims.

According to examples in accordance with an aspect of the invention, there is provided a portable cooking system, comprising:

a generally flat slab-shaped housing having a surface with a food preparation zone and a cooking zone; and

a hood for placing over food on the cooking zone to define a cooking or heating chamber between the cooking surface and the hood, wherein the hood comprises an electric heating element which implements a heating function.

This cooking system provides a space-saving solution for a cooking area. The system may for example be mobile so that any surface can be transformed temporarily into a kitchenette. Alternatively, the cooking surface of a static system may be reused for other purposes when not in use as a cooking surface.

The surface functions both as a food preparation and cooking area. For example, the food is first prepared over a food preparation zone of the surface. The food is then either transferred to the cooking zone, or else the food preparation zone and the cooking zone may be at the same location. A hood, i.e. a cooking hood, is placed over the food. The cooking hood forms a chamber with the surface itself, so that the prepared food does not need to be lifted into a cooking vessel. The cooking zone may be used for heating or drying as well as cooking, or it may be used for cooling (for example using a different hood which implements a cooling function).

The hood may have one or more inlet openings for drawing in air and one or more exhaust openings for expelling air (or other gases or vapors). The exhaust opening for example includes a filter.

The system provides a workspace and a cooking area oven at the same time. This creates a more efficient workflow as well as saving space. The cooking hood provides an energy efficient way to heat small food quantities. The system can be stored easily, for example it may be possible to hang it on a wall, integrate it into a table, slide it behind a wall or table, and it can be taken from one dwelling to another.

The food preparation zone and the cooking zone may be at a shared location. This provides a compact solution, where food is prepared and then cooked (or heated or dried) at the location where it has been prepared.

The hood has an electric heating element. This provides a compact integrated solution.

The surface may further comprise a weighing scale integrated into the housing.

This provides further integration of kitchen functions in a small space.

The system may further comprise a display system for displaying information to a user or an output port for connection to an external display system.

The display system may for example be used to display the output of a weighing scale. However, it may perform additional functions, such as showing recipes, giving cooking instructions, displaying information about the cooking process (for example temperature settings of the hood, the time remaining for the cooking process etc.). It may also be used for general entertainment, for example connecting to other devices of the user such as their mobile phone or tablet. There may be a touch screen display integrated into the housing.

The touch screen provides a compact way to implement both user input and display output.

The hood for example comprises a fan. The hood may for example define an air frying cooking zone, with circulation of hot air around and over the food.

In one example, the hood comprises an electric power supply cable which is connectable to a power supply via the housing or directly to a power supply.

In this most simple version, the hood is a plug-in heating device which plugs directly into a power socket or plugs into the housing.

In another example, the hood comprises a rechargeable battery.

In yet another example, the system further comprises a wireless power transfer system beneath the cooking zone of the surface for wirelessly powering an electric heating element of the hood when the hood is placed over the cooking zone.

This wireless power transfer option provides an integrated system, which for example may be plugged in with a single plug, avoiding any trailing wires near the food preparation and cooking zone.

The wireless power transfer system may be used to extend the functionality of the system, for example it may be used to power other devices, such as food processing devices (blenders, mixers etc.) or other cooking devices (such as kettles, hob plates etc.).

The wireless power transfer system may also be extended to enable direct induction heating of an induction pan, thus further extending the range of devices which may be used with the system.

The hood then comprises a pick-up coil located around a rim at the base of the hood, wherein an opening is defined within the rim for placing over the food at the cooking zone.

The pick-up coil is thus located against the cooking surface for efficient power transfer from the wireless power transfer system, but it still enables the hood to be placed over the food.

The angular orientation of the hood over the cooking zone may be used to set the temperature of the cooking or heating chamber. This provides a simple way for the user to control the hood.

Of course, other options are possible. For example the hood may have a simple user interface enabling the user to control settings of the hood. The surface may comprise a user interface system for receiving user instructions to set the temperature of the cooking or heating chamber, and the system comprises a controller within the housing for communicating wirelessly with the hood.

This provides another alternative by which the user can interact with the hood using the surface as the input interface. This gives the user a single main input interface for all functions of the overall system.

The surface for example further comprises a collecting zone, wherein the collecting zone comprises a recess in the surface.

The collecting zone is used to collect liquids and cut prepared foods ready for cooking. Thus, the collecting zone may be at the cooking zone.

Alternatively, a zone of the surface could be heated by a heating element integrated in the housing to heat or keep warm food directly by conduction.

The housing may comprise a unit for mounting on a desk, table or kitchen counter.

This provides a portable system which has a low volume for storage after the cooking and eating is complete. For example, it may be wall hung between uses. It may also be used from all sides so that meals may be prepared comfortably in small groups at the same workspace.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Examples of the invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a cooking system;

Figure 2 shows the housing of the cooking system of Figure 1 in perspective view;

Figure 3 shows how the inductive energy transfer may be implemented;

Figure 4 shows a most basic system implementation; and

Figure 5 shows a more elaborate system than Figure 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The invention provides a portable cooking system which comprises a housing having a surface with a food preparation zone and a cooking zone, and a hood for placing over food on the cooking zone to define a cooking or heating chamber between the cooking surface and the hood, wherein the hood implements a heating function. The food is prepared over a food preparation zone of the surface. The food is then either transferred to the cooking zone, or else the food preparation zone and the cooking zone may be at the same location. A cooking hood placed over the food forms a chamber with the surface itself, so that the prepared food does not need to be lifted into a cooking vessel.

Figure 1 shows the cooking system 10. It comprises a generally flat housing

12 which functions as a main unit for locating on a surface when cooking is needed. The housing is powered by the mains using a cable 13. The surface may be a desk, a table or a kitchen counter. When the cooking system is removed, the surface may be used for other functions, thus providing a space saving system. The housing is a cooking plate, which is slab-shaped, i.e. a relatively thin flat plate, which can thus be stored easily and occupies a small amount of space.

In addition to the housing 12 there is a cooking hood 14. The hood is a completely separate component. It is not physically mechanically attached to the housing, but instead is simply placed over it to from a chamber. It could, however, be electrically connected to the housing by a cable, as explained below, to draw power from the housing.

The housing has an upper surface which functions both as a food preparation surface and a cooking surface. Thus, food is prepared and cooked at the same surface. There may be a separate food preparation zone 16 and cooking zone 18 but these may instead be at the same location. In the example shown in Figure 1, the food preparation zone 16 is flat, for example to make food preparation easier, such as chopping and slicing. The cooking zone 18 is dished so as to catch cooking juices during the cooking process. This dished shape thus defines a collection zone.

The cooking hood 14 is for placing over food on the cooking zone 18 to define a cooking or heating chamber between the cooking surface and the hood. The hood provides heating. In particular, the hood has an electric heating element to heat the space within the hood. In this way, the food does not need to be moved off the surface where the food is prepared. Instead, the hood can be placed directly over the food where it has been prepared (if the preparation zone and cooking zone are the same). Alternatively, the food may simply be slid across from the preparation zone to the cooking zone before applying the hood. This creates a more efficient cooking workflow as well as saving space.

The housing may have no heating function, and instead only function as a food preparation surface, as a user interface (for example a display, weighing scale), and optionally as a power supply to the hood. Thus, there may be only a single food heating zone, namely where the hood is to be placed. The hood may be used for heating or drying as well as cooking, or it may be used for cooling (for example using a different hood which implements a cooling function).

Figure 2 shows the housing 12 in perspective view, to show more clearly the inwardly domed cooking zone 18.

The system may implement additional functions. One example is an integrated weighing scale 20, so that even more of the food preparation functions may be implemented by the system.

The hood may receive electrical power in a variety of different ways. A most simple option is for the hood to plug into the mains. However, this gives rise to a trailing wire which is undesirable. A second option is for the hood to plug into a socket of the housing. This avoids the needs for long trailing wires since the wire only needs to reach the known distance from the socket to the cooking zone. A third option is a rechargeable battery.

A fourth option is to use wireless (inductive) energy transfer between the housing 12 and the hood 14. This means that only the housing needs to be connected to a source of electrical energy and there are no trailing wires. The hood still has an electric heating element, which is powered by the energy transfer.

Figure 3 shows how the inductive energy transfer may be implemented.

The housing 12 has one or more inductive transmission coils 30. The hood 14 has a pick-up coil 32 at its base. In particular, the pick-up coil 32 is around the rim of the base of the hood 14 so that there is a central opening which is placed over the food to be cooked (or heated/dried/cooled). There may be multiple inductive transmission coils so that there is a set of cooking zones. There may for example be multiple zones, each of which may be used for food preparation or cooking as desired. Some may have a flat surface for ease of food preparation and some may have a domed surface for retention of liquid. One of the domed areas may equally function as the serving area, from which the food is eaten.

Furthermore, there may be induction zones enabling the use of conventional induction cooking pots. There may for example be a cooking zone which can be switched (manually or automatically) between a wireless inductive energy transfer mode for the cooking hood and an inductive cooking pan heating mode for a conventional induction cooking pan.

Alternatively, a zone of the surface could be heated by a heating element integrated in the housing to heat or keep warm food directly by conduction.

In the example shown, the hood 14 has a heating element 34 powered by the transferred energy from the housing, and a fan 34, powered in the same way. The hood for example has one or more inlet openings for drawing in air and one or more exhaust openings for expelling air (or other gases or vapors). The exhaust opening or openings for example include a filter.

The fan provides uniform heating within the chamber and air circulation. The chamber defined by the hood may function in the manner of a convection oven or an air fryer.

For wireless energy transfer, the transmission coils 30 generate a magnetic field which interacts with the pick-up coil 32, and the energy is used to operate the electric heating element and the fan. For induction heating, the magnetic field induces heating by eddy currents in a sole of a pan.

The housing in this example has an external interface 38 where it can connect to a display device 40. The system may then incorporate additional functionality, such as displaying recipes and cooking instructions. The display may also be used to display the weighing scale measurements.

The system can be designed to have various different possible sizes and levels of functionality.

In a most basic system as shown in Figure 4, the food preparation zone 16 and the cooking zone 18 are at a shared location. This provides a compact solution, where food is prepared and then cooked (or heated or dried) at the location where it has been prepared. The hood is powered by a cable from the housing, so that this provides the simplest

implementation of the housing. There is no integrated weighting scale. There is a single cooking/preparation zone.

The housing is compact, for example 40cm x 30cm, and more generally with an area less than 0.2m ² .

In Figure 5, a more elaborate system is shown. There are four zones. They may all function as wireless energy transfer cooking zones, so that the system could be used with up to four hoods. There may instead be some inductive cooking pot zones (e.g. 2) and some cooking hood zones (e.g. 2). None, one or both of the cooking zones for the cooking hood may have a domed shape. This is a larger system, for example 70 cm x 60cm, and more generally with an area between 0.3m ² and 0.6m ² .

In this example, the system also comprises an integrated display system 50 in addition to the integrated weighting scale 20. The display system for example comprises a touch screen so that it functions both as an input (arrow 52) and output device. The display may also provide information tailored to the cooking hood, such as the cooking timing information, a heat setting of the (or each) cooking hood. It may also be used for general entertainment, for example connecting to other devices of the user such as their mobile phone or tablet.

To implement these additional functions, the system has a controller within the housing. It communicates with the user via the input/output interface (i.e. the touch screen display) and it also communicates with the hood 14 via a wireless communication link 54. This wireless communication may for example be made using WIFI, near field

communication, Bluetooth or RF communication. For example, a near field communication system may be used. For this purpose, the housing has a short range (near field

communication) transceiver and the cooking hood (or other compatible appliance) has a corresponding transceiver.

The system may also be compatible with other wirelessly powered kitchen appliances, such as food processing devices (blenders, mixers etc.) or other cooking devices (such as kettles, hob plates etc.).

The system of Figure 4 is for example for efficiently cooking small amounts of food, for example for a single person. It is thus energy efficient and space efficient. The system of Figure 5 is suitable for a group of people. It also enables multiple people to use the system at the same time, as they may stand or sit all around the housing, for example with the housing placed on a table.

There are various ways to control the cooking process within the cooking hood.

When the hood is essentially independent as in Figure 4, the control functionality is all locally controlled, with local temperature sensing and closed loop control. When there is communication between the cooking hood and the housing, as explained with reference to Figure 5, the energy transfer to the cooking hood may be controlled in dependence on feedback from the cooking hood to the housing, for example to maintain a desired temperature. The control may for example be based on controlling the energy transfer to the hood. In this case, there may be single direction communication from the hood the housing to provide feedback information. However, some control may still take place at the hood itself in response to commands sent from the housing, via a bidirectional communication link between the hood and the housing.

The desired temperature may be set using the user interface such as a touch screen, but there are other options. For example the angular orientation of the cooking hood over its cooking zone may be used as a way to set the cooking temperature, so that rather than setting the angular position of a control knob as with a conventional cooker, the angular orientation of the cooking hood itself performs this function. The cooking hood may have an indicator at one angular position, and the cooking zone may have markings showing temperatures in an arc around the cooking zone. The indicator is then aligned with the desired temperature when the cooking hood is placed over the cooking zone.

The angular position could be derived from the change of electromagnetic field ascertained during a shift from a starting position. Field changes can for example be sensed by one or more hall sensors or MEMs located in the hood. Proximity measurement principles (for example as disclosed in EP2263296) could also be employed to determine position and angular orientation.

The cooking hood itself may instead have a user input interface where a setting can be input. This may for example be a rotatable knob at the top of the cooking hood. In this case, the control is based on transferring energy to the hood regardless of the hood setting, and then at the hood determining how much energy is to be used for the electric heating element.

Thus the control functionality may be all at the housing (but with temperature sensing fed back from the hood to the housing to enable closed loop control), or shared between the housing and the hood.

Other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed invention, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage. Any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope.