Granted Patent B2

US 12,478,208 · App. 18/545,100 · Granted Nov 25, 2025

Inventors: Andrea Barbieri (Milan, IT); Riccardo Loner (Busto Arsizio, IT)

Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation

A47J27/04A47J36/32F24C7/087H05B6/645H05B6/647H05B6/687A47J2027/043A47J2202/00

Abstract

Claims (60)

1 . A method of adjusting a cooking operation, comprising:

measuring a dry bulb temperature within a cooking cavity;

measuring a surface temperature of a food item positioned within the cooking cavity;

determining a wet bulb temperature using the surface temperature;

determining a relative humidity within the cooking cavity based on the wet bulb temperature and the dry bulb temperature;

determining a heat transfer rate between a core temperature of the food item and the surface temperature;

adjusting the relative humidity within the cooking cavity in response to at least one of the wet bulb temperature, the dry bulb temperature, the relative humidity, and the heat transfer rate to actively adjust a cooking process in response to the food item during the cooking process; and

calculating a cooking time based on the relative humidity.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

adjusting the cooking process by injecting steam into the cooking cavity in response to the wet bulb temperature.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

comparing a predefined relative humidity with the relative humidity determined to be within the cooking cavity; and

adjusting the relative humidity to align the relative humidity in the cooking cavity with the predefined relative humidity.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

browning the food item by adjusting at least one of the dry bulb temperature and the relative humidity within the cooking cavity.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

increasing the wet bulb temperature by injecting steam into the cooking cavity to reduce the cooking time.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

estimating the cooking time remaining for the cooking process using at least one of the dry bulb temperature, the wet bulb temperature, and the relative humidity.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

measuring the core temperature of the food item.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the surface temperature is sensed via at least one of a food probe and an infrared sensor.

9 . A method of regulating a cooking operation, comprising:

measuring a dry bulb temperature in a cooking cavity via an air temperature sensor;

measuring a surface temperature of a food item positioned within the cooking cavity via a first temperature sensor of a food probe;

determining a wet bulb temperature using the surface temperature;

measuring a core temperature of the food item via a second temperature sensor of the food probe;

determining a relative humidity within the cooking cavity based on the wet bulb temperature and the dry bulb temperature;

adjusting the relative humidity dynamically within the cooking cavity via a steam generator system in response to at least one of the wet bulb temperature, the dry bulb temperature, and a determined relative humidity;

estimating a heat transfer rate of the food item based on a difference between the core temperature and the surface temperature; and

adjusting the wet bulb temperature to adjust the heat transfer rate to, consequently, adjust a cooking process, the cooking process being governed by the food item and dynamic adjustment of the relative humidity during the cooking process.

10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

determining a remaining cooking time based on the heat transfer rate and an elapsed cooking time.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

increasing the wet bulb temperature by injecting steam into the cooking cavity via the steam generator system to increase the heat transfer rate and, consequently, reduce the remaining cooking time.

12 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

adjusting at least one of the dry bulb temperature via a heating element and the relative humidity via the steam generator system to brown the food item.

13 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

determining a quantity of steam to inject into the cooking cavity in response to the wet bulb temperature; and

injecting the quantity of steam into the cooking cavity to adjust a cooking process based on the food item.

14 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the step of measuring the surface temperature of the food item includes:

utilizing evaporative cooling from the food item to sense the surface temperature with the first temperature sensor positioned outside of the food item.

15 . A method of regulating a cooking operation, comprising:

measuring a dry bulb temperature in a cooking cavity via an air temperature sensor;

measuring a surface temperature of a food item positioned within the cooking cavity via an infrared sensor spaced from the food item to measure the surface temperature of the food item as the food item actively changes volume;

determining a wet bulb temperature using the surface temperature;

determining a relative humidity within the cooking cavity based on the wet bulb temperature and the dry bulb temperature;

estimating a core temperature of the food item using at least one of the wet bulb temperature, the dry bulb temperature, and a determined relative humidity;

estimating a heat transfer rate between the core temperature of the food item and the surface temperature of the food item; and

actively adjusting the relative humidity within the cooking cavity during said cooking operation via a steam generator system in response to at least one of the wet bulb temperature, the dry bulb temperature, the determined relative humidity, and the heat transfer rate to, consequently, actively adjust a cooking process during the cooking process.

16 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

estimating a remaining cooking time based on at least one of the surface temperature and the core temperature.

17 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

increasing the wet bulb temperature by injecting steam into the cooking cavity via the steam generator system to reduce the remaining cooking time.

18 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

browning the food item by at least one of increasing the dry bulb temperature via a heating element and decreasing the relative humidity via the steam generator system.

19 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

estimating a remaining cooking time based on an elapsed cooking time and the determined relative humidity.

20 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

determining a remaining cooking time based on the heat transfer rate and an elapsed cooking time.

Continuity (2)

References Cited (41)