FR2689619A1 - Modular cooking plan. - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a gas or electric hob which can be used in built-in assemblies. This hob is provided with a plurality of gas burners or electric plates (3, 4, 5, 6), consisting of a plurality of central blocks (1, 2), comprising said burners, and ducts ( 7, 8, 9, 10) for supplying gas to said burners and at least one lateral gas supply rail (15, 16) comprising gas supply ports (7a, 8a, 9a, 10a) , said conduits and said outlets having a configuration, an arrangement and a type of connecting attachment for supplying gas from said ramps to said burners so that said central blocks (1, 2) are perfectly interchangeable with one another. Applications: Household cooking appliances.

Description

The present invention relates to a particular type of hob

  operating either with gas burners or with electric plates and used in

  particularly in recessed fixtures.

  In order to better describe the invention, the description

  which follows will refer to a hob provided with gas burners, but it is obvious that what will be described can be applied, identically, also to hobs provided with electric plates, adopting the appropriate modifications

  and obvious within the reach of any person skilled in the art.

  Currently, the functional parts of a hob and the connection of the gas supplies are assembled to the work plans, housings or supports disposed below the plane itself, in different ways, depending on the type and technique of production. In the cooking planes which must have the minimum vertical space requirement, together with the simplicity of maximum construction, there is generally a gas distribution element, normally disposed between the gas inlet duct in the appliance and a plurality of faucets used to open and regulate the supply of gas to different

burners.

  Said element (known in the industry as the "ramp") serves, essentially, to distribute the gas to said valves and is normally made of a tubular metal conduit, hermetic to gas working pressures, closed at one end and with the opposite end in connection with the gas inlet channel, possibly by means of a duct

  extra generally flexible.

  It is known that on the surface of said ramp, holes are formed, inside which the valves for adjusting the aforementioned gas flow fit and lock, hermetically, by means of

many techniques.

  Given the rather delicate nature of the functionality that is required of them, these components must normally be made of rather expensive material, such as steel or brass, and must be worked and assembled using precision techniques. In addition, they must have a specific dimension for each type of cooking appliance in which they are installed, either because they must allow the admission of gas into the faucets, which may be arranged at distances between them, either because the distance between the two farthest valves may, of course, vary from

device to another.

  However, the hobs of this type as well as other similar types, even if they are used universally, have several disadvantages: the first disadvantage arises from having to provide different dimensions for the different components associated with the burners dimensions different, with a high cost due to an increased proliferation of components due to lack of standardization; the second disadvantage is due to the fact that the complexity of said assemblies hinders or prevents their assembly using automatic techniques; an additional disadvantage arises from the fact that to obtain operation with all types of gas, it is normally necessary to disassemble a good part of the burner assembly to replace the

gas outlet nozzle.

  Besides this, it is necessary to consider additional factors, such as the poor compactness of the whole and also, the presence of many precision works, with the production of

bulky production waste.

  All this determines a series of easily conceivable disadvantages: a complexity of work and assembly, a high cost and an increased proliferation of components due to lack of standardization. It would therefore be desirable, and this is the main object of the invention, to produce a type of worktop which, in addition to being constructed with the aid of a more economical and simpler technology, makes it possible to avoid the mentioned drawbacks and offers, in particular, a high modularity of the composition. This object is achieved with a hob, particularly for home use, having a plurality of heating elements and corresponding power supply elements for said heating elements, as well as control elements. and adjusting elements associated with said supply elements, characterized in that the heating elements are grouped in central blocks arranged, interchangeably, in the hob and respectively, the supply elements, the control elements and Adjustment are grouped in side ramps relative to the hob, said blocks and said ramps respectively being interchangeably associated. There is provided a single block of heating elements and a single ramp of supply elements and control of the power supply, the hob is provided with a retaining element and closure arranged

  on the opposite side to that of said ramp.

  Said heating elements are burners

  gas or alternatively electric plates.

  Said blocks and said ramps are made of plastic, such as, for example, a thermoplastic based on polyphenylene sulfide

  (PPS) manufactured by the company Dupont.

  The invention will be better understood on reading the

  following description, given as an example only

  non-limiting and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a cooking plane according to the invention, partially disassembled; Figure 2 shows a simplified set of some of the modules of the hob of Figure 1. Referring to the figures, there is shown schematically the structure and operation of the invention. The invention consists, essentially, in eliminating the different components and separate parts constituting the conventional worktop and replacing them with "functional blocks" modular and composable. Each functional block may contain: a) gas components and connections (burners, pipes, valves, supply rails, etc.) b) electrical components and connections (power terminals, switches, switches, connections for plates / candles ignition, other electrical control devices) c) mechanical components (cardan joints, planar / movable / support structure, etc.) d) decorative aesthetic elements (marks, lines) e) visual signaling elements, acoustic or luminous (indicators, indicators, buzzer) f) final product identification elements (marks, plates, symbols, etc.). Each block is therefore completely self-sufficient, both mechanically and functionally, and it can be easily associated with other blocks, as it can also be replaced by similar blocks with respect to the connections and dimensions of the block. interface, but with different services or with other dimensions or functionalities. For example, with reference to FIG. 1, the two functional blocks 1 and 2 can be observed. They are entirely similar with respect to the interface elements, even if they have burners 3, 4, and 6 provided with different characteristics. Furthermore, in correspondence with each of said burners, there is arranged a supply duct 7, 8, 9 and 10 respectively connected to a feed mouth 7a, Sa, 9a, 10a respectively, controlled / controlled by a valve 11, 12, 13 and 14 corresponding, each of them being arranged, depending on the right or left position of the corresponding burner, on a right or left side ramp

  or 16 as clearly shown in FIG.

  The arrangement of said ducts 7, 8, 9, 10 makes it possible to intercalate between them such blocks, after having, of course, rotated appropriately, said supply ducts are arranged exactly in correspondence with the mouths aforementioned supply, except that in this case, the duct 7 is in front of the mouth 1 Oa, the duct 8 in front of the mouth 9 has and there

  is the same for the ducts 9 and 10 of the block 2.

  If, as it is logical, the type of connection between each duct and each mouth is performed identically, it follows that such blocks can be replaced directly with each other simply by reversing their positions, after turning them appropriately. , which makes it possible to obtain maximum flexibility with regard to

  the positioning of the individual burners.

  This modularity is enabled by the aforementioned identity and interchangeability of the interface elements, which makes it possible to obtain, immediately, the final layout from said interchangeable blocks.

  From the description that we have just

  give, it is obvious that the side blocks that support the left and right ramps 15 fitted with corresponding valves will also need to be configured so as to be properly

  coupled to both block 1 and block 2.

  The invention can, of course, be used even more flexibly, in which not only two central blocks and two extreme blocks are available, as shown in FIG. 1, but also a plurality of blocks. exchanges; all this being interchangeable, with regard to the interface characteristics, but having different characteristics concerning the burners

  mounted on said plurality of central blocks.

  Conversely, as illustrated by way of example in FIG. 2, it is easy to obtain a simplified hob equipped with a single functional block 20 of the type already described, arranged in the center and one side of which is bordered by a ramp 21. of the type described above, and the other side, by a restraining element and

closing 22 of the hob.

  The advantages of this solution will now be obvious to those skilled in the art: it will indeed be sufficient to produce a plurality of internal blocks having different functional characteristics, but interchangeable connecting elements to be able to have a large number of types of hobs available easily and economically; this automatically determines the elimination of the need to produce and store many types of

different cooking.

  In addition, the work of the module alone and its assembly become repetitive operations, likely to be performed easily by automatic working systems Advantageously, a variant of said construction is offered by the possibility of making said mouths and said ramps a material particularly resistant to temperature and distortion, nowadays available on the market using the

more appropriate technology.

  This technique makes it possible to simplify and further standardize the construction of the elements concerned, with a view to obtaining them directly from a

  single holding and their modular use.

  Of course, while remaining in accordance with the principle of the invention, the construction details and embodiments can be varied widely from what has been described and illustrated without

  however, depart from the spirit of the present invention.

Claims (4)

  1 Hobs, in particular for domestic use, having a plurality of heating elements (3, 4, 5, 6) and corresponding power supply elements (7, 8, 9, 10) for said heating elements, as well as control and adjustment elements (11, 12, 13, 14) associated with said supply elements, characterized in that the heating elements (3 to 6) are grouped together in central blocks (1, 2) arranged interchangeably in the hob and respectively the supply elements (7 to 10), the control and adjustment elements (11 to 14) are grouped together in lateral ramps relative to the hob, said blocks and said ramps respectively being interchangeably associated.  2 hob according to claim 1, characterized in that in the case where there is provided a single block of heating elements (20) and a single ramp of supply elements and control of the power supply ( 21), the hob is provided with a retaining and locking element (22) arranged   on the opposite side to that of said ramp.   3 hob according to any one of   preceding claims, characterized in that   said heating elements (3, 4, 5, 6) are gas burners or alternatively electric plates. 4 hob according to any one of   preceding claims, characterized in that   that said blocks and said ramps are made of plastic material.   Cooking surface according to Claim 4, characterized in that the plastics material used is a thermoplastic material based on sulphide polyphenylene (PPS).