Patent ID: 11959644
Assignee: ECOLAB USA INC.
Field: Control (Instruments)
Classification: CPC F  G | IPC F  G

Claim 20:
21. A system for controlling the initiation of a cleaning process for an interior of an oven, comprising:
the oven;
at least one heating element;
a detection sensor, the detection sensor configured to generate detection sensor data based on a sensed condition in a field of detection (FOD) of the detection sensor, wherein
the FOD of the detection sensor comprises one or more pre-determined locations in the interior of the oven, each pre-determined location intended for the receipt of a cleaning product that is used during the cleaning process;

a first auxiliary sensor, the first auxiliary sensor configured to sense whether the at least one heating element is on or off; and
a processor operatively coupled to the detection sensor, the processor being configured to control the initiation of a pre-cleaning process and a cleaning process, the pre-cleaning process comprising:
receiving data from the first auxiliary sensor;
determining whether the heating element is on or off, and initiate the cleaning process for the interior of the oven if the heating element is determined to be off; the cleaning process comprising:
receiving detection sensor data from the detection sensor representative of a first time, the first time being a time when no cleaning product is present at the one or more pre-determined locations;
generating an initial condition based on the received detection sensor data representative of the first time;
receiving detection sensor data from the detection sensor representative of a second time, different than the first time;
generating a new condition based on the received detection sensor data representative of the second time;
comparing the initial condition and the new condition; and
determining if cleaning product is present at the one or more pre-determined locations at the second time based on the comparison of the initial condition and the new condition.