Patent ID: 11873995
Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
Field: Thermal processes and apparatus (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC F  H | IPC F  H

Claim 12:
13. A method for controlling an operation of a cooking appliance, the cooking appliance comprising:
a body;
a cavity formed inside the body, the cavity provided with a cooking space therein;
a heating unit configured to heat the cooking space;
an electronic component space provided at a portion of the body located outside the cavity, wherein the electronic component space comprises:
a circuit board disposed inside the electronic component space;
a supporter to space the circuit board apart from the cavity and support the circuit board;
a cooling fan configured to generate a flow of air passing through a cool air passage;
a temperature measuring unit provided at the supporter, the temperature measuring unit being supported by the supporter and configured to measure a temperature inside the cool air passage and transmit temperature data comprising the measured temperature inside the cool air passage; and
a controller to receive the temperature data from the temperature measuring unit, whereby the controller is configured to monitor an increase per unit time in the temperature measured by the temperature measuring unit and control an operation of the heating unit based on the monitored result;
wherein the method for controlling the operation of the cooking appliance comprises:
a monitoring step of monitoring, via the controller, an increase per unit time in temperatures in the cool air passage;
a determining step of determining, via the controller, whether to stop the cooling fan from operating based on results monitored in the monitoring step; and
an operation controlling step of stopping the heating unit from operating when it is confirmed by the controller that the cooling fan is not operating,
the monitoring step, comprising:
a temperature measuring step, via the temperature measure unit, of measuring a temperature in the cool air passage at a first predetermined time interval; and
a comparing step, via the controller, of comparing a current value that is currently measured in the temperature measuring step with a previous value that is measured a second predetermined time before the current value is measured in the temperature measuring step wherein the second predetermined time is greater than the first predetermined time,
wherein the determining step comprises confirming, via the controller, that a difference between the two measured values compared in the comparing step is a predetermined difference (Ts) or greater and then stopping the cooling fan from operating,
wherein the comparing step is repeated at intervals of a third predetermined time that is less than the second predetermined time,
the determining step comprises confirming, via the controller, that that the difference between the two measured values compared in the comparing step is the predetermined difference (Ts) or greater predetermined consecutive times and then stopping the cooling fan from operating,
wherein the predetermined difference Ts is 3 to 5° C.,
the second predetermined time is five to seven minutes,
the third predetermined time is 20 to 40 seconds, and
the predetermined amount of times are two to four times.