Gas cooker top

Abstract: Improvements in gas cooker tops, in which the lighting of each burner (6) is carried out by means of a permanent flame or pilot (12) light during the functioning and use of the cooker top (1). The flame operates a light element (9) which indicates the presence of said flame, visible through the glass-ceramic plate (2) and which activates a thermoelectric safety device (10) which lights the burner, whilst a thermostatic valve (13), equipped with a sensory element (15) situated below and in contact with the glass-ceramic plate (2), regulates the temperature of said plate (2), opening and closing completely and rapidly the stream of gas to the burner (6), without flow control.

Description: The present invention refers to gas cooker tops. Current cookers, known as glass-ceramic gas cooker tops, use by way of a means or element of control, electronic systems dependent on electric power. This means that two energy sources, gas and electricity are necessary for the apparatus to function. In this invention, the cooker top uses only gas an energy source. Known cookers are not equipped with a tap or thermostatic valve which controls each burner and allows the rapid on/off opening and closing of the gas flow at the same time as limiting the maximum temperature which the glass-ceramic plate being used is capable of reaching. The invention uses this tap or thermostatic valve with the indicated functions and also carries these out in various positions of use, permitting the variation of the functioning time of the burner being controlled, from an extremely low minimum to the maximum established for use, offering the user a wide range of cooking or heating temperatures for different types of food. European patent no. 124022 shows a gas cooker top provided with several burners with ceramic plates, over which there is a glass-ceramic plate, each one of the burners having a permanent flame over which there is a flame visualizing element which can be seen through the glass-ceramic plate to indicate that the flame is lit, and a thermoelectric safety device activated by the permament flame. This invention covers gas cooker top, of the type indicated priorly, characterized by the features of claim 1. Dependent claims 2 to 4 relate to advantageous embodiments. When the temperature of the sensory element falls sufficiently, the liquid contracts and inverts the membrane deformation, facilitating the opening of the internal valve, which permits gas to flow to the burner. The above function produces a gas stream which operates on a maximum or no flow basis, known as on/off. When the thermostatic valve is used for at least two burners, intercommunication is set up in the valve which permits gas flow, in such a way that the thermostat acts simultaneously and indistinctly on the two burners. Following is a description of a non-definitive pactical example of the invention in practice, with regard to the adjoining drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a plan view of the cooker top. Figure 2 shows a sectional view of the cooker top. Figure 3 shows a diagrammatic view of a burner. Figure 4 shows a sectional view through line IV-IV of figure 3. Figure 5 shows a cross-section of the cooker top. With reference to the figures, cooker top 1 consists of a glass-ceramic plate 2 arranged on a metal frame 3 with slots 4 for combustion product output, and in whose frame are notches 5 for the positioning of the glass-ceramic pane. Below plate 2 are burners 6 fixed to base 7 with screws. Between the two is a layer of ceramic fibre heat insulation 8. Near the front in one corner is pilot light 9 of burner 6, the end of thermocoupling 10 and electrode 11 of the permanent pilot light 9 and a thermostatic valve 13 equipped with magnetic unit 14. Thermostatic valve 13 has a bulb 15 in contact with the lower side of plate 2. In each set of thermocoupling 10, electrode 11 and pilot light 9 of each burner, is a filament 16 which is heated by the pilot flame and is visible through the glass-ceramic plate 2. The method of lighting the pilot flame is carried out in a classic manner. That is to say, the control button is placed in the lighting position and pressed down, followed by activation of the piezoelectric system until pilot light 9 is lit, forming the flames which heat the thermocoupling 10, the valves of magnetic unit 14 being maintained open. The flames light the gas of the pilot light and turn filament 16 red, and are used to light the burner in each cycle carried out. Once said pilot light is lit, the control button is placed in the desired position, turning on the burner and turning off when the temperature reaches the thermostat operating level, shutting off the flow of gas to the burner. However, functioning of pilot 9 is maintained in order to reproduce the lighting operation, when the temperature of bulb 15 has been sufficiently reduced.

Claims: Gas cooker top, of the type having one or more infrared-type burners (6), having perforated ceramic plates, above which is a glass-ceramic plate (2), with an internal area surrounding the burners being connected with the exterior at a far side preferably opposite that of a control panel, in which the lighting of each burner is carried out by means of a flame (12) which is permanently lit during the functioning and use of the cooker top (1), and whose flame operates an element (9) visibly displaying the presence of said flame, visible through the glass-ceramic plate (2), which activates a thermoelectric safety device (10), characterized in that same includes at least one thermostatic valve (13) and a sensory element (15) situated in contact with the glass-ceramic plate (2) and composed of a bulb capable of closing off the flow of gas to the burner (6) through the dilation of a liquid inside said bulb as it acts on an elastic membrane inside the tubular body of said thermostatic valve (13), which pressures and axially moves internal elements elastically governed and capable of changing the position of a flexible metallic membrane, which moves in the same direction as the dilation of the liquid, adopting a curvo-convex position thereby freeing the shaft of an internal valve which, through an axial spring, completely closes the gas to the cooker top burner (6), the opposite effect happening when the temperature of the sensory element decreases sufficiently, as the liquid then contracts, the change of the element is inverted, and the valve completely opens the passage of gas to the burner (6), there thus being an open or close result, with no flow regulation. Gas cooker tops according to claim 1, characterized in that the thermostatic valve (13) maintains combustion conditions in a uniform manner whilst the burner (16) is lit. Gas cooker tops according to claim 1, characterized in that the sensory element (15) is a bulb whose contact with the plate (2) is carried out by means of a flat and/or curved-convex arched surface or directly through the flat or curved-convex form proper to the bulb. Gas cooker tops according to claim 3, characterized in that each of the thermostatic valves (13) are arranged to the rear of the cooker top (1), away from the heating effect of the burner (6), this layout favouring the extraflat nature of the cooker top.

Inventors: BERTOMEU MARTINEZ FRANCISCO, BERTOMEU MARTINEZ, FRANCISCO
Applicants: CATALANA GAS SA, VIDAL SOSPEDRA SERGIO, CATALANA DE GAS S.A.
Application year: 1990
Main classification: F24C3
IPC codes: F24C3, F24C15