Patent ID: 8389912

Claim:
An induction cooker comprising: a top plate made of a material capable of transmitting an infrared ray; a heating coil operable to heat a pan placed on the top plate; a control unit operable to control electric power supplied to the heating coil; an infrared-ray detection unit that includes an infrared-ray incidence section under the top plate to detect an infrared ray entering the infrared-ray incidence section, the infrared ray being radiated from a bottom surface of the pan, passing through the top plate, and entering the infrared-ray incidence section; a temperature calculation unit operable to calculate a temperature of the bottom surface of the pan based on an output of the infrared-ray detection unit; a light emitting unit operable to emit light with a first luminance near the infrared-ray incidence section when viewed from above the top plate, by irradiating a back surface of the top plate from below the top plate with light, to indicate a position of the infrared-ray incidence section; and a failure detection unit operable to detect a failure in the infrared-ray detection unit based on an amount of a change of an output of the temperature calculation unit which is based on an output of the light emitting unit; wherein the light emitting unit includes a luminance changing section operable to change the luminance of the light emission, and the failure detection unit controls the light emitting unit to emit light with a second luminance higher than the first luminance and detects a failure in the infrared-ray detection unit based on whether or not an amount of an increase in the output of the temperature calculation unit falls within a predetermined range.