Patent ID: 7928344

Claim:
An apparatus for monitoring a hot surface of a cooking apparatus, the apparatus comprising: a heater configured to emit heat, the heater to define a maximum temperature that can be obtained based on a power level thereof; a display unit that includes an LED or an LCD device for displaying a state of a hot surface of a hot plate and an operation error of the hot plate; a temperature detecting sensor provided close to the heater to detect a heater temperature greater than a set temperature; and a microprocessor for controlling displaying of the display unit and to provide a hot surface alarm that the hot surface of the hot plate is in a hot state when the temperature detecting sensor detects that the heater temperature is greater than the set temperature, wherein the microprocessor determines the operation error of the hot plate when a calculated cooling time is greater than a set time and the hot surface alarm is not provided, the cooling time being a calculated time period in a state where the heater is not powered, and the set time being greater than zero, wherein the cooling time is a value calculated by: determining an actual time that is a time period from when the heater stops to the time the calculation is to be performed, obtaining a subtracted value by subtracting the determined actual time from a predetermined cooling time, the predetermined cooling time being a time period stored in memory that corresponds to a time from when the heater is turned off at the maximum temperature until the heater temperature reaches the set temperature, and obtaining the calculated cooling time by multiplying the subtracted value by a predetermined set coefficient, wherein the predetermined set coefficient is less than 0.56 and is determined by dividing a maximum heating time by the predetermined cooling time, wherein the maximum heating time is a time period when the heater reaches from the set temperature to the maximum temperature.