Cooktop control and monitoring system including detecting properties of a utensil through a solid-surface cooktop

摘要

A system is provided for detecting cooking utensil-related properties through a solid-surface cooktop (10), including the presence/absence, removal/placement, and other properties (e.g., size) of a cooking utensil (14) on the cooktop (10). An energy source (12) heats the contents of a cooking utensil (14) placed on the cooktop (10); and an optical radiation source (22) is controlled to provide an interrogation scheme for detecting the utensil properties. The utensil property detecting system may be part of a monitoring system for monitoring the properties of the cooking utensil (14), or may be part of a control system for controlling the energy source (12) based on the detected utensil properties, or both.