COOKING APPARATUS AND METHOD WITH PRODUCT RECOGNITION

摘要

Cooking apparatus having first (24) and second (32) platens with product recognition. A positioning mechanism (40) moves the second platen (32) toward the first (24). A detector (70) senses the second platen (32) making contact with a food product disposed on the first platen (24) and provides a signal. A controller (60) uses the signal to measure the travel distance of the second platen (32). The product thickness is a function of the travel distance, which is used to select a cooking procedure for the food product. The controller (60) then executes the selected cooking procedure to cook the food product. The detector (70) can include a micro switch, proximity sensor, touch sensor, strain sensor, thermal sensor, optical sensor, sonar sensor or positioning load change sensor.