A grill with upper and lower plattens the upper made made level with the lower by control of individual motors

摘要

A grill with an automatically adjusted upper platen assembly (24) is disclosed. The grill includes a lower platen assembly with a lower grilling surface and a pivotally attached upper platen assembly (24) with an upper grilling surface. The upper platen assembly (24) includes three motors (46a,46b,46c) encased in a shell. A cable (58a,58b,58c) attached to each motor suspends the upper grilling surface. The grill is automatically calibrated to ensure that the upper grilling surface is level. Each motor independently and sequentially raises the upper grilling surface from the lower grilling surface. When the upper grilling surface lifts from the lower grilling surface the current in the motor changes indicating the transition. The settings of each motor at this instant are stored in a control (78) to determine the calibration point when the upper grilling surface is level. The grill also automatically recognizes a food item placed on the lower grilling surface from it's thickness to determine the cooking parameters of the grill for that item.