The control unit of a cooking hob is usually arranged within a casing and pressed against the lower surface of a glass-ceramics panel. Some cooking hobs comprise a display for indicating information. Since the glass-ceramics panel is at least partially transparent, the display may be positioned directly below the glass-ceramics panel. The user can see the display through a viewing window. The viewing window may be formed by a blank portion of the glass-ceramics panel.
The display may be pressed as closely as possible against the lower surface of the glass-ceramics panel in order to obtain a sufficient optical quality. Further, a defined constant distance between the display and the glass-ceramics panel is always required for sufficient optical quality. However, manufacturing tolerances of the components of the cooking hob may cause different heights of an intermediate space provided for receiving the control unit.
Further, dust and other defilements should be prevented from getting into the portion of the viewing window between the glass-ceramics panel and the display. For example, a fan inside the cooking hob may raise dust.
DE 2007 055 310 A1 discloses a cooking hob with a glass-ceramics panel. At the front border of the glass-ceramics panel there is a cutout for receiving a transparent sheet of glass. A casing is arranged below the transparent sheet. A board is arranged within the casing. An electronic control circuit and a display are arranged on the board. The casing is directly or by distance attached at the lower side of the transparent sheet. The board is moveably bedded within the casing. Thus, manufacturing tolerances can be compensated by the moveable casing. The moveable casing is realized by elastic spring elements or by elastic snap-in elements. However, there are no means for preventing dust from getting between the display and the transparent sheet. Further, it is a complex task to connect the transparent sheet to the glass-ceramics panel.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a control unit for a cooking hob with a viewing window, which allows a dust-free intermediate space between the display and the viewing window.
The object of the present invention is achieved by the control unit described herein.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds