Automated cleaning of cooking apparatus

Abstract

A cooking apparatus includes a base including a lower heating plate and upper heating unit including an upper heating plate and a cleaning structure configured to move a cleaning blade along at least one of the lower heating plate and the upper heating plate. The apparatus also includes a control circuit configured to control movement of the cleaning blade across the one of the lower heating plate and the upper heating plate.

1 . A cooking apparatus, comprising:
 a base including a lower heating plate;   an upper heating unit including an upper heating plate;   a cleaning structure configured to move a cleaning blade along at least one of the lower heating plate and the upper heating plate; and   a control circuit configured to control movement of the cleaning blade across the one of the lower heating plate and the upper heating plate.   
     
     
         2 . The cooking apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the cleaning structure includes a track on one of the base and the upper heating plate, the track extending a length of the at least one of the lower heating plate and the upper heating plate. 
     
     
         3 . The cooking apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the cleaning blade includes a first edge and a second edge opposite the first edge, the first edge and the second edge configured to simultaneously clean the lower heating plate and the upper heating plate, respectively while the upper heating plate is positioned substantially parallel to the lower heating plate. 
     
     
         4 . The cooking apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the cleaning structure includes a scraping blade to scrape food product remnants from the one of the lower heating plate and the upper heating plate. 
     
     
         5 . The cooking apparatus of  claim 4 , wherein the cleaning blade is a squeegee and the scraping blade is connected to the squeegee to move co-linearly with the squeegee across the one of the lower heating plate and the upper heating plate. 
     
     
         6 . The cooking apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the cleaning structure includes a food product lifting blade connected to the cleaning blade to remove a food product from the lower heating plate as the cleaning blade moves across the lower heating plate. 
     
     
         7 . The cooking apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the cleaning blade is configured to move along a path defined by at least one of a track, a chain and a belt. 
     
     
         8 . The cooking apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is configured to initiate a cleaning operation of the cleaning structure based on a user input. 
     
     
         9 . The cooking apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is configured to initiate a cleaning operation of the cleaning structure based on detecting that a cooking operation is completed. 
     
     
         10 . A method, comprising:
 receiving, by a control circuit, a command to perform a cleaning operation of a cooking apparatus, the cooking apparatus having an upper heating unit and a base, the upper heating unit having an upper heating plate and the base having a lower heating plate, the upper and lower heating plates configured to heat opposite sides of a food product;   controlling, by the control circuit, a cleaning structure to move a cleaning blade across at least one of the upper heating plate and the lower heating plate.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the command to perform a cleaning operation is generated by a user input on the cooking apparatus. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the command to perform a cleaning operation is generated by a control program of the control circuit based on detecting a termination of a cooking operation. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the command to perform the cleaning operation is generated a predetermined period of time after termination of the cooking operation. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the command to perform the cleaning operation is generated based on detecting that the one of the lower heating plate and the upper heating plate is at a predetermined temperature. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein controlling the cleaning structure to move the cleaning blade across the at least one of the upper and lower heating plates includes moving the upper heating plate to be substantially parallel to the lower heating plate while the cleaning blade moves across the at least one of the lower heating plate and the upper heating plate. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the cleaning blade includes a first edge and a second edge opposite the first edge, the first edge configured to clean the upper heating plate while the second edge cleans the lower heating plate. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the cleaning structure includes at least one of a track, a belt and a chain in the upper heating unit and a cleaning arm extending between the track, belt or chain and the cleaning blade, and
 controlling the cleaning structure to move the cleaning blade across the at least one of the upper and lower heating plates includes moving the cleaning arm along the track, belt or chain.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 determining that the upper heating plate is lifted to a non-cooking position away from the lower heating plate; and   controlling the cleaning structure to move the cleaning blade across the at least one of the upper and lower heating plates based on the determining that the upper heating plate is lifted to a non-cooking position away from the lower heating plate.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the cleaning structure includes a food product lifting blade and the cleaning blade connected to each other,
 the cleaning structure moves the cleaning blade across at least the lower heating plate, and   the cleaning structure moves each of the food product lifting blade and the cleaning blade together across the lower heating plate, such that the food product lifting blade lifts a food product off of the lower heating plate prior to the cleaning blade cleaning the lower heating plate.