Method for controlling cooking appliance

Abstract

A cooking appliance may include a cavity configured to accommodate food to be cooked, a heater disposed in the cavity, a thermistor disposed in the cavity and configured to measure a temperature of the cavity, a blowing fan disposed outside the cavity and configured to discharge air from the cavity to a surroundings of the cavity, a circuit breaker disposed outside the cavity and configured to cut off power to the cooking appliance, and a controller configured to control an operation of the cooking appliance. Additionally, a method for controlling the cooking appliance may include operating the blowing fan when the temperature of the cavity reaches a first set temperature, stopping the operation of the blowing fan when the temperature of the cavity increases, and cutting off the power to the cooking appliance when a temperature of the circuit breaker reaches a fourth set temperature.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for controlling a cooking appliance including a cavity configured to accommodate food to be cooked, a heater disposed in the cooking appliance, a thermistor disposed in the cavity and configured to measure a temperature of the cavity, a blowing fan disposed outside the cavity and configured to discharge air from the cavity to a surroundings of the cavity, a circuit breaker disposed outside the cavity and configured to cut off power to the cooking appliance, and a controller configured to control an operation of the cooking appliance, the method comprising:
 operating the blowing fan when the temperature of the cavity reaches a first set temperature;   stopping the operation of the blowing fan when the temperature of the cavity increases; and   cutting off the power to the cooking appliance when a temperature of the circuit breaker reaches a fourth set temperature.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the method is performed during an idle mode when the cooking appliance does not operate in a cooking mode or in a self-clean mode of heating and cleaning the cavity. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the stopping the operation of the blowing fan includes:
 measuring, by the thermistor, first temperatures of the cavity at a set time interval when the temperature of the cavity reaches a second set temperature;   measuring, by the thermistor, second temperatures of the cavity, wherein each second temperature is measured at a time after a set time to be elapsed from a time when each first temperature was measured;   calculating respective difference values between the first temperatures and the second temperatures; and   stopping the operation of the blowing fan when a number of times where the difference value between the first temperature and the second temperature is equal to or greater than a third set temperature is equal to or greater than a set number of times.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the number of times the thermistor measures the temperatures of the cavity in each of the measuring the first temperatures and second temperatures is the same as a set number of times in the stopping the operation of the blowing fan. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein in the measuring, by the thermistor, the second temperatures, the thermistor measures the temperatures of the cavity at a time interval equal to the set time interval in the measuring the first temperatures. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the set time to be elapsed between each first temperature measurement time and each second temperature measurement time is the same. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein in the cutting off the power to the cooking appliance, when the temperature of the circuit breaker reaches the fourth set temperature, the circuit breaker is short-circuited to cut off the power to the cooking appliance. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the fourth set temperature is set to a temperature higher than the first set temperature. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein when the number of times the difference value between the first temperature and the second temperature is equal to or greater than the third set temperature is smaller than the set number of times, the measuring, by the thermistor, the first temperatures is performed again. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the circuit breaker is configured to operate and cut off the power to the cooking appliance when the temperature of the circuit breaker reaches the fourth set temperature, and
 wherein the circuit breaker is configured to operate and cut off the power to the cooking appliance without receiving a command from the controller.   
     
     
         11 . A method for controlling a cooking appliance, the method comprising:
 operating a blowing fan when a temperature of a cavity of the cooking appliance reaches a first set temperature;   measuring, by a thermistor, first temperatures of the cavity at a set time interval when the temperature of the cavity reaches a second set temperature;   measuring, by the thermistor, second temperatures of the cavity, wherein each second temperature is measured at a time after a set time to be elapsed from a time when each first temperature was measured;   determining respective difference values between the first temperatures and the second temperatures;   stopping the operation of the blowing fan when a number of times the difference value between the first temperature and the second temperature is equal to or greater than a third set temperature is equal to or greater than a set number of times; and   cutting off power to the cooking appliance when a temperature of a circuit breaker reaches a fourth set temperature.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the method is performed during an idle mode when the cooking appliance does not operate in a cooking mode or in a self-clean mode of heating and cleaning the cavity, and
 wherein the second set temperature is higher than a maximum temperature of the cavity in the cooking mode and lower than a maximum temperature of the cavity in the self-clean mode.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein a number of times the thermistor measures the temperatures of the cavity in each of the measuring first temperatures and second temperatures is the same as the set number of times in the stopping the operation of the blowing fan. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein in the measuring, by the thermistor, the second temperatures, the thermistor measures the temperatures of the cavity at a time interval equal to the set time interval in the measuring, by a thermistor, first temperatures. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the set time to be elapsed between each first temperature measurement time and each second temperature measurement time is the same. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein in the cutting off the power to the cooking appliance, when the temperature of the circuit breaker reaches the fourth set temperature, the circuit breaker is short-circuited to cut off the power to the cooking appliance. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the set number of times is at least three times. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the circuit breaker is disposed outside of the cavity on a ceiling plate, and
 wherein the thermistor is disposed inside the cavity.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the cooking appliance comprises a controller,
 wherein the controller is configured to control an operation of the cooking appliance, and   wherein the cutting off power to the cooking appliance when the temperature of the circuit breaker reaches the fourth set temperature is performed independently of any command from the controller.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the circuit breaker comprises a thermal cut out (TCO) device.