Microprocessor board for vitro ceramic control

Abstract

This paper presents the industrial application of a microcontroller for a vitroceramic cooker. The vitroceramic surface is clustered into a matrix with of cells, each one containing one heating resistor and one infrared emitter- receiver pair which detects the presence or absence of a receptacle on its cell. With this information, a microcontroller fires only those resistors arranged under the base of a receptacle. This patented vitroceramic cooker presents many advantages over traditional ones; for instance, power consumption is optimized, as only the useful ceramic surface is heated. Furthermore, when the object is removed from the surface, the heating resistors are powered off, so there is no risk for the fires being left on, which is of great interest for blind people. Acoustic signals can also be generated indicating the existence of heated resistors.