Page 306 - CITS - Electronic Mechanic - TT - 2024

ELECTRONICS MECHANIC - CITS

Circuit board issue: Electronics are very particular, and they can break unexpectedly. A circuit board problem
requires a replacement from a professional. The best way to avoid frying your circuit board is to always turn off
the heat before removing your cookware from the burner.
Cooktop does not receive power: If nothing on your cooktop is working, it may be a power supply issue. If you’re
lucky, resetting the circuit breaker will resolve the issue. Make sure to check both the plug and circuit breaker
before calling in a professional.

Heat sinking in induction cooktop:
Standard Cooking Efficiency Test Procedures It is important to follow a standard test procedure when evaluating
efficient products so that their performance can be compared with other devices in an unbiased way. The primary
test procedure for measuring the efficiency of consumer cooking appliances in the U.S. is specified by the Depart-
ment of Energy (DOE) (US National Archives and Records Administration 2012). In its procedure, DOE specifies
the heating of a solid aluminum test block on maximum power until its temperature has increased by 144° F (80°
C). At this point, power is reduced to 25% ±5% of maximum and held for 15 minutes. Cooking efficiency is cal-
culated as the ratio of thermal energy absorbed by the block divided by the energy consumed by the device as
it heated th block. Because this procedure specifies that an aluminum test block be used as the cooking load, it
cannot be applied to induction cooking products. To address this limitation, DOE proposed an amendment to its
test procedure in 2013 that would allow induction technology to be tested alongside conventional cooking technolo-
gies. The proposal specifies that a “hybrid test block” composed of two pieces be used in place of the aluminum
test block. The body of the test block would remain aluminum, but the aluminum block would fit inside of a base
made of ferromagnetic stainless steel. This two-piece block would be used in testing all cooking technologies,
including conventional electric and gas. Apart from DOE’s test procedure, two test procedures used by the food
service industry provide an alternate method for evaluation the efficiency of cooking appliances. One of these test
procedures is specified by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) in its standard F1521, which
is applicable to both gas and electric ranges and cooktops (ASTM 2012). The cooking efficiency component of
this test procedure calls for the heating of 20 pounds (9.07 kg) of water in a 13” (33 cm) aluminum stock pot. The
water is heated from 70° to 200° F (21° to 93° C), with efficiency calculated as the change in thermal energy of
the water divided by the energy consumption of the device.

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