Patent attributes
A toaster includes a housing, a conveyor configured to support food products, a motor configured to drive the conveyor to move the food products through the housing, a heating element disposed adjacent the conveyor and configured to emit thermal energy toward the food products as the food products are moved through the housing, a temperature sensor configured to sense a temperature within the housing, and a controller operatively coupled to the temperature sensor and configured to control the motor to drive the conveyor at a conveyor speed. The controller is configured to store the sensed temperature within the housing as a function of time and calculate a derivative of the sensed temperature with respect to time. The controller is configured to vary the conveyor speed based on a value of the derivative.
