CN109114606B

CN109114606B - Food processor

Info

Publication number: CN109114606B
Application number: CN201710487435.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 潘兴业; 倪晓文
Original assignee: Panasonic Appliances Microwave Oven Shanghai Co Ltd
Current assignee: Panasonic Kitchen Appliances Technology Jiaxing Co ltd
Priority date: 2017-06-23
Filing date: 2017-06-23
Publication date: 2020-05-05
Anticipated expiration: 2037-06-23
Also published as: CN109114606A

Abstract

The invention relates to the field of household appliances, and discloses a food processor, which comprises: a cavity; a steam generating device, wherein the steam generated by the steam generating device is guided into the cavity through the steam nozzle; and the adjusting device is connected with the steam spray pipe and drives the steam spray pipe to move, so that the direction of the steam sprayed out of the steam spray pipe is adjusted. According to the food processor, the heating uniformity of the heated object can be improved.

Description

Food processor

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of household appliances, in particular to a food processor.

Background

Microwave ovens are a kind of food processor, which is a modern cooking appliance using microwaves to heat food, when in use, water molecules in the food vibrate along with the microwaves, the vibration of the water molecules and the interaction between adjacent molecules cause the water temperature to rise rapidly, the temperature of the food is also raised rapidly, and the food becomes dry due to the evaporation of water caused by the temperature rise. In this context, steam microwave ovens capable of retaining food moisture have come to light.

In the prior art, a steam microwave oven generally includes a cavity and a steam generating device. The conventional steam generating device is located below the food tray, and other designs exist besides the conventional steam generating device, for example, the steam generating device is located at the side of the microwave oven, and the steam generated by the steam generating device enters the cavity through the steam nozzle, and most of the steam directly acts on the food, so that the food can be cooked while the moisture of the food can be kept.

When steam cooking is carried out, the steam nozzle is fixed and cannot rotate, so that more steam acts on the center of the microwave oven, and the steam diffuses to the whole cavity due to the movement of gas molecules. The central heating part is concentrated in the center of the microwave oven, so that the central heating part after cooking is concentrated and the peripheral heating part is insufficient. The uneven heating is particularly obvious when the food is large in volume and long in heating time.

Improvements have been made to this in order to improve the non-uniform distribution of steam within the cavity of the microwave oven. For example, in chinese patent No. 201521094536.0, a new intelligent microwave oven with high temperature steam injection function is proposed, which comprises a plurality of high temperature steam injection ports on the inner wall of the cavity of the microwave oven. Because the steam nozzles are arranged along the inner wall of the microwave oven, the uniformity of steam distribution in the cavity of the microwave oven is obviously improved.

However, the plurality of nozzles obviously causes an increase in cost, and since the position and the ejection direction of the steam ejection port are still fixed, there may be a case where heating is not uniform when the heating time is long.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention relates to a food processor, which can improve the heating uniformity.

In order to solve the above technical problem, the present invention provides a food processor, comprising:

a cavity;

the steam generating device is used for guiding the steam generated by the steam generating device into the cavity through the steam nozzle;

and the adjusting device is connected with the steam spray pipe and drives the steam spray pipe to move, so that the direction of steam sprayed from the steam spray pipe is adjusted.

According to the invention, the steam generated by the steam generating device is guided into the cavity through the arranged steam spray pipe, so that the purposes of cooking food and keeping the food moisture degree are achieved. Compared with the prior art, the steam jet pipe is driven to move by the adjusting device, so that the direction of steam sprayed from the steam jet pipe is adjusted, the steam can be uniformly sprayed and acts on the whole surface of food, and the heating uniformity of the food during cooking is improved.

Preferably, the adjusting means comprises:

a nozzle rail through which the steam nozzle is disposed and along which the steam nozzle is movable;

the transmission assembly is connected with the steam spray pipe;

the motor shaft of the driving motor is connected with the transmission assembly;

the driving motor drives the transmission assembly to move, and the steam spray pipe is driven to move along the spray pipe track.

Compared with an air cylinder which only can realize reciprocating motion, the driving motor can drive the steam spray pipe to do reciprocating motion and can also realize the rotating motion of the steam spray pipe without the assistance of complex mechanical transmission parts such as a lead screw, a worm gear and the like, so that the adjusting device has a relatively simple structure, and the cost can be better controlled.

Further, preferably, the transmission assembly includes:

the motor connecting rod is connected with the motor shaft and can rotate by taking the motor shaft as a center under the driving of the motor shaft;

one end of the spray pipe connecting rod is connected with the steam spray pipe, and the other end of the spray pipe connecting rod is rotatably connected relative to the motor connecting rod;

the motor connecting rod is driven by the motor shaft to rotate to drive the spray pipe connecting rod to swing, so that the steam spray pipe is driven to move along the spray pipe track.

Compared with gear transmission, the connecting rod transmission can realize motion conversion, can convert the rotation of the driving part into the rotation, reciprocating movement or swinging of the driven part, and the connecting rods are in surface contact with each other, so that the pressure applied to a unit area is small, the abrasion is small, and the service life is prolonged.

Further, preferably, the transmission assembly further comprises:

the circular track is arranged in a mode that a motor shaft is used as a circle center and the length of a motor connecting rod is used as a radius;

the connecting end of the motor connecting rod and the spray pipe connecting rod is provided with a bulge, the bulge is embedded into the circular track, and the motor connecting rod rotates along the circular track when rotating.

The bulge arranged at the connecting end of the motor connecting rod and the spray pipe connecting rod prevents the spray pipe connecting rod from sliding in the rotating process, and the reliability of structural connection is improved.

Further, preferably, the transmission assembly includes:

the turntable is sleeved on the motor shaft and can rotate under the driving of the motor shaft;

one end of the spray pipe connecting rod is connected with the steam spray pipe, and the other end of the spray pipe connecting rod is connected to the rotary table;

the rotary disc is driven by the motor shaft to rotate to drive the spray pipe connecting rod to swing, so that the steam spray pipe is driven to move along the spray pipe track.

The turntable sleeved on the motor shaft can drive the spray pipe connecting rod to move, and in addition, compared with an embedded circular track, the turntable sleeved on the motor shaft can reduce connecting pieces used between the spray pipe connecting rod and the motor, so that the structure is simple, and better reliability is achieved.

Preferably, a hole is provided at one end of the nozzle link, and the steam nozzle is inserted through and fixed to the hole.

The hole portion that the one end of spray tube connecting rod was equipped with makes steam spray tube spun steam can get into food processor's cavity.

Preferably, the nozzle track is a circular nozzle track along which the steam nozzle moves in a circular motion.

The circular spray pipe track can increase the steam range that the steam spray pipe erupted, has reduced the dead angle scope of steam spray pipe direct injection, can make steam can be round around food moreover, sprays uniformly and acts on the whole surface of food, has consequently further improved the homogeneity that the food surface is heated.

Preferably, the nozzle rail is a curved nozzle rail, and the steam nozzle reciprocates along the nozzle rail.

Arc spray tube track can enlarge the coverage of steam spray tube spun steam, can make steam can be round around food moreover, sprays uniformly and acts on the whole surface of food, the homogeneity of being heated when improving food cooking.

It should be noted that the technical solution of the present invention is not limited to the application in the microwave oven in the specific home appliance form. The above technical solution can be applied to any food processor that uses steam to heat food.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an adjusting device of a food processor according to a first embodiment of the present invention, mounted on a side wall of a cavity;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the food processor of the first embodiment of the present invention as viewed from the perspective of the cavity;

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of an adjustment device according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic top view of a first embodiment of the conditioning apparatus and steam nozzle of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of the adjustment mechanism of the food processor of the first embodiment of the present invention at the location of the circular track;

FIG. 6 is a schematic front view of a food processor according to the first and second embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic front view of a food processor according to the first and second embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic front view of a food processor according to the first and second embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic perspective view of a regulating device and a steam nozzle of a food processor according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a schematic front view of a food processor according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 11 is a perspective view of a regulating device and a steam nozzle of a food processor according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

Description of reference numerals:

1-a cavity; 2-a steam generating device; 21-a steam nozzle; 3-a regulating device; 31-a spout track; 32-a transmission assembly; 32 a-motor link; 32 b-nozzle link; 32 c-circular orbit; 32 d-projection; 32 e-a turntable; 33-driving the motor.

Detailed Description

Implementation mode one

A first embodiment of the present invention provides a food processor, as shown in fig. 1 and 2, including:

a cavity 1;

a steam generating device 2, wherein the steam generated by the steam generating device 2 is guided into the cavity 1 through a steam nozzle 21;

the adjusting device 3 is connected with the steam spray pipe 21 and drives the steam spray pipe 21 to move, so that the direction of the steam sprayed from the steam spray pipe 21 is adjusted.

It will be clear to a person skilled in the art that the adjustment device 3 can be formed by any power mechanism, together with the transmission assembly 32, for adjusting the movement of the steam nozzle 21.

For example, typically, a cylinder may be provided as a power mechanism to drive the steam nozzle 21 to reciprocate in the horizontal direction through a connecting rod. Even more, the steam generating means 2 may be connected to the cylinder as a gas source for the cylinder.

However, the stroke of the steam nozzle 21 is limited when a cylinder is selected. Moreover, the gas generating device of the cylinder is usually large in size, and is difficult to be applied to small and medium-sized household appliances such as food processors. Thus, as a preferred example of the present embodiment, the adjusting device 3 may include:

a nozzle rail 31 through which the steam nozzle 21 is disposed and which is movable along the nozzle rail 31;

the transmission assembly 32 is connected with the steam spray pipe 21;

a driving motor 33, and a motor shaft of the driving motor 33 is connected with the transmission assembly 32. The driving motor 33 may be a synchronous motor, an asynchronous motor, or a direct current motor.

In the present embodiment, as shown in fig. 3 and 4, the driving motor 33 can drive the transmission assembly 32 to move, and drive the steam nozzle 21 to move along the nozzle rail 31. Compared with an air cylinder, the driving motor 33 occupies a small space, the required transmission assembly 32 is simpler, and the cost can be better controlled.

Regarding the specific type of the transmission assembly 32, it is understood by those skilled in the art that when the driving motor 33 is used as a power mechanism, the transmission manner of the transmission assembly 32 may be chain transmission, gear transmission, link transmission, etc., which all can realize the reciprocating motion of the mechanism driven by the driving motor 33.

Specifically, in the present embodiment, referring to fig. 3, the transmission assembly 32 transmits the transmission through the link, and the transmission assembly 32 includes: a motor connecting rod 32a connected with the motor shaft and capable of rotating by taking the motor shaft as a center under the driving of the motor shaft; the nozzle link 32b has one end connected to the steam nozzle 21 and the other end rotatably connected to the motor link 32 a.

Referring to fig. 4, the motor link 32a is rotated by the motor shaft to swing the nozzle link 32b, thereby moving the steam nozzle 21 along the nozzle rail 31. One end of the nozzle link 32b is connected to the steam nozzle 21 and drives the steam nozzle 21 to move along the nozzle rail 31, which enhances the stability of the connection of the adjusting device 3 to the steam generating device 2. More importantly, compared with gear transmission, the connecting rod transmission can realize motion conversion, can convert the rotation of the driving part into the rotation, reciprocating movement or swinging of the driven part, and the connecting rods are in surface contact, so that the pressure applied to a unit area is small, the abrasion is small, and the service life is prolonged.

In addition, referring to fig. 3, the transmission assembly 32 further includes a circular track 32c, and the circular track 32c may be disposed with the motor shaft as a center and the length of the motor link 32a as a radius.

In the present embodiment, as shown in fig. 1, 4 and 5, a protrusion 32d is provided at a connection end of the motor link 32a and the nozzle link 32b, and the protrusion 32d is fitted into the circular track 32c and can rotate along the circular track 32c when the motor link 32a rotates.

The protrusion 32d arranged at the connecting end of the motor connecting rod 32a and the spray pipe connecting rod 32b can prevent the spray pipe connecting rod 32b from sliding in the rotating process, and the reliability of structural connection is improved.

For the present invention, the shape of the nozzle track 31 and the spatial relationship of the steam nozzle 21 with respect to the nozzle track 31 may be set according to the final coverage of the food surface by the steam sprayed from the steam nozzle 21. In order to uniformly cover the food, in the present embodiment, referring to fig. 1 and 3, the nozzle rail 31 is an arc-shaped nozzle rail 31, and the steam nozzle 21 reciprocates along the nozzle rail 31.

Specifically, when the arc nozzle rail 31 is selected, when the steam nozzle 21 is positioned at the right end of the arc nozzle rail 31 shown in fig. 3, as shown in fig. 6, the steam is sprayed onto the surface of the food positioned at the outside of the cavity 1; however, when the steam nozzle 21 is positioned at the left end of the arc-shaped nozzle rail 31, as shown in fig. 7, the steam is sprayed to the surface of the food positioned at the inner side of the cavity 1;

similarly, when the steam nozzle 21 is located at the top of the middle portion of the curved nozzle track 31, as shown in fig. 8, the steam will be sprayed the farthest distance from the steam nozzle 21, i.e., on the right food surface of the cavity 1. It can be seen that when the position of the steam spray pipe 21 is changed, the area of steam spray is also changed. Therefore, the arc-shaped spray pipe track 31 can enlarge the coverage range of the steam sprayed by the steam spray pipe, so that the steam can uniformly spray and act on the whole surface of the food around the food, and the heating uniformity during food cooking is improved.

In the present embodiment, as shown in fig. 1 and 3, a hole portion is provided at one end of the nozzle link 32b, and the steam nozzle 21 is inserted through and fixed to the hole portion.

The nozzle link 32b has a hole portion at one end thereof such that the steam nozzle 21 is fixed to the nozzle link 32b and moves along with the nozzle link 32 b. The connection mode that the steam nozzle 21 is inserted through the nozzle connecting rod 32b has good reliability.

In the present invention, the steam generated by the steam generating device 2 is introduced into the cavity 1 through the steam nozzle 21, so as to achieve the purpose of cooking food and maintaining the moisture of food. Of course, the practical application can be not limited to this process scheme. The adjusting device 3 drives the steam spray pipe 21 to move, so that the direction of steam sprayed from the steam spray pipe 21 is adjusted, the steam can be uniformly distributed in the cavity 1, and the heating uniformity of the surface of food is improved. Compared with the prior art, the steam jet pipe 21 is driven to move by the adjusting device 3, so that the direction of steam sprayed from the steam jet pipe 21 is adjusted, the steam can be uniformly sprayed and acts on the whole surface of food, and the heating uniformity of the food during cooking is improved.

It should be noted that the technical solution of the present embodiment is not limited to the application to the specific home appliance form of the microwave oven. The above technical solution can be applied to any food processor that uses steam to heat food.

Second embodiment

A second embodiment of the present invention provides a food processor, which is different from the first embodiment; the main difference is that, referring to fig. 3, in the first embodiment of the present invention, the nozzle rail 31 is an arc-shaped nozzle rail 31, and in the second embodiment of the present invention, referring to fig. 9, the nozzle rail 31 is a circular nozzle rail 31, and the steam nozzle 21 performs a circular motion along the nozzle rail 31.

When the circular nozzle rail 31 is selected, as shown in fig. 9, 6 and 7, when the steam nozzles 21 are located at the left and right ends of the circular nozzle rail 31, the steam will be sprayed onto the food surface located outside and inside the cavity 1; when the steam nozzle 21 is located at the middle top end of the circular nozzle track 31, see fig. 8, the steam will be sprayed the farthest away from the steam nozzle 21, i.e. on the right food surface of the cavity 1. And differs from the first embodiment in that when the steam nozzle 21 passes the middle bottom end of the circular nozzle rail 31 as described above, as shown in fig. 10, the steam will be sprayed to the surface of the food located closest to the steam nozzle 21, i.e., on the left side of the cavity 1. Generally, the circular nozzle track 31 of the present embodiment can make the track of the steam on the surface of the food form an ellipse, so the circular nozzle track 31 can further enlarge the coverage of the steam sprayed by the steam nozzle 21, and can make the steam uniformly sprayed and act on the whole surface of the food around the food, thereby improving the heating uniformity of the food during cooking.

The nozzle link 32b can complete a complete circular movement under the drive of the drive motor 33, and the circular nozzle rail 31 has less wear on the nozzle rail 31 than the arc-shaped nozzle rail 31 because no end blocking movement is required. More importantly, compared with the arc-shaped nozzle track 31, the circular nozzle track 31 increases the coverage of steam injection, reduces the dead angle range of direct injection of the steam nozzle 21, and further improves the uniformity of heating the food surface.

Third embodiment

A third embodiment of the present invention provides a food processor, which is different from the first embodiment; the main difference is that, referring to fig. 9, in the first embodiment of the present invention, the nozzle link 32b is connected to the motor link 32a, and is guided and connected by the circular track 32c and the protrusion 32d embedded in the circular track 32c, while in the second embodiment of the present invention, referring to fig. 11, the nozzle link 32b is connected to the turntable 32e and is guided by the turntable 32 e. Specifically, the transmission assembly 32 includes:

the rotating disc 32e is sleeved on the motor shaft and can rotate under the driving of the motor shaft;

a nozzle link 32b having one end connected to the steam nozzle 21 and the other end connected to the turntable 32 e;

the rotating disc 32e is rotated by the motor shaft to swing the nozzle link 32b, thereby moving the steam nozzle 21 along the nozzle rail 31.

The turntable 32e sleeved on the motor shaft can drive the nozzle connecting rod 32b to move, and in addition, compared with the embedded circular track 32c, the turntable 32e sleeved on the motor shaft is more firmly connected with the motor, so that the reliability of the transmission assembly 32 is improved, and the turntable 32e sleeved on the motor shaft can reduce connecting pieces used between the nozzle connecting rod 32b and the motor, such as the motor connecting rod 32a and the bulge 32d arranged on the circular track 32c, so that the structure is simple, and the reliability is better.

In addition, referring to fig. 11, the transmission assembly 32 provided with the rotary disc 32e does not need to be provided with the motor link 32a and the protrusion 32d provided in the circular track 32c, and the motion of the steam nozzle 21 is transmitted only by the nozzle link 32b and the rotary disc 32e, so that friction and motion loss are reduced, thereby increasing transmission efficiency and simplifying the structure. In order that the motor can smoothly dissipate heat, the thickness of the turntable 32e is smaller than the axial length of the motor.

It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that in the embodiments described above, numerous technical details are set forth in order to provide a better understanding of the present application. However, the technical solutions claimed in the claims of the present application can be basically implemented without these technical details and various changes and modifications based on the above-described embodiments. Accordingly, in actual practice, various changes in form and detail may be made to the above-described embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A food processor comprising:

a cavity;

the steam generating device is used for generating steam, the steam generated by the steam generating device is guided into the cavity through a steam spray pipe, and an outlet of the steam spray pipe is arranged on the side wall of the cavity;

the adjusting device is connected with the steam spray pipe and drives the steam spray pipe to move so as to adjust the direction of the steam sprayed out of the steam spray pipe;

the adjusting device comprises:

the transmission assembly is connected with the steam spray pipe;

the driving motor drives the transmission assembly to move so as to drive the steam spray pipe to move along the spray pipe track;

the nozzle track is a circular nozzle track, and the steam nozzle performs circular motion along the nozzle track.

2. The food processor of claim 1, wherein the transmission assembly comprises:

3. The food processor of claim 2, wherein the transmission assembly further comprises:

the circular track is arranged in a mode that the motor shaft is used as a circle center and the length of the motor connecting rod is used as a radius;

4. The food processor of claim 1, wherein the transmission assembly comprises:

5. The food processor of claim 2 or 4, wherein the nozzle link has a bore at one end through which the steam nozzle is inserted and secured.

6. The food processor of claim 1, wherein the nozzle track is a curved nozzle track, the steam nozzle reciprocating along the nozzle track.